White Pass to the Bridge of the Gods: FINAL SECTION!

Hello from Portland, OR! We just finished the last section of Washington, and just like that, I am officially done with my hiking adventure for the summer! I'm going to use this post to reflect on the last week of hiking and then do a final post in a few days when I've had a bit more time to reflect on the experience. But for now, I'm writing from the lobby of a lovely hotel, wearing an outfit I bought at Target, and am happily full on a Vietnamese food truck lunch extravaganza. In the words of my former students, I'm "brand new."

This last section was 148 miles, from White Pass, WA to Cascade Locks, OR. It starts with the Goat Rocks Wilderness, touted as one of the highlights of the trail. And it ends with a walk over the Bridge of the Gods, a historic bridge over the Columbia River gorge. Note: historic bridges don't include many amenities, like, for example, a sidewalk.

The weather forecast was mixed for this section - cloudy, two days of rain, then sun. The goat rocks includes a ~5 mile section of trail known as "The Knife's Edge," known as such because you walk on top of a ridge with steep drop-offs on both sides. We were pretty eager to do the Knife's Edge when it was sunny, or at least just not-rainy. I was also pretty eager for my mom to not know about the knife's edge until after we'd survived it. It's like when my brother Tim backpacked around Pakistan but told mom he was going camping on Vermont. Sometimes you just have to help her not worry. We hustled out of White Pass and got to the base of the Knife's Edge around 5 pm. We started steeply climbing and met two girls who had just come down it. They recommended we wait until morning, since the wind was starting to pick up and we definitely didn't want to be battling darkness. That made great sense, so wait we did. We found an awesome campsite, took a pre-dinner nap, had a multi course meal, and then finally sent out the Spot message to mom. Changes in routine worry her, and arriving at camp 3 hours early qualifies as a change. As I said, sometimes you have to help her not worry.

The next morning, we lucked out weather-wise. It was cloudy, but no rain! To the knife's edge!! It was a little sketchy at points, but not as bad as some hikers had made it seem. It helped that, because we're heading south, a lot of the scariest parts were uphill for us, which is inherently less scary than downhill, where you're worried your momentum will have a negative reaction with gravity and you'll be careening off the side of a cliff before you know it. The views of Mt Rainier and Mt Adams were awesome, we got to walk across a glacier (first real snow of the trip), and we saw old friend 'Merica! This was especially great because we'd been debating exactly what his tattoo says since we last saw him on Kearsarge Pass in July. He was able to clear that up for us. 'Merica is a former Marine who has done the whole trail in a red, white, and blue tank top and short shorts, which make him a bit of a trail heartthrob. We were glad to find him unchanged.

On our way down from the knife's edge, we met a DC park ranger, who works at the Lincoln Memorial and is out in WA on vacation. He's a former AT thru hiker who was excited to meet some fellow long-distance backpackers. He told us that he cried when he finished the AT, and told us that going forward, we'd really hold this experience in our hearts. Some people just have the best energy.

The next day rained and included a slightly hairy river crossing. We camped that night next to a professional windsurfer who has done the PCT three times. I would like his life, please. Fortunately the sun came out the next day, so Justin and I had a leisurely morning in camp, drying out our gear and enjoying a hot chocolate. When we finally left at 10:30, the windsurfer (who was just starting to take down his tent) commented that "it was great to finally meet some chill thru hikers who don't leave at the crack of dawn." While this compliment seemed a little backhanded, we seized the opportunity to explain the finer points of difference between a thru-hiker and a thru-hanger.

While we weren't epic thru hikers that day, all that changed on Saturday. We woke up at 5:45 am, broke camp in the dark, and banged out 30 miles by sundown. This included the illustrious "10by10," or ten miles completed by ten a.m. (10:03 in our case). Why did we do this, you ask? Simply because we hadn't yet. Lots of hikers post huge mileage in Oregon, where the trail is relatively flat and the tread is gentle. Having skipped OR, we didn't have any big mileage days to boast about - our previous record had been 27. But not no more. On September 20th, we logged 30 miles. Count it.

During the 30 miler, we met a group of locals out for a day hike. They were wonderful people, who took our trash out for us and insisted we take their watermelon jolly ranchers. The kindness that hikers experience is just humbling sometimes.

