Category: 2019 Pacific Crest Trail

Some day soon, there will be a blog entry without any references to poop. Today is not that day, but I’ll be brief. I do most of the trail food shopping. I prepare all of the meals. I fetch and filter water 99.63% of the time. I set up the tent (once Bunny helps me determine a location and stakes out the corners) so Bunny can get out of her boots and get comfortable. When we are in civilization, Bunny insists I put the seat down every time I pee. I asked just one simple favor from Bunny this morning…when you scout a location to dig your hole, either dig it big enough for two or dig me a hole close by. She did neither. (Pretty harmless for a poop gripe from me, but there it is.)

I was really wanting to get a 20 mile day in WA and today looked like our best shot at it. Only two climbs and then a lot of downhill. I also had an ace in the hole to keep Bunny motivated—I purposely bought very little candy on this leg of the trail and we haven’t had any yet. I had a Snickers as a reward for a hard effort day. Snickers are our unanimous #1 candy bar. We diverge terribly at #2 (really, no more poop stories today). We would have made it if I could only find a way to get Bunny to get up in the mornings. We didn’t leave camp until 9, again. We’re falling apart on our morning routine. We need Bear and Sassy back.

The first climb was only 1000’ over less than 2 miles. That’s level by AT standards. We were at Mica Lake by 10:30 where we took a break and dried out some of our wet stuff. We use a single wall tent that tends to get a lot of condensation if we don’t choose the proper location or have enough ventilation. We had limited site selection last night and Bunny insists on closing the blinds so neighbors don’t peek in. We got buzzed by a couple of F16s that did an inverted roll over the lake. They were gone before we could even get near our cameras.

It was another day of relative isolation, we only saw four hikers, total, but we did pass 2 tents late in the day and there were 3 tents where we ended up camping, although we saw none of the campers. Only marmots and grouse again today. We got a real strong musky smell at one point and I was hoping for a bear, but Bunny’s stomach was bothering her a large part of the day, so it was a false alarm.

With all the climbing and waiting, I had plenty of time to think. Usually I go over past incidents and chastise myself for handling the situation wrong. I’m trying to ween myself from the self flagellation whip and am making some progress. Today, I spent a lot of time thinking about one of my best friends from college. He was/is a sweet guy and was like a brother to me since he had emigrated here from Asia. Bunny and I have visited him and his family twice in the last two years. Mainly, I was thinking of his two great kids and his wife and the relationship he has with each of them.

Like me, he is an engineer by degree. Whenever we see a problem, we have been trained to fix it. That is just the exact opposite of what we need to do in our personal relationships. As hard as it may be to accept, sometimes we are just supposed to listen to problems and NOT offer solutions. He has a fantastic relationship with his daughter who is one of the happiest and most positive person I have ever met. She is wise beyond her years. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have that same relationship with his son and wife. I’m looking for a way for him to be the kind, gentle person I know him to be with the other two members of his family. I know it’s none of my business and will only lead to injuring our relationship if I stick my nose in his business, but I worry about the whole family’s happiness.

Washington is having a tough time with Bunny and me. We want to keep her on the list, but are having difficulty with that maneuver. Today, we saw stunning views almost all day long. We are still in Glacier Peak Wilderness and are walking through snow capped mountains. The problem is the damn flies. Yes, they are slow moving, so it is very satisfying that you can usually kill 10-20 at every break. But every break, they are all over you. I pulled Washington from the list again today when they caused me to drop my tuna salad sandwich on the ground at lunch.

We didn’t make it to the top of our second climb until almost 5:30. We either had 3 miles to our bail out camping spot or 8 to where I was hoping to make it. Even with a Snickers on the line, Bunny couldn’t be persuaded to push on. We made it to our bailout spot by 7:30. As I said before, there were already three other tents there, but everyone in them was already in bed. The campsite is adjacent to a glacial melt stream which is raging loudly which covered up the sounds of us setting up camp and eating. We set up next to another hiker who is going to be quite surprised when he wakes up in the morning. If it’s an old guy, I hope he opens his eyes wide before he pees on our tent in the middle of the night. Have some respect. We don’t have a Big Agnes tent.

EFG

Rumor had it there was a latrine in the campsite. We didn’t get up in time to confirm the validity of this rumor with any other hikers. I’m a beaten man. Bunny has broken me. I won’t even put the effort out to try to wake her when she’s fake sleeping. I just went back to sleep and let her wake me up when her coffee is cool enough. I went in search of the latrine which only added to our delayed starting time. I found a sign with an arrow pointing down a trail that split 3 ways. I’m right dominant, so I took the right fork first. The builder of the latrine was left dominant which led to a very frustrated EFG screaming to put up some f#$&ing signs. Someone must have heard me because there was one right next to the latrine. It only took me 15 minutes to find it. A leisurely morning stroll had turned into a life and death situation (at least for my underwear—they survived to be sharted on another day).

Not only does a good husband cook his wife breakfast in bed every day, he points out all the good poop spots. To save her time and frustration, I pointed her in the proper direction. I’ve learned from hanging around English teachers that one should never use the terms “lend or borrow” when dealing with toilet paper. I neither wish to return or get back any of the paper referred to in the transaction. I used the last of my tp this morning, so I asked Bunny (knowing that she is post menopausal, had she been younger, my term might have a clearly unintended consequence) to “spot” me three days worth until we got to town. She said “we’ll see.” She has a yellow quilt. We’ll see, indeed.

Knowing that we were trying for almost 19 miles today, the 9 o’clock start was not ideal. As soon as we climbed the 200’ back up to the trail, we encountered another possible hinderance…blasting ahead. We were hoping that this was an old sign that was accidentally left up. We proceeded through marmot-town as if nothing was up. This was ideal marmot living. They had fresh water sources flowing through marmot-town. No trees for predators to hide amongst. There were plenty of entrances to marmot houses visible from the trail with plenty of marmot roads connecting the holes. They were very bold and used to people passing through marmot-town.

We came around a curve and I thought I saw a big marmot at a trail junction. Bunny swore that it was a hiker taking pictures. I looked closer and thought it might actually be a human acting as a crossing guard for hikers entering the blast zone. Bunny insisted he was taking pictures. I said he was talking into a radio. Bunny thought he might just be blowing dust off his camera. Once Bunny has made an assumption, she will stick to it well past being proven wrong. We approached a somewhat, furry, man wearing a NFS hat talking into his walkie talkie. Bunny still insisted it was a camera. He said it was a radio and there was blasting ahead but we could proceed. Bunny complimented him on his camera.

In about a mile, we came upon a crew of four workers driving holes and burying large white chocolate kisses beside the trail. They were blasting a new footbed for the trail. One wide enough to allow for pack animals to pass. They said trail work requires large loads that only pack animals can handle efficiently. They pointed out an area ahead where we could observe the blast if we wished to watch. They would be blasting within an half hour.

Ahead was another crossing guard talking into her camera (Bunny is never wrong—new technology allows for communication devices that take pictures). We stopped and chatted with the guard until we heard the phrase I hear almost every night in the tent—“fire in the hole.” This usually means don’t light a match and breathe through your mouth for the next 15 minutes. In this case, it resulted in a large plume of dust followed by a huge bang that echoed off the mountains in the valley for several minutes. When a bell rings, an angel gets his wings. When a blast goes off, a marmot shits in his hole. There’s going to be a lot of extra trips down back alleys in marmot-town tonight.

