Crater Lake.

Well, I sorta went along for the ride but actually got a few hours of cross country skiing in, and the good news is that I can with the boots that have the pivot bar on the front. Technology has come a looong way, but I ended up using my trusty Raimer poles since the ones Ed graciously lent me postholed too easily. However the boots and skis he lent me kicked ass.

Speaking of kicking ass, Ed managed to circumnavigate Crater late in 23 hours 32 minutes, 12 of those hours were camping. So, fantastic time. Considering his bivouac on the opposite side of the late was punctuated by a late winter storm overnight Friday/Saturday, he had a lot of pluck to continue on the next 2/3rds overall distance. Fortuantely the weather was going to clear and I had the happy occasion to radio him the good news at around 7 Sat. morning. I had camped down at the Sno-park next to the Huckleberry campground entrance the night before, and the morning rain/mix snow drops on the truck didn't bode well. Brian was home so I managed ot get a cell call to him to get online and check the weather. Thanks Brian! I met up with Ed on the

east end of the loop just a mile in early Sunday afternoon.

The scenery was awesome, both there and on the trip there and back. Oregon is the most beautiful place in the world. When we came back it was dusk and we took the Brooks exit and the wine country and small towns and scenery were second to none. I don't know why I liked it so much, but it was a great trip overall.

Here's a pic of Ed getting his stuff ready to go, and a crude panorama. My friend Leslie Baird is going to stitch the photos together PROFESSIONALLY, and you'll see the awesome difference. In a few days.