Category: 2019 Pacific Crest Trail

Maybe we’re dragging a bit from the number of days we’ve been on the trail. Maybe they’re getting faster getting ready in the morning. Maybe Bunny’s brainwashing me to sleep in. Maybe it’s just total fear to wake Bunny up. Whatever the case is, they did it again. Struggles and Charcoal B beat us out of camp again. Or, we just have to own that we are not true thru hikers and are, gasp, section hikers.

To reduce our lag time behind them on the trail, we chose to skip some necessary steps in packing up and hitting the trail. God forbid, coffee was not one of the steps we skipped. Eating is also required. You can’t skip getting dressed or packing up. The only semi-optional step in getting ready is digging a hole. I was a Boy Scout who went to summer camp. I learned to hold it for up to 6 days at a time. It’s only 32 miles to Manning Park; I’m good to go. Even my sister would hold out for “home field advantage” for up to a few days at a time. When she first got married, she’d come home every day or two to use the same bathroom she had grown accustomed to for the previous 20 years. Once again, Bunny is the weak bowel link.

We had barely traversed our first 2 miles of the day when she started slowing down and complaining about sluggishness today. I braved myself for the imminent stop. I give Bunny credit. When she says she’s gotta go, she doesn’t waste any time. She takes longer to pee than dig a hole and bury it. While I was waiting, I argued with myself for a bit about the prospect of holding out for foreign tariff. I decided there was no time like the present so when Bunny got back, I immediately grabbed the trowel. I made it my goal to be as fast as she. I didn’t even take anything with me to read.

I got down there and discovered a freshly dug hole. Perhaps my wife has finally decided to be nice to me. This helped speed up my process tremendously. I took aim and released. When I was done, I went to throw dirt back in the hole, but saw no evidence of my deed or the accompanying paperwork. It was then that I realized, I had ruined some marmots day. Maybe not today, but sometime, a scared little marmot is going to need his emergency escape route and it’s going to be filled with…let’s just go with filled. Or maybe this is the back door where the little ones have to take the garbage out at night before they can go to bed. Maybe this is why our son was afraid to take the garbage out when he was little—giant poop right outside the back door and we never knew.

It didn’t rain today even though it was cloudy almost all day. We caught up and hiked with Struggles and Charcoal B almost all day. Both of our tents had gotten wet from the overnight rain, so when we stopped for lunch, CB tried to find a sunny spot to dry his out. When I say it didn’t rain today, I merely meant it didn’t rain when Charcoal’s tent was packed away. He rushed to pack it back up at lunch and as soon as he got it put away, the rain stopped. I did my part to hold off the rain by wearing my pack cover all day.

As we got closer to the border, we ran into groups of hikers who were either flipping up to start heading south which requires them to walk the 30 miles from Harts Pass to the monument and back (the USA does not allow hikers to enter from the Canadian side of the border although Canada allows hikers to obtain entry permits into Canada on the PCT). We also ran into several hikers that were finishing up but had not applied for the entry permit to Canada. One of the former group was a young lady whose name rang several bells for us. This was Sassy Pants. We hiked with Sassy and Bear last year on the AT (does anyone seriously need reminding about what to do here?) and with a Canadian, Fancy Pants this year. Ironically, Fancy Pants and Dan did not get permission to enter Canada from the trail even though they are both Canadian citizens.

We also ran into another trio of hikers who flipped up from Northern California so they could make it through WA before an early snow hit. They had taken a few days off because the girl they were hiking with had terrible shin splints. They were taking it easy now, only doing 15 miles a day until she recovered. As we saw her walking around a water stop, I had bad feelings about how successful she’s going to be. Every step looks painful and she needs much more rest, but, possibly her youth and ignorance to how her body works may prevail. (Word to the wise…ignorance only works to youth’s benefit, geriatric hikers like us are always aware of pain and it’s never good for us.)

From looking at our Gut, we can see that today is going to be a harder day than tomorrow, but still not a bad day at all. Today has the most altitude gain so we can call it our last hard day in the US. As we were getting close to the end of the day and starting to think about tomorrow, we received a sign—a rainbow in the valley below us. Even though it wasn’t raining on us, there was some rain behind us. Our biggest concern about tomorrow is just getting across the border before the Canadians finish building the wall they have agreed to pay for.

I also thought of a new rule when hiking in a group. It’s too late to be beneficial to us this year, but this will be most useful when hiking with our old AT tramily through the Sierra next year. Each member of the tramily will be assigned a day where they MUST accept each and every emission of the other members, as their own. This is best for hiking women since most women (my wife excepted) are afraid to fart in anyone’s presence. For example, let’s say Sassy accidentally ingests a bread crumb. From past experience, if she tries to keep the gas in, she will swell up like a Maceys Day Parade balloon. If it’s Good Chip Norris’ emission day, Sassy has the freedom to “let freedom ring” and GCN must claim and accept responsibility (“my bad”) for the sonic boom—even if he’s a half mile ahead (trust me, he’ll be able to hear if it’s a Sassy gluten fart).

As we crossed into the next valley, we could see just one more ridge in front of us. This is the last climb before Canada. We planned on climbing partway up the ridge and camping for the night, if we can find water before then. The trail led across another huge rock slide that allegedly has a seasonal stream in the middle of it. We tried keeping an eye out for it. We couldn’t afford to miss it if we wanted to stop at 12 miles. The camp we are planning to stay at is dry and there’s no more water for another 4 miles after it. CB was leading and found a small trickle beside the trail. We checked our Gut and found out this IS the water source. I was able to use my CNOC bag to collect enough water from the trickle that we all filled up.

Heading up the ridge, we had a choice of a few camps to choose from. We settled on a camp directly across another rock slide where the PCT used to run. The old trail bed could be seen, but it was obvious that it was unstable and had been washed out on multiple times. While we were setting up camp, we heard strange noises coming from the opposite slide area. This is what will be known as “the great marmot/cougar debate of 2019.” There’s a video on YouTube showing a mountain lion making high pitched bird sounds. This is what the other 3 members of our party heard. I heard a marmot calling. We’ll never know for sure. All I know is that I’ve been hearing a cougar everyday of my life for the last 10 years, and she’s never been as high pitched as what we heard on that mountainside.

It was another cold night. I’ll admit that I’m tired of two things on the trail: 1) cold nights, and 2) hearing Bunny complain about the cold nights every day and threatening to quit. We are having gear issues and it’s a bit miserable. If this persists after we make it to Canada and jump back to Oregon, we’ll have to switch out our sleeping system back to our winter setup. Right now we’re camping well above 6000’ and are almost to the Canadian border. In OR, we’ll be 500 miles further south heading south. We will also be camping at lower elevations as well.

