These mosquitos are really no joke. Deet will deter them, but only for about an hour and in the meantime they just go for your face. From the moment we got up this morning we were running to avoid them. It was pretty nice trail in the morning, but we came into some areas that were burned a few years ago. Combined with the crazy winter, it left an insane about of trees down, not to mention even more branches. At times the trail could be difficult to find under the mess. Other times new trails braided around the obstacles. Plenty of times we had no choice but to just climb over. We even had some snow to contend with, just to add to the challenge.
On another frustrating note, there are some long stretches between water. Today we had to bushwhack a half mile off the trail through a burned mess to get water, the last source for 14 miles.
In the evening, everything started smelling of smoke and we could see that a fire is burning in the distance. It seems that it started today, the skies were clear until tonight. We hiked 25 miles today and are officially within the boundaries of Crater Lake National Park. Tomorrow morning we’ll get to the campground and amenities, not to mention go see the rim.
There are over 20 wildfires burning in B.C. Which is what you are seeing. We have haze here too. Gonna get hot today and tomorrow so stay hydrated!