Got moving at 6 and went straight to Big Lake Youth Camp to pick up my box. Had to go through some annoying volcanic rocks that killed my feet. Made it there by 11:30 and they were very hiker friendly. I also had my final pair of shoes sent there. They should last me the final 650 miles. 

I immediately jumped in the shower and did laundry. Had mosquito guts all over me along with the blood. Gross. Felt amazing to be clean. They had lunch at 1PM so I got on that as well. Had a sandwich with chips, brownies and carrots. Felt good to eat something heathy, kind of. The great thing is that they do all this for only a donation, pretty incredible since most places would charge for shower, laundry, food and packages. 
Got back on trail at 3PM. I hiked until 5 when I stopped to take a piss. Took out my phone to see where I was and I was exactly at mile 2000, what are the odds? I was surprised there wasn’t a marking on the ground. I remember hitting 1000 like it was yesterday. It was the day I went into North KM. 
I ended up pushing until 9PM. I’m going to try and get Oregon over with ASAP. 

Got moving a little after six. Bugs were bad from the start. I wore my rain jacket, head net and even gloves for the first half of the day. These mosquitos are relentless. It got better though, when I got to the Elk Lake Resort junction at 11 the mosquitos just vanished. I couldn’t believe. I definitely took the opportunity to sit down and take a break. I also had amazing cell reception there so I updated my blog and surfed the web. 

Sonic came up from Elk Lake while I was breaking. Turns out she did a 50+ mile day and got ahead of me. She hadn’t done any miles at that point so she took off. It was incredible to hike with no mosquitos finally. I guess they were right about it getting better after Elk Lake. However, I heard they’ll come back later on. Oh well. 
My goal was to hit a flat 40 and find a tent spot. The trail was pretty easy but had some small climbs at the end. Finished the day at 8:45 when I walked by a small lake. There’s other non thru hikers here as well. It was great to be able to set up camp without the bugs. I even got to sit down and eat my usual dinner. Also didn’t have to murder a dozen mosquitos in my tent. 
I only have about 15 to Big Lake tomorrow. I should be there by lunch time, I heard there’s no store so I hope the food is good. Also can’t wait to shower and do laundry

Actually slept pretty good last night. Got up at 5:30 and the mosquitos were already waiting. Got moving a little before 6. At 6:30 I got to the Shelter Cove junction. The side trail only took about 25 minutes. I got there right as the store opened at 7, good timing. I plug my phone into the worlds slowest outlet and pick up my box. It’s weird seeing the things I bought months ago. I pigged out of course but not as much as I normally do. They had wifi there but it was pretty slow. 

I got back onto the trail by 9:30 so I only missed about three hours of hiking. I drank more water than I normally do today, I was just really thirsty for some reason. It wasn’t even that hot out. At 5:30 the mosquitos from hell came back up. I bought a $3 head net at the store so that came in clutch. Had to throw my rain jacket on so now the bugs only go after my hands, which is still annoying. I have gloves that I will keep ready to go starting tomorrow.
I called it a day at 8:45. Set up my tent and skipped my normal dinner again because of the mosquitos. Instead I eat two tuna packets, spoonfuls of peanut butter and some trail mix I found in a hiker box. Still a good amount of calories. 
I hop in my tent and of course a ton of mosquitos make it in too. I spend about 15 minutes killing them all and throwing them out. This is becoming routine. I am getting these raw/tender red spots on my feet again. This usually happens when I hike big days or all day. Hiking on it isn’t bad but when the shoes come off it hurts like hell. I hope it gets better, I really want to get out of Oregon. 
Rumor has it that the mosquitos die down after Elk Lake which is around 13 miles from me. I hope it’s true but I don’t see it happening. Gonna try and do a big day tomorrow so the following day is shorter going into Big Lake Youth Camp. 