As it is, were crawling into all of our clothes, then getting in our liners before getting under our quilts. My two boys are taking the extra precaution of crawling all the way up in my abdomen up to the base of my throat. Between the stretching below and the pressure on my throat, I’m only able to emit high pitched squeals which has everyone else on edge thinking the cougar has come back.

EFG

This is supposed to be the best time to be hiking in Washington. It’s summertime. The bugs are gone. The flowers are at the height of their color (or just slightly past). It’s not raining. So why are my nads trying crawl up into my abdomen every night. What makes it even worse is that the cold kicks my kidneys into high filter mode, causing me to get up multiple times a night. Bunny tried to tell me how to pee and how often to pee. I’ve learned one very valuable lesson from this experience…take no advice on peeing from someone without a prostate.

There were large animal sounds just outside of the tent throughout the night. I had anticipated this possibility so I had taken the necessary precautions—I had stashed the food and garbage on Bunny’s side of the tent. The sound of steps was very unsettling. I shined my light outside several times trying to scare away whatever animal was out there. I only caught Charcoal B one time trying to pee on our tent. Apparently, I hadn’t been as stealthy as I thought when they had a Big Agnes tent. In the morning, we only found deer prints around the area.

I made it a point to be the first out of camp today. I was motivated. I was bloated. I was walking with clenched cheeks. I was in need of relief. There’s a pit latrine in just a couple of miles. My body has a “window of opportunity” to achieve equilibrium and comfort. I’m on a tight window and I want to make it before it closes. I could have dug a hole and gotten immediate relief, but I like a challenge. The challenge was getting Bunny to speed up.

Since it’s a weekend, there were lots of day hikers about. The first we ran into were Donna (aka Judge) and Mike (aka 70s Spirit) who told us about magic they had placed ahead…beer in a cooler at the road. They are section hiking the PCT sobo and are just about finished with WA. We also ran into several NFS rangers and volunteers that were doing a cleanup hike of camping areas down to Rainy Pass. We also talked to a couple from Spokane who began advocating for east WA as a place to settle when we get done hiking.

I normally enjoy talking to fellow hikers, but, I was on a mission. It’s 5.7 miles to a pit latrine, trash can, and picnic table from where we camped last night, and my window does not have a “lock” in the open position. In fact, the window track is slightly loose and I can feel it starting to slide down to the closed position. Trust me, today I am definitely dealing with a double hung window. In reality, I’m very happy the only thing I’m feeling is the window sliding closed and not something sliding down the back of my legs. We need to go. I couldn’t take the time to even look for the free beer. I can’t think of a better indicator of my urgency than that.

Mission accomplished at Hart’s Pass! While we were sitting down for lunch afterwards (hikers shouldn’t smoke, but this was a cigarette moment for me if ever there was one), CB and Struggles showed up. Not too far behind them was another hiker…Judy “Heart Fire.”  Through the course of the conversation, we discovered that Judy is the founder/owner of Light Heart Equipment. Her tent is one of our three finalists for our next tent. We sat and talked Gear with her for a while.

It was a mini reunion at lunch. Travis and Sam showed up. They had gotten a hitch from Mazama and are going to finish tomorrow. Snow Dog and Strider strolled in. They plan on finishing Monday and have no plans, this year, to make up any of the sections they skipped. Judy is also planning on finishing up tomorrow. She has just done the WA section and that’s all she wants to hike of the PCT. The four of us are planning on making it to Manning Park on Tuesday so we can clean up and do laundry before Pete picks us up on Wednesday. If we’re going to be in a confined space with an non-thru hiker, we should at least go easy on his nose. Pete does hike, but he’s more of a comfort day hiker. He likes to de-funk at the end of every day and sleep in a bed. He’s becoming soft in his advanced years.

It continued to be cold without sun after lunch. We did get a short burst of sun, but, for the majority of the afternoon, we had to hike with our rain jackets, hats,  and gloves. There was less 7 miles left after lunch, all of it dry. We were worried about water since we hadn’t run across any all day. When we did finally find some mud on the trail, we chose to hike down, off trail to find enough to filter. It was less than an half mile to camp (which might or might not have water). We chose to play it safe.

My whole morning revolves around a latrine run. Bunny was well aware of my plight (as was everyone we met along the way). We had shot out of camp with neither of us digging holes. We stopped for lunch where there was a nice, clean, peasant smelling privy. Once again, Bunny demurred. Two miles AFTER we left the latrine, Bunny got the urge. I honestly believe she has the heart (and bowels) of a mountain woman.

We arrived at 5:15, set up, and cooked. CB and Struggles showed up at 6. They provided a dinner show while we ate. Charcoal used to be a bartender and one of his regulars was a picky customer by the name of Loraine. With the on and off rain we have endured the last couple of days, we have been humming “I can’t stand the rain,” but now after hearing how Charcoal and his crew had sang the song, I can’t get the ear worm out of my head…🎶“I cant stand Loraine” 🎶

The temperature dropped fast tonight. We tried to stay up until CB and Struggles we’re ready for bed, but my hands never did recover from filtering the water. Washington is almost done. We just need two 12s to make it to the border leaving us an easy 8 on Tuesday. I suggested we try to push for 2 14s and leave a 4 got on Tuesday. The plan was actually voted down 4-0. Even though my hands are cold, it does seem a bit warmer tonight so far but we’re only at 6200’. I tried to fall asleep, but my mind was serenading me 🎶“I cant stand Loraine” 🎶. This must stop. Benadryl has become my “go to.”

EFG

Charcoal B and Struggles take between 3 to 3 1/2 hours to get ready to go every morning. They beat us out of camp today. Let that sink in. It takes Charcoal B and Struggles a minimum of 3 hours to get ready. That’s 180 minutes from the time they wake up until they leave camp AND THEY BEAT US OUT OF CAMP. There’s a need here for a serious Bunny alarm. I can’t control this renegade Bunny. I need help! Bear, Sassy, Good Chip Norris, Lassie…Bunny has fallen down a well.

We went to bed last night thinking we were going to be going 11.5 miles. As long as we get around 12, we’re fine. We have no timeline other than meet Pete at noon on Wednesday…slice of pie (I prefer pie over cake). We could hear CB and Struggles get up around 5. CB is similar to Bear was on the AT; an early riser. Struggles, unlike Sassy, never has one time said she’d castrate him if he didn’t let her sleep longer. When we started stirring about, Struggles said they had talked it over and wanted to go for 15 today. This was clearly a CB practical joke. Only it wasn’t.

Charcoal B and Struggles really liked the bakery at Stehekin. They carried out at least 3 cinnamon rolls in their baked good stash. Today, they ate the last one. They cut it into quarters and gave Bunny and I each a piece. This was partly to keep us from fighting over who got the biggest piece, but I also think it might have been a bit of a ploy to keep us in the tent a little while longer so they could make their exit. They knew that we would be licking the Saran Wrap for at least 30 minutes before we’d make it out of the tent.