The trail continued to be gentle for the next day, only to remind us of what it's made of on Monday. Rugged, rocky trail, with prickly bushes on both sides, and 5,000 feet of elevation gain (and a corresponding 5k of elevation loss). There was also an 11 mile dry stretch that we messed up, so we didn't have any water for 7 miles. We went out with a bang. The last night sleeping in the tent was bittersweet. I'm not going to miss the claustrophobia and the occasional sleeping on slopes and sharp rocks. But making your home under the stars is pretty magical.

On Tuesday, we had 9.74 final miles to go. Amazing to think that I used to consider ~10 miles to be a "big day," and now it's just a little something to bang out before town. The hiking was weirdly annoying still - thorny bushes, the return of poison oak plants along the trail, and lots of boulder fields. It was also a weird transition back to the populated world. We could see a dam and power plant on the Columbia River for much of the hike, and we had our snack break (final gu! Final fruit leather! Final soy jerky!) on a pipeline. We passed by a few houses, and then just like that, the trail dumped us out on a busy road with a sign saying "Bridge of the Gods, next right." So we did what we do best: took a bunch of pictures, then kept walking.

Bridge of the Gods was awesome, when I wasn't fearing for my life. Imagine a busy 2-lane highway, going over an old bridge where you can see through the structure to the water below, and no sidewalk. Fortunately cars gave us a wide berth. It might have been our smell.

When we got to the end of the bridge, the final trail magic started. Pedestrians are supposed to pay a toll, but the woman glanced at is and announced "if you're doing the trail, you don't pay." She then directed us to the East Wind drive thru, where all thru hikers, Cheryl Strayed included, stop for ice cream. Sent a final Spot message from the diner, then hitched into Hood Rover. Got a ride with two super friendly Moms, who not only drove us, but also gave us a tour of the town, including all of the breweries. They stopped a guy on the street ("he looks young and cool, he'll know where to go!") to get a lunch rec for us - Moms are the best. Lunch was amazing and the beers were free, as a congrats gesture. Our waiter also said he was going into Portland tomorrow, if we wanted a free ride. Heck yes we did. We then checked into the local hotel, where the check-in guy explained that he probably wasn't going to fill up tonight, so did we want a free upgrade to a suite? It was more space than we knew what to do with - I'd estimate our tent would fit inside maybe 30 times - and it was awesome. Maybe being off-trail won't be so bad after all.

Now we're in Portland. We ate our faces off at some food trucks yesterday and today are going to see a matinee at an independent movie theater about "The Camino," Spain's 30-day pilgrimage hike. I guess I shouldn't let the Spot get dusty.

Going to write a more thoughtful summary of the adventure in the next few days. But now, I'm off to enjoy my 3rd shower in 24 hours.

Captions:
1. The Knife's Edge
2. Yoga on an ice field
3. Huge cairn with Mt Rainier in the background
4. Big herd of goats, for which goat rocks wilderness is named
5. Reading an HBR article that the Wharton leadership office sent me at White Pass. That article was later very helpful as we used the reverse sides to make a hitchhiking sign.
6. Rainy day.
7. Rainy day river crossing - small streams get treacherous in the rain.
8. Fall colors!
9. Dr. Lance-a-lot, doing his thing. Still dealing with blisters in the final days.
10. Cool bridge
11. Cool sky
12. Camp on the last morning. Note: we ceased doing bear hangs a few weeks ago. Now, we do a "mouse hang." If a bear wants our food, s/he is welcome to it. But stay away nice!
13. Final on-trail water source. We're back to faucets now...
14. Final trailhead
15. Justin going over the Bridge of the Gods. Scary!!
16. Hard-earned ice cream.
17. First meal out. YUM.

Snoqualmie to White Pass: Friends and Elks (elk?)

Let's start this blog post out with the low point of the last six days. I accidentally stepped on a baby frog who was crossing the trail. I think it died. This put me in a funk for approximately 24 hours. Something about slow-motion roadkill is particularly traumatic. Especially for this vegetarian. Fortunately, Justin had stashed a bag of my favorite Trader Joe's mango passion fruit gummies for just such a moment. Eating 700 calories worth of them, in one sitting, eased the pain a bit.

We just finished a 99 mile section, from Snoqualmie Pass to White Pass. It's our first stop in Washington that doesn't start with the letter S! It's also our last official resupply stop. We are doing 148 miles from here to Cascade Locks (the WA-OR border), and then we are ... done! It's kind of hard to wrap my head around. The trail has been my "home" for almost 4 months now. There will be nice things about returning to civilization: sleeping in a bed, getting water whenever I want (and not having to filter it!), and being able to talk with friends and family at the click of a button. But there will be hard things too. I will miss the inevitable moment every day (every hour!) where I gasp at how beautiful something is. I will miss the simplicity of having everything I need on my back. I will miss drinking hot chocolate and watching the stars come out. And I will miss the deeply-held belief that around every corner, there is a bear just waiting to say hello (I've walked 1200 miles through prime bear country and so far seen not a single bear). It's going to be a transition, to say the least.