I. Fucking. Hate. Mosquitos. 

From 2PM until I stopped around 8:40 I was devoured by mosquitos. At 3PM I put on my rain jacket and wore it the rest of the day. It made me sweat like a hog but it was worth it. Around 6 I got to some water finally. When I left my head felt like I got out of a boxing match against Mike Tyson. 
I didn’t even bother to eat dinner. I just set up my tent and hopped in. And it doesn’t matter how fast you go in because at least a dozen mosquitos will find their way in with you. I spend about 15 minutes killing them. There’s also blood all over my pants. Whenever I kill one that has blood in it I always wipe it on my pants. 
Being from Maine I’ve seen some really bad bugs but I have to admit that Oregon has been way worse. It’s driving me nuts. 

Couldn’t sleep last night. Stomach was aching really bad for some reason. Fell asleep around 2AM and woke up at 5:30. There was a warm restroom so I definitely took advantage of that. Got back to the trail at 6:30 and about a mile or so in took the side trail to Crater Lake. Got to a cafe/store there but it didn’t open until 9AM. Oh well, saved me some money. 
Sonic and I started walking the Rim Trail at around 8:20 and the view was awesome. This is the best side trip off the PCT so far. I’ve seen so many pictures of Crater Lake so it was weird to finally see it for myself. Taking photos of it didn’t even do it justice. I wonder what it was like 7,700 years ago when that mountain collapsed on itself, must have been deafening. 
Anyways, I didn’t really do 40 miles today. The rim trail cuts off about 4-5 miles of the PCT. Well worth it though. Got to camp at exactly 8PM, I was thinking about pushing more but whatever. These mosquitos are driving me nuts though. Swarms and swarms. I really hope this doesn’t keep up or I’m going to lose my mind. 

Got moving a little before six. Mosquitos weren’t as bad as the night before but they were out. To make matters worse I really had to shit. After about an hour I got above tree line where there were no bugs. I immediately hopped off trail and took care of business. If anyone saw what came out of me they would have mistaken it for bear shit. 

Anyways, I hauled ass 32.3 miles and got to the side trail by 5:25, made great time. Side trail took about twenty and I was at the store. It was much better stocked than what I was told so I regret sending a package there. I had too much food so I gave some away to hikers that needed some. They saved money, I saved weight. I still have extra though. 
I of course start pigging out on soda, chips, ice cream and had some canned spaghetti for dinner. They had a microwave so might as well try something different. There was a restaurant but I heard bad things about it. I charged my phone, brushed my teeth and back flushed my Sawyer while I was there. I ended up melting my PB jar in the microwave, I thought it would be fine. Kinda pissed me off to be honest. I had to buy an $8 jar of Folgers coffee and dump out all the coffee to just use the jar to eat. 
I also found out you can’t camp in the Crater Lake NP or risk a $500 fine. Kind of ruined my plan to get back to the trail. I decide to just camp at Mazama. I’m doing the rim trail tomorrow where I’ll miss about 5 miles of the PCT so I guess doing an extra mile back to the trail in the morning won’t be bad. 

Got moving by six. Slept okay last night. The ZLite mat definitely isn’t as comfortable as the NeoAir, I hope I get used to it. 

Terrain was pretty easy today, pretty much zero elevation gain. Had some annoying rocks to deal with though. Took a long break from 1:30 to 2:15. After that is where the day started to go downhill. 
The mosquitos started to come out around 3. Not bad at first. But from around 5:30 and on it was ridiculous. You won’t truly know what I’m talking about unless you were here. My entire upper body and head are swollen. I hiked the last hour and a half with my rain jacket on. I actually called it a somewhat early day a few minutes before 8PM because I just couldn’t take it anymore. 
Setting up camp and eating was intense. As soon as you stop moving over a hundred mosquitos would swarm you. It was ridiculous. It reminded me of the AT in Maine. I had to walk back and forth just to eat. I wanted to take a picture to show you but I just wanted to get in my tent. 
I don’t know how but there were dozens of mosquitos in my tent when I got in. I didn’t leave it open and there are no holes. I spent ten minutes clapping them to death, blood got everywhere. Just typing this right now the buzzing of them flying around my tent is almost deafening, not kidding. Really hoping it’s not like this ever again. 

