Category: 2019 Pacific Crest Trail

I knew as soon as the alarm went off that Bunny was not the least bit interested in getting up. That’s why a good husband hits the off button instead of the snooze. She’s a lucky Bunny. I still woke up out of guilt at 7 and started making hot coffee to go with the fresh Krispy Kreme honey buns I whipped up for her. I gently woke her at 7:30. To ease the transition from sleep to wakefulness, I opened the bag of bacon jerky. No one can be upset with the smell of bacon in the air.

It had been a cold, windy, and sometimes rainy night. I mentioned that I was surprised nothing got wet in the tent from the rain. Bunny said “what rain?” It was still a bit foggy so I let her set the pace for packing up. I noticed on the package of bacon jerky it said “you get out what you put in.” I have several problems with this quip. 1) if the bacon doesn’t digest, why eat it. 2) if it is bacon coming out, would it be possible to just have an all bacon jerky diet on the trail and keep recycling. Someone else can have the first bite to verify the accuracy of bacon on the coming out. 3) I eat mostly solid food on the trail and still haven’t had a solid export yet.

We knew we were late starting at 9, but we still were hoping for about 14 miles today. At 1, we still hadn’t even made 6 miles yet and we’re thinking we might be happy if we can at least get in 10. When we left camp, we ran into a sobo and asked him if he had seen another old couple like us. He said he hadn’t really ran across a lot of people. He had started at the parking lot at Snoqualmie and ran out 10 miles before turning around. He already had 13 miles in and we hadn’t even started yet.

There were several other trail runners out doing their best to make us feel even older. The trail was over several miles of loose rock slides. Repeatedly, Bunny and I had to step aside while runners whizzed on by. We worry about every foot placement and step while they aren’t even looking at the trail. There was a time about a decade ago before I started using hiking poles that I wasn’t afraid of falling. In fact, I had never used hiking poles until Bunny and I went to Scotland to hike the West Highland Way. I should have realized that Bunny was actually trying to hide the fact that she was older than me yet too proud to use a cane. That’s why she introduced hiking sticks in the mix, to cover up the age difference. If she could get me hooked on sticks, I wouldn’t notice that she really needed a cane. Bunny has prematurely aged my walking.

Washington is a truly beautiful state. The mountains are magnificent in all directions. Everywhere you look is a postcard. At one point, we were able to catch a glimpse of Mt Baker ahead of us. We turned around to catch a last look of Mt Rainier, but saw it looming over us as large as ever. We left Mt Rainier NP over 90 miles ago and it still dominates the horizon. Rainier is a massive mountain and probably the mountain I have photographed the most over the last 15 years.

Everyone coming towards us would get quizzed on whether they had seen another old couple like us. No one had. Another couple our age told us they had seen an old man and a young woman not too far ahead. We figured they must have seen some other nobos and just ignored it. But we heard it again from a couple of females that had admired a view with an old man and a young woman. As we crossed the ridge into the next valley, we met 3 sobo guys that said they had seen an older couple, about 20 minutes back, that was heading towards a lake for a lunch break. These guys were all in their early 20s while the other people we had talked to were near our age. Perspective?

We were actually a little concerned about what had happened to Charcoal B and Struggles since we couldn’t find them last night. We wanted to make sure they were ok, so we were trying to catch up with them or at least, make sure they were alright. We knew they weren’t around where we camped, so we figured they must have camped about 2 miles up the trail at the next water source. We also figured they would have started around 8 which gives then an additional hour of walking on top of the 2 mile lead. I figured that we should catch up with them by around 2 in the afternoon, but we were dragging terribly today.

I just assumed that everyone was talking about the same couple. I needed to find out more info from the next people we met. I’d ask if they had said their trail names or where they were from. The next couple of young girls said they had just met an older couple and he was wearing a blue hoody. Charcoal B wears a hoodie to get out of the sun. Positive ID. They were just about 20 minutes ahead on the trail. We picked up our pace, but couldn’t seem to narrow the gap.

Over the ridge, we encountered a switchback bonanza. There were so many and so close that you almost got dizzy changing direction so much. I saw a solo female that said she had just met an older couple sitting on a log just 2 switchbacks ahead—their names were Charcoal B and Struggles. We were almost caught up. I took off down the trail at more than 2.5 mph (fast for us). After 20 minutes I gave up going so fast and waited for Bunny to catch up. They must have seen me and ducked behind the log to avoid me. It happens. A lot.

I calmed down and waited for Bunny. When she caught up, I checked the map and noticed a waterfall with a campsite in another mile. That would be right at 9.5 miles from where they probably camped last night. We’d stop in and say hi as they set up camp. They weren’t there. A guy sitting near a stream said they had just passed less than 10 minutes ago. There was camping in another couple of miles which was the minimum we were aiming for after our crappy start to the day. We might be heading to the same spot.

The trail entered a recent burn area and I could see far enough ahead that I thought I recognized Charcoal B. I told Bunny I saw them and took off to catch up. When I got close enough I yelled “Kunta Kente, at last I have found you.” They looked devastated. All day long they had been running to get away from me and yet I had caught them. They looked at me longingly and asked “where’s Bunny?” hoping to save the situation.

We walked the rest of the way together to camp. We saw a young kid, I’m With Him, come back up the trail looking for his dad, Bingo Bango. We had met them pretty early in the day when they passed us after our first climb. Bingo Bango had stopped to use a tree around the waterfall and hadn’t shown up at the meeting spot. I’m With Him was clearly nervous. We told him we hadn’t seen him. I’m With Him ran back up to the waterfall looking for his dad.

We made it to camp about 6:30. We still haven’t gotten any word on the whereabouts of Bingo Bango, but, as can be seen from today’s events, there is a good trail communication network. We were stopped a couple of times on the way to our camp and quizzed about Bingo. From looking at the trail this afternoon, there is an alternate route around where we are with the same place names. We are sure there was just a mixup as to which route to take. Dad took one, son took the other.

Bunny and I plan to make it to Stevens Pass a day faster than Charcoal B and Struggles are. We were hoping to get to spend another night on the trail together which we did tonight. They’ll be much relieved when we move on tomorrow. They are looking at 10.5 miles and I’m looking at 16. Bunny is noncommittal to the 16.

