This post originally appeared on The Trek, which you can read here .

If you want to see more from my 2025 PCT thru hike, make sure to check out my Instagram (@annamckinney22) and TikTok (@magicinthemountains) for daily vlogs!

*these posts are coming straight from trail, I apologize in advance for typos!*

Day 111: July 27, 2025

Location: Southern Oregon
Start: South Brown Mountain Shelter – 1764.9
End: Tentsite – 1792.0
Miles: 27.1
Ascent: 3108 | Descent: 2276
Sleep: Tent

Today felt long and mentally hard even if it wasn’t physically that challenging. I woke up tired and had a hard time getting going this morning. We left at 6:30am but were the last people to leave aside from a couple of people out for the weekend. I felt like i was hiking hard and fast this morning, but every time I looked at my phone to see how far we’d gone, it was less than I expected. I thought for sure we’d do 10 by 10 since we left so early, but it was nearly 10:30am before we crossed the 10 mile mark.

Along the way we had hiked through several lava fields. These were basically large boulder fields where the trail had been raised and wove through the fields. They were really cool but made us go a little slower because we were still hiking over small rocks. I also had to dig a cat hole during one of these fields, and there obviously wasn’t any good place to go.

Regardless, we made it across Hwy 140 eventually and stopped just past a bridge at a roaring creek. We stopped to filter water and eat a snack. We didn’t get moving again until around 11am and we decided to do 11 more miles to the next water source to stop and eat a late lunch. In my mind the day would be broken up into three 10ish mile stretches: the first to water, the second to lunch, and the third to camp. We were shooting for Snow Lake which would be a 33 mile day.

The section up until lunch felt really hard for me. Truffles had stopped to dig a cat hole so I got ahead of him and tried to hike hard for several hours to make it to lunch. Again I felt like I was hiking really hard but wasn’t moving all that fast. My pack hurt my shoulders and I tired to prolong stopping except for absolute necessity. When I did stop and take my pack off I tired to stretch and roll out my shoulders as much as possible. I had put my headphones in and was listening to several different podcasts to try and distract myself from my current situation.

A couple miles before Christi’s Spring I ran into Ghost and D&D eating lunch. We all said hi and talked about where we camped the previous night before I pressed on. This section was uphill and felt like it went by faster (maybe I was just bored hiking over flat terrain this morning?). I made it to the spring and was so thankful to arrive! I got water and waited for Truffles, who showed to just a few minutes after I did around 3pm.

We sat and ate and chatted with people as they stopped by. We talked to Ghost and D&D for a while along with another woman who I hadn’t met before. We dilly dallied until it was almost 4:30pm. We were both feeling tired and didn’t want to do the remaining 11 miles to Snow Lake. The downside to this was that I meant we’d have to dry camp, and we’d have a bigger day into Mazana Village tomorrow.

We filled up on water and set off with the vague notion that we’d camp somewhere. We figured setting up early would do us good and allow us to get a little bit more rest. My pack felt extra heavy with 4 liters of water and my premade coffee and cold soaked breakfast weighing it down. The terrain was super flat and easy, but I was still moving slow especially with all the extra water weight in my pack.

We got to the campsite that was 4 miles after water source and decided to go a little bit further. Less than an hour later we were at the next campsite 5.5 miles from the water source. It was around 6:30pm and we decided to call it good.

We set up the tent and quickly got inside to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes. We made dinner and got ready for bed by a whopping 8pm. I hate to have fallen short of our goal, but we still did 27 miles today! It’s funny that 27 doesn’t feel all that impressive or good enough anymore. Given how easy the terrain has been so far I’m disappointed, but mostly just aggravated that we’ll have to work harder tomorrow and get into “town” late. We’re going to get up earlier to account for that, but I know it will still be a long day. Hopefully I’ll feel stronger tomorrow and we won’t get into camp super late.

