Portland, OR
Elevation: 50ft.

I t’s hard to believe that its been nearly half a year since I set off on this journey out west. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was watching Virginia shrink away in my rear view mirror through the tangles of my belongings piled high. At the same time, looking back through the things I’ve experienced, the people I’ve met and the things that I’ve learned - it feels like it’s been years. There have been times where I have found myself suddenly tripping through my thoughts. Daydreams so abrupt and deep realizing just how drastically I have changed, how far I am from home. It’s as if my mind has been taking in so many new things, so many good, so many bad and all so sudden and real that it’s starting to trickle into my soul. A level, I suppose, deeper than the head or the heart. Or is it a combination? An all encompassing body of what you are. I certainly have made it a point to make the most bang out of my buck this summer, to say the least. I managed to fit in three field jobs, three iconic cities, two national parks (one three times and the other twice), most of Oregon and its coast, an unhealthy amount of craft beers and ice cream and of course a handful of new friends. The latter holds the most weight. Through my work I have met good people, amazing people. And through them I have met others. I have adventured into new places with people I have known for less than a day and it is that ernest spontaneity that so characterizes this place that I hold dear to me and owe so much of my change to. I left the east with a heavy heart and heavier associations. It only takes a few tragedies to snuff out a person’s light - you can’t bounce back from everything. But it can take an equally few amount of real moments to bring you back. It’s not just the open roads or the sunsets and sunrises or the looming mountains and bottomless lakes it’s the everything in between it’s the cold mountain mornings and chilly night laughters it’s the sound of boiling water and the smell of rain on the earth. It is following your friends instead of paths into the woods and it is learning that we are all part of a world much larger, older and wiser than us. If you found me last year and told me that things were going to be ok, that it was going to be the simple sound of hot coffee from a stranger pouring into my dirty cup that would rip me out of the dark waters drowning me and into the world again - I wouldn’t believe you. There is an inherent goodness in the strangers and people that we meet, if we give them a chance, and it is something that I have come to appreciate more than anything. And it is the bridge that we create to ones that we want to hold onto that I have been pouring myself into. There isn’t anything we can’t learn from others, especially forgiving oneself. I swore to myself that I was going to make a new life out here but more importantly that it wouldn’t simply be a different life. I was going to make myself a better more wholesome person and after this summer I feel like I have come much closer to that goal. The trick is that there isn’t a finish line. I learned that you just keep learning. That there isn’t a limit to how good you can be to yourself or to people and that there is always going to be someone who’s offended. But being ernest and open is always better than being right. That all being said…I had an absolute blast!

To ring in the next chapter I spent the weekend exploring Crater Lake with my old SCBI friend, Erin Morrison and her friends Jordan and Charlotte. Following a dark and winding forest road I drove deeper into the country in search of the mysterious campground they were camped at. Between the pictures she texted me, my map and my GPS I managed to roll into the dusty clearing Friday night. As I adjusted Rhyhorn to face towards the exit I made an awkward 5 point turn without a doubt sketching out the three as they sat around a campfire huddled in the dark. Erin and Jordan were members of a crew doing marten research out of OSU (coincidentally one that I have applied to) and Charlotte was working on her masters studying small mammals. Right off the bat I could tell this was a fun group. We planned starting the next morning relatively early, doing a few hikes and then catching the sunset over the lake. It felt good to be on the road again but a part of me missed my crew and my work. Hearing the three talk about their field work and past experiences made me excited for the next step - it’s all uphill from here. Setting up Rhyhorn for bed I was grateful for the cold night air. Fall was here and I didn’t miss the heat of the summer one bit. What was once an oven to sleep in was now a cozy cave.

It was nice to be back at Crater Lake. Driving towards it’s looming ridge I was reminded of the coolness of it’s water and the magnificent views I was able to see at the tops of it’s lookouts. It was much windier and colder than when I had come earlier this summer turning our hikes into a hilarious balance of wearing our layers and carrying them in our hands. Our first stop was the Cleetwood Trail, a winding hike down to the water. During our hike down I got to know the girls better and I couldn’t get enough of Charlotte’s adventures. She hails from Sweden (a purebred you know) and has spent many years traveling both for work and for fun. I picked her brain on what countries in Southeast Asia she enjoyed the most, how she travelled through India and Nepal and what kinds of jobs she had done in the past. For someone around my age she was incredibly worldly and I have to admit I was rather inspired. I have been aggressively tackling my west coast checklist ever since I got here but my eyes are trained northwards now (think Canada, Alaska and the Arctic Circle). I still have a lot of the continental North America to travel with Rhyhorn before I do much international travel but it was certainly a treat to meet someone also chasing their wanderlust. Reaching the bottom of the rim I soaked my feet in the cold cold water and we took a breather. It was wasn’t long until we starting talking about the small mammals that live in the park and it wasn’t much longer after that that a Pika appeared! It was a funny coincidence because we were just talking about Pika research and suddenly we were carefully combing the rocky shore trying to corner it for a photo. People come for the water, we came for the Pokémon.

Driving along Rim Drive to the next hike I couldn’t help but get the feeling I was on a beautiful highway. Our mission was the Mt. Scott Trail a long and steep hike up to the highest point in the park. But first it was lunch time which, for the girls, meant tiny cups of instant soup. I thought it was cute and hilarious how small they were and also impressed that they could work off of so little. Hiking up we talked more about work and travel and I relished in meeting these new people. It’s like the world has forgotten the value of a good story. Something that held great weight back in the day and now people just don’t care anymore. Meeting new people is like learning new stories and I cherish that.

The rest of the day was decently spent searching for a third hike and realizing that a lot of the park was already closed for the winter (this was the last weekend of the summer season). A few turnarounds later we settled on making dinner and catching the sunset over the lake. Gathered and shivering around a dying jetboil I couldn’t help but feel like we were in a realistic REI commercial. Rather than the glorified pictures of beautiful people swathed in down jackets and trendy cooking gear it was four people shivering, hungry and dirty chasing sunbeams to stand in and I loved it.

The wind was so cold and strong at the top of Cloudcap Overlook we gathered in Erin’s Mazda 2 aka Tenacious Tink to eat our noodles while waiting for the sun to set. But once that sun began to set oh it began to set. I can’t say I have ever seen a more beautiful sunset. Dipping closer and closer to the western rim the sun cast a million shadows across the rippling, blue water. The whole sky seemed to converge on the edge of the rim as the red-orange eye of the day closed shut.

The trip and all that it held seemed like a perfect ending to a good chapter of my life. I’m excited for what’s next and am open and ready for whatever it may be. Thank you all for always reading and being here with me, as always I miss and love you all!

Chris