Miya
Because I am able.
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2017
- Messages
- 1,404
Days: 153 - 174
Miles: 2151.9 - 2477.9
Zero Days: 3
Crossing into Washington in a hurry! Partly because crossing this busy bridge was one of the highest risk things I did on trail.
By the time I got to Washington, in my head, I was ALMOST there. Less than 600 miles left! It seemed so close that I could almost let my guard down and think "I am going to make it to the end." I knew not to get too excited though, 600 miles is still plenty of time for something to go wrong, so I would just keep walking; one day at a time, one mile at a time.
Washington was the most significant border change to the senses. As soon we got off the road and hit the trail, WA smelled different, looked different, and felt different. Everything was moist and full of life, while Oregon had been dry and mostly brown.
Mile marker 2200
WA is overrun with 'carwash bushes'. It didn't matter if the previous day was hot and sunny, all the bushes and trees would be soaked in the morning and that meant so too would you be. I made sure to put on my rain gear every morning and usually wouldn't remove it until 1300-1500.
Not the largest mushroom I would find on trail, but still, very impressive.
Hmmmmmm...
There were maybe 2-5 questions I got from every single person that had PCT inquires. One question was "Is there a certain part or section you are looking forward to, like (Yosemite, Crater Lake, Vasquez Rocks?)" This is a good question, most people had a list of answers. I had only 2, "The northern monument and Knife's Edge in Goat Rocks Wilderness".
And so, it was a happy surprise when we stumbled upon it shortly after entering Washington. For some reason I had thought that section was near the end of Washington.
It had been raining off and on the last two days. The views were usually covered in fog in the mornings and evenings. The morning of Goat Rocks Wilderness, would be no exception. I was pretty grumpy and throwing an internal tantrum at the weather. I do prefer clouds and rain, but not today...I didn't want it today. Since I had been so spoiled on trail so far, I could only hope that the fog would clear by the time I reached the summit.
Got my way again...Starting to head up and I see bluuuuuueueueueueue skies.
There were A LOT of weekend warriors camped at the base.
Glad there were still some clouds. Made for a magical experience.
Upon reaching the top, we socialized with an older gentleman who proceeded to sing us a song about why dog's sniff each other's bums.
We are headed back down.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
We would get overtaken by the fog again in a matter of minutes. We would drop below it in another hour or so, but I was so grateful for the moments I had and the sights I was able to see when I was above the clouds.
This bit of trail RIGHT here, is where I got stuck on the fact that Skittles motto is super wrong. "Taste the Rainbow"? Skittles do not utilize every color of the rainbow?! What the heck? How do they get away with this? But Washington...Washington has all the colors of Skittles and they need to change their motto to "Taste Washington State".
We would resupply and spend the night at White Pass gas station. Yes, another gas station. My cousin and her family came to meet us and bring us Subway sandwiches! I hadn't seen her since her wedding, over 10 years prior, nor met her 3 beautiful kids! It was a fantastic visit.
We had heard there was an active fire ~10 miles from the trail, but were told there shouldn't be a problem as long as we left by the next day. Lo and behold, a fire would start less than 2 miles from us and we would be running from new active fires for the entirety of the day.
Miya la-dee-da-ing down the trail, imagining the leftover 6 inch meatball sub she is going to eat at her lunch break. "Oh! that looks kinda close..."
A short break with Sawyer, and a few switchbacks later. "Oh...pretty sure it is bigger now". We reviewed our path for the day and if we continued forward we would continue to move away from the fire, and the wind was in our favor. If we turned around we would only put ourselves closer to the fire. And so...Onward and Upward!
More new fires.
Oh...and why not, some more? We used our Garmin to get these reported to the correct people.
2300 Miles
Fireweed trail.
Starting to see more mushrooms.
Red Amanita Muscaria - I always heard these were toxic and can make you hallucinate, which can be true if consumed raw. They can even be fatal. I found out (and verified) that they are commonly served in Europe and are not toxic if you prepare them correctly.
A Pika unleashing his MIGHTY SQUEAK!
Spent a night at Snoqualamie Pass putting on some pounds. Here is a very large pizza we consumed.
