1838.6
20.2
Mazama couldn't find Em's box so we found someone to drive us to the post office only to find out it wasn't there either. It was definitely at Mazama but they were just not looking hard enough. Finally we convinced them to find it. Didn't leave Mazama until noon. Took the trolley to the rim to by pass the huge up and followed the rim trail around Crater Lake! Crater lake is as big and blue and as majestic as I remembered from when I was here last. I was maybe 14? Nice trail around the rim, I enjoyed it. We only actually did about 11 miles today. The rim trail alternate cuts out 7 miles or so. So even though we started at noon and stopped at 630 we still got a full day's worth of trail miles in and we saw Crater Lake, which I'd call a pretty fantastic day.
Interesting predicament: who deserves a seat on the trolley more, marathon runners or thru hikers? The answer is: Don't be on that trolley, it smells awful.
Can you imagine a world were things like Crater Lake haven't been discovered yet? The sense of wonder and discovery and exploration must have been palatable. The world would have felt much bigger. I suppose it would be similar to how I feel about space. It's so big and scary and beautiful and who knows what's out there, maybe someday someone will but it seems so unimaginably, unattainable with the current technology. Maybe someday there will be a national (or galactic?) monument to see the first foot print on the moon. I hope so.
Too many tourists at Crater Lake. Too many selfies. Really you are going to cover up the majority of this majestic lake with your soap smelling face and not even look at it and really take it in? Felt very uncomfortable and annoyed. Humans are an invasive species. Ugh.
Met a guy biking from new York to Eugene. He seemed pretty cool. I helped him fill his camel back at the water fountain.
