Day 29, Tuesday, July 28. Diamond Lake Lodge, TM 805.3—(8.3 miles)

Sassy decided she would get up at 6 which means on the trail by 8. Something very unusual occurred with the execution of this plan, it almost worked. In fact, Bunny and I followed protocol and started getting ready 30 minutes after she told Bear she was going to kill him if he didn’t stop moving around. The biggest hinderance to the success of the plan was Bear. He couldn’t accept defeat. He even resorted to undoing my pack when I declared victory after he had prematurely declared victory when Sassy’s pack was clearly open. I offered a hollow concession by declaring a tie when it was apparent to all parties they had lost the preparation time contest. 

In the end, we were on the trail by 8:07 after I called for hiking formation. Bear has proven to be a very consistent leader and I’ve been demoted to designated survivor (or cougar bait) by being placed in the end of the line. I’ve been assured, and have personally confirmed, that my line placement has nothing to do with the amount of farting I did in the lead position. I have validated this by the dubious odors and sudden noises which happen quite consistently in front of me. 

It was a perfect day of hiking weather and an easy trail. The first mile was an easy uphill which afforded us great views of Mt Thielsen above us, Diamond Peak behind us, and Diamond Lake below us. We saw very few other hikers out on the trail. We did talk to one girl that had climbed to the top of Mt Thielsen, which we half heartedly considered doing, until we zoomed into the top of the peak and saw the scree fields we’d have to cross. 

We did meet a group of three girls, Mowana, Homestyle Turkey Dinner, and Kermit, who had just left Diamond Lake Lodge and told us it was great to hikers and getting a hitch in was easy (exactly what we wanted to hear). We told them about Thielsen Creek (where they planned to stop for lunch) as well as the water situation they were facing for the next 30 miles, or so. They had already been forced to do a couple of 20 mile water carries (what we didn’t want to hear) and they were hoping long water carries were about over for them. 

Somehow we got on the subject of music again with a little over 3 miles to go. Bear put on Sir Elton John, “Burn Down the Mission” and he and I got into a groove. Sassy and Bunny tried calling me “mayonnaise” because my movements to the music were supposedly “so white.”  Bear came to my defense with Weird Al Yankovich “White and Nerdy” which only seemed to play into their hands. At any rate, while we were listening to Sir Elton, we managed to cover a couple of miles in about 35 minutes. I’ll settle for “White and Nerdy and Fast.”

The girls had told us to call the lodge if we had trouble getting a hitch and they’d probably send someone to pick us up. We didn’t have to, though, because Zachary stopped and picked us up in less than 15 minutes of trying. Zachary is 24 and from Texas. He has a fantastic story of his own. 

Because of Covid, Zach’s trip to Germany that he had planned for this year got cancelled. He was bored and decided to drive up to see the Grand Canyon. He was amazed at its grandeur and beauty. After the trip he went back home and to work. The next time off he had, he drove up to a Rocky Mountain National Park and climbed several peaks. While there, his boss called him and told him to come back to work. Zach said “I don’t think so.” He had decided that rather than go discover Germany, he needed to discover America first. He had been saving money for years and decided that now was the time. He got a rental car and started crisscrossing the country visiting all of the National Parks. Over the last couple of months, he has hit all but Crater Lake and the 8 NPs in California. When he gets these 9 parks done, it’s off to Hawaii and Alaska for the rest. 

Zach was originally going to give us a ride down to the turn to Crater Lake, but when we started talking about his adventures and ours, he decided he’d take us all the way to the lodge. We had a great time meeting this young guy. We are very lucky to be able to meet people like Zachary and hear about their adventures. He’s only 24 but is already off to a great start in having a lifetime of adventures. It’s sad more people aren’t more open to new ideas and places. 

We headed into Diamond Lake Lodge to register. I went to the counter and the first person I talked to was Reggie. He asked if we were hikers and when we said we were, he told us he’d take us back to the trail tomorrow when he got off work. We were already set for a return before we even got checked in. We dropped our packs in our rooms before heading into the restaurant for some lunch. First round of town food is designated greasy food—either burgers or pizza. We walked into the restaurant and apologized for our smell (4 days of high temperature hiking). The waitresses all said “no worries. We love hikers.”

After eating, we checked out the grocery store (a little pricey but adequate) and the laundry. We all retired to our rooms to shower. As per custom, I am the designated laundress in town. Once a Bunny had her clothes off, I asked if I could do the shopping knowing that she had no choice but allow it. I took her suggestions and agreed to abide by them, but I also know Bunny is more of an impulse buyer in a store. As a reward for her allowing me to go, I bought her some M&Ms with peanuts which I’ll dole out on those days she’s particularly good.

The afternoon flew by fast and we soon found ourselves back at the restaurant for supper. When we walked out of our room, the sky was almost black. We chose to sit inside even though there were so many people already seated outside. We wondered what they thought was going to happen. We could already see rain on the opposite side of the lake, but boats were still out, people were swimming, and others were just sitting in the grass. We could see the storm moving towards us. There was even lightening, but no one was getting out or off of the lake. 

It looked like the lake was boiling about a quarter mile out. It was obvious that there was hail with the rain. One woman asked our waiter if hail hurt. Duh. A few minutes later, she rushed into the restaurant with her husband bleeding from being hit. When the hail really started coming down, people tried to get under trees for protection, but it was too late. They all ended up inside the restaurant waiting for the storm to blow over. It was the best dinner show I’ve ever seen, and it was free! 

EFG