One other interesting thing happened today. At the parking lot in Snoqualmie was a sign posted on the trail which said “Cam Ron, will you marry me?” When Bunny and I were stopped for a break, we had a conversation with a sobo. When we asked his name he said he didn’t have one yet. He was just Cameron. I asked if anyone ever calls him Cam Ron which he responded that a few of his friends did. Then he told me that he had already heard about the sign but didn’t think it was for him. I did mention that it was a conditional proposal. The sign said please leave up until August 6. Apparently, if Cam Ron can’t make it as far as Snoqualmie by then, the offer is null and void. It’s kind of cold, but, it is difficult to hike with someone that has a significantly different pace. Cam Ron’s proposer knows his/her pace and what he/she expects of Cam Ron. It’s a dog eat dog world on the trail and Cam Ron may not make the cut.

EFG

We made it a point to wake up early this morning so we would be alert for our phone interview with AARP Magazine. It’s probably best not to have slurred speech with long pauses during an interview…normally. This call was not in connection to my previous attempt to get them to feature the geriatric, homeless couple living on the trail. This was for a piece for the plus 50 crowd who quit/retired to pursue their dreams. The focus of the article is the steps those dreamers took to be financially secure while enjoying the dream life. I knew we were not the target the article is looking for when they mentioned “steps you took for financial stability.” “Uhh, we still buy lottery tickets when we come to town. Is that what you’re looking for?” Crickets.

The truth of the matter is that we do have some money for retirement to supplement whatever social security the f$&ing Republicans don’t manage to take away from us. McConnel is now blaming the huge deficits on social security rather than the $10 Trillion tax cut we just gave to the richest 1%. We also have a house fund set aside which I would like to dip into. I’m working on talking Bunny into a tiny house that is mobile rather than buying property and getting tied down to just one place to live for the rest of our lives. It comes down to how we look at houses.

Bunny has dreams that our house will be a safe location where her kids and grandkids will come. Her kids do not like the areas we want to live in. Both of them have mentioned Texas as possible locations to live. No way in hell I will own a home in the gun/bible capital of Merica. Plus, I see a home quite differently. I see a home as a place to watch Netflix until I die. “Bring out your dead. I’m not ready to die yet. I’m feeling better now. I’d like to go for a walk.”

Following the disappointment of realizing they weren’t really interested in us, I was ready to drown my sorrow in food. Maybe we could try the gas station…I saw they had lottery machines. We could eat and work toward financial stability in one stop shopping. Plus, it’s only about 100 steps away—“100 steps to financial stability” will be the name of the book that we hire the ghost writer to work on once we win. We’ll backfill details like: we planned for years before quitting our jobs; I was never really serious about selling Bunny’s kids to Arab human traffickers; pay yourself first before buying food; and other gems we have time to develop. AARP will come crawling to the old, rich, formerly homeless hikers.

Charcoal Butt and Struggles had left before 8. We tried to text them to go to breakfast but got no response. Maybe they were just ignoring us. Perhaps they’ve already tired of me and want some alone time. We had told them we wouldn’t leave before 11 since we had made an investment in a town dwelling location and we like to maximize the return on our investments by staying until the maid comes knocking on the door. We know how high finance works!

When we had woken up, it was raining outside. Further reason to take our time getting ready. By the time 11 rolled around, there wasn’t rain, but the clouds were still very low in the sky. We couldn’t see any of the mountains around us. Bunny needed to talk to both of her kids since we might not have cell service for 5-6 days. I miss the good old days when you could go hiking and not hear any news or have anyone pester you for money. It doesn’t seem all that long ago when you could actually NOT be in constant contact with everyone. But then I would have had to write in a journal just for myself and not be able to share these words of wisdom with tens of people who don’t read it and only look at the pictures.

It was 0.3 miles back to the trail. Less than 50 steps after the gas station, where we did not stop to buy a lottery ticket, it started to rain. I think it might have been god telling us to turn around and buy that damn ticket. We ignored all the signs and just stopped under the interstate overpass to put on our pack covers. That was exactly what was needed to get the sun to come out and raise the humidity to near Missouri levels so we would feel right at home.

The next 7 miles of trail was all uphill. This was expected. It wasn’t really that bad except for all the sweat and lack of air movement. Since it is a Friday, we did meet several day hikers, but none of them suspected that they were passing a couple of failed thru-hikers. We, too, were clean and did not smell of day old skunk spray. I was clean shaven. Bunny had hairless legs (normally, this was what Gillette did to its test bunnies—shave their legs) and was proud of it. But most telling of all, we have no visible ultra-light backpacks. Every person on the trail thought no one would be stupid enough to carry the loads we have on a thru-hike. We blow everyone’s assumptions away. We are thru-hikers. We are dumb enough to carry all this gear for thousands of miles. We are not retired. We are not rich. We are happy which makes us rich (this is what poor people are required to say).

We only stopped a couple of times to drink some water. The second time, I needed some fuel because my stomach was grumbling. An English hiker, Kaput, stopped and chatted for a few minutes. She and her husband are thru-hiking and flipping like us. Not quite like us. We’ve flipped 5 times so far and are only 1000 miles into the trail. They flipped twice, once across the Sierra, and once to Hawaii. It took them 2 weeks to realize they weren’t on the PCT and another week before they decided to get back on it.

We made it to Ridge Lake around 4:30. We spent the next hour circumnavigating the lake and scouring the surrounding area in search of Charcoal Butt and Struggles. We encountered a few people that knew of them and said they had arrived around 4 but might have continued on. We eventually gave up looking and set the tent up on the far side of the lake where we could see the trail and all who passed. Except, we were too cold and got in the tent and ignored everyone.

There were two choices for camping tonight: 1) camp out of the wind but get swarmed by mosquitoes forcing you to retreat to the tent, or 2) camp in the wind where the mosquitoes can’t bother you but the cold wind forces you to retreat to the tent. It should be obvious to everyone that regularly reads the blog, that I chose #2 (#2 is the single topic I talk about the most over time). I did prepare my lovely bride supper, as is my custom on the trail. I even stayed outside to do so, but we both retreated inside to eat. We’re not going to see a bear tonight.

EFG

As with most of our zero days, this one revolves around eating. Since this is a small trail destination, we have been able to sample all of the local cuisine including Aardvark—not actual Aardvark, but a food truck next to the gas station which makes amazingly good curry.

We also received some new socks in the mail as well as doing some equipment research. Our Z-Packs tent is quietly disintegrating on us. We can lay on our backs and look up at all the holes that have appeared in the ceiling. It’s always like looking up at a starry sky. Plus, pulling on the zippers is like playing a game of Russian Roulette—we’re never certain if it going to explode open or remain closed.