Leaving Snoqualamie was quite busy. People were jumping around from everywhere now. Skipped from CA, skipped OR because of fires, getting back where they had been before PCT trail Days and a FISH concert, or skipped because they wanted to.
Sawyer and I decided to hike on from the lakes that looked full of weekend warriors and thru hikers. We found an amazing spot that we had all to ourselves. I even had time to make a 2400 mile marker. We must have missed it on the ascent.
Even though I made the last mile marker, it ended up getting into my head.
No one was as surprised as me at how much I loved thru hiking. Of course there were challenges and I don't want to make any other thru hikers feel like I thought it was "EASY", it wasn't. However, I woke up everyday wanting to hike. I woke up excited and I didn't get bored or sick of it. I felt very lucky.
But then...it finally happened...I woke up and didn't want to hike anymore. Being so close to the end, ~250 miles, made it seem like it was just in my reach and so my brain and/or body decided I was close enough and didn't need to enjoy myself anymore.
Day 169:
"The trail was providing me with so much and I still couldn't leave my depression behind. I felt confused, weak, and so tired. My body did not want to walk. I just wanted to sit and not go any further."
Momma and baby Mountain Goat
There is actually a bear down there coming out of the creek. I could see it in person and you can see it on my full file size.
This scene was breathtaking. It didn't even seem real and I NEED to return with a wide angle lens.
My PHONE UNEDITED, yes...it is THAT GORGEOUS!!
Heading into Leavenworth, WA.
Both for me.
One of my favorite sugar cookies ever! I packed out 3 of them to eat on the trail.
Since we reached WA, I was a tumble of mixed emotions. I didn't want it to be over, but also wanted nothing more than to get the hell off trail and just stop walking. Buuut, I would stay at least one night in EVERY resupply town in an attempt to prolong the journey.
Because I struggled so much from Snoqualamie Pass to Leavenworth, we would spend 3 nights there being tourists. I needed to put on as many pounds as possible and try to get a full nights rest. I had never wanted to quit the trail, and don't misunderstand, the thought NEVER crossed my mind, but if I had to name a moment where I was closest to calling it quits, it was here, when I was so close to the end.
Miles: 2151.9 - 2477.9
Zero Days: 3
Crossing into Washington in a hurry! Partly because crossing this busy bridge was one of the highest risk things I did on trail.
By the time I got to Washington, in my head, I was ALMOST there. Less than 600 miles left! It seemed so close that I could almost let my guard down and think "I am going to make it to the end." I knew not to get too excited though, 600 miles is still plenty of time for something to go wrong, so I would just keep walking; one day at a time, one mile at a time.
Washington was the most significant border change to the senses. As soon we got off the road and hit the trail, WA smelled different, looked different, and felt different. Everything was moist and full of life, while Oregon had been dry and mostly brown.
Mile marker 2200
WA is overrun with 'carwash bushes'. It didn't matter if the previous day was hot and sunny, all the bushes and trees would be soaked in the morning and that meant so too would you be. I made sure to put on my rain gear every morning and usually wouldn't remove it until 1300-1500.
Not the largest mushroom I would find on trail, but still, very impressive.
Hmmmmmm...
There were maybe 2-5 questions I got from every single person that had PCT inquires. One question was "Is there a certain part or section you are looking forward to, like (Yosemite, Crater Lake, Vasquez Rocks?)" This is a good question, most people had a list of answers. I had only 2, "The northern monument and Knife's Edge in Goat Rocks Wilderness".
And so, it was a happy surprise when we stumbled upon it shortly after entering Washington. For some reason I had thought that section was near the end of Washington.
It had been raining off and on the last two days. The views were usually covered in fog in the mornings and evenings. The morning of Goat Rocks Wilderness, would be no exception. I was pretty grumpy and throwing an internal tantrum at the weather. I do prefer clouds and rain, but not today...I didn't want it today. Since I had been so spoiled on trail so far, I could only hope that the fog would clear by the time I reached the summit.
Got my way again...Starting to head up and I see bluuuuuueueueueueue skies.
There were A LOT of weekend warriors camped at the base.
Glad there were still some clouds. Made for a magical experience.