The next 7 miles of trail took us from alpine vistas back down into dark, virgin forest. The views are amazing up at elevation, but I feel most at home and comfortable walking in dense forest. Maybe it’s that trees take in CO2 and release oxygen so I’m getting an oxygen high that some people get from going to oxygen bars. I’m also a big fan of “Lord of the Rings” and hope to discover that Treebard is real. I just know that I loved the forest. Bunny was excited by everything we experienced today. Washington is officially back on the list.

After about 11 miles of hiking, we encountered some sections of trail that were in desperate need of some TLC. Even with some work needed, the trails were still better maintained than the sections of the AT in AMC territory in NH and Southern ME. For 13 miles, we only encountered 2 sobos. We had the trail to ourselves most of the day. We finally met a couple walking up to a stream we were crossing who said they saw some bears ahead.

The late start, the trail explosions, the rough trail, and now some bear sightings didn’t bode well for our goal of Mica Lake, still 5 miles distant at 5:30. Remember, Bunny and I strictly adhere to “less than 5 BY 5” and it was well past. We are running a seven mile deficit (by our own mileage goals combined with the food we are carrying) that we need to make up by Friday. As long as we maintain 15 miles per day, we’re not slipping further behind.

Rounding another bend, we saw a guy standing in the trail with his umbrella out. There were a few clouds in the sky, but nothing that looked like storm clouds. He yelled to us “there’s a momma bear and cubs about 150’ above you where you’re at.” We we’re excited to get to see some bears. He said the mamma had fake charged him which was why he had his umbrella out—trying to confuse/scare her. We got to where he was, but couldn’t see any bears. We waited for a bit hoping they might reveal themselves, but they didn’t.

This hiker was from Washington and was “just” doing a section of the PCT—506 miles. He told us this section of trail hadn’t had maintenance performed on it since 2003 because road access had been washed out. Now that it was restored, the NFS was starting from White Pass to get the trail accessible by stock animal so work could commence. Now the blasting made some sense. He also told us we had about another 20 miles of rough trail which further emboldened us to call off trying to make it to Mica Lake tonight. With good trail, wed have a hard time making it before dark.

A 30+ mile section of the PCT hasn’t been maintained for over 16 years, but it’s still in better shape that what the Appalachian Mountain Club supposedly maintains for the AT. There is something very fishy going on in NH between the AMC and the NFS. The AMC has been granted a trail monopoly and are not maintaining the AT which is supposed to be part of the deal. On most other sections of the AT, the US military will provide assistance, but they won’t in AMC territory because they are profiting (and profiteering) off of public lands.

With less than 2 miles to go to our new, closer destination, we started to encounter a few more hikers. Three sobos pulled over for us to pass. I turned around and noticed there was another hiker directly behind us. We allowed him to pass us, but when we started asking him a few questions about his hike, he allowed us to jump ahead to set the pace. He would walk our pace for a while while we talked.

Views was about to finish his thru-hike of the PCT. He entered the Sierra on June 18 and managed to make it straight through without much difficulty. People just a day or two ahead or behind had much different tales. He says he just got lucky with creek and river crossings. Now he was shooting to get off the trail either Friday or Saturday to celebrate his 23rd birthday. We assumed he meant  Stehekin, but he meant “finish the trail.” He already had 43 in for today. He needs to average 45 to finish by his birthday. Views hiked Oregon in 12 days and is spending the same amount of time in WA. He did admit that he is missing out on things (like the bakery in Stehekin, etc) but he can always come back.

He left us when we got to Fire Creek. He’ll be in Canada before we make Stehekin. It’s amazing what young bodies are capable of doing. I wish I had one, but when I did, it wasn’t in that good of shape. I already had a beer belly at 23 from the lack of hiking and the access to bars I had enjoyed since 17. These days, drinking has very little appeal to me (unless it’s Mio flavored water on a long climb). My time has passed. For now, Bunny and I enjoy our snail’s pace on the trail and our porcelain in town. Age changes everything.

EFG

It’s been said not to put all your eggs in one basket, but that’s exactly what Bunny and I set out to do. We’re from the country and know that little brown eggs are the best. Charcoal B was out firing blanks before we left camp, so he decided to add a few more eggs to the basket when we got to it (assuming it wasn’t already overflowing).

It rained almost all night long. A French couple came in after we had already moved inside the tent for supper. I felt sorry for them having to set up in the rain. They also packed up in the rain this morning. I got a chance to talk with them. They had gotten off the trail in June and decided to go hike the Tour du Mont Blanc. Last year, they hiked the GR20 on Corsica (which is still on our list). Once they get to Canada, they are going to head down to South Lake Tahoe and go sobo to Walker Pass to finish their hike. They’re doing 20-25 mile days.

We could hear Charcoal B and Struggles start moving around before 6. Since it was raining, we weren’t in a big hurry. It’s no fun packing all your gear up in the rain. Bunny decided we should wait out the rain. She demonstrated this by clenching her eyes shut and ignoring me whenever I tried to talk to her. I expected CB and Struggles to be all packed up and ready to go, but Struggles was pulling a Bunny and refusing to get out of her bag. They even ate breakfast inside their brand new tent.

Leaving camp as a foursome at a little past 9 wasn’t too bad considering the way the day had started. We could see blue sky above so things were looking up. As a group, we pulled the 2.5 mile walk to the next camp off in less than an hour and a half. Struggles was leading for a while, but Charcoal B jumped out front to pick up the pace a bit. It seemed like he had a sense of urgency in his step.

Pass Creek Tentsite is popular with the backcountry crowd. It’s got a good campsite, a reliable water source, and an open air pit latrine. We got there after the first wave had departed, but the second wave was forming. There were already 3 people sitting around. Bunny broke out into a sweat thinking she was going to be 4th in line, but they had already taken care of business and were getting ready to head on.

This was the place we had decided to say goodbye, once again, to Struggles and Charcoal B. They came out of Stevens Pass with at least 10 days of food, while we were only packing, at most, 8 days of food. We need to kick up our daily average miles to 15 to make it to Stehekin by Saturday. We will see each other at least once more in Stehekin since they have to pick up a resupply package on Monday morning. We’re already planning a zero on Sunday.

The sky was almost completely clear when we left Pass Creek at 11. We still had a minimum of 13 miles to go today and I was hoping to squeeze 16 out of Bunny. Unfortunately, either way started with a 1700’ climb with the sun coming out full force. It had the makings of turning into a very humid day with the fresh rain. Sweat was pouring out of me and my glasses were fogging up. By the time we made the top, though, the humidity had dropped and it had turned out to be a Goldilocks day for hiking—not too hot, not too humid, not too buggy, just right.