6 town meals after 7+ days of trail food is better than any high colonic. We’ve managed to get a good colon cleanse this short break. I’ve only spent as much time in the bathroom one other time in my life—when Bunny insisted I get a colonoscopy before she’d agree to go hiking with me. There are times I’d like to have another liter of that cleanse, but this isn’t one of them.

Charcoal B (he has been forced to drop the “Butt” up front and make people enquire about his name before volunteering his butt for public perusal) and Struggles are going to leave town before us in the morning but we have plans to catch up with them along the way, or at least meet them to camp tomorrow night. I wrote to the AARP monthly magazine about doing a story on us when we first began our travels a couple years ago. We finally got an email from them wanting to talk to us. We’ve arranged a phone interview in the morning to talk. I’m not sure if my writing and the recent email are related, or not.

This has been a short, relaxing stop. We really have no pressure on us at all since we have decided we aren’t going to have time to finish the trail this year. We are just taking our time to get in as many miles as we can on our PCT thru-hike failure. I’m bummed we won’t be finishing this year but that’s to be expected when geriatric hikers bite off more than they can chew.

EFG

Another Bunny Tracks’ production

I don’t know what we have to do to get bears to come to our camp. We’ve camped between strawberries and lasagna. We’ve camped in a blueberry patch. We’ve eaten every meal in our tent for 3 weeks. We’ve even put peanut butter between Bunny’s toes before bed (this was an idea Bunny got from walking barefoot in our yard when we still had a dog). We hoped for bears but got ants. Perhaps we need to try these tactics on a different species. Maybe if we tried to attract mosquitoes, they’d leave us alone.

I finally got to see a bit of sunset last night. This was only possible because we drank too much liquid when we got to camp at 4 yesterday. I had gotten up to pee, for the second time, and the sun was finally going down. We had gotten to bed at 6:30. If I say I woke up at 7 and was ready to go, it kind of sounds like we might be espresso drinkers instead of tired old people. Perhaps if we walked as long as we slept, we might be able to finish the trail this year.

Our stove fuel had been running low so we were naturally concerned about the impact this might have on our morning caffeine intake. Charcoal Butt and Struggles had given us a small canister of fuel as a sign of gratitude for the Oreos the other night, so we were now just boiling water straight out of the stream again. I had been filtering the water first and then just getting it hot. Bunny prefers boiled water in the morning because it allows her additional sleep time while it cools back to her preferred lukewarm drinking temperature—one of her (many) simple pleasures.

We rocked getting ready this morning. Even with boiling tea, we were packed and on the trail before 8. I know of three sure fire ways to get Bunny moving fast in the morning: 1) camp in a farmers field without permission, hear a tractor fire up—totally packed up and on trail in 20 minutes, 2) hear a tree fall and landslide outside of tent—from sound sleep to fully alert and out of tent in 30s, and 3) going into town to shower and use porcelain (not necessarily in that order—perhaps a porcelain sponge bath first followed by a clogged shower drain), 45 minutes from first eye crack to packed up.

It was just a short 5.4 miles to town with the first 3 miles an easy downhill grade. Since we both had skipped hole digging, I knew we would walk fast. Bunny was moving so fast that we almost missed the view of I-90 and our first visual indication of civilization. We had heard a low hum over night, but it provided the missing white noise of a box fan for me. As we started to climb, we came upon a rock slide area filled with foxglove which reminded us of our angel, Digit Alice, back home (foxglove is also known as digitalis—hence the name). We hadn’t seen any for quite a while.

There was only one couple of day hikers that we passed heading in and one sobo Canadian thru hiker. The day hikers were from Bellevue, WA and were interested in how we dealt with water. He had been a Boy Scout leader and was used to carrying all the water they might need when going out for a weekend. We talked with them for a few minutes until I felt a prick in the soft part of my knee. Bunny was poking me with her hiking pole, a clear indication that she was going to go public with her spousal abuse if I didn’t move on. I was scared so I said goodbye and moved on.

We topped a small rise and dropped down into a ski area. We could see the buildings below us which were our destination. Snoqualmie looks to be a small scale ski area for beginners. There aren’t any big slopes and only 2 chair lifts. As far as businesses go, it’s really just an interstate interchange. We walked across the ski area away from all the buildings. This was torture knowing that we could just walk a hundred yards downhill and be there or, be purists, and walk the trail for an additional 0.6 mile to get to the same place. If I’m nothing else, I am anal when it comes to trail purity. I’ve given up on not flipping around and we’ll probably even do a large section of trail as…(gag, cough, sputter)…sobos. But, by gawd, we are going to cover every inch of trail there is.

There were a few hikers camped in the woods right beside town which surprised me. There is a hostel in town that’s only $20/night per person, that was our target. We walked onto the gas station to find out where the hostel was. It was a half mile the other direction so we decided to stay at 5he hotel next door to avoid the walk. Non-trail miles don’t count and are to be avoided at all casts, even if it means an extra $70/night to keep my wife happy (or so I’m told).

We couldn’t check in for several hours, so, naturally,we went to eat at the only sit down restaurant at the pass, Summit Inn Pancake House. After eating, we went back into the lobby to play on the internet until our room was ready. In walked Charcoal Butt and Struggles, a full day early! They had decided to push on further yesterday and were only a mile and a half behind us last night. The rest of the day was the usual town routine—laundry, eat, shower, eat, grocery shop, eat, get ready for bed, and snack. In theory, we should run a calorie deficit on the trail and make up the difference when we come to town. Bunny and I run the distinction of being the only hikers to routinely put on weight between towns. I’m going to do the shopping myself this time. I desire the concentration camp look all the other guys develop on the trail.

EFG

Charcoal Butt and Struggles are early risers and slow movers. They are the epitome of leisurely hikers enjoying the trail. We have spent nearly two days together and they are always happy and friendly to everyone—even jerks on the trail. Luckily, other than me, there aren’t a lot others out here. They could easily give Patches a run for her money on slowness getting out of camp. Last year (when we hiked the AT, everybody drink), Patches was almost always FULO (first up, last out). That’s why we hated to see her finish. It made us feel better not to be last on the trail. (I know, it’s not a race, especially when you’re always losing.)

They lingered this morning for us to pack up and leave first. They pushed us out of the nest, not to help us grow, but to have privacy while they dug holes. Bowel familiarity is the final step in trail families, and they aren’t quite ready to cross that threshold. Also, our tents were so close together last night, I’m sure all four of us were too close and too afraid to fart. I looked back after we were 50 yards up the trail and the combined methane emissions from the four of us releasing all at once caused a distortion in the space-time fabric.

