Day 3 of this backpacking adventure was really fun. We got to see some amazing sites and views and we all seemed to have an energy boost today. The best part was we did not have to carry our heavy packs today! Since we were staying at the same camp area for another night, we just left all of our gear at the camp site and hiked with much lighter day packs. This gave all of us a boost and we could hike much faster without all the extra weight. Today we would be hiking to the Crater Late Overlook the pinnacle of our week.
But first, we enjoyed the hike to get there. Our first stop was Big Spring.
This place was literally unbelievable! The water for this giant spring literally came out of the mountain. There was no river or inlet, the water just flowed out of the rocks down into the river below.
To get around the spring we climbed up and around the top of the spring. We could see the waterline where the water was coming out of the mountain and we walked above that on dry land to get to the other side. We were witnessing a miracle of nature. On the other side of the spring we had to do some canyoneering and ravine jumping to get over the river to the trail on the other side but it was definitely a remember-able experience. When we got down to the rest of the group, Dawna told us there was an much easier way just down the trail a bit where all we would have had to do was cross a log. We said, "Oh where's the fun in that!"
Big Springs was such a beautiful area. We could have stayed here and called it a day but we had to keep going to our goal of Crater Lake.
The next part of the trail was through another part of the burn area.
There were more black skeleton trees and more pretty fireweed. The nice thing about it was we could see through the trees pretty clearly just in case of bears.
Next we came to a little peep hole in the rock. I can't remember what it was really called.
Emily and the girls decided to become mountain climbers and climb through the hole. The whole rock formation was made of conglomerate so there were many foot holds making the climbing up pretty easy. Once on top they all posed for a picture. Then it was time to climb down. This was another story. Emily had a hard time coming down because the foot holds were harder to see. At one point she slipped and banged her knee. After some coaching from Shawn and me, she was able to slide down to safety with no harm done.
As we passed the peep hole rock, we walked into this beautiful meadow full of wildflowers and there was Crater Lake!
The Lake was not our final destination though. The top of the mountain above the lake was where we were headed. Emily is pointing to our finish line. We all spent some rest time filling up our water before making the long stretch uphill to the summit. From this point, the trail was straight uphill with lots of switchbacks for a good mile. Before starting we just told everyone to go at their own pace, put our nose to the ground, and just make it up the mountain. There was no group it was just go. The view along the way was pretty awesome. This first picture is from about half way up.
Finally we made it to the top! Wow what a climb but what a view!
We were quite literally on top of the world! We could see for miles around us. To the west you could see the Grand Tetons and that amazing view. To the east the mountains rolled on forever. It was amazing to just look around and see the breathtaking views of this beautiful earth. Below us we could see all of Crater Lake as well as the Teton Wilderness we had just trekked through over the last few days. We could even see our campsite through binoculars. It was astonishing to see how far we had come!
At the top, we all gathered and had lunch together. Dawna even brought us some cheese, crackers, and carrots to share. It was nice to relax on the mountain and just chill. While we were together, we talked about making a mark in our lives and having the integrity and virtue to make the right choices and a lasting mark on those around you. We all signed a pledge and a flag stating that we would be virtuous, and we would stand strong. We had worked hard to get to where we were and we would not let anyone take us down. We posted the flag at the top of the mountain as a symbol of our pledge.
This flag was our banner to those who would come after us that we were strong virtuous women. Posting it at the top was a way for us to look back and see how far we had come and also to look forward to see our potential and how far we can go. It was pretty awesome!
The trek back down the mountain was not as hard as going up except for the first part. During the initial few 100 yards down, there was no trail and we were literally sliding on our butts so that we didn't slide down the hill.
Now there was a better trail (the one we came up) but that would be backtracking. This was the "shortcut" straight down. Always an adventure!
When we made it back down to the lake, we all stopped and hung out on the shore for a while. Nora and Chet made a homemade fishing pole out of a stick and a Mountain Dew bottle and Nora wanted to try it out.
Nora tried casting over and over again and was doing a great job of it considering the homemade pole but sadly she did not catch anything. We all watched her for a while and then we walked around the lake for a minute. Chet and Casey had packed their fishing poles and were excited to go fishing on the other side of the lake. They told all of us they would bring home enough fish for us to have a fish fry tonight. We were all excited about that! Nora stayed behind to go fishing with them and her pole while the rest of us started hiking back to camp. While fishing, Chet tried out the homemade pole and was able to get a fish to nibble but was unable to reel it in. Luckily they had real poles and were able to bring home quite a few fish for us.
On the way back, it started raining on us. We pulled out our rain jackets and continued to trek on. We hiked passed the peep hole rock, through the burned area, and back to Big Springs. The girls I was with wanted to get back to camp as fast as possible for some reason so we ended up trail running most of the way. Thankfully it was downhill so I could keep up.
When we got to Big Springs, instead of climbing around the Spring, we found the easier path across a log.
We all made it across safely. Then, when Lauren crossed, her water bottle slipped out and fell into the rushing river below! We followed it down for a ways hoping it would snag on a bush or something but it was a goner. We felt so bad! Luckily she did have an extra water container back at the camp so she would be okay for the rest of the week.
Back at camp, we all sat around the campfire getting warmed up from being in the rain hiking back. A few of girls were muddy and needed their shoes dried out.
While helping set up a rain cover over our cooking area, I got whacked in the eye with a willow branch. It hurt so bad and I could not see for a while. My vision was blurred so bad that I had to put a ton of drops in it and go in the tent and close my eyes for about an hour before I could see enough to function. I was so worried that I had messed up my Lasik surgery because it seemed like I had scratched the flap over my eye. While sitting in the tent with my eye closed, I was praying so hard that my eye would be fine and that it would stop raining so we could finish our trip without any more problems. After about an hour, I could see a little better so I knew my prayer had been answered. By the next morning, my eye was much better and I could see again. The predicted rain storm had also cleared in the night and our tents were not wet. Another answered prayer!
Chet and Casey did make good on their promise and brought back fish for everyone. Sadly neither Emily or I had any of the fish. I didn't have any because I was blind and Emily didn't because she was too worried about me. Everyone else said the fish were delicious. We are sad we missed out.
That night we tried to get as much sleep as possible because we would be packing up in the morning and taking on our longest hike yet. Today we hiked 11 miles.
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