As stated, CB and Struggles left before us at 8. By that time, Snow Dog and Strider had also passed the camp. We heard Travis and Sam leave at 6. Bunny and I were still in the tent. We managed to get our act together and hit the trail by 9. It took us almost 2 1/2 hours to get ready once the alarm went off, but that did include Bunny taking a one hour nap after I made her coffee. My only option was to nap as well. Like Bear, I’m quite fond of my balls.

Our first climb of the day was less than 600’ in a mile. Since we were fresh, we hardly even noticed that we were climbing. We took some pictures around the top and settled in for an easy 8 miles of downhill the rest of the morning. Just as we started downhill, we heard an Englishman behind us. We could tell he was English when he told us he was from Great Britain. Everyone from Wales, Ireland, or Scotland identify with their respective countries first and see GB as an English overlord. Only the English will acknowledge GB. At any rate, SIMless (he without SIM card for his cell phone) asked us if we had left a bag behind in camp. The same blue bag we had investigated and been quizzed about on multiple occasions. I’m still of the opinion this was someone who grossly overpacked and dumped extra weight on his way to Canada.

We were hoping to catch up with CB and Struggles by lunch. We caught up with them 6 miles in while they were taking a break and getting water. Struggles likes to take her boots and socks off several times a day and soak them in cold water if possible. Charcoal was filtering water when we caught up and Struggles was putting her boots back on. I’m wondering if her feet are ripe enough that they don’t actually need to filter after she has soaked them. I know for certain that after 3-4 days, if Bunny soaks her feet in a trout stream, we are able to pick up fish for miles in either direction. If they kill hearty trout, I’m sure all microbial life is destroyed as well.

It had been raining on and off all morning causing us to stop and change clothing configurations several times. After catching up with the Hawaiians, we just accepted it was going to be rain for the rest of the day. I’ve been carrying a piece of tyvek that I configured as a sun fly for the desert, but due to our early start, we never actually needed protection from the missing sun. Today, we did get to use it as a rain fly which we strung up over a semi-dry log where the four of us could sit comfortably and eat lunch. Snow Dog and Strider were there eating when we arrived. We offered them space, but they chose to hike on when the rain was at its strongest of the day.

We filled up on water just in case we decided to stop short of the 15 mile goal. Bunny and Struggles started that if the sun would come out, they’d be more than willing to stick to the plan and get in 15. They said this when the rain was heaviest knowing they were safe not having to carry out their big words. Nature abhors challenges and slackers. Not 5 minutes later, the clouds started breaking up and the sun broke through. Struggles asked me if I needed to dump my water indicating she was on board with the 15. Bunny told me to hang on to it a bit.

This is how I know Struggles first name should be “Fake.” From the time we got water and the rain ended, we had had a 2600’ climb in front of us that stretched a bit over 5 miles. Struggles and CB told us to go ahead and they would meet us at the campsite we had all agreed upon (assuming we didn’t stop sooner). Two miles into the climb, we came across the first dry camp which was the original site Bunny and I had chosen until Charcoal had told us they wished to join “the mile high 15er” club. Snow Dog and Strider were already here with their erections clearly seen from the trail (tent erections…get your minds out of the gutters). With Bunny’s blessing, I offered them the extra 2 liters of water I had carried up to here. We were fully committed (after seeing the two old guys erections).

We started the final 1500’ of climb. Unlike the AT when you see a 2600’ climb, you try making deals with god to get you to the top without a cardio event, the PCT provides plenty of switchbacks and keeps the grade 600’ or less per mile. We stopped after several switchbacks (“zig-zags” in French) to take a break. (Fake) Struggles and Charcoal B caught up with us while Bunny was investigating a rock she swore looked like a lock-box filled with money (we haven’t given up on all of our retirement planning…we are actively pursuing money at all times). Since they were so close, we took an extra long break so we could all walk together. We were afraid they might have bailed on us and stayed with the other old guy erections off the trail.

This was the only break we took the rest of the way to camp. When we made it to the top, we looked back and saw Struggles and Charcoal taking another break. It was the end of the day, so Bunny was possessed by the thought of “camp.”  We arrived at camp around 7. It was already very cold. After setting up the tent, I went to get water. Struggles and Charcoal showed up at 7:30 while I was cooking. We all ate on the tyvek, but Bunny and I quickly retired into the tent because of the cold. To get an idea of how long the day had been for us, it was after dark when we went to bed. We are definitely becoming night owls—it was 8:45.

EFG

I woke up with a scare. My mom is back in the hospital with a relapse of her pneumonia and a blood clot in her lungs. My brother called right at 7 which put a scare in me that things may have taken a turn for the worse, but he was just calling to wish me luck on our last section into Canada. He lives in FL and forgot that we were 3 hours different instead of 2. It did help my morning juices to start flowing without the push of coffee.

We should have been awake already, but Bunny refuses to let me touch the phone when we’re in town. It’s her way of ensuring I won’t set an alarm. Since we were up, we decided to head to Three Fingered Jacks for some breakfast. As everyone should be well aware of by now, I make my wife breakfast in bed every morning when we’re hiking. When the waitress brought out our food, she accidentally dropped Bunny’s plate of bacon. She said she’d bring another order right out. I said I’d eat the bacon. I’ve eaten food dropped in much worse situations on the trail. They wouldn’t let me. They did, however, bring an extra piece of bacon for Bunny. Bacon is a close second to M&Ms with Bunny and there was no way she was going to share her boon with me (even with my cooking her breakfast every morning).

Once we were showered, packed, and ready, we headed down the hill to try to hitch a ride up to Mazama. We had topics up a package which had come just a few minutes after we had picked up our food drop from Digit Alice on Monday. It took less than 5 minutes before we had a ride from a worker at Methow Trails who was going as far as Mazama. We talked about the Nordic ski trail system they maintain in the valley—over 120 miles of trails which they groom every night during the season. He was heading up to perform tree work on the trails now.

We got our package of food stuff that we are testing. It was full of bars, drink mixes, and a few meals. It gave us just a little more food than we need to make it to Canada, but it might work out just right. We’ve arranged for our Camingo, Pete, to pick us up on Wednesday. We wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to make this last section and not feel rushed. Digit had sent us the perfect amount for a 5 day section, but we’ve spread it out to 7 to be safe. This shipment will bridge the gap.