Day 112: July 28, 2025

Location: Southern Oregon
Start: Tentsite – 1792.0
End: Mazama Village – 1823.3
Miles: 31.3
Ascent: 4522 | Descent: 4663
Sleep: Tent

Big day into “town”! Since we stopped early last night, we had more ground to cover today. We didn’t want to get to the campground super late, so we decided to wake up early. My alarm went off at 4am and we were on trail by 5:30am. Even after going to sleep earlier last night, I was still exhausted and felt sleep deprived.

I was in a very bad mood for the majority of the morning. I was tired, there were still a ton of mosquitoes, and I didn’t want to have to do 30 miles. We had to do some climbing as well so I was hating life for several hours. I also had to stop and dig a cat hole on a ridgeline which was horrible. We’re talking steep slant, too rocky to dig, and very close to the trail. I was not having a good time.

Truffles, at least, was in a better mood than I was. We got signal on one of the ridges and my day instantly got better when I got on Instagram and saw that I had won a giveaway for a Run Bum race! This shifted my mood and I spent the rest of the morning thinking about the ultra marathon I’d get to run for free when we get home instead of sulking in my misery.

On the ridges we had pretty views looking back towards Mount McLaughlin and even Mount Shasta. This continued to improve my mood. We had a descent that took us to a water source where we stopped for a while and talked to Ghost.

There were more ups and downs during the day, but they were all manageable. We got to a large burn scar just outside of the national park and stopped for water. According to FarOut there was a pond up and over a hill, so we went on a quest to find it. It took a while but eventually we were successful and had water for lunch. We found a shady spot in the burn to eat and were impressed that we’d already done 20 miles by 12:30pm.

We took our time enjoying lunch since we were ahead of schedule and were moving again before 2pm. No matter how easy the terrain is, the afternoons always feel like they drag on. Thankfully the hiking was easy and I listened to my book to help the time go by. I was eager to get to “town” and wanted to be there already!

Finally we arrived at the blue blaze that would take us to Mazama Village. We had to walk down the road a bit before getting to the village. There we went in the general store to get some drinks before walking down to the campground. The campground has an area where they let PCT hikers camp for free and have access to the campground amenities (shower and bathrooms). We got the tent set up and then walked down to the bathhouses where we waited in line for a *cold* shower. It felt so good to be semi clean after hiking through all the dusty burn areas!

Once we were clean we found a picnic table and ate dinner with Ducky. There were tons of hikers scattered around the campsite taking advantage of the free camping. Ghost appeared and joined to chat along with Fire Hydrant, D&D, Delicate Flower, Mad Dog, Aww Man, and others. After such a big and long day it was nice to end it in a community setting. All in all it ended up being a good day.

Day 113: July 29, 2025

Location: Southern Oregon
Start: Mazama Village – 1823.3
End: Grouse Hill Campsite – 1840.8
Miles: 17.5
Ascent: 1188 | Descent: 1659
Sleep: Tent

Crater Lake is an amazing place! It felt so good to sleep in this morning, my alarm didn’t go off until 7:30am and I didn’t get moving until around 8. Having access to a bathroom first thing felt so luxurious and I was thankful to be able to brush my teeth and wash my face at a sink. It’s one thing to be able to use a pot toilet, but a bathroom with running water while camping is so nice!

We got packed up and walked up to the store to try and catch the 9am trolly. Most of the other hikers who stayed at the hike and hike campsite were doing the same thing, there were probably 20 hikers milling around outside the store. We waited patiently with Ghost, Delicate Flower, Mad Dog, and Aww Man. When the trolly finally arrived we were near the back of the line to get on. We had read in FarOut that the trolly was free, but as we got closer to the doors we saw people handing over cash. Turns out it was $10 to ride the trolly from Mazama Village to the lodge. We only had $11 between the two of us, so we weren’t able to ride the trolly.

We went in the store to get coffee and ask about cash back in hopes of catching the 10am trolly. The cashier told us they don’t do cash back and there were no ATMs anywhere in the park. That meant our only options would be to either hike on the blue blaze all the way to the lodge, or try our luck at hitching. We decided to try and hitch and walked to the turnoff for the village. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait long before a big van pulled over and we were told to get in.

