A Break in the Action

Woke this morning with several miles of lava fields still to navigate on Brown Mountain. For me, it's been the most amazing thing we've seen so far. Knowing that all these huge rocks were spit out of the earth; that the landscape was alive. Being in the middle of that kind of geological history was humbling. 

Also, snakes! We were told this little guy was a rubber eel. Not nearly as interested in us as we were with him!

Our original goal was to make it to Crater Lake for our first resupply. Since we aren't making as many miles as we anticipated, we stopped at Fish Lake to get more food and other supplies before we continue. 

 

Burgers and Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. Ice cold diet Cokes. I packed some yummy stuff, but this was a thing of beauty. It probably helps that it wasn't cooked by a squatting, stinking hiker!

It was also a great treat to be able to was the stink off and wash our clothes. We feel almost like humans!

But the best part about stopping at Fish Lake was connecting with other hikers. We read the journal and found that Whitney, who blew past us on the first day and is doing Oregon as a section, is still going and made it here way before us. ManBearPig stopped just long enough to sign his name. And the trail names of the older couple that also passed us on day 1 are Oak and Cypress, married 40 years! Talk about inspiring! And I just think it's cool that I got to sign the same journal as Trauma and Pepper, 2 hikers who managed to do the hike southbound (SOBO) in the winter and are a bit trail famous!

We chatted a while with Pilgrim, from Toronto. Recently retired and taken with long walks, he hiked the Camino de Santiago in Spain last spring as well. 

Also happened to be in the cafe when thru-hikers Data and Larb came through. They are in their 30 mile a day zone, and we talked to them while they ate. They have met many of the hikers that have passed us, and we chatted about everyone's progress. 

Not a bad spot to call home for the night!