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