[pct-l] Oregon - Crater Lake, Olallie Lake, Timberline Lodge

[Dennis Keis]

I dropped my partner and her friend at Green Springs Summit (Hwy 66) 
near Ashland on Monday. They are hiking all of Oregon. Temperature 
was 90 degrees. On my way home I proceeded to drop their food 
resupply boxes at Crater Lake's Mazama Village, Shady Cove Resort on 
Odell Lake, Olallie Lake Resort, and Timberline Lodge.

Between Crater Lake Lodge and the last viewpoint of the lake from the 
West Rim Road the trail has a lot of deep, 4+ feet deep snow patches 
where it is close to the West Rim Road, with vertical dropoffs at the 
end of each patch, so perhaps walking the road might be necessary.

There was no water cache at the usual spot just north of Crater Lake 
where the trail crosses Hwy 138. Maybe the angels are waiting for the 
herd to arrive.

The fellow at the Olallie Lake store said EVERY SOBO hiker has 
returned to the lake, NOT ONE has yet made it past about 10 - 12 
miles south of Olallie, due to deep snow. All returned to Olallie. He 
said even those with good navigational skills and GPS could not keep 
on the trail. It seems that when the front of the herd gets there 
they might encounter snow. However at Olallie on Tuesday the 
temperature at 7:00 am was 58 degrees, so melting must be happening. 
There was no snow at the lake itself, but lots of bugs.

Olallie Lake Resort no longer accepts mailed boxes, but will accept 
those driven in. Quite a drive, an extremely rugged last 8 miles of 
dirt and rock track, though the resort claims the USFS is about to 
send in a grader since the resort now manages all the USFS 
campgrounds in the area.

Very little snow around Timberline Lodge, the temperature there at 
2:00 pm was 75 degrees.