8.26.18. 27.5 miles.

I woke up this morning to a very wet tent. I don’t know if it rained overnight, but it was at least really drizzly. Again, I had to shake off my tent and just kind of fold it up instead of really putting it away.

It was cold this morning, but not as bad as yesterday. I hiked with my rain jacket all day long, but didn’t need my rain pants for the first part of the day. It was nice, easy hiking in the morning, through lots of trees and included a side trip to Little Crater Lake, a spring-fed lake that is super clear and very blue. It was very cloudy this morning so it was hard to really see the color though. There was also tons of horse poop on trail, which really bothered me today. I felt like I was dodging it most of the time.

I reached a highway where there was a picnic table at the trailhead, and decided to eat lunch there. Here I needed to put my rain pants on to stay warm since I wasn’t moving anymore. Bjorn, a hiker I’d been leapfrogging with, joined me and we ate and talked.

I only had 10 miles to Timberline Lodge, less than usual for the afternoon. The first 5 miles were a gradual hike up then down to another highway, and after this, the trail was just completely uphill and got steeper. I could tell it was lightly raining, but it wasn’t so bad while I was still under treeline. Once I broke treeline, however, the fog was so heavy, I could barely see in front of me, and the wind was whipping like crazy, blowing rain everywhere, especially onto my glasses, making it even more difficult to see. I finally got to the camping area after a long slog through wet sand to the top of the climb. It was more sheltered up there, but still really windy and rainy.

I quickly set up my already wet tent, threw some dry things inside my tent, then went down to the Lodge, which I couldn’t see bc of the fog, to warm up. I met some hikers inside and ended up eating pizza with Bjorn as we lamented going back out into the storm to sleep. We eventually left the lodge, and I guided some other hikers who hadn’t set their tent up yet to the camping area. I immediately hopped into my tent, happy I wasn’t soaking wet anymore, and set up my sleeping pad and quilt, changed into my baselayers, and snuggled up. I can tell it’s going to be a long night.