The trail crowd really has thinned out. We didn’t see more than 15 hikers all day, and the majority of them were day hikers or short timers. We did meet a sobo couple, Two Cup and Socks, who were slow-yoing. They thru-hiked the PCT northbound last year. This year they are doing southbound. A true yo-yo is both directions in a single year, hence slow-yo.

This section from White Pass to Snoqualmie is the longest stretch Bunny and I have ever gone without a resupply. Even the Hundred Mile Wilderness on the AT is crossed with roads and we arranged to have a resupply drop in there so we only carried 4 days of food, max. When we did the Wonderland Trail which was about 94 miles, we had cached 2 food drops so, once again, 4 days of food, max. This stretch was 98 miles without any resupply. We didn’t know how our bodies would hold up, so we carried, what we thought was 8 days worth of food. We’re going to make it in less than 7 1/2 days plus we brought way more than 8 days. If we had stuck to our shopping list and what Digit Alice sent us, we would have been fine. Instead, I’m going to walk into town with about 6# of food. We did manage to eat all of the Oreos, M&Ms, and candy bars that we over bought.

We did have one big coincidence today. Bunny and I were both in zombie mode, just hiking and not talking, trying not to focus on our ailments. We both saw a hiker coming towards us with “Hike in Harmony” written on his shirt. We both liked the shirt and looked up to see his face. It was Odie. We shared a shelter with Odie, Stickers, and Lady Bug in the Grayson Highlands in VA last year on the AT. Odie is out hiking a 500 mile section of the PCT this year and spreading the word about the Hiker Yearbook. Last year was his first PCT yearbook. We chatted for a while about how he was doing and purposely avoided the whole AT crazy hiker this year. Odie had tried to get the guy off the trail before he hurt someone. Odie is a good guy.

We were both dragging all day. We tried to take a nap beside the trail when we stopped for lunch but Bunny couldn’t get comfortable. I was just getting into snooze mode which had to be aborted. We just zombied on the rest of the day. It actually was a fair amount of climbing today, over 3000’ but broken up into smaller climbs. I think we’re just worn out old people. We stopped to talk to a young couple out for a 10 day hike and saw a guy with his dog coming towards us. We wished them well and tried to make way for the guy with his dog. He didn’t say hi, thanks, or anything but just barreled past me almost knocking me down the hill. I guess there are assholes everywhere. I just don’t usually expect dog people to be jerks.

A couple miles further on we met another young couple obviously out for a short trip. They were overloaded worse than we are. They asked how far it was to Mirror Lake because they wanted to go spend a few days there. We had just passed this lake, we thought, about 5 miles ago. They looked taken back so we said we’d check for sure. It was only 3.3 miles, but it sure felt a heck of a lot further. That’s when we both knew we were just too tired to keep going.

The spot we had intended to stay at tonight was still another 3 miles. Earlier, we had contemplated going all the way to Snoqualmie. Now we just sat down on the first log we could find which just happened to be in a nice level campsite next to a stream. We’ll still get to Snoqualmie tomorrow but for lunch instead of breakfast. I let Bunny win by agreeing to stop for the night. And I’ll still make her breakfast in bed, like always. She’s a lucky girl. At least I know it and that’s all that matters.

EFG

We had so much fun hiking with Charcoal Butt and Jackie (who now has a trail name but I will postpone revealing it until the proper time in our story) that we decided to change our plans a bit. Our goal is to nearo into Snoqualmie on Wednesday. We were going to shoot for around 16 miles today which would give us a short 10-11 miles tomorrow with about 2 miles in on Wednesday. CB and Jackie are religious “10 miles per day” people. Rather than do a 10 tomorrow, we could switch up and do a 10 today and hike for another day with CB and Jackie.

It’s reminiscent of hiking with Sassy and Bear. They got up early and shuffled around making breakfast. The sound of early risers near us again was so reassuring, it meant we had another 30 minutes of peaceful bliss before we had to get up. We had already been warned they wake up around 5 but aren’t ready to go until 8ish…perfect! We rolled out of camp at 8:15 with a goal of 10.7 miles for the day.

It appears that the sobo bubble has passed. I don’t think we saw more than 3 all day. We did pass a few section hikers out doing the Washington Section. Mala Llama and Hopper were a couple of women finishing up from last year and Blue was thru-hiking sobo this year after thru-hiking nobo last year. She told us that weather wasn’t an issue for her at all in 2018 and she didn’t start until July 15 to avoid all the rain in WA.

Jackie sets a good comfortable pace for us to follow. Charcoal Butt tried to give her Leader of the Pack as a trail name but she was too self conscious of her speed to accept it. When we stopped for a water break, CB had left his hiking poles under a pine tree that dropped sap on his handles. When we stopped at the next water stop, we checked for sap on logs to make sure we didn’t sit on any. Jackie said she hates to get sap on her pants. We offered the suggestion of Sticky Butt which was immediately rejected because she didn’t want to be known as “that butt couple from Hawaii” (which has a nice ring of its own).

As we neared the spot we had planned on, we saw that the water source was a lake about 0.2 miles off trail. We all walked down to the lake hoping to find a spot nearby. Instead, we found a suspicious looking man we are pretty sure lives out of his pickup truck. He has been driving around parks looking through their garbage. He found a huge 3 room tent without poles and was checking it out for holes and trying to figure out what he could do with it. We decided to just get water and head back to the trail.

There was a spot at the trail intersection with the road we were considering, but it had filled up with three car loads of locals (not that locals are bad, but there had been a lot of empty beer bottles and gun casings around the lake and along the road; not the normal thru-hiker contribution to the environment). We had noticed cars driving around the power lines as we had approached the road initially. I was convinced it was someone out looking for a place to bury his wife’s body. Bunny makes me watch way too many episodes of “Forensic Files” when we take a zero. Bunny defended the guy saying he was just letting his dog go to the bathroom. In my mind, that would be the perfect cover. Whatever the case, the area reeked of “n’er do well” happenings. This much, we all agreed on.

The next campsite was only another half mile up the trail. By up the trail, I mean 600’ of elevation gain up. Jackie said she was struggling and didn’t want to lead, but no one else was willing to go first. She said we’ve got to allow her to take breaks as she struggled uphill. By the time we all got to camp we had agreed on some form of Struggles, I suggested False Struggles as she had shown no signs of struggle all day. Jackie rejected the False but accepted Struggles. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you, Struggles and Charcoal Butt (formerly know as the butt couple from Hawaii).

