We are so close that I can channel Bunny. This morning, I perceived her wanting a snooze when the alarm went off at 6:15. 9 minutes later I got the signal for another snooze, so I complied. 9 minutes after that, I felt annoyance so I just edited the alarm to go off at 7:15 and felt peace, but at 7:15, I received a mental signal requesting another snooze. At this point, we had been in bed well over 12 hours but I am nothing if not an obedient, well trained husband. I waited until she started to stir before I dared to move. I must maintain a zen-like demeanor if I wish to make it to my wife’s age.
After we had turned in last night, two hikers came by at nearly 7. This was Hero’s first day on the trail having just started at Cascade Locks. Ryan started a few days prior around Three Sisters. They are just doing a section hike. It made me realize that that’s probably all we’re going to end up doing. The odds of us finishing this year are pretty close to zero. Even though we didn’t hit the trail until just after 9 (thanks to Bunny’s insatiable sleep lust) we did manage to pass Hero and Ryan’s camp before they started.
We have done a complete personal inventory on where we stand after our hiatus from the trail. We’ve lost all of our cardiovascular capacity. We’ve put on almost all the weight we had lost over the first 800 miles of trail. We’ve forgotten how heavy our packs are. On the positive side, we haven’t lost all of our leg strength. We should be back to full trail strength by the time we reach Canada.
Today’s results showed we are not actually starting over from square 1. We doubled the amount of miles we did yesterday. If we can keep doing that for the duration of this year, not only will we complete the PCT, but we’ll be able to walk to Mars and back before Christmas. (This is a math sequence reference that only fellow engineers will understand. It’s also a puzzler for Bunny because she doesn’t understand exponential math at all—barely simple math which I often encourage her to use a calculator to verify her results before saying an answer out loud. Nurses!)
We did have a bit of a scare when we got to the top of the ridge. We heard an air raid siren. This is not the first Tuesday of the month, so we were thinking along the lines of the recent earthquakes down in California and came up with tsunami. When we didn’t see a surge coming up the Columbia River, we decided that it was a water release from the dam.
The temperature stayed between 60 and 65 all day but we were both overheating like mad. We are going to have to sweat out all the toxins we have ingested over the last month. I thought we were eating healthy…hamburgers, French fries, pizza, beer, and ice cream (the same thing we eat when we come to a town while hiking) but our diet turned against us while we weren’t hiking. I do wish we had eaten more curry while off trail so that we would excrete a little insect repellant—the mosquitoes and flies are coming alive in Washington.
The trail is very nearly our own right now. We did happen across a young couple (let’s clarify—a couple in their early 40s. At this point in our life, anyone looking under 50 is young) that we’re out for a day hike. Just recently, I happened to have watched a few of the Star Wars movies, so I decided to employ the Jedi mind trick and get her to offer us the two fresh carrots she was carrying. Since Luke turned coward in the last installment, I am now ready to take his place. No real surprise, Bunny very much enjoyed the carrot I secured for her.
Before we hopped back on the trail at Cascade Locks, I was seriously considering quitting. I just haven’t been enjoying myself the last month and we have been hemorrhaging money along the coast. By the end of yesterday, I had already changed my mind and was happy to be back on the trail. I am disappointed that we probably won’t have enough time to finish the PCT this year and it’s really throwing a wrench in my plans for future hikes. We need to figure out a way to generate some money while hiking so we can continue to hike. If anyone reading this blog knows Jeff Bezos ex-wife, please refer our blog to her. We heard she is going to give away half of the 38 billion dollars she got from the divorce. She wouldn’t even miss the couple hundred thousand we need to carry on.
As we were approaching the campsite we had targeted this morning, we smelled smoke. Part of the reason we decided to get back on in Washington was to try to make it through before the height of fire season, but we could tell this was just a little camp fire. We’re not worried about forrest fires since it’s been drizzling most of the day. What we were worried about is having to walk an extra mile to the next camping spot with water. Even though we hadn’t seen any other hikers today, we encountered 3 people already set up before the creek. Fortunately, there was one site left on the north side so we are set for the night.
As we were setting up camp, it started to rain once again. Since we had stopped for 3 snacks along the way today, we weren’t really all that hungry. In the end, we just decided to skip supper and have another snack of avocado, Fritos, protein bars, and hot licorice tea. I heard a collective groan at licorice tea. Everyone I’ve ever gotten to try it likes it. There’s still a full box sitting in my niece’s house in Chicago. She’s the second pickiest eater on the planet (just behind her older sister). Neither one of them, as kids, would ever eat anything other than grilled cheese sandwiches when they went out to a restaurant. I came home from college one time and offered to take them out. They both said they eat Mexican now. I was excited until they both ordered cheese quesadillas.
EFG
Licorice tea!
We owe it to you and Marcia