This section was beautiful. The trail has been significantly easier since we left Snoqualmie - flatter and less rocky. And we've had unbelievable views of Mt Rainier for days! While the trees are all evergreens, many of the smaller bushes and shrubs are turning red and yellow, making it really feel like fall. Also making it feel like fall: the temperatures by night. It has been so, so cold!! We talked to some guys with a thermometer, who said it was in the 20s in the valleys, so had probably been in the teens up in the mountains where we were! I've been sleeping in every layer I own, including my down jacket. Brrrr. But the days have been sunny and perfect. Giveth and taketh away.

Another highlight of this section has been seeing so many friends! Over the last 3-4 days, we've crossed paths (literally, haha) with so many of the folks with whom we hiked north through California. We were especially excited to see Half Step, SloMo, Two Feathers, Pippin, Hobo, and Milkshake. Hopefully we will see Snake Charmer in the next day or so! We were glad to give Half Step the intel on the Stehekin Bakery, as he has been craving cinnamon rolls for the whole trail. It's going to be a dream come true for him. Two Feathers continues to be a fount of positivity - as she has been, since we first met her on the windiest night in the desert! And we were so glad to see SloMo closing in on the finish! He is doing the trail in honor of his adult son, who passed away while on a cross country bike trip. Our mileage has been low the last few days, as we've been having so much fun talking with everyone!

The other big thing of note for this section is that it is elk hunting season, so the trail is currently a mix of thru hikers (distinguishable by their beards and dirty clothes) and bow hunters (distinguishable by the massive bows they carry around). Justin and I had lunch with a big group of them one day - and let me tell you, they did not modify their word choice or topic range, despite there being a lady present. Fortunately, I've got brothers, so I wasn't entirely horrified. Shortly thereafter, we saw a big male elk on the trail. We warned him to stay hidden in the woods! Maybe that warning evens out for the baby frog in a karmic sense.

A final note: I listened to a "Dirtbag Diaries" podcast called "Moms have it the hardest." It was a really sweet conversation between a professional climber and his mom. The son really understood how dangerous his lifestyle was and how hard that was for his mom. So on that note: thank you, mom!! You've almost made it!! Eight more SPOT check-ins and you're done!!

Captions:
1. Huge mushroom!
2. As I said, I sleep in all my layers. The rice crispy treats were a nightly ritual/treat in this section. Thank you, Emily!!
3 & 4. But the days were beautiful.
5. Trail magic! Cooler with beers right on the trail.
6. Slo Mo!
7. Two Feathers! (She's also a RN who helped me cure "The Blister" back in the desert. Thank you, Two Feathers!!)
8. Half Step. Very first person we met on the trail, back on June 5.
9. The scene in the tent: my pillow (the north face stuff sack) and bedside table (the ziplock with my kindle and maps).
10. It may sound all awesome and wilderness-y. But the reality is that sometimes we are just camping in a parking lot.
11-13. Beautiful views, especially of Rainier!!

Skykomish to Snoqualmie: Sunshine Daydream

Hello from Snoqualmie Pass, Washington! You may be wondering, isn't that where you and Justin were last time? The answer is no, Washington just has a lot of trail towns with long-S words (Stehekin, Skykomish, Snoqualmie have been the last three). I last wrote in Skykomish, which we left on Friday. Fladhback to then: we had to fend off people offering to give us rides back to the trail, since we really wanted to hit the deli for breakfast before we hiked. Washington is a ridiculously friendly place to hitch. Finally we got our sandwiches and lo and behold, there was Jerry Dinsmore pulled up outside, waiting to drive us. The Dinsmores are a famous pct trail angel family, who host many of the hikers who come through WA. We didn't stay with them because we were soaking, freezing, and couldn't stand the idea of potentially having to camp in anyone's backyard for even one night, free and generous as the offer was. But we were thrilled to meet Jerry and experience a little trail magic in the form of a ride to the trail without even needing to stick out a thumb! Jerry's truck had three stickers on the rear window: PCT, Pacific Crest Trail Association (the org that does advocacy and policy for the trail), and one that read "Hiker Trash." His custom license plate reads "PCT DAD" and his wife's reads "PCT MOM." We hugged when he dropped us off and he gave us a hard time for being too fancy to stay with him. We probably deserved that. 

