I dropped the “west coast” part in the title because at this point we aren’t really on the west coast anymore. Also cause I didn’t really wanna type it out again.

Day four: Crater Lake

We woke up bright and early to the sun on our faces, and adventure in our hearts.

We packed up our campsite and loaded everything in the car. We picked out some places on the map that we wanted to see, starting with Phantom Ship Overlook.

Quick note, the trails at Crater Lake are NOT pet friendly. Moose is a service dog so he was allowed to come along, but I just wanted to get this out there so no one is disappointed if they try to bring their furry friend on the trails and get told no.

So onto Phantom Ship.

It isn’t what we expected but it was still great. There’s a loop hike to the viewpoints from the parking area.

And it’s a pretty light hike.

The Phantom Ship is a rock formation in the lake that apparently can look like a ship from the right angles. Mahala thought it was gonna be a literal ship. Yeah, that whole thing about it not being what we expected.

It was really smokey while we were there due to the wildfires but I almost feel like it added to the experience. It was sorta mysterious, you know?

This day was my absolute favorite of the trip. My only other regret is not spending two nights at Crater Lake so we could see more. We felt high we were having such a great time. It was really dry and dusty there so we were just covered in dirt (the reason this series was called Dirty Girls):

And we felt so relaxed. I probably had the least anxiety that day of the trip than I’ve had in recent history. Living on granola bars and sleeping outside.

After Phatom Ship, we headed towards The Pinnacles. So, I feel like I should add this next part cause I thought it was interesting. The signs at the trailhead were describing how The Pinnacles were formed and it goes like this: volcanic ash filled the valley, and air vents formed that let out steam. The steam hardened parts of the ash. The softer ash was washed away over time leaving The Pinnacles behind. That’s probably not exactly right but you get this gist.

Now these things were amazing. I was in love with this trail. If you ever go to Crater Lake it is mandatory that you go see these. It’s worth it and the hike is totally flat and as easy as walking down the sidewalk.

Reading the signs about how the Pinnacles were formed blew my mind. In the grand scheme of things, Crater Lake and The Pinnacles are young. Only a few hundred years old if I remember right. Who knows what spectacles will form not even one hundred years after I’m gone. Who knows what spectacles were around a hundred years before parts of the world were discovered that we barely missed before some natural disaster covered it up. I feel so lucky to be around at the same time Crater Lake is.

So at this point Mahala and I went back to the campground to shower and get t-shirts and magnets before we ventured off. I just wish we had stopped and hiked a bit of the PCT.

The campground we stayed at was at the south-west part of the lake, and the trails we hiked were along the east rim. We drove the west rim out so we were lucky to get to see a lot of the lake.

That lovely chunk of land in Crater Lake is Wizard Island. You can take a boat to it and hike the island but the hike to the docks is extreme and the tour costs an arm and a leg. Full disclosure.

We meandered out of the park and make our way home. I wish there was an exciting way to end this story, but it was basically just a very long drive home at that point.

Mahala and I went into this trip thinking we would hate each other by the end, but it actually brought us a lot closer together as friends. For those of you who don’t know, Mahala and I met our freshman year of high school on our cheer team. We never really spent a whole lot of time together outside of cheer and school so Mahala surprised me in a lot of ways on this trip. We hope to maybe be posting a story of us hiking the Pacific Crest Trail together someday!

My whole point in writing this series wasn’t to just tell the story of this trip. If there is anyone else reading this who struggles with mental disorders and doesn’t think that they can check off their bucket list, I want to say it isn’t true. If you have a way to save for a trip, just do it. The only thing Mahala and I planned ahead of time was where we were gonna sleep each night. This is coming from someone with severe anxiety/depression and a sensory disorder and a compulsive need to plan. You. Can. Do. It.

Maybe not today, maybe not this year. But you owe it to yourself to find a way to give yourself the gift of losing yourself for just one week.

Happy hiking.