The duo that picked us up was a mom and her adult son who were touring national parks together each summer. They were from Illinois and very interested in hearing about our hike. They weren’t going all the way to the lodge, but agreed to take us to the ranger station a couple miles up the road. Once at the ranger station we parted ways with the driver and Truffles and I walked back to the road to try for another hitch all the way to the lodge.

We weren’t standing there for more than 5 minutes before a minivan pulled over and a guy jumped out and told us to get in. He and his wife were touring the park with their 3 young boys, all of whom the parents told to get in the back so that we could have space with our packs. The family was from Utah and the parent’s dream is to do the PCT when they retire. We talked about their vacation and our hike as they drove us right up to the front of the lodge. We said goodbye and went inside to see about breakfast. We arrived right at 10am so we had just enough time to order breakfast before they switched over to lunch.

The lodge itself was a super cool historic building. It reminded me a lot of the Grove Park Inn in Asheville. The restaurant was located just off from the lounge, and there were numerous packs pushed up against the walls of the lounge. We knew we were in the right place. We ran into Ghost who was waiting to be seated at his table in the restaurant and invited us to join.

The 3 of us were seated and quickly ordered coffees and the “famous” marionberry stuffed French toast. The food was fine but the company was great! We had so much fun chatting with Ghost and talking about the remaining things we’re looking forward to on trail. We wrapped up breakfast around 11am and went to plug our electronics up in the lounge.

The best part about the lodge was the huge outdoor patio with 20+ rocking chairs facing the lake. The views were stunning and it was the perfect place to sit and relax and take in the lake. We sat outside for a while before the direct sun became too much. We migrated inside where other hikers were also on their phones and charging stuff. It was funny to see hiker trash mixed in with the hotel guests and day hikers. It felt like a clashing of multiple worlds! We sat with Ghost and were joined by D&D. We got drinks from the bar and just hung out for a while.

Around 2pm we decided to finally get moving. We headed out with Ghost and made a pit stop by the visitor center for the water fountain. This is a dry stretch of trail so we each decided to carry 4 liters of water. We walked around some of the displays before shouldering our packs once more set out to begin hiking. We were quickly distracted again by the potential for sodas at the gift shop. We went in for a Coke and ice cream sandwich and ate them in the shade of the building.

As we were finishing our snacks, Squeegee came by to tell us that there was trail magic just off from the parking lot. We quickly packed up and ran down to see what was going on. We saw a car with lawn chairs and several folding tables scattered with food and knew we were in the right place. Snarky Snarkerson and his partner were visiting from Portland to do trail magic. Snarky did the AT in 2009 and set out to do the PCT this year but had to get off trail early because of family stuff. Since he got off trail, he had a ton of resupply boxes that were going to go unused. They loaded those boxes into the car and drove them down to Crater Lake. They had donuts and drinks plus all his resupply boxes we could go through. What absolute angels! We ended up sitting and talking to them for nearly 2 hours and finally left because a storm was threatening to roll in.

At this point it was newly 4:30pm, but we only had about 8 miles to do to get to the campsite. We started hiking along the rim trail right as it began to rain. We took shelter in a grove of trees and passed the time by calling home since we miraculously had signal. Around 5pm we started to hike in earnest. The trail was mostly flat with some steep sections to get up from the road to the top of the rim. The rim trail is true to its name and offers unparalleled views of crater lake as it wraps around the rim.

We tried to hike fast so that we wouldn’t get to camp super late, but also took time to enjoy the sights along the way. At a parking lot we ran into Crusty’s mom which was cool and again just shows what a small world it is. The rain scared off most day hikers so we had the trail mostly to ourselves. The time went by quickly as we slowly traced the outline of the lake before veering off towards the park boundary.

We made it to camp around 8pm and got set up quickly to escape the mosquitoes that were suddenly swarming. Truffles had packed out an entire dozen Krispy Kreme donuts from trail magic, so we got to have donuts for desert after dinner. It was a light day for hiking but felt jammed pack nonetheless. We definitely want to come back to crater lake in the future, it’s a must see national park for sure!