Once again, I spread out our tyvek for all of us to prepare and eat supper on. We had mentioned that we were carrying Oreos with us and I noticed a little dabble of saliva escape Charcoal Butt’s cheeks (his face, we’re not that close). When we broke out our dessert, we offered a couple of mint Oreos to each of them. Struggles struggled to refuse but CB said, from his years of experience as a bar tender, when a customer offers you a $100 tip, you say “thank you.” CB twisted open his Oreos and savored the cookies separately from the creamy filling. After 6 days on the trail, he claimed they were as good as ice cream in town.

While we were eating, we saw a hiker go past our camp and then drop down a little trail into our camp. She asked if she could stay with us and CB said “welcome neighbor.” Shuffles tried to find a flat spot in our area (which wasn’t really flat) and decided to just have a snack with us before moving on. Shuffles is a Kiwi and we asked her if she had hiked the Te Araroa as it is on our list. She has hiked sections. This year, she is finishing up the PCT which she had hiked the southern half last year. She did say Oregon had been her favorite part of the trail even with all the mosquitoes.

Getting ready for bed, Struggles found a pile of fresh bear scat in a wild strawberry patch across from our tents. They also found behind their tent,a pile of lasagne a hiker must have thrown out. We have the makings for an exciting night in camp. Struggles wanted us to be sure to wake her if the bear comes back by tonight. I assured her that if we see a bear, she will definitely get woken up.

EFG

The simple things in life—trash drop off and a smelly pit latrine. Even my simple standards are getting lowered. For the most part, I’m a mouth breather so the smell didn’t bother me much. The clear plastic bag of used feminine products was a bit over the top for me. Bunny and I pulled together and hit the trail at 7:58 with lighter packs and empty sigmoids.

We are now in the Mt Hood wilderness. That’s not to say Mt Rainier is out of sight. She still loomed over us early in the day. We didn’t get to see the promised elk at the cabin. The trail continued through some recently burned forest. We tried a new game today…when did this burn? We were examining the dense ground cover and noting trees as tall as 10-15’ but spaced very far apart. We decided it had to be at least 5-7 years since it had burned. We came to a Boy Scout Eagle Project sign that gave us a history of the area. It had been a controlled burn executed with the assistance of correctional inmates. It had taken place 31 years ago, yesterday. With that little bit of info, I’d have to take a guess that it will take another 40 years until this will be an actual forest again.

We did not encounter many hikers of either persuasion (nobo or sobo) today. After the controlled burn area, we did encounter a couple of Germans who now live in Hamburg. We chatted a bit about our trip through Germany from south to north. She asked if we visited Leipzig because she had been born there but her family moved to Frankfurt when she was little. That was before the Berlin Wall fell. We had stayed with Tobias who we had met while hiking the GR10. It’s hard for us to meet any Germans and not think of Axel and Heike and wonder when they are going to finish the GR10 so we can go hike the Tour du Mont Blanc with them.

While talking with them, another hiker came up to us. We offered to let him pass, but he wasn’t in a hurry. We noticed a pruning saw in his hand. He walked with us for about an hour. Matt adopted about a six mile section of the PCT to maintain. This is his third year. He’s trying to build up good karma before he thru-hikes the trail, but it will be a few years thanks to student loan debt. Matt grew up near Harpers Ferry, WV but fell in love with Washington when he graduated from college and moved here 5 years ago.

We managed to maintain a steady 2 mph rate including drink breaks, snack breaks, and Bunny talking breaks. I’m trying to become more talkative, but I have such a hard time forcing myself to interact with strangers. Bunny had set a goal of 11 miles before I would be allowed to eat a sizable snack, aka lunch. We reached her goal and found a shady spot with a nice breeze. I spread out the tyvek for us to sit. We ate lunch and cooled down, but we could hear people talking behind us. I looked up to see a young teen wearing a hoody. I didn’t think much more about it.

Enough food has been consumed that my pack has been reduced in weight back to my comfort zone. My feet still hurt a bit starting around 10 miles, but it’s not too bad. I’m working on stretching more throughout the day and it seems to be improving. I’m still a bit stiff after breaks, but loosen up within a quarter mile of getting going again. Just as I was starting to warm up, we caught up with the young kids that had been making all the noise above while we were eating. Bunny slowed down as we are reluctant to pass anyone because we are so slow. There was a switchback in the trail and I saw the girl; she looked familiar. But when her boyfriend made the turn, I saw a white beard. It wasn’t a teen. It was Richie and Jackie. We had finally caught back up with them after we stayed an extra day in Packwood.

We chatted and discovered we were all heading to the same camping spot tonight. We walked together the rest of the day. Jackie and Richie are doing the entire state of Washington and then flipping back to Cascade Locks, but heading over to Bend. We got to learn a lot more about each other today as we walked and talked for the final 6 miles today. They built their own home in Maui over 20 years ago, and they built it off grid. They are completely solar with a backup diesel generator. Richie said they didn’t know anything about solar when they started and still don’t. “Ask me what kind of generator I have?” so I did. He said “a good one.” I could tell I wasn’t going to get a lot of solar pointers here.

A couple of nights ago, they camped in a burned area. They said everything they touched got black all over them. Richie was digging his morning hole when the people they had been camping with returned. It was a mission abort, and he got black everywhere trying to get presentable quickly. I got the honor of naming my first hiker this year. Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you…Charcoal Butt. He liked it because it comes with the added bonus of embarrassing his wife children when he explains it at parties.

There was a large enough spot next to the dirt road at Tacoma Pass for us to set up our tents. I spread out our piece of tyvek for all of us to eat supper on since it was a comfortable evening. Bunny had discovered blue berries or huckleberries, we’re no longer certain what were eating. After supper, Bunny and Jackie picked berries for us to put in our breakfast granola. It was a scene out of Little House on the Prairie while the woman worked and the men discussed matters of great import that are of no concern to the simple womenfolk. “How many times a night do you get up to pee? Usually at least twice…you?”

EFG

I barely heard Josh when he got up at 5. Around 6, I couldn’t stand it any longer and had to get up to pee. I didn’t like what I saw (I’m not referring to my mini-me, I mean the weather). Bunny had wanted to sleep in today, anyway, so I got back in the tent and turned off the alarm. At a little after 7, I heard a sound that should be our new alarm—a tree fell above us and started a rock slide. We were pretty sure we were safe where we had set up camp, but we both jumped up and got out of the tent to make 100% certain.

