Day 160
Start: 2185.4 End:2208.4 Total:23
We woke up and prepared ourselves for a big climb. I got some more water from the river and we were off! We had a 9 mile , 4000 foot climb, broken into 3 sections with some flat in between.
The first section had to be the steepest terrain yet, or at least that I remember. After the first section it wasn’t as steep but still quite the climb. Halfway up the second part someone came down telling us there was trail magic up ahead, in 1.5 miles! We finished out those miles and were greeted by some lovely folks cooking up pancakes and eggs. They had some coffee and cookies and other goodies as well!
Tom and Roadkill were there and the Puerto Rican couple were close behind. We ate some pancakes and eggs, had some coffee and sat with them all for a bit before continuing on our climb. We finished out the rest of the climb, taking a break with views of close by Mt. Adam’s and Mt. Hood.
It was a sunny and beautiful day and we leap frogged a bunch with the Puerta Rican couple, they had trail names : Two Cans and Two Packs but didn’t like them so abondoned those. We jokingly gave the Mr. The trail name potato couch after he said his main hobby at home was watching TV.
We had lunch with Potato Couch and his wife at a small spring then 2 miles later we were greeted with more trail magic! A union of electricians gathered giving out trail magic of beer and hot dogs and chips! We sat there for a bit and I finally met a hiker who is friends with one of my friends back in SLC. She had told me he was out here and I had exchanged a few messages with him and our paths finally crossed! Beer run came in right before we left too.
We soon crossed the marker of hitting 2200 miles! Two signs for the 22 mark!
We did another 7 miles after the trail magic to Blue Lake. It was a cloudy and cold day as the sun had just gone behind the mountain. However, we had set our hopes on swimming so took a quick dip in the frigid water before setting up. Roadkill, Tom and the Puerto Ricans were around too and Beer Run and Captain set up near us.
Day 161
Start: 2208.4 End: 2232 Total 24
It was a mentally tough day for me, hiking just felt hard. The terrain wasn’t bad at all but my body and mind were tired from the day before.
We woke up and were out by 7:15 with the goal of doing 24 by 5:30 so we could make the shuttle into Trout Lake. The added pressure of having to be somewhere at a certain time didn’t help my mental state. We had plenty of time to make it but it still made me a bit anxious.
Mantis was on a photographing journey of all the various mushrooms that we saw on trail. 13 miles in at lunch, Bilbo, a professor of natural sciences in the Czech Republic sat next to us. He had just harvested a Chicken of the Woods mushroom and was about to boil it for his ramen. He gave us each a bite of it and it was fantastic! He scrolled through Mantis photos and told us which were and were not edible. We said we needed to start hiking with him! (Although we later learned that it wasn’t chicken of the woods he was eating, maybe the name of it got lost in translation)
We had ten more to go after lunch, 5 were pretty chill then 3 were super steep and a tad bit shocking. After we took a second to sit in this pretty meadow and discovered a bunch of mini strawberries. We got just collecting and eating them for about 5 minutes before continuing on our journey.
It was a downhill last few miles and we cruised them getting to the shuttle stop a bit after 5, with plenty of time to spare. We waited a bit before the shuttle drivers arrived in pickups and got a ride down to a trout Lake with one other SoBO. The shuttle drivers must’ve dropped off 15 hikers back at the trail before picking us up. They said there was even more in town, we were sure in the bubble now.
We got dropped off a mile down the road from the main town and got pizza and wings and ice cream then had to walk back to the campground and general store. We set up in the campground with some other hikers and called it a night.
Day 162
Start: 2232 End: 2245 Total: 13
It was a chill morning sleeping in at the campground. We then made our way to the general store and I drank a bunch of coffee and munched on some donuts while working on my blog.
There was a handful of hikers there and about 10+ more came in on the 8:30 shuttle. The charging ports were soon full of all the hikers external batteries and phones.
Mantis and I took the 11 shuttle out and were greeted by trail magic at the trailhead! We had a hot dog and beer and met Slide who is doing a calendar year triple crown, border to border. This means that he is hiking the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail all in this calendar year. But not only that , in addition to the 2200 mile AT, he is extending it bout 1500 miles so that it touches the border of the country on both sides. So about 300 miles from Kathahdin to Canada and about 1200 from Springer to the Keys. He was currently heading southbound on the PCT.
There was a big climb out of there but it wasn’t very steep. We entered a huge burn area with sooooo many huckleberries. We dropped our packs and feasted! There were some big downed logs and we saw some trail crew working out there. We got to the top and saw all of the mountains that we had walked by and were walking towards, it was such a cool view.
We kept getting closer and closer to Mt. Adam’s and stopped early for the day, only doing about 13. We were going to camp right at the base of Mt. Adam’s but then took a side trail and discovered a much more epic view of Mt. Rainier and all the mountains around it. It was too bumpy for us to set up our tent so we awkwardly cowboy camped right there.
It was only about 5 pm so we had plenty of time to relax, and play cards. It was an epic sunset and so cool to see the Milky Way and sleep under the stars!!
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