It was still another 19 miles back up to Rainy Pass. After chatting with some people in the cafe for a bit (hoping to yogi a ride) we decided to hoof it back on out to the highway. Once again, less than 10 cars passed before we had a ride. This was a family of 4 on an outing to take their oldest son to college at Gonzaga. They were from Portland and were making a short family vacation out of it. They were going to go on a day hike just short of Rainy Pass, but after hearing the story of our adventure, decided to take us all the way up to the pass. I’m sure they were afraid we might just decide to walk with them and keep talking. Their best bet to get rid of us for good was the pass.

For the first couple of miles on the trail, we didn’t see anyone. We thought there would be some people out on such a gorgeous day. Finally, people started trickling down from the top. We saw a group of older people coming down so I started quizzing them about who might be ahead. We had timed our stay in town to give time for Struggles and Charcoal B to catch back up. We kind of figured that they would only be about 4-5 miles ahead of us when we got dropped off at the pass. The first woman I asked said she wasn’t very observant, but the other people in the party paid more attention to details. The guys said they had seen them and that they were a few miles ahead of us.

We relaxed knowing they were for sure in front of us. If they had taken an extra day off in Stehekin, we might not catch up with each other. Not too much longer and we ran into a couple of guys getting water. They looked vaguely familiar to me, but when Bunny walked up, they called her by name. This was Snow Dog and Strider that we had hiked several days with between Bear Lake and Wrightwood. They had similar experiences with weather that we did. They had jumped to Ashland and got into too much snow. Instead of hiking the Oregon Coast Trail, they had just decided to go back home to Arizona for 6 weeks. They need to be in Canada a day before we do.

We let them finish getting their water and took off. Not even two minutes up the trail Bunny said “nuh ha.” I looked up and saw Charcoal B and Struggles sitting on a log. Struggles told us she had heard my voice and was wanting to hide so we could pass (believable). She said they wanted us to get slightly ahead and then they were going to sneak up behind us and surprise us (not believable). I know they wanted us to pass and leave them in peace. Once I told them Pete had agreed to pick them up with us and take them to Vancouver, they warmed up to us.

We spent the next couple hours walking to camp and catching up on last week’s events. The camping spot Bunny and I had picked as the most likely for them to head to today, was, in fact, the one they were heading to. We know them too well for them to hide from us. While we were talking, we accidentally walked past the last water source for at least another 4 miles. It was cool and pleasant enough that we’d be able to make it without shriveling up. When we stopped for a short break, Charcoal gave us the better part of a liter of water. This is the second time we’ve gotten water from them during a days walk. I offered to give him two pounds of something I was carrying to help make up for the loss out of his pack, but he declined.

Coming around a curve, Struggles spotted an animal in the trail, but couldn’t identify it. Bunny and she we’re convinced it was a wolf. I tried to get my camera out and look, but it kept faulting out. I was able to get a short glance and thought it might be a mountain lion. Charcoal B said lynx because they may or may not have seen one a couple days ago. A couple had told us they saw a scared goat ahead—we were all wrong. It was the goat.

Struggles and Bunny are both paranoid when it comes to camping. They both have this fear that we won’t be able to find a spot (which has never happened). Bunny kept spotting tents ahead and to the left right where we were planning on camping. The closer we got, the more those tents started to look like rocks. Then Struggles saw someone sitting in the middle of the camping spot, but they were pretty still. This turned out to be a log. They both tried to give away our spots to inanimate objects just to prove finding a camping spot was problematic.

The only problematic about our campsite was that there was a bag of gear in it. Not a backpack, just a bag. We looked inside and it had a filter, stove, and food. We thought someone might be coming back for it, so we moved on down the hill next to the stream to set up. While we were eating, a couple guys came in and started talking to us. They had come all the way from Stehekin today. They asked us about the bag, but we had no answers.

As we were getting ready for bed, I decided I was going to go up and talk to the two guys. They have been hiking since March and made it through the Sierra…surely, we must know some of the same people. One of the guys, Travis, came down to rinse off in the creek. He asked my name. When I told him, he said we had met. He and Sam had hiked sobo for 5 days from Dunsmuir to Old Station. They were the two guys we had met the morning we left the cabin and tried to pass over Grizzly Peak. We even have their picture on the blog from back then.

In the last couple of weeks, we have met close to 10 people we’ve already met before. We hadn’t stayed in Stehekin because we thought there wouldn’t be anyone we knew coming through. We’ve only got a few days left until Canada, but there are several people we still wonder about from earlier in the year. We know Wolf and Blues Clues did pass each other in southern Washington and that Wolf has already made it to Canada. He’s back down hiking the Sierra now. He will complete the trail this year. Wolf is our age, so we should be capable of finishing. I’m going to go out in a limb an$ say we might have been able to if that was our focus. It’s tough to not get caught up in the testosterone competition on the trail. Bunny keeps me in estrogen patches just for that reason.

EFG

Things hadn’t gone as smooth as we had hoped getting into town, yesterday. We had been expecting two packages, but only got one. It was from our angel, Digit Alice. After two years, she has us dialed in to a “t” when it comes to our resupply. We walked into town with too much food, once again. Yes, I let Bunny go with me when we bought food in Stehekin. If we have extra food when we make it to Canada, this is the cause. The other package was some goodies from Patrice and Justin that we will be reviewing for them. They are writers for Backpacker Magazine and we are holding tightly on to their coattails.

This was a relaxing couple of days for us. Both of us were able to get hold of our families and get caught up on events. My mom had pneumonia when we were going over Goat Rocks a few weeks ago. Because of her advanced age and lack of activity, it has flared up again and she’s back in the hospital. My parents are starting to fail a bit, but they are 86 & 87. My mom is going to be in the hospital for a few more days, and then they’ll transfer her to a nursing home for rehab. As far as I can recall, no one in her family has ever made it to her age.

My dad is a different story. At 87, he’s getting near to his fathers age when he passed at 88, but his mother lived to be almost 101. Her mother lived to be 100 and 5 days (she had a goal and made it). Her mother only made it to 92. My dad has really good longevity genes on his side, but this year has been rough on him with kidney stones. He’s still weak from his recent surgery. My brother came up from FL to take care of them when he was getting operated on in early July. My dad still drives which helps out. I’ll be spending a lot of time with them when we get back this fall.

Bunny’s son finally got his orders in the army. He is being stationed in CO so were happy about that. She was able to spend a lot of time on the phone with him as he was driving out. Her daughter is in nursing school and is highly motivated now that she’s a few years older. I think it’s a mistake for most kids to go straight from high school to college. When someone gets out of college, they need a break from school for a while. I’m a big fan of universal service for two years right after high school. Germany does this and it allows time for kids to mature and figure out what they want to do for a living. I’m not saying military service (although that could be an option). I’m meaning community service of some sort away from home, family, and friends to see more of the country and develop some self sufficiency.

