I awoke the next morning to the sound of buzzing. The noise reminded me of the high voltage power lines the trail has sometimes gone under. It took me a few moments to realize what the sound actually was: hundreds of mosquitoes swarming around my tent! I did not want to get up and face the invasion but eventually my bladder convinced me otherwise.
Once I started hiking they weren’t so bad, but I was wearing Deet.
It was July 4th and nature started celebrating Independence day with a glorious sunrise.
Much of the hiking I did that morning was in heavy woods, but I occasionally got a view out and this is what I saw:
I was feeling a bit low after battling the mosquitoes and being alone for a few days but once I entered Crater Lake National Park, I started seeing more people which cheered me up a bit.
It was 30 miles from where I camped to Mazama Village in Crater Lake where I had my resupply package but the miles dragged by. I listened to an audio book to help pass the time but it still felt like forever.
Finally I reached the store and found Huck sitting in the shade near the door. I got my boxes (I ordered a new pair of shoes to be delivered there) and breathed a sigh of relief when I got both of them. Jacob had only mailed my food earlier that week and I was worried it might not arrive in time. But all went well and I treated myself to an ice cream sandwich and orange juice to celebrate.
After sorting out my supplies, I went in search of the showers in the campground and the hiker site to set up my tent. I was feeling much better after getting clean (a woman I met near the showers gave me a bar of soap so I had an actual wash) but I was hungry.
I headed to the restaurant nearby but it was only 45 minutes until they closed and they were not seating anyone else. Fortunately, Fox (who I met at Callahan’s a few days before) saw me and invited me to join him and Rocky Point who were just getting their meals. I ordered veggie lasagna and the three of us had a great time eating and chatting. The two guys had gone directly to the restaurant when they got in because both had run out of food before noon and had hiked 20 miles without eating anything. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been. They took off right after eating so they could shower and set up camp, while I hung around for a bit to charge my phone.
There were no fireworks or big celebrations for me this holiday, but I was extremely happy to be camping near some other thru hikers again.