Date: July 27, 2017
Miles: 1954.7 – 1980.1.
Today I walked among giants and fell in love with Oregon again like I do every time I’m here.
The tree cover and murderous mosquitos both faded out and gave way to spectacular views of the Sisters, Broken Top, Mt. Washington, Three-Fingered Jack and Mt. Jefferson.
The only things between us and the Sisters were meadows full of fragrant lupine and other wildflowers, clear creeks and lava fields.
We entered the Obsidian Limited Entry Area, which I was surprised (don’t know why) to find actually contains a field of obsidian. Since Joe Dirt is a geologist, and I love shiny things, we spent a few minutes picking through the chunks, admiring the shine of the black volcanic material with greenish inky swirls running through it.
We then picked our way up through a lava field and down into dusty sand to get to the Lava Camp near the highway into Bend, which we’ll hitch in to tomorrow. All of the sites at the camp were taken, but a lawyer from Portland and his friends, a couple of whom are section hiking down to crater lake offered to share their site with us, along with some beer and marionberry pie. We had a great time chatting with them until hiker midnight struck.
