I was lying in my tent. Everything was peaceful and beautiful. I was happy. Then I heard Fitz’ voice interrupt my half-slumber: ‘Catch Up are you hiking to the Lodge for breakfast?’
What was this? Hiking so early on a town day?
‘Mash already left’, she went on. God damn it. We really wanted to get back to the Lodge for their breakfast buffet and then hike out from there. The Lodge could be reached by a hitch or hiking 5 miles. Hitching would mean breaking my continuous footpath that I’d kept since Mexico. But I was sorely tempted. With the upcoming fire closure tomorrow it would be broken anyway.
‘Just one more day Catch Up’, Marble encouraged me.
Fuck me, I can’t help it. I got up slightly hungover and started packing up. Hiking it was.
Fitz, Lucky Charm and Lavalamp, not caring about ridiculous things like continuous footpaths, were gonna hitch out. I left them about half an hour after Marble, Merlin and Mash had hiked out. On the way out I saw Doggone walking his dogs (there’s a lame joke somewhere in there). He had the same plan as us and was going to go to Shelter Cove to get around the closure. Soon he loaded his truck full of hikers to give them a ride to the Lodge.
A car rode up to me all of a sudden. Inside was Gnome. It had been a while! How does he always look so comfortable whenever I’m struggling? I rarely see him actually hiking anymore. He informed me he was planning to hike the power lines, parallel to the fire closure, to get around and not break his continuous footpath. Remedy and Sips had already gone ahead. No word of Tommyhawk and I was in such a rush that I forgot to ask.
One very sweaty hike later I got to the lodge, only minutes after the others who had walked as well. The breakfast was great, both tasty and plentiful. I wondered how they turn a profit here, running a breakfast buffet for thru hikers.
Pinch was leaving us from here. He was going to the coast with Spice’s group for 4 days and was then going to skip ahead. I’m sure I’ll see him again though.
Scattered and tired we set off to hike the rim of Crater Lake. My pack was heavy and my muscles felt strained, but the lake was so beautiful it made up for that. As I was hiking alone, I talked to two others, Goat and Minivan. We hiked up towards Watchman, the highest point on trail in Oregon, to get a good view of the lake.
Minivan had a great story about his hitch from Shasta to Ashland. The trail angel he was riding with had taken out a stack of clothes and asked if Minivan wanted some.
‘No, I’m good’, he said, not wanting to carry anything extra.
‘Please, take some, I’ve been trying to get rid of them for so long’, she pleaded.
‘No really I’m good.’
‘All right’, she said, defeated, ‘they belonged to my son.’
‘Oh, you have a son?’
‘I did, yes.’
Minivan realized the trap he’d walked into and guilt-tripped, took a couple of shirts.
At the I-5 in Ashland, the lady suggested that she knew a much better spot to start the trail than the highway. After all, there was nothing special to see here. It was 10 miles down the road with a nice shelter. Again, Minivan refused, but she insisted and finally he gave in. The better spot turned out to be 15 miles back, in the wrong direction, near Mt Ashland. The shelter, while nice, was occupied by a homeless guy. Minivan hiked out of there, 2 shirts heavier than he started. An interesting ride and story for sure.
I hiked with Lucky Charm after. We came up with a horror movie scenario in which we’d be the main characters and what everyone’s fate would be. The setting is some sort of woodside cabin that we’re all in and a serial killer like in Halloween stalks us and takes us out one by one. Lucky Charm instantly trips over a rock and gets slashed to pieces. Merlin and Marble keep their cool and use their heads to get a car working. As they drive away however, the killer gets up from the backseat and that’s the end for them. Mash is the one who suggests we split up and uses his long legs to run away. Just as he’s nearly safe, he steps on a hoe, gets smacked in the face, falls and meets his demise. Lavalamp is the one who seems to die, but is actually still alive and returns with a vengeance, a self-made weapon, like a flamethrower or a chainsaw, in hand. Fitz doesn’t take any shit and picks up a weapon, a sword or axe, and wants the killer’s blood. They get in a fight and just as he’s about to deliver a mortal blow to Fitz, I jump out and smack him in the head with a baseball bat. It doesn’t kill him and I die saving Fitz, but it gives her enough time to incapacitate him, blood spattering over her face. Then IPA arrives with the cops, because of course he does.
I camped close to Highway 138, where the Windigo closure begins, with Lucky Charm, Goat and IPA, our long-lost friend. While we were hiking the constant up and down of the rim, the man was swimming in Crater Lake, getting rides left and right from people. When Lucky Charm and I sat down on the ground to cook dinner, Goat motioned us to wait. Soon he emerged from his tent with two extra sit pads, one for each of us. I don’t know why he carried two additional pads, but it was better than any trail magic. Before getting to bed, I signed his backpack with my trailname, along a plethora of others already on there.
Getting to the highway meant the end of my continuous footpath. I was bummed that I wouldn’t be able to say I literally walked from Mexico to Canada, but on the other hand, I came here to hike and have a good time while doing it, not to compulsively hike every mile. Besides, this trail is all about letting go, so it feels appropriate somehow.
