Day 125 ~10.7 miles

1:18am

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Trouble continues... it hasn’t stopped raining and I can’t feel my feet up to my ankles. Water is encroaching bottom of tent. Body starting to shiver. Can’t keep lower half of body warm as bottom half of bag is wet. Torso and core still pretty warm but I’m getting worried. Current plan is to starting hiking if everything gets compromised. I hope feet will be ok. Going to try and sleep again.

6:19am

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I woke up 5 or 6 times since my last update. With my legs completely outstretched I could feel the water getting to my feet, so I tried to keep scrunched up in the fetal position all night. This gave me some leg cramps and was very hard on my hips, but since the top half of my sleeping bag was the only dry part, it was worth it! Right now it’s still dripping outside but not raining on my tent. I also haven’t been hit with wind for a few hours now. I plan on staying in here for a little while longer and then making a break for the Hwy. I still haven’t looked outside my tent!

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Around 7:00am I braved a look outside. It was still SUPER cold but now the sky was clear and calm, the trees still dripping with heavy branches of collected water. All my clothes lay in a huge wet mess to my right, my backpack was DRENCHED, and there was water pooled in the lower right side of my tent.

Yeesh..

Water in the tent

Boy was the wind and rain intense last night! Although still very cold, I felt so much better just being calm and still and not having the wind and rain batter my tent. I put on my soaking wet shorts and socks and took a walk outside to explore my surroundings. What I saw was so beautiful!

It’s so crazy that o couldn’t see any of this yesterday, but all along I was probably hiking through some of the most beautiful scenery on trail! Kind of bummed I missed it all due to the weather but there’s always next time! I packed up my wet gear and headed down the steep trail, stopping to take pictures along the way until I couldn’t feel my fingers and had to just hike.

Stunning!

The heavy dew on all the trees and branches made travel on the overgrown trail very wet. My shorts and shoes and legs and feet were soon soaked, along with my puffy jacket which I was wearing to keep me warm in the cold morning.

So much dew!

Soaked

Big ole monster mush

Big ole tree. Thanks for chopping this PCTA! I would’ve not enjoyed climbing over this one when wet.

I climbed down and up then down down down and the UP the last ~5.6 miles to the Hwy. Just under a mile from the road I forged an icy cold river followed by a super steep climb. Fun!

Welcome to the wilderness.. now cross this river!

River pano from the Hwy climb

It felt so good when I popped out on Hwy 12. I stuck out my thumb and within about 15 minutes got a hitch into the Kracker Barrel Store. This isn’t the super neat chain restaurant popular in the South, but a very hiker friendly gas station/store with a PCT camping area out back and tables and outlets inside for us to use. There is also a HUGE fire camp just across the street at the White Pass Ski Resort where hundreds of fire fighters are camped while they fight the Miriam Fire!!

I wish I took some pictures of the place but I had my electronics charging for most of the day. The first thing I did was head out back and lay out all my items in the sun to dry. While I was at the Kracker Barrel I ran into a bunch of other hikers, got my resupply package from Mom, got free chili for lunch from a trail angel, looked ahead at the next fire closure, scored some things from the hiker box, talked to Claire, and uploaded my blog. The “rest” day went by quickly as it always does, and soon I was getting a ride out of town from a trail angel named Sobo Hobo, back to the trailhead where I came in from. 

The alternate back to the PCT was the steepest trail I’ve ever hiked on, except maybe for Ruckel Ridge, a ridge scramble in the Columbia River Gorge and a waterfall scramble back in Hawaii. It was intense. The full weight of 4 days of food in my backpack made me wish I had walked on the Hwy into the Kracker Barrel instead, and then walked back to the actual PCT trailhead. Although it was super steep, it was sure beautiful, and I DID get a glimpse of Mt. Rainier!

See Rainier in the center? 

Mountain Lion?

Tiny mushes!!

Braaaaaiiiiins!! 


Cool but musty shack...

Mega-King Beletus!!! (Rotted :()

When I finally got back to the PCT, I saw Hiker Box Hero, Hauser, and Cheesesteak! Minutes later came Clean Turkey and Verde. About 10 minutes after them came Google and Calamity. It was a party! We all set up camp in a dried out lake bed. I’m sure we’ll all get condensation tonight, but seeing that there are lakes all around, a soft sandy spot is better than hard pack dirt!

Pretty sunset from the beach

It got real cold real fast, and we all got into our tents by 8:15pm. Tomorrow I’m excited to hike with a bunch of cool people around, as I’m still pretty shaken up about last night’s solo mishap. I’m dry, I’m rested, and I’m still on track for Canada! 

Thanks for reading!!