Day 158&159 Miles 2150-2185

Day 158

Start: 2150 End: 2161.5 Total: 11.5

We woke up and packed up our individual sleep systems for the last time. A lot of folks had already left Eagle Island-where they housed all the hikers and most others were packing up to head back to various points on trail or to head out from there. Dr. Delirious agreed to send my tent and Mantis’s hammock back to my brothers house since we had a new shelter together!

We packed up and hugged our friends goodbye then started to head to where we could meet Dr. D. Someone asked if we wanted free pancakes, they were cooking breakfast at the church. We agreed and Todd gave us a ride to Dr. Delerious and then to the church. We had pancakes and sausage and a little morning sermon before being brought back to town. 

We reorganized and refilled water then crossed the famous Bridge of the Gods into Washington. It was a bit unnerving crossing the bridge as there wasn’t much of a shoulder for hikers and the bridge was not solid ground.

It was pretty big climbing for most of the day as Washington welcomed us with a big steep uphill and lush green mossy forest. We stopped and swam at a lake 3 miles in, picked some blackberries and continued on our way.

We passed a southbounder who said they saw 50 people that day so we knew there was quite a big bubble of people leaving trail days. We stopped around 5/6 pm and about 11.5 miles in to ensure we could get a good campsite and figure out how to set up our tent. 

We set it up fairly easy and hopefully that will get smoother & quicker as we go. We had dinner with a view of the surrounding mountains and then Roadkill and her husband set up camp next to us. Rainbow joined up later on but set up his tent where he had dinner. 

Day 159

Start: 2161.5 End: 2185.4 Total: 24

We awoke in a cloud and I noticed our neighbors had already left but they were so quiet I didn’t even notice. It seemed like it was starting to rain so we hurried to pack the tent while it was still dry. We got packed pretty quickly and left camp around 7:30/8. 

We passed rainbow who had set up with the view, excited for sunrise. We said hello and congratulated him on being able to witness such a stunning sunrise. We had a bit of a down followed by some more climbing, all within the cloud that covered the mountains. 

Washington has been so lush and green, I was really enjoying walking through all the moss and the new environment. We stopped 8 miles in and filtered more water, made & drank some coffee and we did a bit of rock hunting as there were some really cool blue rocks around. 

We headed out on another big climb , climbing up 1500 feet over 3 miles. I put in music and jammed my way up. I was actually really enjoying the big climbs and the challenging terrain that Washington was already starting to present. I love a good challenge!

At the top of that we had a late lunch , around 3 pm, at a really awesome viewpoint then went another 1.5 to get more water. After that we had another 5/6 more miles to go and I listened to my audiobook.

Right before our campsite we received trail magic of sandwiches and other snacks. Roadkill & Todd were there. We had a sandwich then left so we could find a good site by the creek. We found a good site, set up , got water, made dinner , played some cards and were off to bed.