We’d grown used to the isolation that came with hiking through Northern California and Oregon. The trail was ours. Empty and vast.

Oregon was characterised by endless forests draped over conical volcanoes, calderas and lava fields. We walked under a blanket canopy of green or through the husky remnants of a burn scar. Often we’d summit some higher land only to see a limitless continuation of the landscape we’d been immersed in. Volcanic peaks punctuated the horizon.

And then was Crater Lake. Sunk into the land the enormity of the crater was matched only by the depth of blue within. Gem-like, tarnished only by the swarms of humans polluting the rim. A hidden treasure unearthed and displayed. It was nature marketed to the masses.

Onwards to Canada.