Numbers, who we had hitched into Leavenworth with, passed us just before the top. We passed her again since she had decided to dry out all of her gear as soon as she had found a spot in the full sun. We decided to push on until we were hungry enough to stop for lunch. With the biggest climb of the day out of the way, we were in heaven hiking. Washington is trying to worm its way back onto our finalist list. Today may have been the day to put her back in contention. We passed by several lakes and ponds with the mosquitoes noticeably absent. A real good sign.

At 2, we decided we were hungry enough to stop. Our tent was just slightly wet, as was out tyvek, but our boots and socks were still soaking wet from walking in the rain all day, yesterday. There wasn’t any point of putting dry socks on this morning with our boots oozing water. The sun dried out our gear and mostly dried our boots and socks back to a normal sweaty day’s worth of moisture. It had only taken us an hour.

It was an ewwing and ahhing day. The hiking was glorious. We entered Glacier Mountain Wilderness area and were just blown away by the beauty and majesty of the mountains. Today was a day that gives us our reason to hike. We saw lots of animals…a marmot family standing watch over their territory, chipmunks trying to beg food from us, and even a deer on the side of the trail that didn’t seem too bothered by us.

We settled on a little over 15 miles because we didn’t want to end the day with another 800’ climb. We made it to White Pass and were looking for a place to camp, and, more importantly, some water nearby. The signs for camping directed us back off the pass. Bunny spotted a tent next to what looked like a little trickle of a stream. We went up to the tent to discover Numbers already in bed. We got 4 liters of water and continued on down the side trail to the camping area.

We’ve got our camp routine down solid. We should after having hiked more than 5000 miles since we got married two and a half years ago. We saw Harry Potter (he hit his head on a granite out cropping—the trail marked him) who told us he had lost his phone charging cable. I offered him ours, but he had located his. We set up next to him and an Aussie (they sure love their vacations down under).

The minute the sun set, the temperature plummeted. We are above 6000’ tonight. This is also the first night we haven’t had thick clouds overhead. I can actually read by moonlight, but the fact that I’m reading on an iPad might have something to do with it as well.

EFG

It was a struggle for me to wake up this morning…an impossibility for Bunny. It had rained a few times throughout the night which always puts me out like a light when combined with Benadryl. We could hear Charcoal B and Struggles packing up, but they had been moving around for less than 2 hours at this point. We knew we still had plenty of time. Super Dave was long gone.

We had looked at the map for a while last night lying in bed. I had chosen a campsite just 14.7 miles ahead. When we got on the trail and checked this morning, the same campsite was now 21.8 miles away. There’s a “feature” with Guthook where distances are given as “crow flies” when you are off the trail and given in trail miles when you are on the trail. We were less than 0.1 miles off the trail in camp, but far enough that Guthook considered us off. My bubble got burst pretty early this morning.

Add in that we were in low cloud cover/fog most of the day. When we did finally get up, we couldn’t even see the pond we were camped next to. Being part of a tramily means that there are other members to do some early morning scouting for the late risers. Charcoal B and Struggles had already found the pit latrine and helped to point us in the proper direction at the appointed time. It was just a box with a lid that automatically closed. This meant that the lid was leaning on your back the entire time you were present. There was a stick next to the seat to hold the lid up, but I didn’t realize it at the time. I thought of the stick more as a knife you use on a bottle of catsup. Sometimes, if you turn the bottle completely upside down, a vacuum is formed, so you stick a knife up the bottle through the catsup to release the vacuum. Bottom line, I wouldn’t touch that stick again.

Since we didn’t really have a viable plan for where to camp tonight, we decided to hike with Struggles and CB, at least until lunch. They, too, were torn on where to camp and were contemplating either 9.5 miles or 13 miles. When we did stop for lunch around noon, Struggles said she was feeling pretty good and still had another 7 miles in her even though we had already gone almost 6. 13 miles is good enough for us at this point. We only need to average 14 to make it to Stehekin before our food runs out.

I decided to put the new tramily to the test today. Anyone that has hiked with me for any period of time knows that I have the perfect trail singing voice. We started out with trivia where I mentioned “Roomisy gloomis” and tried to get anyone to name the show that was from. It’s such an easy gimme for anyone near my age but I got three give-ups right away. I threw in a few more facts to ease the way: there were 7 main characters on the show; the main character used to be on “Dobey Gillis”; the first season was in black and white but the final two were in color…I was pitching underhanded but no one could hit. Everyone reading surely knows by now. I had to resort to T-ball—the main character’s real last name is also known as the “mile high city”. Finally, Charcoal B asked if it was set on an island. We have a winner, so I sang the theme song…”Just sit right back and you’ll hear the tale, the tale of a fateful ship, that started from this tropic port…” (everybody sing)

The weather was cloudy and cool most of the day, which is perfect hiking weather. The drawback is that we have no views. Today was a rare crossing of an actual peak on the trail—Grizzly Mountain at just over 6000’. We did cross another Grizzly Peak in Northern California which scared us to the point that we got off the PCT for 6 weeks to allow the snow to melt. Coming down the backside of the mountain, we heard a hiker approaching from behind. He asked if he could pass so I called out for everyone to move over. He started to pass us and then turned to me and said “Easily Forgotten and Bunny Tracks, you said I wouldn’t remember you and you were wrong.” He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him until he said his name.

This was Store Brand who we had met in Northern California just before we were getting to Grizzly Peak. We met him, his twin brother (Trash Can) and Birthday Girl the day after they had gone over the other Grizzly Peak. It was their directions which helped us find the trail in the snow and the abandoned cabin we had spent the night in way back in May. He said his brother and Birthday Girl weren’t too far behind.

When Trash Can caught up, we walked with him for a bit to find out how they were doing trail-wise. They have less than 600 miles to go. After we passed them, they made it all the way to South Lake Tahoe before heading up to Cascade Locks and heading south to Ashland. Now they were heading north to to Canada then all they’ll have left is the Sierra from Walker Pass to South Lake Tahoe (just about 450 miles). They are going to finish the trail this year.

Store Brand and Trash Can hadn’t seen each other all day since they left Stevens Pass. Each of them told us they had seen a bear just off the trail. From our encounters with each of them, they were close to an hour apart while hiking. I’m putting money it’s the same Bear from the description Store Brand gave us and the pictures Trash Can showed us. I’ll bet the bear is a little freaked out after seeing 2 identical humans about an hour apart from each other. I’m sure he thinks that people are playing mind games on him and he has left the area, or he’s pissed and wanting revenge.

The fog had been switching from mist to light rain and back most of the afternoon. Now it was going for rain again. We stopped to put on our raincoats just in time for Birthday Girl to catch up. She had been seeing our name in trail registers along the way so they had been expecting to run into us. It’s so cool to run into people we met months ago on the trail. Until this past week, other than Blues Clues, we had only been running into people we met on the AT last year.

By now, we were less than 2 miles to our camp. Rain was picking up so Charcoal B and Struggles broke down and put their rain gear back on. The temperature was also dropping and I was worried about them getting cold. It doesn’t take long in a light rain like this before your core drops. The rain let up just long enough for us to set up our tents and get everything inside before it started even harder. We had made it just in time.

There’s a few things you should not do when hiking: Set up in a meadow if you have a single wall tent—check. Cook and eat in your tent while in bear country—check. Call Struggles the leader of the pack while hiking—check. Bunny and I scored a trifecta on the trail today.

