Day 133
Start: Tacoma Pass
Finish: Snoqualmie Pass
Daily Mileage: 29.6
PCT Mile: 2395.8
I slept very well in the mild night last night, and we were out as normal to pound out the last 30 miles to Snoqualmie Pass.
Today was forest, forest, and more forest. Most of it was second growth with two sets of tree stumps littering the undergrowth and making for rather unspectacular travel. We even crossed some clearcut areas for probably only the second time of the trail. That is just how it goes in Washington sometimes. We have great forests, but there are many working forests that litter the landscape.
We kept up a good pace, but overall Honeybun and I were getting tired. We hadn’t had a day off since Mt. Shasta a month and 900 miles ago, and the high miles we are traveling are starting to take a toll. We are trying to average 30-33 miles per day which is easily within reach of our bodies, but that means hiking for more than 12 hours each day and limited rest when you have to set up and tear down camp each day, get water, sleep, write this journal, and all of the other camp chores. We are still pushing forward hard though to try to get past the growing wildfires still north of us and any new ones that may yet crop up. It is hard to say if it is quite worth it or not.
I had a rather gray day after I found out there was a mixup with my next package that will make it quite challenging to resupply at Stevens Pass. The logistics of trail are never easy, and getting packages to the remote locations along the trail can be unpredictable and difficult. At some times it seems not quite worth the struggle, but it is all part of the challenge of a thru-hike, so it is necessary.
I just pounded my way forward through the doldrums of new forest and uncertainty of the future of the hike.
We came to Mirror Lake which picked me up a bit. It looked like the classic Washington alpine lake that I had been long expecting on this trip but had not yet seen. It was a nice clear lake in a bowl with a great mountain backdrop. I really hope that this is the start of more scenic terrain like this. I need the pick up.
At long last we reached the buzz of I-90 and crested the ridge of Snoqualmie Ski Resort and descended on the ski runs below the lifts to Snoqualmie Pass. We had done very nearly 100 miles over 3 days. Our bodies could physically handle it, but they were also quite tired from that stretch of trail and those before it.
We grabbed a beer until my girlfriend Kate arrived through Seattle traffic to whisk us away to her place for some much needed relaxation and gorging on food.
Today was another grind, but the mountains on the other side of Snoqualmie Pass showed promise of great things to come as we progress further north.