Got up at 6:30 and went to the cafe again for my third and final breakfast there. Back in the room I showered for the final time, I think it was my seventh. Lint picked me up at 7:40ish and I was back on trail at 8AM. I’ll pretty much get to do a full day of hiking which is nice. I felt really refreshed after two and a half days off, won’t last long though.

The trail was incredibly easy to walk. I hope the rest of the way is like this. I’ll probably have too much food for all of Oregon since I’m doing boxes. Guess that means I can eat more. Did not expect to do almost 35 miles today, if I hiked a full day it would have been 40+.
Found a good camp spot at 8:15. I’m going to go back to hiking normal hours, I really pushed it the last few hundred going into Ashland. I normally like to get moving no later than 6AM and take the first good camp spot after 8PM. 
I kind of miss Ashland, I was there for so long. Not gonna lie, I kind of can’t wait to be done with the trail. Should only take about another month. Hoping to cruise through Oregon. 
Probably won’t be able to sleep tonight since I’ve stayed up until midnight the past three nights

Woke up at 8 and headed over to the cafe for breakfast. It was there that I convinced myself to take another zero. Just did not feel like hiking. I figured I was still ahead of schedule since I skipped my resupply package at Drakesbad and Ashland is the last big town on the trail. And if I stayed another night Sonic would catch up to me and Lint would be able to give me a lift back to trail in the morning which would eliminate hitching or a cab. Unless I get some kind of serious injury I’m definitely not taking another zero the rest of the trail. 

Anyways, went to the post office to send stuff home and shipped out three boxes up the trail. From there I bought and ate another pint of B&J. I’ve found that the “Phish Food” one is my favorite. I first had it at Kennedy Meadows and got it anywhere it was sold afterwards. I recommend it if you like B&J. 
Back in the room I just watched TV and took a little nap. Normally, I have hiker chores to do but since this is my second zero I can just chill out. Sonic got into town around 3:45. Haven’t seen her since Sierra City which was around mile 1,195. We went to a Chinese restaurant around 8PM. I didn’t feel that hungry but I still destroyed my combo plate and bought more ice cream on the way back. 
Took another shower when I got back to the room and just watched TV the rest of the night

Today was my first and probably only day where I woke up in bed and knew I won’t be hiking any miles, it was a great feeling. Woke up at 8:30 and got some breakfast at a cafe next to the motel. From there I went to the Shop ‘n Kart to resupply. They had by far the best selection or protein/energy bars I’ve ever seen. I bought 115 bars among other things for four resupplies, cost about $300. 

On a side note, thru hiking makes you realize how fucked up this country is. When I’m on trail I have no connection to the outside world so whenever I go into town I find out something stupid has happened in the US again. First it was the shootings in Orlando, then the killings of two black people by officers, then riots all over the country, then the Dallas shootings and now I’ve been watching the news all day following another shooting in Louisiana. 
At around 4 I went to Rite Aid and bought some more junk food, another pint of B&J, BBQ Fritos, dried mangos and another Monster. On my way out I saw a bag of Epsom salt for only four bucks so I grabbed one. I got back to the room and took out the liners in two trash cans and put some warm water in there along with the salt. Put my feet in there, ate the ice cream and watched more TV. Went back to the cafe at 7:30 and got a burger and fries. Kind of wish this zero day would never end. Time goes by fast when you’re not hiking. 
The post office opens at 9AM tomorrow so I guess I can sleep in a bit. Not sure how I’m getting back on the trail tomorrow, seems like it might be a tough hitch around here. Lint is shuttling the other hikers out early tomorrow but I can’t do that since I need to send some boxes, sucks getting into town on a Saturday and zeroing Sunday but that’s how it worked out. I didn’t really want to head out early anyways, I like to milk out my rest for as long as possible, especially since I probably won’t zero for the rest of the trail.