EFG

Number 1 rule of trail towns is not to check out early. We nailed it. Bunny insisted upon sleeping in, eating a big breakfast, making use of the facilities, showering one more time (hard to believe there was a time when we showered 7 days a week), and then packing up. We turned in the keys at 11:01…bonus time!

It’s over 30 miles from Leavenworth to Stephens Pass. Fortunately, there’s only a single road between the two points so all cars heading out of town should be heading there. Not even 5 minutes before we got our first hit. It was a couple near our age (I’ve started taking off my hat so people can see it’s just an harmless old man, nothing to be afraid of here) that pulled over and said they were heading up to a park almost halfway to the pass. That sounded ok because from that point on, there are no other side roads. We jumped in.

I tried to make conversation but was having a hard time getting them involved. She tried, but her husband wasn’t the least bit interested in talking. He warmed up after a while when he told us he hadn’t picked up any hitchhikers in over 20 years, but we looked harmless enough. I told them the story of the woman and her daughter that picked us up on the Oregon Coast Trail. They said they could tell we were safe to pickup because I wasn’t good looking enough to be a serial killer. When they dropped us off, he did thank me for not being a serial killer.

We needed another hitch for the final 19 miles to the pass. Bunny stood by the exit to the gas station while I went past the intersection to catch people heading up from the state park. Once again, it took less than 5 minutes before a white pickup turned onto the highway and pulled over. I told the driver we were trying to get to Stevens Pass. He asked “what we” he only saw me. I pointed out my wife walking towards us. He said ok and started rearranging things in the truck for us to fit.

It felt a little awkward, but a ride is a ride. Once again, I tried to get a conversation going, but the guy had difficulty forming complete sentences. His driving wasn’t erratic, but his speed did vary quite a bit. After a couple of miles, he said “I’m going to pull off a second.” It’s state law in WA that if more than 5 cars get behind you, you need to pull over and let them pass which is what we did. In another few miles, he, once again, said “I’m going to pull over.” I thought it a little strange since we now had two lanes in our direction, but I didn’t object. By this time, we had gathered that he had grown up and lived his whole life in this area. I was just expecting him to pull over to the shoulder again, but he turned off onto an old gravel road. Bunny turned white (not uncommon for bunnies), but I was also uneasy.

We turned down an old gravel road and he said “this won’t take but a few minutes. I just want to show you around a little. We’re almost to the pass.” I wasn’t too happy about the prospect of being on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere with someone I didn’t know. We came to an old bridge and he said “it’s just on the other side of the bridge.” We said not to cross the bridge, but he ignored us. Bunny makes me watch a lot of Forensic Files, 20/20, and Dateline when we go in town so I’m a bit on edge. Bunny is shaking.

We crossed the bridge and then he stopped and put the truck in park and said “let’s get out here. We can see the old railroad tunnel down in the woods. It won’t take but a minute to walk down there.” My head is spinning. There’s no way I’m getting out of the truck to go to a tunnel with someone acting as strange as he had been on the ride up. When he opened the door, I said “This is making us a bit uncomfortable. Could we please just head on up to the pass? We are not going to get out of the truck here.” Bunny added “We’re short on time. We’re supposed to be meeting friends at the trailhead.”

He didn’t object and didn’t get out of the truck. I was afraid to have him stand up or get out of my reach in case he had a gun under his seat or on his body. If he were sitting, we could see if he went for a gun. He just smirked a bit and said “I understand. There’s all kind of weird people around. We’ll just get you up to the pass.” But instead of turning around where we were, he drove on further up the road. He did turn around and we tried to keep the conversation light and not show our discomfort, but sirens were going off in both our heads.

He drove us on up to the pass and pulled into the lot right to the trailhead. I tried to open the door, but I couldn’t unlock it as long as the car was not in park. He tried to tell us which way to go (which was the opposite of where we were headed) and we thanked him for the advice. I saw some people at the trailhead and said that looked like our friends (it wasn’t). He put the car in park and we jumped out, grabbed our stuff, shook his hand, and thanked him for the ride. I’m sure the whole thing was innocent enough, but the whole thing had scared the shit out of both of us.

As evidence that we were adrenalined up, we covered a mile and a half of trail in 20 minutes. It was the most scared we have ever been during the two and a half years we have been traveling/hiking. This includes last year when we had a 17 year old kid driving us back from the Yuengling Brewery texting the entire time. Once we calmed down a bit, we came up with some new guidelines we are going to follow when we hitch: 1) the phone stays on us the entire time (we had left it in the backpack), 2) the tracker is on and tracking and stays on the pack (the driver probably doesn’t even notice our tracker. Today, we hadn’t turned it on. It wouldn’t help us, but it might be able to locate our bodies if something were to happen). 3) the pocket knife is on me and not in the pack (it’s not much, but it is something to help in defense). 4) we openly take a picture of any vehicle we get into and its license plate and text it to Digit Alice so that the driver is aware that someone knows where we are (and we will send an all clear text when we arrive at our destination). 5) we will encourage the driver to take our picture and text it to someone they know for their own protection. 6) if we look in the vehicle and feel uncomfortable because the driver is impaired, drinking, or gives us a bad vibe, we will say “stupid me, I forgot (something) at the hotel. I’ve got to go get it. Thanks for stopping and sorry to inconvenience you.” (We did take a ride from a guy that was drinking whiskey while driving. I made sure to sit next to him to grab the wheel if he lost control. It was also a stressful ride).

Charcoal B and Struggles had signed the trail log just ahead of us. We didn’t know what time they had started, but we felt confident that we knew where they would camp. We hoped to catch up with them before the day was done. It only took us about an hour and a half to spot them ahead of us (covering 3 miles the first hour on the trail helped out quite a bit). We walked with them the rest of the afternoon. We were all headed to the same spot for the night.

They had spent all of yesterday hitching to Bellevue to buy a new tent. They are no longer Big Agnes fans after their tent failure. Now, they have a new MSR tent and I feel that I will no longer be able to pee on it in the night since the BA logo is missing. It was a pleasure to catch up and hike with them throughout the afternoon.

Rain had been predicted for today, but it was only cloudy while we were out. There is evidence that it had rained over night because of the muddy sections of trail and big puddles we found along the way. We were happy to have their calming presence after our hitch out. To be honest, I don’t remember much of the trail up to where we camped.

There were several people already spread in the camping areas around the lake. We found the biggest spot that only had one other person in it and asked to be near him. Super Dave (not the same Super Dave we met on the AT last year) turned out to be a former special forces alumni with ranger training. He had been in the army back in the 80s and saw duty in Central America when Reagan was president. I feel secure once again in camp (as long as I don’t piss him off—no politics tonight).

We did hear from Wolf, yesterday. He actually just passed us up while we were in Leavenworth. We were expecting him to pass us before we got to Stehekin. He is killing it on the trail right now. I’d have loved to have Wolf with us today on our gravel road escapade. He has the attitude that unless someone has a gun pointed at his face, he’s not the least bit worried. He can handle any situation. He’s a ranger full bird colonel, retired. There’s not much that he hasn’t seen. The only concern I ever had hiking with him is that I’d piss him off. I refrained from singing around him. I went to Catholic school for 12 years and my singing voice would rile up the nuns. Keep my mouth shut around military bad asses.