As usual, we ate, and ate, and ate. Thanks to Digit, we didn’t have to do any grocery shopping. The only errand (other than food and alcohol) we needed to do was to get some CBD oil to aid with inflammation. I call this Bunny’s desire for pot (which she absolutely hates, so I will continue calling it that) even though there isn’t any THC in it and it’s legal in 46? states now. Bunny found a local supplier and we decided to walk out to the shop. She didn’t check the exact location other than “out by the grocery store,” but she did make sure it was open. We ended up on a nice journey in search of pot that led us through the rural area around Winthrop. To reward ourselves for our successful multi mile journey, we stopped for pizza on the way back.

We also decided it was time to perform another pack shakedown. When you live in a house for a long time, it’s just natural to accumulate more crap than you need (my inlaw’s attics and brothers-in-law’s basement both provide great examples). It’s no different when hiking. We are in the process of trying to become minimalists (no, not all hikers are ultra-light). It was time to part ways with our pillows, several items out of our first aid and toiletry kits, as well as the beach ball we got in Leavenworth (it was free for writing a review at the Dog Hous Brewery…I tried to get Bunny to inflate it for me as a pillow, but she never complied). Between the two of us, we got rid of almost 7 pounds of stuff.

Once we got the gear together, I boxed it up and headed to the Post Office which was a good 2 miles away. I was walking in the street half-heartedly thumbing it when a woman walked out of a shop and asked me if I was really hitching. I told her I was trying to get to the PO. She gave me a ride. I had walked about 7 car lengths before my ride. On the way back, it was starting to sprinkle. I walked maybe 50 yards before another young couple pulled over and offered me a ride. The wife’s mother had hiked the AT years ago and imparted the “give rides in trail areas” mentality to them. The entire round trip took about 15 minutes. When I walked back into our room, Bunny asked me what I had forgotten since it should have taken me over 2 hours for the round trip. I hadn’t even had time to stop for ice cream (which now became part of the evening “to do” list).

The other big outing for us was getting new hiking shoes. I have Merrell feet so it’s quick and easy for me. Bunny decided to throw caution to the wind (in addition to our leisure time) and switch to new trail shoes. I’m not a fan of switching something so important when on the trail. Last year, on the AT (everybody, hoist and swallow) she switched to Altras which only led to pain, misery, and tears. She also had a hard time with them before switching back to boots which helped to alleviate my misery (Bunny is a sharer of misery).

Winthrop is a cute, Western themed town with actual “board” walks. In the winter time, this is the epicenter of cross county skiing in eastern Washington. The town has been around since before the Civil War and before that, was a Native American settlement. Nowadays, there is a minor Native American presence in the area and a fair sense of guilt for the way they were treated by early settlers. Not so much that they have received any restitutions, but I’m sure there’s a heightened sense that least go loose some money at the casinos. Only morons can lose money when owning a casino. I think anyone stupid enough to lose money owning a casino should at least lose the right to have a twitter account.

EFG

Amazingly, we weren’t the last ones out of camp. In fact, Salt Lick wasn’t even out of his hammock when we discovered the Marty McFly/Back to the Future crematorium privy on the edge of the camp. If he wasn’t awake before I discovered it, he sure had to be after I saw this gem. It is definitely the Rolls Royce of the privy world. I felt honored to even have my tooshie come in contact with such a modern marvel. If it weren’t for a line forming, I might still be ether admiring the sleek lines of this space age shit box. I want one for our home one day. The only way I won’t have one of these in my yard is if Bunny finally agrees to a Tiny House. Feel the heat!? That’s turd and “Bunny will” breakdown.

The campsite also had a bear box which the NP provided. The notes in Guthook had indicated the campsite was closed as recent as a week ago due to high bear activity in the area. When I asked the ranger, he said we need to put everything with an odor, including our butane stove fuel, into the bear box. Great! Something new to worry about. Not only are there aggressive bears in the area, but they are now huffing fuel. On the bright side, their teeth may be falling out from drug abuse just like the inner city meth-heads.

Since we will be getting into a town today, motivation to move was high. Counterpoint to the town was the fact that we have been out hiking for 10 days to get here, so our bodies were moving slower. How can that even be when snails already regularly pass us? I watched Bunny walking uphill and it looked like she was sliding backward. 2 mph is only a concept for us today. An unattainable dream at best. This became even more evident as we got near to Rainy Pass and could hear the road. It felt like forever from the first auto noises to emerging on to the road and it was less than a mile according to trail signage.

On the way, we did pass a few day hikers, including a woman wearing a NASA shirt. Of course, this required a conversation since we had hiked with Bear last year on the AT (drink!). Bear was an engineer/program leader/administrator over his nearly 4 decade employment with NASA. This woman was currently the project manager for the new international space station toilet. We had a pleasant conversation until I heard space toilet and I blurted “just like Howard Walowitcz” at which point she replied “I hope we can do better than throwing poop in the air” and abruptly departed. In the point of accuracy, no poop was actually thrown in the air from Howie’s toilet. It was merely beef brisket.

We had heard people in the area are very friendly to hikers and getting a ride is quite easy at Rainy Pass. We found this to be very true. Even though there wasn’t much traffic, by the 10th vehicle, we had a ride. Doug was a retired head of an international construction firm’s operation in Seattle. He was heading to his mountain retreat on the east side of the mountain range which had recently burned down. He and his friend had recently rebuilt their retreat with 3 very good looking yurts. He showed us the pictures. These were very cool looking wood structures with metal roofs. It looked like spaceships had landed in their pasture.

The plan was for us to hitch to Mazama to pick up a couple of packages then get another hitch into Winthrop to spend a day or two. We quickly made friends with Doug and his dog, Tillie. Doug agreed to wait for us while I picked up our packages and then take us on to Winthrop. Doug’s son (Goomy Bear) had thru-hiked the PCT just last year, and Doug was “paying back” the kindness that his son had received. Bunny and I had gotten a friendly vibe right from the start, so all of our recent “hitch hiking guidelines” went right out the window. We didn’t bother sharing our serial killer escapes with Doug. We spent nearly an hour with Doug from the time he picked us up until he dropped us off right across from the visitor center in Winthrop. It felt like 5 minutes with the conversation flowing so well.

Naturally, we had no plans about where to stay in town. It’s a little trick we started a few years back called “don’t plan ahead…let the trail provide.” So far, it hasn’t failed us. The visitor center directed us to a hostel right behind it which had private rooms for couples. Bunny and I got a huge studio in what used to be the hostel office. We had thought we might spend one night here and then move on, but with this being a slow period between bubbles, we got 3 nights right off the bat. We were less than 2 blocks from all the restaurants and outfitters in town. If we had stayed at a hotel, it would have cost us 3x as much. As it was, there were only 4 other people in the whole place. It was like having a house to ourselves. We walked all the way to the Old Schoolhouse Brewery to celebrate our return to civilization.

