August 8

Distance: 25.9 miles | Ascent: 3030′ | Descent: 4120′

Mile marker: 703.9

Lunch: J – tomato pasta with pine nuts (C+), A – masamam curry (A)

Dinner: J – chili and orzo (A), A – mac n cheese with peas (A+)

We camped just north of a restricted area yesterday, meaning we weren’t allowed to camp within the 1.8-mile stretch without a separate permit. The restricted area was full of obsidian fields and amazing rock formations. We’re glad we went through it slowly this morning with fresh legs rather than rushing through last night.

On the way to the obsidian fields, we crossed over a little more lava rock. We stopped and talked to one hiker and told him not to worry too much about the lava, just enjoy the change of terrain. Turns out he lives on the Big Island in Hawaii – he’s a pro at lava hiking!

When we got to the obsidian fields, the ground was shining with the obsidian reflecting the sunlight. The pictures won’t show how spectacular it was. There were hillsides of scattered obsidian. The trail was lined with it. Huge obsidian boulders occasionally dotted the landscape. The cliffside had dark black pockets of obsidian.

A spring fed a waterfall down a cliff of obsidian!

Leaving the obsidian fields was hard because of how interesting the landscape had become. There were lots of side trails in that section, including one that led to Obsidian Cliffs. We’ll have to come back another time.

We continued on and had lunch by another creek. The northbound hikers, and there’s a lot of them now, we asking if the scenery they were walking into was good. I guess they were getting sick of the “green tunnel” of southern Oregon. The scenery for us might be toning down a bit.

A few hours later, we stopped to dip our feet into a spring-fed creek. The water was absolutely freezing, but it felt good on our feet which, by the end of the day, will have carried us over 700 miles. During the stop, we saw a doe with two fawns along the edge of the meadow.

We’ve also been seeing tons of butterflies or moths with orange wings. There are sometimes literally hundreds flying around. Some take an interest to our shirts (or sweat on the shirts).

We emerged from the forest to our first large open field where we could see the trail for over a mile. This was a sneak peak of what the desert section of southern California might offer. The field was bordered by a lava rocks and we got a great view of the mountain peak at the top.

As we trudged our way to our campsite for the night, we passed some horseback riders on trail and met three horses who had stopped for a snack of the trail foliage. Soon after we hit the 700 mile mark.

We should get to Shelter Cove on time and hopefully get showers and do a real load of laundry. We passed over 30 northbound hikers today. The rate we’re seeing them is picking up as we’re beginning to cross the bubble. Finding available campsites might be more challenging for the next week or so, but we’ll have some empty trail once we pass. We’ll probably have Crater Lake all to ourselves!