So we did 31 and 28 miles the next days to give us the whole morning before the eclipse to do the remaining ~10 miles to Shelter Cove. The next day we realized that the eclipse was happening in the morning of the 21st and we would only reach Shelter Cove Resort, where our mom had sent a care package with goodies and eclipse glasses, if we started really movin’. We took our time and made camp early, shortly after the trail stopped hugging the rim. Perhaps because of the smoke, few people hiked the Rim Trail, after a mile past the Rim Village we only saw other PCT hikers. We couldn’t actually see the other end of the lake but it looked mysterious that way. Despite that, the view across the lake was breathtaking. The Rim Trail was open but the fire was still near enough that smoke blanketed the area. Normally most PCT hikers would be using the Rim alternate anyway, but this year everyone was as this section of the official PCT was closed from the Spruce Lake Fire. The next day Greg was nice enough to take us to the post office so I could send home my left shoes and then to the start of the Crater Rim Trail, a much more scenic alternate to the PCT for about 10 miles. We got to meet and hang out with more park employees and even participate in that night’s event- the beer mile. He took us to a great viewpoint on the way in, then to the general store for a small resupply, and then was gracious enough to let us shower, do laundry, cook dinner, use wifi, and sleep in his apartment! On top of all that we were fortunate enough to have arrived on the last night of the Olympic Games put on by he and some friends who work at the park. Ranger Greg turned out to be not just a clutch hitch but also a gracious host for us in the park. We met Greg, a ranger at the park on his day off. We’re headed to the National Park, I told the driver. I mentally prepared myself for some road walking, suncreening my nose and ears, and of course this is when a car pulled over. A few more minutes of cars flying by and I was losing hope of getting a hitch. We stood outside the motel with thumbs out for maybe 30 minutes while cars drove by. Some hikers with a purist philosophy about the trail were intent to walk the whole detour, including the 14 miles on highway 62. Morgan loves mango and I love watermelon, so we each emerged holding our favorite fruits and plopped down on the picnic tables outside the motel. We got little cups of ice cream and some fruit. Her organic cafe had a surprisingly varied selection of fancy foods and drinks from around the country. Klamath and consequently the highway, Morgan and I decided to grab snacks at Jo’s Motel. As we walked between the vast ranches, able to see miles ahead down the straight paved road, Morgan put on Fleetwood Mac’s album Rumors, and it felt like a soundtrack of some film about an adventure starring us. We made great time, cruised past the Sevenmile junction and down the forest service road. The day of the detour we had 8 miles of PCT to do before the junction. Klamath… all that before even getting to the highway 62. How most people were getting around it: taking the Sevenmile trail for 2 miles, walking on a forest service road for about 5.5, then 4.5 miles on a very sparsely trafficked road running straight between cow-dotted fields to Ft. We were 30 miles from the last exit point before the Blanket Creek fire closure. make it to Crater Lake and and eventually Elk Lake in no rush. We planned to take our time during my last week. Morgan and I left Fish Lake, 2 useless left shoes strapped shamefully atop her pack. Once we had this long-term plan figured, we could focus on the trail (and closures) directly ahead of us. And then we would make it to Elk Lake and from there to Bend where we’d eventually split. We decided not to make it anywhere special for the eclipse- we’d see it from somewhere on the trail, still very close to totality range, without any hubbub. And we didn’t want to brave the roads (even by hitching) the day of or night before the eclipse. And even if we made it to Elk Lake, we still wouldn’t be in the range of the total eclipse. Something I know we are capable of but it would not be fun- certainly not how we wanted to spend our last days on the trail together. Getting to Elk Lake before the eclipse would require nearly a week of consistent 30 mile days. We still had a lot of options to consider. That decision became moot as we learned that the trail was closed starting at Elk Lake, 50 miles before Sisters, due to fires in the Three Sisters Wilderness. Before Louise and I even arrived at Fish Lake we had scrapped the plan to make it to Sisters by the eclipse.
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