We were standing on the caldera rim when the man approached us. 

“How far are you going?” he asked. 

He was smoking a cigarette and wearing black Nike training shoes and jeans, with a scarf wrapped around his neck. Three others in equally casual attire enjoyed their moment in flavor country. We, on the other hand, were dressed head-to-toe in technical wear with high-volume backcountry packs and a pair of hip-strapped pulk sleds loaded down with camping gear. 

“All the way around, hopefully,” I replied.

Hopefully, because a weather system was approaching. But from here, on the south end of the lake at Oregon’s hundred-year-old Crater Lake Lodge and Rim Village, it didn’t look too far. Hopefully…

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