Well, we were up, so I made breakfast whilst Bunny tried her hand at napping again. She nailed it! I prepared a three course meal for her and did the dishes before I could coax her out from under the covers. We leisurely packed up afterwards. As we were starting to climb back up to the trail, I saw a guy filtering water at the stream. In an unusual move for me, I stopped and started a conversation.

The guy was a nobo. He told me this was the fourth time he had hiked the PCT and he was going to finish in the Sierra once he made it up to Canada. He told me his name was Saunter. I told him we had met a guy named Saunter in Northern California. This Saunter said he was a fake and fraud, there’s only one Saunter. He asked our names and when he heard Bunny Tracks, he recognized the name (of course he had Easily Forgotten me). It was the same Saunter. He had been hiking sobo with Strider when we met him.

We spent the rest of our hiking day together. He claimed he was trying to slow down because he had had knee surgery over the winter. If slow is what he wanted, he had hooked up with the right people to provide it. He had already hiked 8 miles before he had stopped to get water where we were camping. We hiked another 13 miles together to the Mike Uriah Cabin where he stopped for a rest before continuing on. Saunter was planning on making another 5 miles before stopping for the day.

Hiking with Saunter made the day go by so fast. We didn’t even notice the climbs. We did notice the spastic weather. It was misty when we started, but we were optimistic and didn’t wear our rain gear. The weather was quite peeved at us for not giving it his due respect so it started raining which caused us to stop and cover up. A few miles later, we got a “psyche” with the sun coming out causing us to stop and take off rain gear. The weather wasn’t done screwing with us until we had repeated the routine a couple more times. We finally met a couple out for a day hike that told us the weather is going to be great for the next 10 days. Every time we’ve heard that it’s been followed by 2 days of rain. In fact, today was day 4 of a “next 10 days are going to be great” and it rained a good portion of it.

One thing that’s really fascinating about meeting hikers on the trail is the instant bond of trust and openness that is almost automatic. Saunter was very open about his life and the hardships he has had and overcome. His mother was murdered when he was 8 and ended up living on the streets by the time he was 16. In spite of the odds against him, he managed to still have a successful life ultimately paying cash for a house in Breckinridge, CO with the proceeds from building a successful business. Like us, he ultimately sold out everything and has taken the dive into enjoying life through thru-hiking in the warm months and snow boarding in the winter months. He’s Bunny’s age, so, older than me. Bunny tries to say we were all born in 1963 so we’re all the same age. Math still evades her. Just own the cougar in thyself, Bunny.

Another big topic among thru-hikers is gear. Bunny and I are struggling with all the extra food weight we are carrying to get through this hundred mile stretch of trail. Her hips are inflamed and my heel starts flaring up around 10 miles into the day. Reluctantly, I have to admit we need to cut weight and try to go ultra-light. I know a lot of our ailments will dissipate. But it’s hard to try to switch out gear and get new gear while we are in the middle of a hike. We have lighter weight sleeping pads, but they are in my brother’s basement in St Louis. We need to get new packs and possibly sleeping bags. It’s just hard to admit that the way I’ve been hiking for 45 years is all wrong. Plus, I’m super cheap, and I hate to replace working gear with newer lightweight gear just to save weight, but Saunter made me wear his pack after I had walked 12 miles with mine. He has no reason to complain at all, I didn’t even feel like he had any weight on him. I guess this will be our winter project.

A large portion of the trail today had fresh hoof prints and horse nuggets in it. As a side note, the three of us developed a new invention called a “directional horse poop diverter” to aim “fresh from the source” nuggets to be directed to the downhill side of the trail so we hikers don’t have to step in fresh poop. Bunny got going on a nice rant until I heard her say “I’m going to hell.” I thought maybe she had finally seen the error of her ways and was going to be more appreciative of all her doting husband does for her: the carrying of the food, the breakfast in bed…the list is really too long to go into in a single blog entry. No such epiphany. She saw a man on a mule coming towards us on the trail. He was pulling another mule with two large saddle buckets full of tools and wood for repairing and maintaining the trail. There were many more people out on horses doing trail work. We thanked them as we always do when we meet people giving up their free time to make it possible for us to hike in the woods.

A few sobos stopped us and told us we need to get to the cabin. There is going to be magic there this afternoon at the cabin. My foot quit hurting almost immediately when it heard about food that doesn’t require hot water. When we walked up to the cabin, they told us to drop our packs and get ready to be witnesses to a wedding vow renewal. Splash and Feet Sack were celebrating their sixth wedding anniversary by making burgers and hotdogs for strangers walking on a trail stretching from Mexico to Canada. They regularly come out to the cabin and bring drinks, beer, and food for hikers. This is the first time we have been a part of a trail wedding.

We, when I say we, I mean Bunny, decided that we would set the tent up behind the cabin and sleep in the cold rather than enjoy the camaraderie of fellow hikers in a warm cabin with a wood burning stove. Having a pit latrine is magic enough for her at this stop. We did run into Strider who was still hiking with Saunter.

We also met an amazing French man who had spent two years traveling around the world back in the 90s. One of the highlights was that he got to spend 5 weeks on a Chilean naval boat cruising around Antarctica and its surrounding islands. I hope that we are able to catch up to him again and hear some more of his travel stories. He did the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal, the first year it was opened to outsiders. This is the same circuit I did in 2009 that I am not allowed to talk about when Bunny is around. He and his wife also spent time in China before Clinton pushed for their entry into the WTO.

I don’t know what it is about hamburgers that kindles thru-hiker appetites. I had 2 burgers and 2 hot dogs before Bunny and I went back to the tent for cheese and crackers, avocado and Fritos, M&Ms, and hot tea for a pre-bed snack. Rather than count out the M&Ms from the big bag we bought, we each just had our own “shareable” bag. Some things just aren’t worth dying for. I dare ANYONE to share a bag of M&Ms with peanuts with my wife and try to take more than her out of the bag. If you don’t believe my Bunny has cougar in her, take the M&M challenge.

EFG

I was motivated this morning. I was a man on a mission. I woke up before the alarm and made breakfast. I even made lukewarm coffee so Bunny didn’t have the excuse she had to wait for it to cool. We were ON the trail at 7:45. The mission was simple, make it to Chinook Pass before either Bunny or I exploded. There are pit latrines and trash cans there—I intend to drop a load in each.

Within a quarter mile of leaving the lake, something mysterious happened. A joyful mystery, so we didn’t question it. All the mosquitoes disappeared. We also started encountering people on the trail who were…different. When we approached them, we could smell tide or cologne. We were in the land of day hikers.

