July 30

2065-2089

The little storm continues through the morning, and we enter into the first forest we recognize as home in the Pacific Northwest. All the huckleberry bushes all by trail hold water and soak our legs as we walk by. After weeks of expansive views and open spaces, it is nice to be surrounded in the embrace of a dark, deep, living forest.

Along the trail we see old versions of the PCT emblem. These are all many decades old and have mostly been replaced by the new logo elsewhere.

Our route today takes us by a short side trail to Little Crater lake. It is well worth the detour, as it is the clearest body of water we have ever seen. Some geologists believe it is an old lava tube that has been filled with water from an underground artesian spring. It is hard to capture a picture of how clear it is, but we did the best we could. It is 45 feet deep and we can see all the way to the bottom.

Late in the day the weather clears and we spread all our gear out to let it dry. We are approaching timberline lodge, up on Mt. Hood. It has a legendary lunch buffet, so we end our day earlier than usual to be able to get the timing right to show up at lunch time.