Day 103 - Sunday, August 8

Cowboy camping near a burn area (mile 1814.1). Walked 23.7 miles today.

The alarm went off too soon this morning and I looked up to find that I couldn't see the stars. Oh great, smoke. We started getting ready and I felt a few rain drops land on me, so it wasn't smoke, it was rain. Well at least we can hike in this. I set off to do the 30 miles to Crater Lake by the time the store closed at 7 pm.

After about three miles however, my foot started hurting. After ignoring it for a bit and hiking through a chilly cloud, it kept getting worse and I finally stopped to rest.

Here, I decided that our effort to make Willamette Pass wasn't going to happen and we would only risk further injury if we pushed this hard. I put my shoe back on and gingerly walked through a very rocky section with some Dr. Seuss-looking flowers and down to a small stream.

Here, I soaked my foot in the ice cold water and tried massaging it to reduce the pain. After about an hour, Frank turned up and I have her the bad news about our mileage push. We slowly hiked a few more miles to another water source.

Here and for a mile prior, the trail had been covered by small toads that we had to gingerly tiptoe around.

We did another couple of miles before passing the 1800-mile marker and stopping to rest shortly after.

Frank set up her hammock and let me get in to rest and elevate my foot. I fell asleep very quickly and slept for about an hour. We hung out here a bit more before starting to hike again. After the break, my foot felt fine. I was able to hike without pain and at my normal speed. Not sure what happened there, but I'm glad it didn't last long.

Frank and I hiked on and into a burn area where we chatted with a southbound section hiker and got some information from him on upcoming sections. We continued through the burned section and were caught by First Class sans Atlas as they've decided to go their separate ways. Frank and I walked with First Class for several miles, trying to find an adequate campsite that wasn't directly under massively burned trees.

Finally we got to an area that wasn't perfect with some burned trees still around, but we were tired. Frank went a bit further up the trail and found an even better site well away from the severely burned trees. The three of us set up to cowboy camp and we ate and got ready for bed. Sam turned up and decided to join us.  It's interesting because we've known him since the desert, but have never camped with him before.