It’s never a good thing to start the morning on an incline—Bunny’s hips need to get warmed up first. It’s also not a good idea to start the day on a decline—Bunny’s hips need to get warmed up first. Come to think of it, it’s not a good idea to start the day on level ground—Bunny’s hips need to get warmed up first. Bunny prefers to lay in bed until the sun strikes the tent and it’s rays penetrate through the quilt and warm up her hips the way god intended. This is why we don’t let Bunny set the alarm. She won’t do it.

In spite of creaky, cold hips, we made pretty decent time ascending the first 750’ climb of the day. The trail also widened out as further indication of a day use area. We encountered dozens of hikers and a couple of llamas. We tried to hurry past, but who can resist llamas, or dogs. We had to slow down for them which usually required interacting with other humans in some manner. I no longer have to quiz sobos. We’ve encountered the only person we knew is heading our direction. That’s why I was stunned when I rounded a bend and heard someone say “It can’t be. It’s Curtis.”

It took me a second to recognize John and Jenny who we hiked with on the Wonderland Trail nearly 3 years ago. We’ve kept in regular touch ever since and we have been planning to meet up since they live in Sisters, OR. It was a great surprise to see our old friends and make plans to meet again in a few weeks. We were actually able to stop and chat for about 15 minutes without swatting mosquitoes. If only all the day hikers hadn’t been around constantly cutting between us on the trail (I kind of wanted to swat them instead). Jenny had hiked this section of trail yesterday without John who was on a multi day hike. He cut it short and got a hitch back to their campsite as a surprise. Today, they were looking for a good loop hike and Jenny said she’d gladly do this section again because of all the wildflowers. They had also been out on the Oregon Coast when we were hiking that, but we didn’t manage an encounter then.

I would have liked to spend more time together, but since the crowds were coming and we were hiking in opposite directions, we decided to move on. We still had a couple of explosions to prevent and these weren’t the type you can just snip a wire and call it a day. It wasn’t that much further to the mini-hiker nirvana. We dropped our packs in the shade of a pit latrine, deposited a few loads (in trash cans and otherwise) and then sat down to start the manual reloading process. A few people were interested in the people eating at the latrine…it was a conversation starter.

There was still 10 beautiful miles to hike. There were still amazing views of the big 3 volcanoes in the area. It was a hot day. But most importantly, there were no mosquitoes. Today, we could mingle on the trail and do so leisurely. We had a 1600’ climb up to Sour Dough Gap. Because it was so warm, we made use of every shady spot along the way which led to Bunny conversing endlessly. She must have had a lot bottled up inside because it took us almost 12 hours to go 13 miles, today.

I tried leading for a while and I noticed a couple of sobos that Bunny would like to talk to when she caught up. This was Abstract and Toasty. They were a young couple that met thru-hiking the AT in 2016. They’ve got an impressive travel resume including part of the Israel National Trail. Abstract has been to India and Nepal. They’ve both spent a lot of time in South America and gave us some ideas of things to do down there. Toasty did some guiding in Bolivia and gave us some great tour ideas other than the salt flats. I was the only one sitting, so the other 3 gave out before I did, but we still had about 8 miles to cover.

As we were finishing off our last big climb, we met 3 successive sobos that we stopped and talked with for quite a while. The first was an old man. It’s not too often I get to use that term anymore, but he was 65ish. He was out on a test hike to see if he was capable of doing long distance hiking at his age. He was so excited and happy to be out. He was averaging 15 miles per day while he hiked the Washington section of the PCT. we didn’t get his name, but it was great to see someone that age clearly living a longtime dream and thoroughly loving it.

There’s a couple of trends I see developing on trail this year. I’m thinking a lot of sobos are feeling a little put out that there are so many other hikers on the trail with them. Im feeling a bit of attitude from some of them being unwilling to talk and hearing responses like “Im a TRUE sobo thru hiker.” There is a feeling of superiority coming from quite a few that don’t even want to talk to someone who is tainted, like Bunny and I are, because we didn’t stay true to our hike. Plus, a lot of people just don’t think we’re thru hikers because I shave, we bathe regularly, and we’re not carrying ultralight equipment.

Then there’s another trend that I’m liking. There’s a feeling of ease and calm among a large group of hikers saying “Slow down. Enjoy the day.” We rarely saw this on the AT (Mizman excepted). A big contributor to this is the weather screwing with everyone’s plans for a straight thru hike. Nobos are flipping everywhere. The hike they had planned to have is not possible. Rather than give up and go home, they are adapting and mellowing out about it. Then there are just a few zen hikers.

Wesley is a true sobo zen hiker. He quit his well paying job as an office manager at an architectural firm in the SF Bay Area. He started out highly driven averaging 25 miles per day but hurt his ankle. He took a couple days off to recover. When he returned to the trail, his attitude had changed to believe that he was lucky to be out here, and why rush through the experience. Slow down and take it in. When I first saw Wesley, his head was almost completely covered. I asked if it was because of mosquitoes or sun. From there we spent about 20 minutes talking on a wide range of topics. It was so cool to watch Wesley open up to us. The more he opened up, the more he uncovered his head and face. He was literally, opening himself to us.

The third encounter was with someone just completely infectious about life. I was finishing up our last big climb of 600’ when this guy in front of me just starts waving and saying “hi, how’s it going.” I’m flashing through my memory trying to figure out where we’ve met and I can’t place him. He was just 100% happy to be out here and meet people. Feast had on a Hawaiian shirt so I asked if he was flipping. No, just been on the trail for a few weeks heading south. He saw a flipper wearing a Hawaiian shirt and thought it was a great idea. Feast is the type of person you like to have around—always happy, always positive, always on.

As if meeting all these great people and running into old friends wasn’t enough for one day. It was getting to be past 5 and we still had about 3 miles left to go. We decided to take a water break and check the Gut to see exactly where we were. Only 2.4 miles, so better than we thought. As we were getting ready, Bunny lost her balance and started falling towards the downhill side of the trail. She easily caught her balance, but noticed something big moving in the grass just below us. We saw our first bear in Washington today!

The final bit of hiking was a breeze. We were hyped from the day. Our bodies were aching a bit from the amount of time we have been on our feet with our overweight packs on our backs. We were ready for camp when we arrived. We met a Josh who had a fire going. We found out he’s from NC and is hiking between 15-20 miles a day sobo. He thought he should be doing more by now and is worried about not getting his trail legs. He has them but doesn’t realize it. He is one of maybe a handful of people on the trail cooking on wood. To hike a full day then build a fire to eat takes more time than just lighting a stove. I used to love to carry my Biolite stove (still do) but when you’re thru hiking, I don’t want to give the Biolite the time and effort it takes to cook on it. That’s why we now carry a jet boil.

