August 2
Crater Lake to mile 1839.2, 9 miles of the Rim Trail, an official PCT alternate
PCT miles: 1048.6
Running total: 1161.5
Our alarms went off at 7:15- we had a lot to do and wanted to catch a shuttle at 9am that would take us from Mazama Village to the rim of Crater Lake.
We first tackled our food: when we originally packed the boxes, we had planned to be going SoBo thru Oregon, so we had packed for 5 days vs. the 4 that we needed going NoBO. We sorted our food, placing our extra stuff aside to add to the hiker box. (have I mentioned hiker boxes before?! They are usually set up at popular town stops, allowing hikers to drop off their extra food and gear and shop around for new food and gear. One man’s trash…)
We then packed our bags, which always takes a while when leaving town. We somehow managed to finish by 845 & walked over to store to pick up a few last minute items and to return our cabin keys.
We snacked on chips and crackers while we waited for the shuttle, then took the shuttle up to the rim and walked over to the lodge for our last town meal, a breakfast feast.
After breakfast we ended up hanging out in the lobby for hours- neither of us wanted to leave the comforts of shelter, electricity, and plumbing!
We had agreed early on that we were only going to hike 9 miles that day so we let the day slip away. Around 2 we started packing up and after one last ice cream treat we were on the trail and hiking by 3:15.
As we were heading out I heard someone yell, “Yay! Thru hikers!” – the lady thought it was great that my name was “Yayy!!”
The rim hike was BEAUTIFUL!
It started with a handful of steep, heart pumping climbs that I huffed and puffed up, and then it mellowed out a bit with a long, gradual climb followed by a gradual descent.
At one point we passed a guy who said, “I’m so jealous of you guys right now!!!” Matt turned to me after we passed and said, “if he only knew.” We are living the dream of SO many people and recognize how lucky we are, but it ain’t all blue skies, Crater Lakes, and trail magic!
We arrived to our planned site around 7, set up camp, and were able to eat outside with only a 5/10 mosquito-hell.
Happiness is: relaxing.
Ali Walks Far 
After so many days without hearing from you (I actually pm’d your mom because I was getting worried! After 9 years of not having a clue where you were…), it’s wonderful to read these posts! Your fingers must be getting tired 🙂 Yeah, the reality is pretty much never equal to the dream, but no matter how or where this particular journey ends, you’ve got a lifetime of stories to tell and you’ll not be in danger of repeating them for a long time! That lake is incredibly stunning, Ali; so glad you got to see it! Yayy!!!!
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