I spread out the tyvek for us to eat on. Struggles, Charcoal B, Bunny, and I had a picnic supper. It was just what Bunny and I needed to return us to “trail normal” (that’s the closest I get to normal, and it’s not too close to the standard definition of such). Bunny and I talked of our first date and how I discovered she was just one day shy of being 8 months older than me. I asked her what my birthday was (hers is February 3…I’m still not sure if she’s figured out my birthday yet since it, kind of, involves math—that was almost 10 years ago). If she tries to do math in her head while we’re hiking, I stop her before she can walk off a cliff.

We ended supper with the story of Bunny trying to figure out my middle name which starts with a “J”. She named every possible “J” she could come up with, except for my name (which is John). She even tried to slip in Javier like that’s a normal German name. Before bed, I went to get water for breakfast. The lake is quite shallow close to the shore, so I stepped on a log so I could reach a bit further out. When I stepped off, my croc slipped off my foot and started floating away in the lake. Day 1 back out and I’m almost out of dry socks.

EFG

Bavarian Haus, Bavarian Ritz, Bavarian Hotel, Motel Bavaria, Fairbridge Bavaria, McDonalds…it’s just like Sesame Street—one of these is not like the other. The town does have a German feel to it, but there are a few things that are different here: I see people jay-walking (doesn’t happen in Germany), they speak better English in Germany, and, most noticeably, the McDonalds here doesn’t serve beer.

JYD stuck around with us for most of the first day. He was ready to resupply first thing in the morning while Bunny wasn’t even out of bed. I asked Bunny if she would allow me (for the love of god) to do the shopping alone, once again. I considered this a mission critical operation to not get overloaded since it was 108 miles to Stehekin. Bunny, thanks to JYD, had already heard of something new to carry on this leg. I had to get them separated before she heard of the asparagus/papaya/chai tea that would just sound “so delicious” to her. Bunny is very much influenced by the last thing she hears. As it was, if I came back without sweet, iced coffee, I’d have hell to pay. Tea is hot or cold. Coffee is only hot. I don’t mess with god’s order of things.

JYD and I went to two grocery stores before stopping in at McDonalds to make the discovery that this was not an authentic Bavarian experience. I drowned my sorrow in a few quarts of unsweetened iced tea (as god intended) and possibly a large quarter pounder meal to stave away the hunger pains until Bunny could pull herself out of bed and get dressed. I knew it was a mistake to buy those BonBons on the way into town.

I did a little investigating and found the least favorite tourist brewery in town but the most popular with the locals. I thought it only fitting to get Bunny to join me where she usually sends me on a daily basis. We headed to the Dog Hous to check out all the dog themed beers on tap. When JYD finished his visit with his cousin who was camping in the area, he joined us for a pint.

There’s just a couple of drawbacks to the Dog Haus: you have to drink the beer inside even though there is a large picnic area just outside, and they don’t serve food (other than dog biscuits—they are seriously dog themed). We headed up the street to another bar where the beer master is also head cook so we could get a little sustenance. Even with two beer stops, supper, and a quick ice cream stop, we were all back to our hotel before dark. The thru hiker code has been preserved.

Friday morning at 4a, I heard either a semi rolling by or thunder. Since Bunny didn’t burrow under the bed screaming, I assumed semi, but when I got up at 8, it was still raining steadily outside. Bunny and I joined JYD for breakfast and tried to talk him out of heading back to the trail. The weather was cooperating with us. The more we tried to talk him out of going, the harder it rained. He insisted he didn’t want to spend the inflated dollars for a weekend night. He dropped by our room at just before 11 to say goodbye. It was letting up a bit.

When the rain did stop in the early afternoon, we decided to venture out once again for some authentic Bavarian food. Bunny did some investigating and found a place where the waitstaff dressed in old style German clothing and were pissed off at the world for being forced to dress up. The staff was pissed at each other as well. They were behind on clearing tables because of unexpected crowds (even though traffic was backed up at least a mile heading into town), To top it off, almost half of the items on the menu were unavailable. As long as we had beer, the wait didn’t matter. In other words, Bunny found the place that most mimicked an authentic dining experience in Bavaria.

In spite of the touristy theme of Leavenworth, we did enjoy our stay and like the town quite a lot. Bunny had seen a help wanted sign at the local hospital which intrigued me. I would gladly find a job serving beer to fat Mericans while Bunny earned us some real money over the winter. They just didn’t have a need for any nurse practitioners. I guess we’ll have to keep heading north and maybe something better will present itself.

We did hear from Charcoal B and Struggles. They were a day behind us getting into Stevens Pass, but with us taking a double zero, we should catch up with them again heading out tomorrow. They broke down and bought a new tent today while I invested a few minutes to watch a YouTube video on zipper repair. I was able to borrow a pair of channel locks from the hotel maintenance engineer and repair our zippers. It took all of 30s. We still spent a fair amount of time looking for new tents for next year.

We have been on the trail in Washington for a month now. For the most part, we have enjoyed WA more than we expected even though it has turned out to be exactly what we were hoping for on the PCT. This trail is magnificent and excellently maintained. I don’t believe there is near the trail community involved with maintaining the PCT like the AT has, but the track is so much nicer here that I think it doesn’t require the constant attention that the AT does. I’m still amazed and thankful for the tens of thousands of volunteers that donate their time and energy to keep the hundreds of thousands of miles of trails in our country navigable. Without their efforts, we don’t hike. People may think they hike along distance trail by themselves, but it takes thousands of people to give the illusion of self sufficiency.

EFG

Sit back for another soon to be classic episode:

Instead of just having a short two miles into town, we had a moderate 4 miles with a 600’ climb into town. My biggest concern has always been getting to the pass early enough that we’ll be able to get a hitch into Leavenworth. We made the mistake at White Pass of trying to get a hitch too late in the day. We tried for 15 minutes and not one single car even passed us. I have no intention of going through that again.

It was refreshing to smell tide pods and talcum powder on passing hikers…a sure sign that we are near a road. I love my wife, but being stuck in a tent for 5-6 days exposes you to more smells than anyone ever expects when they sign up for this whole marriage thing. Luckily, I know how to cover up all the sweat, stale breath, and dried urine smells…I have rose flavored farts. It’s much better and cheaper than spending $40 to go to the florist and bring home a bouquet that only lasts for a week, at most. I’m more like one of the motion sensor air freshener dispensers found in high end public restrooms. I just need to work on the dispenser sound so Bunny doesn’t react so violently.

It was so deceptive to be at the top of the ski slopes, looking down, and feeling like we are almost there but then looking at Guthook to find out we have 2 miles still to go. Ski areas are the hardest areas to stay on the trail, but I am a purist in wanting to hit every inch of trail. Last year, I was a continuous northbound purist on the AT. The weather out here has made that an impossibility for us. All I have left is staying on trail, if I let that go, I’ll just be Forgotten and Bunny will be Little Bunny Foo Foo (except she’s not capable of hopping through the forest because of her bad hips).

