Freezing cold. I don't regret my choice of going west instead of east for my route and I believe even if I did go that way I would still be hitting bad weather for how long it has taken me to get this far. I do need to get that sleeping bag quickly and also get some warmer clothes if I am going to make it in the cold. All I keep thinking is that its only going to get worse and more cold out so I better toughen up quickly. My alarm sounded off at 04:00 telling me it was time to get up but my nose and fingers were so cold. Climbing out of my camper into the cold darkness I turned my vehicle on and grabbed my protein shake out of the cooler. I sat in my vehicle with the heat blasting on me trying to warm up and regain feeling in my fingers. It was 32 degrees out and the darkness of the woods just made it all seem colder and more ominous.
As I drove towards Crater Lake National Park I had no service and therefore no directions but I knew I had to follow this road until there was a left turn. The entire drive I had the heat blaring and never once turned it down. When I entered the park I pretty much just winged it and turned left on a road that said East Rim Drive. I didn't know where exactly the trail head for Mount Scott was but I vividly remember seeing on the map a viewpoint that started with an "o" so I looked for that. Shortly there after I saw a sign for Mount Scott.
By now it was 05:30 and only 30 degrees out. I waited until 06:00 to begin the hike for it was about 2.5 miles up and first light was at 06:45 with sunrise at 07:15. Starting on the trail, I wore everything I had slept in the night before and had on my headlamp so I could see the trail. Again, I was immersed in the darkness that makes the hairs on my arms stand on end wondering what is lurking just beyond the glow of my headlamp. I was comforted with the knowledge that my gun was in my pack, I had the bear spray in my side pocket of my pack and my knife was attached to my coat by my hand.
The hike was steep and constantly went uphill and had me stopping multiple times to catch my breath: I must be so out of shape. When I reached the switchbacks I took out my bluff to cover my face and protect my lungs from the cold harsh wind. By now it was 06:30 and light enough out that I no longer needed my headlamp so I switched it off. On top of the mountain the wind blew so strong and relentlessly that it took some effort on my part to walk in a straight path. I seeked shelter behind some small tress and snapped pictures of the sun as it made its ascent into the sky. My hands soon started to go numb and my sweat that made me warm as I hiked up was now causing me to shiver in the cold. The sunrise was not quite over so I hunkered down and alternated between taking pictures and wearing gloves.
It was suppose to be a clear day but fog lingered everywhere and I could barely make out Crater Lake. There was patches of snow on the ground and I was so cold that I could no longer wait anymore and I knew that it would not get clear enough out to take a decent picture. At my camper, I made some coffee and continued driving around the lake until I had to turn around for the road was closed. I honestly couldn't make out anything due to the fog so I barely stopped at any of the viewpoints. At one point, I acquired service and noticed that my best friend, Stacie, had left me another voicemail so I attempted to call her back and was lucky enough to get thru. So I sat on the side of the East Rim Drive talking with her for about forty minutes which was really nice. After we hung up I did tried to call some post offices to have my sleeping bag sent to but none of them were answering or returning my phone calls. I was able to order my sleeping bag though and told them I would call them back once I found a post office for them to send it to.
When I reached the visitor center it was only 11:30 and I filled up my water bottles, bought a sticker and mailed out a birthday card. I contemplated doing the second hike I had planned to do but I concluded it wasn't worth it due to the cloud cover and I just didn't feel like hiking anymore. So I drove back to the spot I had stayed at last night and boiled some water for a shower. I set up my shower tent and climbed in. The water was nowhere near warm so I bent over and washed my hair like I would in a sink. I wrapped my hair up in my beach towel and then took my bath sponge and got it wet with soap and used that to wash my body and then I gritted my teeth and washed it all off with the cold water. I quickly dried off and put on clean long johns, my under-armor shirt, a blue workout long sleeve and wool socks. At my vehicle, I put on sweat pants, brushed my hair and cleaned out my ears.
Once I was all clean and most importantly in cleaner clothes I boiled some water and made the last of my pasta to eat with butter. I contemplated opening the bottle of wine I had bought but since my meal was so tasteless I decided I needed to have some wine. I then wrote in my journal and typed up my posts in a word document to copy and paste when I had service. Soon I was too cold to sit outside anymore so I packed up my tent and climbed into my camper...it was only 15:00! I read the Bronze Horseman and became hungry again so I sat inside my camper reading and eating peanut butter and raisins. By 19:30, I wrote in my journal for the day and then went to bed freezing cold.
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