Sunday Jul. 23, 2023
- Start: Merriam Point (PCT mile 1835.5)
- End: Pumice Flat (PCT mile 1822.4)
- Distance: 14.1 miles
After two days at home in Eugene to resupply and sort out the issues with my air mattress, Poledork and I returned to the PCT. This section of the trail, between Fish Lake and Crater Lake National Park, was the final stretch Poledork had on her bingo card. Once we reach its end, she will have hiked the entire length of the PCT in Oregon.
I felt pretty jazzed to join her for this section, too. She began section-hiking the PCT with her sisters years ago. But the southern part of the trail eluded her once she focused her efforts on Oregon’s other major long-distance trail: the Oregon Coast Trail (OCT). In fact, it’s only because of the OCT that the two of us met.
For those who don’t know, Poledork is a major player in the Oregon hiking community. She is the author of several guidebooks on day hiking and thru-hiking in Oregon. And once our friendship developed, I was even fortunate enough to help her work on the FarOut App’s navigation guide for the OCT. So, it’s a pretty big deal for me to get to celebrate one of her hiking achievements with her.
A lot of driving
We only had 58 miles of hiking in this section. So Poledork and I agreed to drive down to Southern Oregon and stage our cars at each end before hiking SOBO. This plan meant a 200-mile drive down to the trailhead near Fish Lake this morning to drop off Poledork’s car, followed by another 60 miles north to our starting point inside Crater Lake National Park.
One of the reasons I began last week’s NOBO section at Merriam Point rather than at the boundary of Crater Lake NP was that it dovetailed nicely with our plans to stage our cars during this section of the hike.
Backpackers can park overnight inside the National Park, as long as they obtain a parking pass from rangers at the Backcountry Office. However, parking is limited to a select number of places. Of all the choices the park ranger listed over the phone, this one seemed ideal for our hiking needs.
So, after dropping off Poledork’s car at our southern trailhead and stopping at the Park Headquarters to pick up the physical parking pass, we finally reached our starting point at 11 am — nearly 5 hours after we left Eugene.
This is the only section of the PCT that I’m planning to hike SOBO, and it felt weird to be walking south. I think I have a bias toward hiking NOBO because that’s the direction I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and the Arizona Trail. You always have the sun to your back instead of in your eyes. However, doing this section SOBO made the most sense for our driving routes.
Despite this personal preference, heading south from Merriam Point offered us spectacular views. This part of the Rim Trail was a series of gentle ups and downs around the lake’s west side for the first 2.5 miles of the day.
As most PCT hikers know, the Rim Trail isn’t the actual PCT route. The PCT heads through Crater Lake National Park on a parallel trail just a bit farther to our west. But who in their right mind would avoid this alternate route? The views of Crater Lake’s crystal-clear water were sublime.
Crater Lake is so blue and clear because it isn’t fed by any rivers or outside water sources. The lake formed inside the remains of Mt. Mazama, a volcano that collapsed after a massive eruption. 100% of the water in the volcano’s caldera comes from rain or snow, making it among the purest large bodies of water on the planet. It’s a genuine treat to hike around its western rim on this adventure, with views the true PCT can’t match.
Back on the PCT
After about an hour of hiking, we reached the southern end of the Rim Trail. This was the junction with Rim Village, the main hub ot the park. It’s where the Park Headquarters and the aforementioned Backcountry Office were located. But visitors will also find the historic Crater Lake Lodge, the main visitor center, a cafe, and a gift shop.
The parking lot was hopping today, which made complete sense. We were arriving right around lunchtime. Most of the summer tourists seemed to be crowded around the cafe or circling the parking lot in their cars in search of a free parking spot.
From Rim Village, we hiked 2.3 miles south on the Dutton Creek Trail. This was the final trail needed to reconnect us to the PCT. Unfortunately, the Dutton Trail still had a serious number of downed trees to navigate over or around. It was nothing like the network of well-groomed trails near the rim that we’d just left behind.
At the end of the Dutton Trail, a lovely hand-lettered sign announced our return to the PCT. Our scenic alternate was officially over. Now we just needed to hike toward the park’s southern boundary, nearly 10 miles to our south.
Poledork and I wouldn’t leave the park until sometime tomorrow morning. But we needed to get far enough south to have the freedom to set up camp wherever we wanted.
One of the challenges you encounter when hiking on any long trail through a national park is the camping restrictions. The NPS has to manage public land and balance visitor impacts on the environment. This responsibility usually means funneling backpackers into a handful of designated camping areas.
I remember feeling frustrated by this on the AT as it went through the Great Smoky Mountains NP and Shenandoah NP. By that point in your journey, most hikers are used to setting up camp in any suitable place along the trail corridor. You can hike whatever distance you desire. If you want to camp closer to a water source, you can. If you prefer dry camping, that’s fine too.
But once you enter a national park, that camping freedom goes out the window. You often need to acquire a permit (in addition to your PCT, CDT, or AT permit), and you are only allowed to camp in designated areas.
With that restriction in mind, Poledork and I plan to pass the park’s southern entrance on Highway 62 before making camp. According to the NPS website, as long as we have our PCT long-distance permit (>500 miles), we can camp along the PCT corridor in that vicinity.
However, we still have one more detour. Just before we reached Highway 62, we took a 1-mile detour onto the Annie Creek Trail to head into Mazama Village. Located at the park’s southern vehicle entrance, Mazama Village is a smaller version of Rim Village. It has a small cafe, a gift shop (with toilets and running water), and a nearby campground. There’s also a small camp store where many PCT thru-hikers use to resupply.
This was our final water source for the day, and we really needed to top off our water before heading back into the woods. The next source wasn’t for another 13 miles, and we wouldn’t reach it until sometime tomorrow.
First night complete
As we said goodbye to Mazama Village, we decided it was faster to roadwalk back to the PCT than to backtrack north on the Annie Spring Trail. This plan required a detour on a weird little uphill trail to Highway 62, and then a roadwalk back to where the PCT crossed the paved highway. But as OCT veterans, neither of us was afraid of a short roadwalk to get ourselves back on track.
It was nearing dusk as we spotted the trailhead and made our way back into the woods. Tall trees lined the trail, and the mosquitoes seemed to be out in full force. Mosquitoes hadn’t been an issue at all while we were on the Rim Trail or Dutton Trail. But now that we were headed into the forest, they were everywhere.
Our full packs left us hiking south at a leisurely pace, but we crossed paths with a handful of NOBO PCT hikers who seemed to be nearly running. They were clearly trying to make a beeline up to Mazama Village before everything closed. It’s amazing how much energy hikers get when their packs are empty, and town is just a stone’s throw away. Something about the amenities of the frontcountry just gives you an extra pep in your step.
Our route took us past more signs for side trails branching off the PCT, including the Union Peak Trail. And we kept our eyes peeled for somewhere flat to make camp. There is supposed to be a very large burn area immediately to our south, so we wanted to make camp before we reached it. We eventually spotted an ideal camping spot near Pumice Flat, among some young trees, and stopped for the evening.
All told, we made it 14 miles today. Not a bad start, given our late arrival and extended break at Mazama Village. Tomorrow will be the real test, though. We’ll be hiking south through the dry burn scar from the 2008 Middle Fork Fire, leaving us with limited shade and even less water.