EFG

Even though it wasn’t a zero day, we still paid for a hotel (paid dearly for a hotel) so there was no way I was checking out 1 minute early. We tried to sleep in, but just couldn’t pull it off. We went down to the deck by the restaurant to find the self appointed mayor of Stehekin and join him for breakfast. Numbers was also there. For a short while, Bunny and I considered staying another day, but Numbers is leaving on the ferry tomorrow and JYD is leaving today. I don’t think Charcoal B and Struggles will be in until tomorrow afternoon, so there won’t be anyone around that we know.

I keep trying to remind myself that Stehekin is a NP resort town and everything has to be brought in by boat, but, damn! After breakfast, Bunny insisted on doing some grocery shopping to get us into Mazama. It’s only 20 miles and JYD already let us take a couple of dinners to go with the food we scrounged from the hiker box for breakfast. All we need are a few snacks. It cost us $37 for candy, triscuits, summer sausage, cheese, and a pop tart. There’s no way we’ll eat all this by Mazama. On the way to the bakery, Bunny insisted we stop at the organic farm and buy some fruit. Am I the only one that sees when Bunny shops with me, my back gets broken from carrying too much food?

There was lots of buzz about cinnamon rolls and biscuits and gravy from the bakery, both of which we got yesterday on the way into town. The other “not to miss” item was the pizza. I went in with the intention of getting one slice along with some peach pie a la mode. It appears I’m not the only person in the valley who loves peach pie because it was sold out. Bunny still has an upset stomach, so in the interest of a simplified diet, she just went straight for the sugar and avoided any hint of protein. She had blueberry pie a la mode and I placated myself with two slices of pizza.

Despite our efforts to not over eat, which were not very successful since we had two meals in under two hours, we found ourselves bloated once again. We sat in induced slumbers (Bunny’s sugar induced and mine meat induced) waiting for the shuttle to pick us up and take us back to the trail head. The bus pulled up to the bakery and waited long enough for everyone on board to go grab some food before taking off again. This is a one family valley. The water ferry, bakery, guest ranch, and bicycle rental business are all owned by the same family and the NP runs everything else.

On the ride back to the trail, Bunny and I just about went down for the count. We were both having trouble keeping our eyes open for the ride. It was sure shaping up to be a long afternoon since we had a permit that required us to hike in over 11 miles before we could camp. We did look on Guthook for a description of the camp which said it was closed due to excessive bear activity. This helped perk us up a bit.

Eight people from the bus all headed north. We were all heading for the same campsite. Bunny and I were first on the trail (yay, we finally are first) but quickly got passed by the 6 other people heading to our camp (boo, things have returned to normal). It was rather warm walking with pretty high humidity. Our waddle was a tad uneven at best.

Two of the people that passed us were soon falling prey to the heat and humidity. After about 4 miles, they were trying to find an alternate campsite because 11 miles was too far for them in this weather. They are from Mammoth, CA and are not used to this kind of heat. We eventual caught up with the group of three (a father and son with a coworker of the dad). They were cooling off in a stream less than two miles from camp. Ultimately, we were the second ones to camp just behind the only other thru-hiker that was on the bus.

Six mile camp must be six miles from something, but what, I don’t know. This campsite has a latrine, reliable water source, a designated cooking area, and a bear box. I’m pretty sure the bear box has nothing to do with bears and everything to do with the aggressive squirrels around camp. When I went over to start supper, the squirrels were running within a foot of anyone in the area.

We ended up with 7 people in camp tonight—the six we were expecting as well as a sobo who just started his hike today at Rainy Pass. This is the first social meal we have had in Washington. We’ve eaten many meals with Struggles and Charcoal B, but this is the first one where a bunch of people we didn’t know all got together to eat. This happened because of the setup in the NP providing a designated cooking area. It’s a very different situation on the AT because of the shelters. Nearly every night, we’d eat around people that we might not have met until arriving at the shelter.

The father and son have been section hiking WA for six years now. Only the son has a trail name…Salt Lick. A couple years ago, he hung his underwear in a tree to dry over night. He heard movement behind his hammock in the night. He turned on his flashlight to see a mule deer chewing on his underwear. The deer then ran off with his underwear and neither were ever seen again. I told him to consider himself as very fortunate that he wasn’t wearing his underwear at the time.

EFG

Bunny was up before the coffee was cool enough to drink. And this was with my alarm going off at 5:45. Does anyone need more proof of food as motivation? I heard her mumble “biscuits and gravy, gravy and biscuits, biscuits and sausage gravy” all night long in her dreams. Needless to say, we were hiking before 7.

We flew down the trail. The shuttle doesn’t show up until 9 and we covered the 3 miles in just a couple minutes over an hour. There were already 4 other hikers waiting when we arrived at the ranger station. We dropped our packs and I wedged myself into the conversation because the weekend hikers were talking about thru-hikes. They just assumed, like everyone does, that we are not capable of thru-hiking. It really throws people off when they see my expedition size pack and notice that I’m, relatively, clean shaven. Throw in that we just showered yesterday and are absent of a lingering bodily waste smells. The final straw is our age. In theory, we should be at the height of our earning years and unwilling to walk away from high paying jobs. Our age group is probably the least represented with thru-hikers.

The road that we were standing on only runs from Stehekin to a few miles inside of North Cascades NP. It really is a road that starts on the edge of nowhere and ends in the middle of it. Any vehicles that are on this road had to be “barged” in across Lake Chelan (the largest natural lake in WA and the 3rd deepest lake in the USA). One beat up pickup truck headed past us. A few minutes later, he returned and asked if we were waiting for the shuttle. I said we were unless he was willing to take us to the bakery. To my surprise, he said he was working less than a half mile from the bakery and he’d be willing to take us that far. Two of the women who had been waiting before we arrived also said they’d take that offer as well.

Bunny and I piled in the back of the pickup and let the two women get up front with Martin. Martin drove slow and was pointing out items of interest to them. He even offered to take us on a short side trip to Rainbow Falls. When we got out at the falls, I told the women to sweet talk him into taking us to the bakery and that we’d be willing to throw in some money for it. They said they’d try.

Martin did take us all the way to the bakery and refused to accept any money for doing so. If we had waited for the shuttle, it would have cost us $8 each and we’d still be 45 minutes out. The bakery was already crowded with other tourists, but we’d beat the shuttle crowd. We were already finishing up with our biscuits and gravy, coffee, and cinnamon rolls when the shuttle finally arrived. When we walked in, we saw Numbers and she joined us while we ate.