Because of limited flat spots in the area, we had to wait until Josh’s fire went out before we set up our tent. Bunny didn’t get to lie down until almost 9 so already she’s saying we don’t need to set an alarm in the morning. This has been a long, but satisfying day. We didn’t cover a lot of miles, but we got to talk to lots of great people. I know it’s said so much that it’s a cliche, but it’s not the trail so much as the people you meet. That’s very true about long distance hiking, unless you are Hannibal Lechter and then it’s always been about the people you eat.

EFG

This is why we don’t sleep without an alarm (double negative, I know). We tried “waking up on our own” as Bunny says. I woke up at 7:50 when I heard sobos passing our tent. Bunny would still be asleep if I hadn’t made her get up. I still had to make coffee and breakfast before she would even agree to sit up. I know she tried to go back to sleep when I snuck out to dig my morning hole. I went way away from camp because I wasn’t sure of the route the trail took. I found a grave shaped hole with a tarp over it. I thought I might have stumbled upon a murder scene, or, possibly found the missing hiker from 2016. It turned out to be just a hole filled with trash. The excitement did lube the wheels of progress for me.

Upon returning to camp, Bunny was sitting up and packing. She looked suspiciously far behind normal progress to me. We did manage to start hiking about 9:30. Sobos started passing us as soon as we got going. I had a series of questions I was asking everyone: 1) are you true sobo or flipping? 2) when did you start? 3) what’s your trail name? 4) have you ran into Blues Clues? and 5) what is the average air speed of a fully laden swallow? My spidey senses tell me we should be seeing Kevin, aka Blus Clues, within the next couple of days. My questions led to some amazing results.

About the third guy I pelted with questions said he may have done laundry with Blues in Snoqualmie just a few days ago. When he said his name was Timeout, I thought I had met someone on the AT last year by that name. He was hiking with Teflon. We started talking about other trails and Teflon had hiked the AT in 2017. Timeout said he hiked it last year and started February 19 (Bunny and I started on the 12th). I remembered Timeout. In Bland, VA, Timeout, Stickers, Lady Bug, Postcard and us all shared a house for a night to get in out of the snow. This is the third person now that we had an encounter with last year on the AT and have run into on the PCT.

As Bunny and I are plodding along, I’m constantly thinking of what we can eat. Not because I’m hungry, but because I want to get rid of some weight out of my pack. Digit Alice had sent us a resupply box in Packwood that was the perfect size. We just had a couple of things to get from the store. I had Bunny make a list: avocados, mio, and tea. Simple and easy. The problem was that Bunny wasn’t currently mad at me, so she went with me to go grocery shopping. Another 10# of food and $100 later, I’m struggling up the trail. Bunny is easily carrying 5# too much, so until we can get that much off of her, I won’t see in reduction in my pack weight. I got 3 pounds of of hers last night, so I’m hoping we can eat enough tonight that I can start to lose a bit of my weight.

The mosquitoes were bad today, but not so terrible that we had to hike in the head nets again. As long as we kept moving, they left us alone. It was also the hottest day we have experienced since getting back on the trail. It was almost 80 around us at 5000’ elevation. I’d hate to think how hot it is down in the lower valleys. If it weren’t for the extra weight, we’d be fine, but we are struggling a bit.

We finally made it up to the border of Mt Rainier NP and got amazing views of Adams, St Helen, and Rainier all cloud free. It was the best view we have had of Mt St Helen to date. As we were admiring the view, another sobo caught up to us. He dropped his pack and we talked a bit. This was Animal. We didn’t actually meet Animal when he hiked the AT last year, but we did know Fox (who we shared a ride with coming out of Gatlinburg). Animal said Geo and Summit sounded familiar to him. I know he summitted Katahdin about the same time they did around late August. It was close enough for us to count it as a connection. However, Animal said he had no idea who Blues was.

I first ran into someone about 6 days ago that said he knew Blues (carrying a massive camera on his chest). Blues was carrying 8# of camera equipment when we were hiking with him back in April. We also know he started hiking south on July 3. I’m doing these calculations in my head as we’re walking. I look up ahead of me and I see a guy about the right size, dressed in blue, waving his arms swatting mosquitoes, walking back and forth in the trail ahead. When he turned around, he saw us and started waving. We had found the youngest (and fastest) member of our spring tramily. We tried to stop and chat for a while, but the mosquitoes were terrible. After about 10-15 minutes we all gave up. It was great to see Blues again. He’s a great guy and I miss his sense of humor. I’m guessing he and Wolf will cross paths around Trout Lake in another week.

Now that we’ve found a Kevin again, I will have to modify the questions that I ask sobos that pass us. Maybe I should throw in “what’s your favorite color?” I was kind of sad to leave Kevin knowing that we’ll probably never see him again. The anticipation of running into him again gave me something to look forward to on the trail. Now, Bunny and I have fallen way behind anyone we knew in Washington, or they’ve gotten off trail like Someday and Wea. It’s just the two of us again. It’s only a matter of time before I do something else to tick her off and then I’ll be walking in total silence.

We tried taking another water break with 4 miles still to go, but the mosquitoes ruined it for us. It’s a shame that the most beautiful time of year, full wild flower color, coincides with mosquitoes explosion. These little shitheads are ruining an otherwise perfect state. I’ve said it before, but what has the condor ever done to benefit me. Let’s DDT these little bastards out of existence and really make America great again. Remember the good ole days when we wouldn’t allow mosquitoes across our southern border.

Nearing our goal for the day, Bunny said we should keep an eye out for any good looking campsite that’s open. She’s worried about finding space since were passing the sobo bubble. I didn’t want to spend any extra effort or steps looking for someplace I just wanted to get the pack off of me. We walked by Dewey Lake and saw a beautiful spot on the shore below us. I was reluctant to give it a shot because I just knew the mosquitoes would be terrible. We walked down to it and there was a steady breeze blowing. We waited a few minutes and it didn’t stop.

We could see people across the lake so we know we’re not alone here. We set up the tent and then we took turns getting our feet wet between camp chores. We got to do something we’ve only dreamed of doing since we started hiking again at Cascade Locks. Tonight, we ate supper outside of our tent. We watched the sun recede across the lake. This is the first meal we haven’t cooked in our tent. Tonight will be the night we finally see a bear when he attacks our smell free tent.

EFG