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