We have done a great job on food quantities the last two resupplies. It can best be attributed to one simple reason—Bunny is usually pissed off at me when I want to go shopping, so I have to go by myself. The food rations have been perfectly apportioned. I may have cut things a little close this time, but we aren’t going to starve. This morning we had granola with hot water and coffee for breakfast. We have enough food left for a snack on the way to White Pass.
I heard the work crew wake up at 6. I noticed that they had their food in ursacks tied to trees. You’d think with all the saws, spades, and other tools they are carrying, they’d be brave enough to sleep with their food. I was just hoping they didn’t come up and check on how we are doing things. I’ve talked to many other PCT hikers, and I have only met one couple that hangs their food and doesn’t cook in their tent. It’s the Canadians, Dan and Fancy Pants that are putting the rest of us at risk. It’s an unwritten agreement among hikers to create so many targets for the bears that they become confused like a deer caught in headlights. By following safe practices, Dan and Fancy Pants are actually allowing any bear to see their tent and know there is no food there. He’ll develop a sense of smell from other tents with food, thus distinguishing between food rich tents and human only tents. They are putting the rest of us at risk by following safe practices. This must stop.
None of this matters because we have lost track of everyone we have been hiking with. The only people we know about where they are is Someday and Wea. Someday worried me coming down the knife’s edge because of his all out run, collapse, all out run, collapse approach to hiking. Several times we were able to look behind us and confirm he hadn’t fallen into the abyss on either side of him. Once they were below the loosest scree, I felt confident they would survive. We only knew they were behind us. We assumed everyone else made it close to the pass, or at least 2 miles past where we camped.
I wanted to get Bunny moving as early as was safe to disturb her sleep. I set the alarm for 6:30, but didn’t let it go off. It I pretend that it’s later than it really is, I can get her moving. But I also was aware of how close I had cut it on food this time. If Bunny wants a second snack and I don’t have it, I may not make it out alive. My best hope is to get us going early and fast. If I can get us into White Pass before she realizes she is hungry, I can pacify the beast with a slice of Pizza.
We caught up with the work crew after just a couple of miles. What surprised us most was that there were only 4 of them. From the amount of fresh work we have been seeing, we were assuming there was a much larger crew. They have covered many miles of trail. They stopped us as they were clearing a fallen tree off of the trail. They were from all over Oregon and Washington and all had hiked the trail. This is their way of paying back for all they have received during their hikes.
Bunny was moving quite slowly today. Yesterday was very strenuous, almost 7000’ of elevation gain/loss and today was still almost 4000’. The old gal is feeling the strain and combined with poor trail sleep, which is the norm for us, she’s near breaking down. After a day or two of rest, she’ll be back to her old self—cranky and fast. Her pace today gave me a rare luxury, time to talk to people I meet coming our way. I usually am very introverted and I try to push my limits when given the chance. I was talking to a sobo day hiker who had taken a year off when he and his wife got married. They spent 6 months traveling in the USA and 6 months in Asia. They had done the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal like I had done just before Bunny and I met. We got lost in conversation and only moved on when the trail maintenance crew caught up with us.
The trail crew told us we were about to enter a fire zone from last year which was going to slow their progress quite a bit. We had heard that Dixie and her mom are out here now trying to make up the fire closure sections she had skipped when she thru-hiked in 2017. It’s sad to walk through these burned sections. The trees are mostly dead waiting to fall, but may take 20 years to do so. These become dangerous places on windy days or for camping in general. We sped on through trying to get our climb done for the day.
We had been promised a great view of Mt Rainier from the top, and it was delivered. We planned to stop and have our snack and watch Rainier, but before we could drop our packs, we were swarmed by the little she-devils. We tried moving up the trail to a rock slide area thinking they might not be as bad with a total lack of vegetation to hide in. We stopped here to eat. We were wrong on our assumption. We wanted to take our time eating and watch the second tallest mountain in the lower 48 (less than 40’ difference between Whitney and Rainier—another pearl of knowledge the old guys missed out on yesterday). Instead, we gulped down our food and kept going.
Once we crossed the saddle at 6500’, Bunny was convinced there should be goats here, but we couldn’t see any. We were less than 6 miles from pizza and I didn’t want to make any unnecessary stops before PiH (Pizza in Hand). We kept going for another couple miles until we found a nice breezy spot in the shade with a nice view. My worst fears came true when we sat down. Bunny said she was hungry. All I had were a few gu’s. I had to sell the idea that we needed to eat light so we could maintain speed or I was going to die. I read of the list of flavors I had and was saved by chocolate peanut butter. As we were getting ready to go, Horchata caught up to us. We were already expecting he and Dave to be at the pass. They had actually stopped at the pond a mile before where we stopped. We had passed them as they lay sleeping.
Once again, we tried walking with Tom Brokaw. He was on a mission today, and meandering wasn’t part of the mission. He wanted a birthday beer. We did stay with him for 3 of the final 4 miles, but when we got close to the pass, he began the Shawn Perks beer dance. Once Perks felt imminent beer on the Camino, there was no keeping up with him. He beat us to town every night on the Camino as Mr Brokaw did just now.
While we were trying to recover from the beer dance, a newly married couple passed us by. This was Cheeks and Bungee nearing the end of their honeymoon. We talked with them a bit and offered the option that they don’t actually have to go back to work. They could just make a life of hiking like Bunny and I have been trying to do. But the child force was strong with this pair. I felt grandparents-in-waiting just off trail waiting for them to return.
When we caught up with Horchata, he told us all the lodging was full in town because of races this weekend. There was lodging at the pass in the form of vacation rental condos. Bunny and I went up and checked out the options while he waited for Dave. We decided to get a big enough unit that we could accommodate Someday and Wea if they showed up. They did show up, but Wea looked frazzled and close to tears. They just wanted their own space to spread out and crash. We invited them to join us for a hitch into town to celebrate Horchata’s 70th Birthday, but they declined.
It was past 7 by the time we started trying to hitch. mountain passes kind of dry up of cars after 5ish. I went back and tried to sweet talk the receptionist at the condos to drive us into town when she got off at 8. Everyone was glad we had a ride, but concerned about getting back so late. I had a plan for that as well…let Bunny beg when we were driving down and put Horchata in the front seat to sweet talk her. We offered to buy Grace supper and fill her gas if she’d drive us back up. It worked like a charm. Dave even got hit on by the town drunk/slut. It was a good night for old men.
EFG