Eye on Mount Rainier

Andy's at White pass, which is at ~mile 2309.  He said it's chilly there now and last night the temperature dipped close to freezing.  He can see Rainier in the distance, a year ago he was hiking up it and now he's going to greet it once again, this time from a different trail.

Andy was able to catch Fairway and now he's not hiking alone, which makes me feel better about him being out there.   I know he likes having a friend along to share camp with (and goofy man conversation by the alcohol stove :-)

The approximate date for him to complete the trail is around September 15th.  I'm looking forward to joining him for the last 87 miles of the trail, although nothing I have done can prepare me for hiking for 17+ mile days.  I'll have some aching feet.  He'll slow his pace for me, there's no way for a non-thru hiker to do 27 miles days without losing her feet, mind, and composer.  However,  I'm really looking forward to finishing the trail with him and being able to see the completion of something so challenging.  Plus I'm looking forward to being able to see him ever day again. 

WA tomorrow!

Just to give everyone an update I'm currently at Cascade Locks taking a rest day. I'm right across the Columbia River from WA, which I will enter tomorrow. There are several fires closing the PCT just to the south where I just came thru. One of them I camped within sight of and was one of the last thru before the trail was closed. The other fires I didn't even see. I'm very fortunate that I got to continue my path, unbroken, to Canada. Others will have to walk around the fires via alternate trails or by simply skipping sections. Gretchen will be joining me at Stehekin which makes me very excited. We may be done before Sept. 12. Much more to tell, but I'm doing this from my phone.

just past mile 2000

After seeing Andy on the trail at Crater Lake, he has continued on with anticipation of the end of the trail.  Oregon is quite dry and he'd doing long days between water sources.   He's been doing long days for awhile now, it's incredible to hear him say that 30 miles isn't so bad and is normal.  We use to draw out 30 mile days into a three day backpacking trip and he can do that as a day hike now.

Below is a pic from Elk Lake Lodge, he stopped there to fill up on Ibuprofen, his ankle has been giving him some grief.  He's hoping it's nothing and that it's just a minor irritation.  

He called me today from Big Lake Youth Camp, cell service will be spotty through Oregon so he call me when he can.  He's hiking alone right now, but hopefully he can catch up to Fairway, bladder pillow, or any of the other crew he knows.  He got some great trail magic last night, a couple fed him Mac & Cheese and interviewed him for a PCT video.  I imagine stuff like that makes him feel better at this point in the hike.  He hit the 2000 mile marker today, he is 75% through the trail.  

His plan is to be in Cascade Locks by next weekend, this mail drop marks the spot at the Oregon and Washington border.  I've had to mail him an additional pair of shoes there, he's going through them faster then he planned.  He can hazily see Mt Hood in the distance.  Must be exciting to see.

Back to the trail

It's been beyond amazing to see Gretchen again.  I'm truly blessed to have her in my life.  We've spent two days in Medford, and we're hoping to spend the third in or near Crater Lake National Park.  On Tuesday she'll drop me off where I left the trail a few days ago so I can head north again.  About 830 miles to go, and it honestly doesn't seem that far to me. I'm looking forward to completing this adventure.  It's been an awesome trip so far, almost indescribable.  It's been as much a mental journey as a physical one.  Every day poses new challenges.  I wish I could write more to share what I've experienced on the trail, but I could never write enough to give the true feeling of a thru-hike, especially in the time I have to write these posts.  The trail has been everything, both highs and lows.  It can be exciting, depressing, scary, lonely, beautiful, boring, etc., often all in the same day.  There have definitely been moments and a full day here or there where I've been miserable.  I've honestly never thought that I could quit though.  I've told myself the entire trip that home is through Canada.  If I'm not injured, I have no excuse to quit.  I've given up too much to be here.  For me, it's about reaching Canada, even if I'm not having fun.  It's supposed to be a challenge.  If it were easy everyone would be doing it, and it probably wouldn't be worth doing.  It's all part of the mental game, but fortunately, the experience has been overwhelmingly positive so far.

It helps when you have others hiking somewhere near to you to keep you sane, but it's rare to hike directly with someone during the day anymore.  Most of us have preferred to be to ourselves while hiking, but enjoy company at camp each day.  This developed in the last few weeks, at least for me.  I think it's our way of dealing with being near each other for so long.  Up to Crater Lake, I had been hiking with Fairway (for the better part of 1200 miles), Bladder Pillow (for about 500 miles), and Halfpoint (about 200 miles).

While I'm double zeroing with Gretchen, they have moved on.  It's not likely I'll see them again unless I start pulling 35-40 mile days.  That's probably not gonna happen, but if they zero a few times while I don't I may catch them.  So when I return to the trail on Tuesday I won't know for a day or two where I am in the big line of ants headed north.  Fortunately, I have an ipod now to keep me company in case I'm hiking alone for a few days.  I've never been one to hike with headphones before, but I'm tired of talking to myself in my head all day long.  If I'm hiking and camping alone it will get bad.  Several of us talked days ago about how we're all tired of having the same conversations with ourselves while hiking.  It made me feel better that I wasn't the only one.  My hope is that the music will keep me sane, especially after just seeing Gretchen.

As of now, I believe I'll enter Washington as soon as August 20, which will make it possible for me to finish with Gretchen (who will join me at Stehekin) by September 15, my planned completion date.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  Completing the trail that early will help minimize the precip I should experience in WA and the chance that the trail will get snowed in before I can complete it.

I wish I had the time to create more well written posts, but I tend to be busy in town and want to relax as much as possible.

Photos from the last 1040 miles

So it's been a while since I could post photos.  I don't like hogging computer time when I'm in town so it's had to wait till Gretchen visited me again.  Since the last time she visited me, I've taken somewhere near 800 photos covering everything from Kearsarge Pass (~790) through Crater Lake (1830), which we actually haven't gone to the rim yet to view.  We'll be doing that tomorrow and hopefully staying close to the park so Gretchen can drop me off early in the morning.  I have another roughly 30 mile stretch to go without a reliable water source.  Who would guess that Oregon could be so dry?  The photos below are in sequential order and give just a snapshot of all the miles I've walked in just the last 6 weeks.