Thursday, July 19, 2018 – 11.60 miles

I reached Elk Lake Resort around noon today. I had sent a package there and was considering taking a nero by staying overnight, but the crowds of tourists and absence of other hikers changed my mind.

I ate an expensive hamburger and root beer float, was finally able to buy new hand sanitizer and did so before discovering that I had sent hand sanitizer in my resupply package, repacked my food bag while a loud tourist made obnoxious comments in the background, and returned to the store to finally find another hiker there. I asked the owner whether she wanted the plastic tote that I had packed my resupply in. The other hiker asked why I had used a plastic tote, and I explained that Elk Lake Resort recommended doing so as a precaution against rodents. The owner chimed in with some general comments about how rodents ‘like chocolate and other things that hikers eat’. Wait, have any rodents actually damaged packages…? Is this a ploy to get free plastic totes? I must also add that while Crow says in her guide that she’s resupplied three times out of the store, it had only candy and small snacks. Definitely not a great location for resupply.

I hiked out in the afternoon, making camp a short distance past Sisters Mirror Lake. I seem to have entered a more popular area since there are established trails signed as ‘User trail, not maintained’. Nice albeit distant views of the Sisters, which are the third, fourth and fifth highest mountains in Oregon.