Nearing the ski lodge, we could see a crowd congregating. After all these years and trails, could we finally be getting the celebratory party we’ve been hoping for? Wouldn’t you know it, the celebration is coming near the end of the trail that we’re really only reaching the halfway point. This is bad timing. This is a little embarrassing. This is awkward…This is not a party for us! It’s a trail cleanup crew for the ski area. Screw it. We’re going to the snack bar and have our own celebration. “Paninis for everyone!” Hold on $13/each…paninis for Bunny and me (I hope no one heard me in my bravado saying “for everyone”—money’s getting a little tight and we still have a lot of miles…).

While we were ordering, JYD (Junk Yard Dog) came up to us and told us there were a group of hikers hanging out in the shade by the parking lot trying to decide where to go. We said we’d join them once we finished eating. There were around a half dozen people sitting around that we hadn’t met before. They were an indecisive lot. Bunny and I wanted to hitch into Leavenworth and take our chance finding a hotel. They wanted to call and make sure spaces were available first. I’m not really a planner, I’m a doer that doesn’t mind sleeping in the streets. Bunny and I took off.

We decided to canvas the parking lot first (looking for unlocked cars with the keys still in the ignition—lots of angels leave cars for thru-hikers if you just know where to look. Instead, we found an angel, Dink, giving out food to hikers. If we had known he was here, we could have saved $35 in the snack bar. We opted for Gatorade and Klondike Bars (turns out, in answer to the age old question “How far would you go for a Klondike.” we will go 1100 miles for one).

There was a solo female from the Netherlands that had followed us as we broke off from the heard of hikers. While we were enjoying our unexpected treats, I still was hitting up people in the parking lot for rides. I managed to find someone with enough space for one hiker, so I let her take the ride, but at a cost. We had lost our best asset at getting a ride—a pretty young blond girl. I had, in effect, just lengthened the hitching process for us.

Bunny and I headed out to the road and spread out to cover the two entrances to the parking lot and catch cars coming up the west side of the Pass. After 10 minutes of trying to hitch, two more hikers decided to join us, devil may care what the hotel situation in town might be. JYD and Numbers were heading our way, but got distracted by the magic. Now we needed a ride for 4. This was too much for two dirty hikers to pull off. I had to convince Bunny to take off her hat and let her hair down so passing cars could see she was a female. As always, she argued but eventually gave in. Next vehicle was a full size cargo van that pulled over and said he’d take as many as he could hold. The 4 of us made it in a single hitch. I KNOW how to pimp for a ride.

The driver was from the eastern side of the state around Spokane. He had hiked a portion of the AT in ‘73 before coming out to hike the PCT. Once he got to the Pacific Northwest, he fell in love with the area. He found a job working in an orchard near Leavenworth eventually building up enough capital to buy his own tree farm. He had been delivering a load of trees out west and was heading home now. He saw the hikers (us) and was doing a good deed. He delivered us directly to the hotel that Ghost had told us about when we passed him a few days ago.

The rates were a few dollars higher than what Ghost had told us they were, but Bunny and I had asked for a king size. It’s a tourist town, we had a great location, and they were willing to take us in despite our smell. Good enough for us. I didn’t feel like walking around looking for another place. JYD agreed and got a room for 2 nights. Only Numbers was willing to push on and take her chances. We knew of another hiker hotel that was about $30 cheaper, but it was getting mixed reviews from other hikers and didn’t have laundry service. Not washing our clothes was not a possibility.

The only caveat was that we had to wait a couple of hours before our rooms were ready. Let’s see, what can hikers, who have been hiking for 6 days since the last town stop possibly do to kill some time before they can shower or do laundry? Let’s try something a little different. We’re in a Bavarian knock off town. Instead of eating pizza and hamburgers, how about beer and brats? We have a winner!

EFG

We’re tired. We’re both dragging. Looking back on the last 3 days we have had 11,000’ of gain and 10,000’ of loss. That’s close to 4 miles of elevation change which might be a small contributor to our dragging butts. More than the mileage, though, is that we are old. Dirt old. Or maybe, I’m the victim of a potential crime. A diabolical crime out to collect life insurance money.

I was feeling particularly sick today. It took me a while to figure out what was wrong but it became crystal clear. Bunny tried to poison me. The only thing that saved me was my iron strong constitution. She was very clever in her method. To cover her tracks, she had taken a small dose of the same poison just yesterday to create a cover story. I had exactly what she had, but only worse because it was me that was sick. Once I uncovered her plan, confronted her, and reminded her that I don’t have life insurance; Bunny, reluctantly, gave me the antidote…a tums and some ibuprofen.

To cool off and speed up my recovery, Bunny suggest that I partially unzip my pants to help cool off. Get your mind out of the gutter, I have convertible pants which turn into shorts. She only meant to unzip my knees so I get some air flow on my legs. It was my idea to unzip my fly to air out my crotch. I got bees on my knees. Birds, bees, and Bunnies have conspired against me. The first sting nearly took me down. The second one resulted in a death. I killed a bee, but I swear it was self defense.

Mosquitoes and flies ruined every break. Even though we were so tired, we just couldn’t stop. Even to sit down to have a drink of water was mental torture with flies constantly landing all over any exposed areas. Imagine having hairy legs with flies landing on them. The only thing that removes the tickle is to rub the area and flatten out the hair. It really made Bunny want to start shaving her legs again.

I begged for a recovery at Mig Lake. We found a steady breeze on a hill overlooking the lake. The Pacino in me sat down in the breeze. When the breeze died down, Pesci emerged. It’s a lucky thing that we don’t carry a gun on the trail because I would have ran out of ammo today. Not only did I want these flies and mosquitoes dead, I wanted ALL flies and mosquitoes in the universe dead. The world is not enough. I’m talking genocide of galactic proportions. Fancy Pants sent me a link for a New Yorker article which estimated that of the 108 billion people who have ever lived, over half have died because of mosquitoes. I am fighting for all of mankind.

We had planned on going to the top of the next pass so we would have an easy 2 mile jaunt down into Stevens Pass. It turned out that 3 passes was enough. We called it a day at Lazy Suzzanne Lake when we found a level spot on the shore with a steady breeze. I set the tent up and Bunny headed in to take care of the bedding. We’ve been having zipper problems, but tonight it progressed to all out hell. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t get the damn things to actually close. We were hoping we could extend the life of this tent through this year, but it does not look promising. As long as the breeze keeps up, we’ll be fine, but it’s a long way to Canada.

We (I) did have a pleasant surprise as we were setting up camp. Another hiker, from Minnesota, stopped by us to set up camp. He said he just wasn’t feeling it today because his pack was so heavy from his resupply. I picked it up, and IT WAS HEAVIER THAN MY PACK. It felt wonderful to know that there’s other people out here that overpack. It was even more refreshing to see that U-Haul was doing it to himself and didn’t have a woman picking out all kinds of crap that “might” sound good. I keep telling Bunny that NOW is not a good time to be experimenting with new foods.