The bakery is still 2 miles from “town.” The definition of town is rather loose here. It equates to where the ferry docks. Bunny and I grabbed our packs and started walking just a few minutes behind Numbers. We had barely buckled our packs on before another car pulled over and asked if we wanted a ride. Debi was one of the shuttle drivers going down to start her shift. She drove us the rest of the way in and told us about the area. She pointed out the laundry, showers, phone (there’s no cell service or internet access in Stehekin), and hiker box. Debi also pointed out where we could camp for free as well as get our permits to camp in the National Park when we left town.

Numbers had told as that JYD was still in town. She hadn’t related that he has become the self-appointed mayor of Stehekin and that he held daily court on the restaurant deck above the ferry dock. As soon as we walked up, he called us up to his official table and introduced us to the other members of the Stehekin inner circle. This was the second or third day, time had lost all meaning for the group, that they had occupied this space. They had the ebb and flow of the town down. They could tell the time of day by sounds around them or the flow of people on the dock. The deck was the perfect hang out location. Bunny and I said we had to take care of some business and would shortly return.

First stop was to see if we could find an actual bed for the night. We walked into the store at the exact correct point in time. We had checked for openings at the Stehekin Valley Ranch for openings tonight, but they were completely booked since it was a weekend. I approached the counter just as Chris was crossing a name off his list. I asked if there was a room available for tonight and he said he had just had a cancellation. We could have it if we wanted. The people who had been in the room last night said it was the perfect location—a corner room with a private balcony on the second floor. They had to leave on the next ferry but they’d highly recommend it. I took it and then asked the price. It was over $200 for the night. I turned to Bunny to get confirmation from her, but looking from the haze surrounding my body through to the haze surrounding hers, I could tell that our smells were of a much greater need than the $1.50 showers down the street.

We joined the council back on the deck and were quickly integrated into the town’s self appointed inner circle. These were the movers and shakers on the deck. They recited the menu of the restaurant from memory which caused Bunny to request lunch. I thought it was a bit too soon since we had had breakfast. It had only been 2 hours since we ate. Bunny was focused on our supper reservation time of 6:45 and said she couldn’t make it that long without another meal. I tried to point out it wasn’t even noon yet, but I got the death stare. I acquiesced without argument.

After we ate, it was past noon, so I went and purchased a 6 pack. Part of the “town council” had left on the ferry while we were eating. Alex and Flora (from Seattle) joined us at the table. Alex was a charter member of the council but Flora had just arrived on the ferry. JYD passed on beer for the time being claiming excess yesterday. Alex bought another 6 after we finished the first one. Bunny had two of the first six before heading up to our room to shower.

I sat and had one more to allow Bunny enough time to shower before I headed up to the room. She took all of our clothes down to wash while I showered. Even with 2 meals in me, the four beers I had consumed combined with the energy outlay of the last week, just kicked my butt. I needed a nap. Bunny only had two Lite beers but she was looking pretty peaked. It saves me money in the long run since my wife is a light-weight.

Our dinner reservation was for 6:45. At 6:30, we went down and joined everyone. The nap had not been enough to revive Bunny completely and she returned to the room in the middle of her salad. I suppose we got the money’s worth out of the bed since Bunny spent so much time in it, but I was hoping to enjoy the balcony with a sunset across the lake. We just ate too much solid food after 8 days of dehydrated on the trail. Someday, we’ll learn to moderate when we make it to town. Just not this day.

EFG

We camped by a trail junction, so, of course, people started going by quite early. I heard a couple with a dog go by. Some other people approached them and the dog went wild, growling with excitement. The sound of the dog growling woke Bunny up. “Was that a bear?”

It’s been said that first year medical school students are the worst for explaining the obvious. One anecdote says that if a first year hears hooves outside of their window at night, they automatically think “zebra.” My wife was in medicine for 30 years.

The owner yelled at the dog. Bunny crawled over to me and said “I’m not going out there!” Why? “Didn’t you hear her? She yelled ‘Turnip! Kill!’ ”

As I said before, as an engineer I look for causal relationships. We have a childhood obesity problem in the USA. Moms, dads, please stop the habit of naming your attack dogs after vegetables. No wonder we are raising an entire generation of children that won’t eat healthy foods when every day in the streets, they are liable to hear “Asparagus! Attack!” or “Broccoli! Bite!”

What the owner actually yelled was “Turner! Chill!” But because of the first year medical school phenomena combined with poor hearing, we now have something new to be afraid of on the trail…packs of renegade vegetables attacking the unaware hiker. No doubt, I’ll be in the lead all day today, to head off this new danger.

We heard the dog owners talking with some passing hikers about where they were going. The hikers responded with, what I heard to be, “the Spider loop.” Bunny heard them say “the Ranger loop.” When I disagreed, she flat out said I was wrong because I can’t hear. “Turnip! Kill!”

Because of the early morning vegetable scare, I couldn’t use a carrot to keep Bunny moving today, but I did have an even better prize to start the day. In less than a mile and a half, just after our only big climb of the day, there was a campsite with a backcountry prize. That’s right, a privy. More motivation than any carrot of Snickers to a hiker just starting the day. With just a little exertion without prior relief, this is the Holy Grail of hiking on the PCT. We were off with a vengeance (with me leading to clear the path of attack veggies).

Today was easy hiking after our initial morning climb. Even easier after we lightened our “personal loads.” It was slightly overcast which made walking that much easier. What I’m saying is that we could have easily gotten a 20 in today with just a little extra effort, but we decided to not pull the trigger. We’d still have plenty of time to catch the first shuttle in the morning and get Bunny her much coveted biscuits and gravy from the bakery.

Nearing the end of our hiking day, we met an extroverted family from Minnesota. I caught them with their eyes raised high enough to see my feet. The Nordic peoples who settled Minnesota tend to be very quiet and reserved (which is a bit of an understatement if you’ve ever visited there or listened to A Prairie Home Companion). They were out trout fishing in the local creeks. I asked if they had seen any salmon heading up stream to spawn and got a negative response (I think—they were soft talkers as well). I guess were still a few weeks early.

We did get some great news today. Sam is getting stationed in CO so we don’t have to worry about visiting him in some crappy, sweltering, southern military base again. We were hoping for CO or WA so we’re happy. We still don’t know what he’ll be doing yet, but that is not as important as location is to us. We won’t have to be doing any of the crappy work he might get assigned.

Eighteen is respectable mileage for us. I will admit, we could have gotten 20 miles in today, but I didn’t want to carry water for two miles just to get a 20. We will still make it to the road early enough to catch the first shuttle to the bakery to get the biscuits and gravy we have been dreaming out all week. Even without a 20, this is the best 7 day total mileage we have had since we’ve been hiking. We got a little over 105 miles without a resupply or a day off. It must be remembered that we don’t have young legs or a real need to hurry. This just shows we are capable if pushed.

Obviously, food is a motivator for thru-hikers. This is nothing new that hasn’t been discovered and tested for years. If I were willing to carry it and had a bell with me, I could have Bunny walking faster and salivating within a week.