Upon reaching the top, we socialized with an older gentleman who proceeded to sing us a song about why dog's sniff each other's bums.
We are headed back down.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
We would get overtaken by the fog again in a matter of minutes. We would drop below it in another hour or so, but I was so grateful for the moments I had and the sights I was able to see when I was above the clouds.
This bit of trail RIGHT here, is where I got stuck on the fact that Skittles motto is super wrong. "Taste the Rainbow"? Skittles do not utilize every color of the rainbow?! What the heck? How do they get away with this? But Washington...Washington has all the colors of Skittles and they need to change their motto to "Taste Washington State".
We would resupply and spend the night at White Pass gas station. Yes, another gas station. My cousin and her family came to meet us and bring us Subway sandwiches! I hadn't seen her since her wedding, over 10 years prior, nor met her 3 beautiful kids! It was a fantastic visit.
We had heard there was an active fire ~10 miles from the trail, but were told there shouldn't be a problem as long as we left by the next day. Lo and behold, a fire would start less than 2 miles from us and we would be running from new active fires for the entirety of the day.
Miya la-dee-da-ing down the trail, imagining the leftover 6 inch meatball sub she is going to eat at her lunch break. "Oh! that looks kinda close..."
A short break with Sawyer, and a few switchbacks later. "Oh...pretty sure it is bigger now". We reviewed our path for the day and if we continued forward we would continue to move away from the fire, and the wind was in our favor. If we turned around we would only put ourselves closer to the fire. And so...Onward and Upward!
More new fires.
Oh...and why not, some more? We used our Garmin to get these reported to the correct people.
2300 Miles
Fireweed trail.
Starting to see more mushrooms.
Red Amanita Muscaria - I always heard these were toxic and can make you hallucinate, which can be true if consumed raw. They can even be fatal. I found out (and verified) that they are commonly served in Europe and are not toxic if you prepare them correctly.
A Pika unleashing his MIGHTY SQUEAK!
Spent a night at Snoqualamie Pass putting on some pounds. Here is a very large pizza we consumed.
Leaving Snoqualamie was quite busy. People were jumping around from everywhere now. Skipped from CA, skipped OR because of fires, getting back where they had been before PCT trail Days and a FISH concert, or skipped because they wanted to.
Sawyer and I decided to hike on from the lakes that looked full of weekend warriors and thru hikers. We found an amazing spot that we had all to ourselves. I even had time to make a 2400 mile marker. We must have missed it on the ascent.
Even though I made the last mile marker, it ended up getting into my head.
No one was as surprised as me at how much I loved thru hiking. Of course there were challenges and I don't want to make any other thru hikers feel like I thought it was "EASY", it wasn't. However, I woke up everyday wanting to hike. I woke up excited and I didn't get bored or sick of it. I felt very lucky.
But then...it finally happened...I woke up and didn't want to hike anymore. Being so close to the end, ~250 miles, made it seem like it was just in my reach and so my brain and/or body decided I was close enough and didn't need to enjoy myself anymore.
Day 169:
"The trail was providing me with so much and I still couldn't leave my depression behind. I felt confused, weak, and so tired. My body did not want to walk. I just wanted to sit and not go any further."
Momma and baby Mountain Goat
There is actually a bear down there coming out of the creek. I could see it in person and you can see it on my full file size.
This scene was breathtaking. It didn't even seem real and I NEED to return with a wide angle lens.
My PHONE UNEDITED, yes...it is THAT GORGEOUS!!
Heading into Leavenworth, WA.
Both for me.
One of my favorite sugar cookies ever! I packed out 3 of them to eat on the trail.
Since we reached WA, I was a tumble of mixed emotions. I didn't want it to be over, but also wanted nothing more than to get the hell off trail and just stop walking. Buuut, I would stay at least one night in EVERY resupply town in an attempt to prolong the journey.
Because I struggled so much from Snoqualamie Pass to Leavenworth, we would spend 3 nights there being tourists. I needed to put on as many pounds as possible and try to get a full nights rest. I had never wanted to quit the trail, and don't misunderstand, the thought NEVER crossed my mind, but if I had to name a moment where I was closest to calling it quits, it was here, when I was so close to the end.
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