I think I’ve discovered another Bunny evil plan. All day long, the closer we have been getting to town, the harder my nipples have been getting. I’m 99.9% certain than Bunny has placed one of her estrogen patches somewhere on my body. I’m feeling tired and want to cry. When I went to bed, I found a small piece of micro-trash in the middle of my back. It’s so obvious that Bunny is trying to disguise her tracks by putting the estrogen on a coffee tab. Of course, she denied any knowledge and said that I’m paranoid. That’s exactly what Mata Hari said before she was caught. This is one diabolical little woman.

EFG

What a weird group of girls we camped with last night. No one talked. I was in camp with 4 women…awake…and it was quiet. I usually get very nervous if Bunny doesn’t talk. 9 times out of 10, that means I’ve pissed her off and there’s a good chance I’m going to die in my sleep if I am stupid enough to doze off in the night. I wasn’t too worried tonight. Bunny was still whispering to me. I was so brave, I even took a Benadryl. Let the knife cutting commence.

The day started pleasant enough (once we got away from the mysterious women we camped with—seriously, it was like the Stepford Wives). The first two miles were flying by. We were making good time. And then, the flies started. Head nets work with mosquitoes…their high pitched buzz can’t be heard unless they are right in your ear. Head nets don’t work with flies. They have a lower pitch and continually circle your head for hours at a time droning on and on like a long series of political tweets that just never stop and are total nonsensical. It will drive any intelligent person insane. It’s so bad that, so called religious, moral people will use god’s name in vane and vote for a rapist just to get it to stop. But it doesn’t stop. It never stops. Please make it stop. Shoot me. For the love of god, make it stop. I can’t take it any more.

I was willing to try anything to take my mind off of the bugs. At the top of the climb we came to a level area where we ran into 3 old guys. Let’s clarify, they were about our age. There was a little breeze so we could cool off while talking. These three were on bucket list trip. This section of trail from Stevens Pass to Snoqualmie is a very popular section. I suggested they might expand their bucket to include section hiking the entire PCT.

We saw a nobo taking a dip in a water hole on a creek. It looked inviting to me, but the creek was almost 15’ off the trail. Bunny didn’t want to cover the extra distance to the creek and back since we would eventually cross the creek on the trail. When we did encounter the creek, we tried to take a break near it, it the f-ing flies ruined it. I think of flies as the Mitch McConnel of bipartisan legislation—no matter how good it appears to 90% of the population, the demon spawn will ruin it.

Throughout yesterday and today, we have been leapfrogging with Zena and Exon. They had pretty much ignored us thinking that we were just old people out doing a section hike. We talked with Zena for a while today about how long we’ve been out here this year. At the top of the pass, they introduced us to another member of their group. It was Cougar Bait, who we had met at Paradise Cafe way back in April. We recognized her right away because she had also had a buff from High Tails Design with bunnies on it. My wife NEVER forgets a bunny. If you are willing and bored, she can give you every bunny sighting she’s ever had throughout her life…she’s a bunny savant.

I only had one option left with the bugs. I wore my ear plugs to block out fly sound and pulled my buff down over my ears to keep them in place. This helped me tremendously knowing that the little politicians (excuse my language, I know this is supposed to be a G rated blog, but I can’t think of a more terrible name to call them) would no longer be able to physically get in my ear canals. The only problem was, I could still hear Bunny farting because it was such a low, penetrating frequency. I tried to let it go for a while which only emboldened her. I had to tell her I could still hear her. Since I knew I was going to either be gassed to death and overheated or annoyed to death from sound, I took my earplugs back out only to discover it wasn’t Bunny’s farts I was hearing, but my own tooty poops.

There was a major creek crossing ahead of us that just amazed me. We had been watching the snow fields above us all day and now we were coming to a bursting creek that had been snow just this morning. The volume of water contained above us is simple astounding and this is just one little mountain out of thousands. And not even a glaciated mountain like Rainier which has several rivers flowing down it. It’s occurrences like this that amaze me and keep me motivated to hike seeing the unleashed power of nature.

We were both dragging after the creek and we still had 5 miles to go with a 1200’ gain. Bunny needed reviving. I knew just what she needed. I handed her the hand trowel and pointed to a section of woods where she could have some privacy. A few minutes later, she emerged with a few dozen more mosquito bites on her butt, but with a lighter pep in her step. She was able to complain again and was not walking as stiff. We can make it.

Late in the day, we decide to stop near a lake for a late lunch. I think 10 seconds in, they have swarmed us. I imagine, in my mind, that I’m calm, cool, and calculating like Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in The Godfather. I don’t reveal my emotions. I just take it in and reveal nothing on the exterior while I plot the revenge and eventual extermination of all my enemies (mosquitoes and flies). This keeps me calm for almost 20 seconds until Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) in Goodfellas, takes over my psyche as I go after the mosquitoes with the same vengeance Pesci uses to shoot the underage bartender in the face who offended him. I’m possessed. The only possible explanation for my meltdown is that reincarnation must be real. In a previous life, I must have been one of the “Save the Children” bloated, starving kids with flies in his eyes that Sally Struthers paraded to raise money. I’m not going down with flies in my eyes a second time.

The last mile and a half were terrible with flies and mosquitoes. We passed some old guys camping (actually old guys with gray hair, I mean, er, older than Bunny even, leave my hair color out of this) and they told me the mosquitoes were atrocious at the Deception Lakes. I didn’t want to believe them (or for Bunny to hear) because she’d want to stop and I needed to get some mileage out of the old gal. When we saw a sobo coming towards us with his collar up around his face and completely covered up, there was no denying we were headed into a hellish storm ahead. I put my head net back on, but Bunny remained overly optimistic.

I unilaterally have taken Washington off the list of states we’re considering to live in once we get done hiking. I ok’d it with Bunny first. My reasoning is simple and not complex (I am a male, logic runs deep with my type). There’s only 3 good months out of the year and then 2 1/2 of those months are ruined by insects. We’ll just vacation in WA the two good weeks in the year if it’s there’s not a fire. The only times I’ve ever considered quitting a hike have always involved mosquitoes, gnats, and/or flies. I even heard Bunny dropping f-bombs the closer we got to Deception Lakes.

Bunny had delusions of washing off in the lake, but as soon as we got the tent set up, she went straight into it. I, on the other hand, sacrificed my mental stability got eaten alive while getting water. Normally, you don’t hear mosquitoes unless they are right in your ear. Tonight, we went to bed with high pitched hum of mosquitoes all around us. Both of us were too afraid to get out and pee. I’ve carried a Gatorade bottle all the way from Portland for mixing drinks in. I’ve grown very attached to that bottle, but it has a large neck. Tonight, I may lose my water bottle.

The only deception here is that the lakes are pleasant and insect repellant works. Both assumptions are incorrect. The only good thing I discovered today is that no matter how dirty your glasses are, when you take off the head net, the glasses feel like brand new lenses and your vision is sharp again. For me: Washington, dead. Alaska, dead. Niedermeir, dead. Did we stop when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! We’re going to finish this trail in Washington and quite possibly never come back to this state…unless Bunny overrules me. It, too, happens. A lot.