EFG

I’m an engineer by training. I analyze things and look for causal relationships when trying to find out why something isn’t working. I’ve seen a problem for the last few days and have been investigating. One observation: the majority of through hikers are getting a minimum of 20 miles per day with a few outliers getting 45, what do they have in common? 1) They have relatively light loads (under 30 pounds). 2) They tend to not take breaks, or very short ones if they do. 3) They get up early and start hiking. Ding, ding, ding, we have spotted the problem.

When the alarm went off today, the three hikers, who we had camped near, were already gone. It was only 6:30 and their camping spots were cold to the touch. I heard them talking as they left before 6. I tried to nudge Bunny then, but SHE BIT ME! Let sleeping dogs lie! When the alarm went off at 6:30, I was a bit gun shy, so I hit the snooze trying to placate her. After the snooze, I made the coffee and set out the food and waited patiently for Bunny to awaken on her own. At 7:30, I took a stab at waking her up. “Is that a bear I hear outside of our tent?” I know better than to just go for a direct wake up.

With the adrenaline rush from the “near bear sighting” we were able to get our act together and be ready by…8:40. What the hell? We used to be able to be on the trail by 8 at least once a week. As I was lacing up my boots, two sobos strolled into camp. I asked where they camped last night and they said “Sue Settle River.” At least that’s what I heard. That was where I had hoped to make it yesterday but we ran out of light. We haven’t even started hiking and these two hikers already have 5 miles in. “It’s one small step for a hiker. One giant step to wake Bunny up early.”

While we were talking to Pebbles and Swayed, two more hikers passed our camp. (I’m seeing a trend). We hadn’t gotten started yet, and we’ve already seen more people than we saw all of yesterday (if you include the three hikers we camped with but didn’t see yesterday or today). Pebbles and Swayed just started at the Canadian border about a week ago. They are both LASHers (as we will soon be known as). For the non-regular reader (Dad, I’m sure you remember, but for everyone else), a LASHer is a Long Ass Section Hiker. Pebbles likes in Tahoe. Last year, she hiked from Mexico up. This year she’s hiking from Canada down. Swayed hiked 2200 miles last year and stopped right before Goat Rocks because of forest fires.

9 is the new 8. We started our hike at 9 for about the 4th day in a row. Bunny accused me of being a “slave driver” last night. I had a goal of 22.4 miles yesterday but stopped 5 miles short because the Bunny was hurting. Not the quiet “this is for real, I can’t talk” kind of pain that is serious, but the “I’m going to keep complaining until I get my way” type of pain that is a daily occurrence. Would a slave driver stop 5 miles short? Would a slave driver allow the day to start an hour late, consistently, on a near daily basis? Would a slave driver use a Snickers, instead of a whip, as a carrot to keep things moving? 0 for 3, makes Easy a great motivator and NOT a slave driver.

Another observation is that if we give WA a break and put her on the list, she gets cocky and throws obstacles our way. If we remove WA from the list, she gives us an amazing experience. For now, WA is on the cusp, but today was amazing. It truly was a “walk in the woods” (I’ll borrow from a failed thru-hiker since that’s what we have become this year). For the first 5 miles we walked among the most amazing old growth forest I’ve ever been in. The trees were mind boggling in their immensity. One person had taken the time to count the rings on one fallen tree and made it up to 600. That’s before Columbus even gets credit for discovering a continent where 10 million people already lived but hadn’t discovered that they lived on it.

Once we crossed the Sue Settle River (some locals call it the Suiattle River), the forest turned to a much younger one. Well less than 200 years but still a lot of history. Sue Settle was a history teacher, so the name fits. The Suiattle River is a glacial river—fast moving and dangerous. We can look up and see where this river starts. We even walked over some of the headwaters of some of the minor tributaries yesterday. As we were standing on the bridge watching the amazing volume of water rushing under our feet, I was mesmerized thinking that just a matter of hours ago, this water was snow and ice. And it doesn’t stop!

About 9 miles in for the day, we crossed another of Sue’s tributaries and decided it was time for a break and some food. Just before stopping, we passed a group of four older guys (they were in their 40s but I still recognize anyone 30 and older as old). They asked if we knew what the weather was going to do. I practiced by WA native answer…”the next 10 days should be good” thus ensuring that it will rain at least one day this weekend.

We could look across the Sue Settle River and see all the destructionSue has done over the years. She is ever widening the valley and carrying trees and boulders down. She has washed back the banks leaving open scars on the land. I’d hate to be anywhere near if she were to have a Lahore. This is the exact opposite of the real Sue Settle. I’ve never even seen her get angry, but I’m sure she gets very quiet when she does. I’ve seen her anger turn to depression (case in point, the last Presidential election) but I can relate.

The afternoon was just a 2000’ climb towards Sue Settle Pass. This was, without a doubt, the most pleasant 2000’ climb I have ever experience. We stayed in dense forest all the way up. The higher we went, the rougher the surrounding terrain became. This means that harvesting the trees was too expensive so we had more old growth forest. The PCT was laid out in such a fashion that we barely broke 400’/mile incline which is as close to level you can hope for on the AT (which we hiked last year—everybody drink).

At the 14 mile mark, we crossed Miners Creek again. This was the same creek where we ate lunch nearly 2000’ below. There was easy access to water and plenty of great campsites. I offered the option of stopping here, even adding an additional mile to our section deficit. Does this sound like a slave driver to anyone? Bunny said “No, we need more miles!” Attention! Attention! Pot calling kettle black. Am I the only one hearing slave driver, now?

This is one instance where Guthook let us down. It wasn’t really Guthook, it was a comment in Guthook which screwed us. Guthook said there was a stream in 0.9 miles (which was there) but someone commented there was a campsite there, also (there wasn’t). From the get go this morning, I had targeted a spot at 14.9 miles, below our 15 mile minimal goal. I thinks this puts the whole slave driver issue to bed, once and for all. We ended up getting enough water from the stream and walking an extra mile, uphill, in the snow, both ways, until we found a good camping spot. Spoiler alert, I let the Bunny have a Snickers for dessert after dinner tonight, now I only have peanut M&Ms to keep her going tomorrow.

And that concludes an entire entry without once mentioning poop—or does it? About a mile after leaving camp this morning, Bunny told me she was having a familiar urge. I started looking for a private spot hoping it was the urge I like as well, but she meant poop. I asked her, very kindly, to please dig an extra hole. Once again, she refused. When my turn came, I had to break my own sod, which I gladly do knowing that I will not intercept someone else’s load. All I will say about what happened next was that I wish a had some little plastic eyes with floating pupils because this is the closest I’ve ever come to recreating the emoji 💩.

EFG