The next 3.5 days of hiking were simply amazing!! The weather was perfect and the views epic. It was such a huge change from the previous section. We had views of snow covered peaks! We walked by beautiful alpine lakes! We looked across sweeping valleys! It got us wondering what incredible views we'd missed in the previous section, when all we saw was clouds (which we were socked in) and rain (don't want to talk about it). 

There were three highlights of this section: running into Lady Mac & Gourmet, the Goldmyer Hot Springs, and the jets. I'll start with the jets. Pretty simple: two Air Force jets flew right over us. We've seen a lot of military planes this summer (in a lot of places, we don't see any commercial flights - except when we were along the flight paths to LA and later SF - so most planes are military). But these two jets were so low and flying so fast! One of them came into the valley sideways! My dad (proud Air Force vet) has a license plate holder that says: "jet noise, the sound of freedom." Damn straight, dad. 

Next highlight was running into Lady Mac and Gourmet! LM and G are a couple from Hawaii. We met them our first day on the trail (June 5!), and saw them thought the desert and the Sierra. They are awesome and taught us many important things, including how to thread blisters and tips on trail vegetarianism. However, everyone scattered a bit with the fires - some people skipped ahead to Ashland, some like us flip flopped, others quit altogether - so we weren't sure we'd ever see them again. So we were thrilled to run into them again while they were filtering water and we were deep in a hiking/podcast trance. Hopefully next time we see them will be on a visit to the Big Island!

Finally, we hit up the Goldmyer Hot Springs! They are off on a side trail from the PCT, and are totally worth it! Most beautiful hot springs I've ever seen. Very lovely place to spend  a morning, soaking our tired muscles.  Unfortunately, they are only accessible via the PCT, so you've gotta earn it. 

From there, we hiked to the trailhead and were dismayed to learn that that the trail dumps you out on the road 2 miles before the hotel. I hate road walking and I especially hate closing the day with a road walk, because walking on asphalt really hurts when you've already logged a bunch of miles. But then a car drove by! We stuck out our thumbs and the car stopped! Well, actually that car drove by. But the next car stopped! It was two incoming University of Washington freshman, who we'd spoken to on the trail earlier - they'd been out for a day hike. As we sat in their backseat, they confessed to having unsuccessfully tried hitchhiking once. "So, ummm, can you actually get around that way?" they asked us. Response: "well, we are sitting in your car right now. So... Yeah."

Snoqualmie has treated us right so far. We picked up our resupply boxes and two care packages (thanks, Emily L. and Jenny T!!) from the local Chevron, where the staff stores them in a walk-in beer fridge. Seriously. The evidence is below. And then the guy who runs the food truck in the Chevron parking lot offered us free beers! Honestly, it's going to be hard to get back on the trail tomorrow. 250 more miles in Washington and in our adventure overall! Already nostalgic (and sad for the imminent days when 1,000 calorie afternoon snacks - which both Justin and I did on Saturday - will no longer be acceptable). 

**Update from Snoqualmie, here on the morning of the 9th. It's raining and cold out, but supposed to be sunny by tomorrow. Having learned our lesson (WA is awesome in the sun, less so otherwise), we're going to hunker down here for another day. Staying in hotels for multiple nights (on no salary) gets unreasonable though, so I struck a deal with Justin: we can only stay tonight if, rather than eating meals at the mediocre attached restaurant, I will instead cook us camping food in our hotel room, using our camp stove. (This should be a familiar scene to my Patagonia friends, for whom I once prepared a delicious spaghetti dinner - and nearly asphyxiated - in the bathroom of a very classy Chilean hotel.) Ramen is on the menu tonight, if you want to stop by!

Captions:

1. Jerry Dinsmore's car. We hikers are so lucky to have dedicated trail angels like Jerry and his wife!

2. & 3. The awesome vistas we'd missed in the rain. Turns out Washington is really beautiful!

4. One of the many slightly sketchy creek/ravine crossings we do daily.

5. Reunited with Lady Mac and Gourmet!

6. Lake Ivanhoe did not disappoint. Awesome lunch spot. 

7 & 8. Goldmyer Hot Springs. Prettiest natural hot springs I'd ever seen (and Matthew has dragged me to quite a few). 