EFG

Our tent was in a little depression last night. It wasn’t because we folded it up wet and put it away like that, although we did. The depression wasn’t a mental state of the tent, it was a concave indentation in the ground. It turned out to be quite comfy except for when Bunny tried to hog my sleeping pad.

The alarm went off at 6:30, so I got out of the tent to do a fire check before starting breakfast. A proper fire check involves wetting down all the area around the tent before lighting the stove. When hiking the AT last year (you know the rules), Bear and Sassy had a Big Agnes tent. I took it upon myself to properly prepare their tent and cooking area for them to cook. (I have issues with Big Agnes.) Charcoal B and Struggles also have a Big Agnes tent. It was my intention to properly soak their tent, except they already had it folded up and packed away. I hosed down the area across the trail from our tent. I don’t feel a need to hose down our own tent in the mornings since I thoroughly saturate the area around it throughout the night.

I got back in the tent and woke Bunny up. I was concerned that Charcoal B and Struggles are starting to act more like thru-hikers than we are. At 6:30, they’re nearly ready to leave. Bunny shared this concern by saying “wake me up when the coffee and food are ready and not a moment before. Don’t make me mad. You know what happens to you when I get mad.” I do know and it’s not pleasant. Let’s just say my lack of hair is not all due to natural acts.

When everything was ready, I woke Bunny up according to protocol…”Your Grace, thy food is ready and your humble servant is standing by to make sure your day begins perfectly.” She still bitch slapped me out of pure malice. I looked out the tent before I started to cry. I don’t like to have people that don’t like me see me cry. It emboldens Bunny. It appeared Charcoal B and Struggles were gone. I got out of the tent to cry because Bunny doesn’t want any whimpering while she eats. CB and Struggles were still there.

They pretended not to hear what had transpired between Bunny and I. In fact, they took steps to complete the final step in tramily formation. They told me where they pooped and told me to avoid the areas with “X’s” on the ground. I proceeded to the graveyard to see so many X’s that I climbed on up the hill so I wouldn’t run the chance of digging up someone else’s pile. By the time I returned, Bunny was out of the tent and happy. CB told us that their tent had broken on him when he got up to pee around dark (more tramily bonding). He had tried to sleep, but was so worried that he made Struggles start getting ready at 4 so they would have time to try to work on a repair for the tent.

After all the X’s had been added to the yard, we were ready to leave. The day started out in the manner that benefits sore feet…we forded the creek beside our camp in our camp shoes. It was so cold that it woke us up completely but chilled our feet so we were chill. Nobody fell even though I had my camera at the ready. On the other side of the creek, we received news of I’m With Him and Bingo Bongo. Bingo had been sighted up the trail by some sobos yesterday, so they got reunited and all was well.

Bunny is not a detail person. Sometimes, I can use this to my advantage. I told her that if she’ll agree to go 16 miles, she’ll only have to do one climb. She agreed without looking. I was true to my word. Today was just a 3000’ climb up over 7 miles followed by a 9 mile easy downhill of the same amount. The four of us walked together for the first 4 miles, but we decided to push on when they stopped for a break. We still had 12+ miles to go, and they were planning on stopping around 10.5 miles for the day. We said our goodbyes assuring each other that we would meet again.

Bunny flew up the next mile and I just drafted off of her air wake. It wasn’t quite enough air that we missed out on a new hell that Washington has decided to throw our way…flies. Like all flies, they get a big thrill out of buzzing around your ears. The best part about them is not that they bite, but that they are incredibly slow. It’s not at all uncommon to kill more than a dozen when you take a break. In fact, it’s very satisfying to send them on to their next lives. I truly wonder if the Dali Llama could refrain from killing these little life rejects.

At a nice overlook back at where we had been, we met a young couple that had just gotten married a couple months ago but were getting ready to tie the not again. Like a shower on a hot day, the first one just didn’t take. They got married at the beginning of summer in Switzerland so his family could attend and they’re getting married here in about a month so her family can attend. I really wished I had a pack of doublemint gum I could have given them. While talking with this couple, up walked Charcoal B and Struggles. Our separation had failed.

We told them where we were eating lunch and hoped to see them there. We took off as they were sitting down for another break. They try to break every mile throughout the day. There were so many switchbacks today that the map looks like the results of a Donald Trump lie detector test—the trail is swinging back and forth as it climbs.

A few switchbacks up, we passed a sobo. Just as we made it past, he turned and said “I know you guys, you’re from Cape Girardeau and hiked the AT last year.” This hiker is a fellow Missourian (Moron for short for those who still live there). We met Jordon, aka Ghost on the AT, at Rock-n-Soul hostel in PA. This makes the fifth person we’ve met this year. We also got a little more insight as to why people seem to be a little on edge today. Ghost told us there is another female hiker, Toasty Hands who is from the  Poplar Bluff area in SE Missouri. Ghost is from Farmington. That makes 4 people from SE Missouri with a 4 mile stretch of trail on the PCT. People are getting upset having to defend and prove everything they say with 4 from the “Show Me” state so close together.

Bunny and I finished up our climb and went to where we had told Charcoal B and Struggles we were going to eat lunch…an alpine lake at the top of the climb. They didn’t show up before we were done eating. We were half way now and had to keep pushing to make up for our slow start this morning. We met 4 sobos in quick succession, the third being Toasty Hands. We freaked her out a bit. When we saw her coming, we said “you look like you’re from around Poplar Bluff, MO.” (In this case, I really did say this to all the girls). After chatting a bit, we all moved on.

From Ghost, we knew she was hiking with a Scotsman. A couple minutes later, we ran into a guy. As soon as he said hello, I said “I know that accent. What part of Scotland are you from?” When he said an island off the northwest coast called Isle of Skye. This gave us plenty to talk about since we have been there when we completed the West Highland Way and met two of our best friends, Peter and Marcia from Maine. We told him we thought the best Indian restaurant we’ve ever eaten at was in Portree. It turns out, they sponsor a sports team he is on so his picture is on the wall. I didn’t remember seeing it because everywhere we looked some hotshot William’s picture kept appearing.

Even though the last 9 miles were an easy downhill, old Bunny was feeling every step and begging to stop. I was ready to stop, too, but I know if I’m in pain, Bunny is in more pain. If she wants to stop, I can acquiesce and get some brownie points. That’s the theory but it never works out that way. We took a couple of water breaks and shortened our goal for the day by a mile. Unfortunately, there weren’t any campsites around, so we ended up going the same distance we had planned.

The last couple miles went slow, not because we were dragging, but because we hit a huge stretch of ripe huckleberries. If we walked slow enough (this is easy for us), we could pick berries as we walked. I could feel the energy building back up in me and felt like I could go a couple more miles until we got to the campsite we had been aiming for. There were already two tents set up and they told us the next site was a couple of miles. The huckleberry energy evaporated just when I needed it most. I sent Bunny down to plead our case and beg a spot for us.

We set up in the entrance to the site so no one can get out without tripping over our tent. I prepared supper outside while Bunny took care of the beds and arranging the tent (as she always does). We had already gotten water and filtered it about a mile before in the hopes of taking the next available spot. I sat outside and cooked until she was ready for me inside. I passed in everything, and, once again, we ate in our tent. We’re just never going to see another bear.

EFG