A couple updates from Spaceman Spiff

Hi all-
Sye just sent me a few pages to post which are updates from the past month or so.

8/19/08 North of Crater Lake
I was surprised to find that the CA/OR border may not completely be on an arbitrary line. OR has frogs hopping across the trail, afternoon thunderstorms (our first rain since Wrightwood), no poison ivy on the trail to speak of. There are still those pesky mosquitoes, but as the nights are getting considerably colder, I'm hoping they will disappear. Of course, the days are also getting shorter and I'm noticing our hiking time is diminishing too. But the current six-pack have become quite good at hiking 20 miles after noon!

Alex has been apart from the group for awhile and we're missing our cool factor. And Eric, our leader, has also been gone. Somehow we've managed without them although they are sorely missed. We're calling our current faction the "ginger brews' because there's four of us (sometimes 5) and ginger brews come in 4-packs.

I am surprised I'm still hiking with the group b/c I've become much more of a loner on this walk. But, I think it works because the six pack is made of mostly loners. And, I've deduced, mostly drifters in high school. People who drifted from one social group to another. SO I think we let each other drift in and out of the pack, doing our own thing when we need to, bunching up for the road walks.
Especially with Alex gone (now just barely behind), I thought I'd hike alone, being behind after Seamus' visit. But, Seamus hiked so fast I was barely behind at all and caught the town-dwellers (hikers caught in the overstimulating town life). Seamus visited for maybe 5 days and it was so nice to have his company and share what our every day life is like. A lot of walking. And drinking hot chocolate.

today we passed Crater Lake and it was so beautiful to gaze at it as we walked around the rim part of the way. The lodge has a great breakfast and it's cheaper than the cafe at the Mazama Village restaurant. Also, I talked to the info center rangers, who were super nice, and they contacted someone to bring me a little box our friend Jacqui left for us when she worked here this summer. I left most of it for the 6-pack because I had already re-supplied, but I do love care packages. We alsmot got the 4-lb bag of brown sugar ino Jellybean's bag, but she showed up just in time. So, Jacqui, the brown sugar and couscous didn;t make it with use. But the chocolate sure was yummy.
Still "behind schedule', but should be to the Mt Hood area at the beginning of September and to Canada by the end of September. That's not much longer in the woods! Hoping to see my family at Breitenbush and Portland friends at Hood or Cascade Locks. Anyone who wants to find us and bring the 6-pack drinks and treats at a highway...trail angel work is very rewarding. Hikers are incredibly excited to see small yummy & refreshing items! And, we aren't a bad group to hike with, especially when we're doing the 6-mile half of the day instead of the 20-mile half.