9. Getting to be fall up in here!

10. The scene inside the beer fridge in the Chevron. 

11. From outside the beer fridge. 

Washington! Harts Pass to Stevens Pass.

We just did our first section in Washington: 154 miles from Harts Pass to Stevens Pass! And just like that, we're already a third done with the state. Mostly, this makes me appreciate how long California is.

I'll begin with our travel to Harts Pass. We wanted to start at the Northern Terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail and head south. The trail technically ends 9 miles into Canada, but the US doesn't allow hikers to enter the country via the trail (and people complain that our borders are too porous....!). So the best southbounders like us can do is start at Harts Pass, the closest trailhead to the border (it's 30 trail miles south of the boundary). Purists will hike north for 30 miles, tag the border, then turn around and rehike those same 30 miles. We are not purists. We got to Harts Pass and started walking straight south. Border, shmorder.

Getting to Harts Pass was an adventure though! We flew to Seattle and had an amazingly delicious last supper with old DC friend Barb and her lovely husband Russ. The next morning, we started the journey. We took a train (Cascade Line), a bus (Skagit Transit #205), bus (#305), bus (#8 - amazingly kind and helpful driver), all of which got us to the town of Concrete, Washington. Pro tip: don't eat at the grocery store in Sedro-Woolley while waiting for the #8. Hold out for Concrete, as it has an excellent coffee shop. Justin and I, sadly, had filled up on apple fritters and chips from the grocery store and had no room for anything but one final artisan coffee (tea, in my case).

From Concrete, walk out to Route 20, unless you want to take the bus driver up on her offer for you to keep napping while she drives the rest of the route. When you get to Route 20, stick out your thumb and cross your fingers that Emmy is driving by, because she is the coolest hitch ever. Emmy is a grandma who drives a Volvo, makes her own birdhouses, avidly picks up hitchhikers (when her husband is using their shared car, she herself gets around by hitching), used to work for NPR, and has nothing but good things to say about Washington's recent legalization of marijuana. It was a fun ride. Which is good, because it was 2 hours. From the town of Winthrop we got another hitch to Mazama. Then another hitch halfway up the dirt road to Harts Pass. We walked a mile or two, then decided to camp for the night. The next morning, we walked 3-4 miles of the dirt road before a car came along to take us the rest of the way up: another awesome hitch! Grandparents who in retirement had discovered backpacking and were obsessed! By the time they dropped us off, we'd heard all about their hikes in Washington, Montana, and everywhere in between.

Forty-eight hours after we left Berkeley, we finally stood at Harts Pass. It's go time.

Hiking south was disorienting at first. It was like when I moved from the east coast to the west: my internal compass was all whacky. It's confusing for people we pass too: we're clearly serious pct hikers (there are certain give-always that distinguish us from weekenders: lightweight gear, extremely tan skin, dirty girl brand gaiters, Justin's beard... I guess mostly it's the beard). But we were heading the wrong direction! Fortunately, there's a term for this: a "flip-flop." As in: "we did most of California, but got stopped in Belden by the fires, so we flip-flopped up to Harts Pass and are going South now." Then everyone gets it and we do the secret thru hiker handshake. It's a fun thing to say like 15 times a day.

Washington is incredible! The drive to harts pass was one of the most beautiful drives of my life (Sorry, Big Sur) and there is actually snow on the peaks, a nice change from rain-starved California! We felt great about our decision to come up here and do this section.

In the first two days, everyone we passed was raving about this place "Stehekin." We hadn't planned to stop there, since it was only 50 miles from where we started. But as we kept hearing the phrase "amazing bakery" again and again, we knew we had to reconsider. Man was that ever the right decision. Over 18 hours, I bought the following things: carrot cupcake, veggie quiche, ginger cookie, oatmeal raisin cookies (2), loaf of sourdough, cinnamon roll, sticky bun, orange twist, pesto hot pocket, and one slice of strawberry rhubarb pie. I have no regrets.

Beyond the bakery, Stehekin is a cool town! It's only accessible by foot on the PCT or by a four hour boat ride up Lake Chelan, so it's very isolated and beautiful. There are only a few dozen year-round residents and their school had 5 kids - of totally different ages - enrolled in it. I spent a good half day on the trail imagining exactly how I would differentiate my instruction to meet the needs of a 1st, 4th, 6th, 7th, and 11th grader. Ultimate answer: I have a lot of respect for that teacher.

After we left Stehekin, we innocently started hiking south, thinking we would continue to have sandy trail and big mountain vistas. Oh, but the PCT had gaveth for way too long. It was time to taketh away. It started to pour rain. And then a hiker told us we were entering a ~100 mile section that even Scott Williamson - PCT legend who has completed the trail 13 times - claimed to be the most taxing. Tons of elevation change, super overgrown trail (eg wet bushes that ranged from waist to shoulder high that we had to wade through), and seemingly endless "blowdowns" - huge trees that had been blown down and were blocking the trail. One hiker told us he'd stopped counting blowdowns at 100. Another told us there are three things to do at a blowdown: go over it, go under it, or curse at it. We did all three on occasion. Fortunately, we experienced a little trail magic at camp that first rainy night. Five hikers were already at the spot we'd picked out. But fortunately, they had a great campfire going and brought us hot cider as we set up our tent in the rain!! Amazing! One of the hikers was a retired surgeon, who told us about how he met his wife: dropping out of Stanford medical school to protest the Vietnam war and live in the bushes outside the chemistry building, where she was a grad student. True romance.

The next two days were a blur, honestly. It didn't rain, but constantly threatened to. We were totally socked in a cloud, so couldn't really see much. Lots more blowdowns, lots more bushes, and because the air was so wet, nothing ever fully dried. The flip side of this wetness is that the plant life is awesome! It's the most green forest I've ever seen, with moss growing on everything. And there are beautiful - and sometimes huge - mushrooms everywhere! In Stehekin, Justin and I flipped through a book called "mushrooming without fear." As it turns out, we still have fear. But they look delicious. We're not afraid to eat the crap out of the wild huckleberries and blueberries though. An amazing pick-me-up growing all over the trail.

On Tuesday, it poured again all day. Our tenuous dry victory was lost in a nanosecond, as everything became drenched again. Maddy, thank you for rushing me the goretex jacket, it's been a life saver. Also, a mouse chewed two holes in the tent. This was not the best day ever. We pledged we would make it to Skykomish (aka the next town) the next day, no matter what. And that we did, though it was a death march whose highlights include waking up in the dark and not stopping for lunch. But here in Skykomish, it's beautiful blue skies! We spent today drying everything out in a parking lot. We also picked up a care package from my Mom (dried mango, yes!!) and ate jalapeño poppers. It's been a good day.

Hodgepodge section:
-There are supposedly wolverines in Harts Pass, but all we saw was marmots.
-Winthrop, WA is a very cool town with an "old west" vibe.
-There is a six-year-old doing the PCT this year. His name is "Buddy Backpacker" and he did the AT last year. He plans to do the Continental Divide Trail next summer and be the youngest ever Triple Crowner. He's easily the most known thru hiker on the trail this season. He's doing it with his parents, who also homeschool him on the way. He was near us in the desert and Sierra and then also flipped to WA, so we just saw him again.
-This doesn't sound so cool now that I've explained Buddy Backpacker, but ... I hit the one thousand mile mark!!!! Currently at 1054!
-HUGE thank you to Lauren T. - my Wharton friend and future roommate! She battled the SF real estate market on our behalf and came out victorious. Noe Valley, here we come! Lauren, thank you SO much for taking care of this so I can stay on trail. You are amazing!!

Captions. Please note, I didn't take any pictures when it rained, so this is a slightly biased visual take on WA.
1. Waiting for the #8 Skagit Transit in Sedro-Woolley.
2. View from our tent in Stehekin! Lake Chelan is Americas third deepest lake.
3. Date night in Stehekin!
4. Some of the bounty from the Bakery.
5. We've become addicted to sauce packets and steal them whenever and however possible. Look at that variety!
6. Second best toilet on the trail (after Crabtree Meadows in Sequoia NP). This one is at the North Fork Campsite in North Cascades NP.
7. Getting to be fall!
8. Plant life growing on a mushroom growing on a tree. Stuff grows everywhere here. We're worried that if we stop too long, moss will start growing on our faces.
9 & 10. Lotsa green!
11. I took off my gore tex hood for a minute!!
12. That's a lot of switchbacks for an ~8 mile section.
13. Cool creek!
14. Lunchtime!
15. 1000 miles!
16. Blue sky from the pre-Stehekin days.
17. Looking like real thru hikers.
18. Busted up bridge. Washington is for real. Lots of evidence of landslides, windstorms, floods, etc.
19. Classic blowdowns.
20. Happiness is...