This was probably the most gorgeous day of hiking I’ve ever done, followed by the worst night of mosquito hell I’ve ever endured.

Sometimes when days are bookended with badness, I avoid writing about them for a bit to get some better perspective. Now writing a few days later, what really stuck from the day was how amazing Goat Rocks and the Knife’s edge were. Over just 5 miles we saw so much beauty, with 360 degree views of Ranier, Adams and St. Helens, paired with stunning craggy climbing and snow fields. Then on the walk down we got incredible wildflowers. We were completely blown away!

White Pass was also quite nice, a gas station with some hot food and resupply stuff. There were probably around 30 hikers there when we were, everyone laughing while doing chores and eating as much as they could. Leaving white pass started out sentimental, then turned into a race against time as we quickly lost our sanity through six miles of hiking through mosquito swarms to our agreed upon tent site. I had actually just told my mom over the phone that the mosquitos weren’t that bad in Washington. Well, mom, I take that back.

Though the hiking was beautiful, I struggled to stay sane todays with the mosquitos and elevation gain. The humidity and heat in this stretch have been undeniable, and being seven days into our 10 day push to Snoqualmie has me so ready for a zero that it’s not funny.

Today we briefly passed through Ranier National Park, climbing massive hills and passing beautiful wildflowers. Washington is amazing, but sometimes you just need to not hike, you know?

At least we had an epic campsite today. My mental struggles have been superbly challenging, with foot pain, zero appetite to eat anything in my food bag, and insane trail traffic. Last night, we had to walk 1 mile further than our planned site, and back tracked a mile as well to find a site that wasn’t taken amongst the massive bubble we are hiking around. There are so few large tent sites in Washington, and so many folks have been forced onto the exact same hiking schedule and location as everyone else because of the fires in Oregon that it’s really tough to find a place to camp. Today though our site was empty! Three spots on a cliff with amazing sunset and sunrise views and wind (which means no mosquitos!).

Ranger, Breaking Bad, Mimosa and us are a really good group together. We have a consistent schedule on when we all leave camp and agree on a proposed site together. It’s been really fun to plan our days around our friends and to know we’ll see them after all the hiking is over. Yesterday morning after White Pass we all moaned from our tents “I don’t wanna hike” and it’s so reassuring to hear that you are not the only one pushing through some mental block or another.

Today was tough. We only went 26.5 miles but the elevation gain and loss were ridiculous. If you can imagine no flat hiking, just ups, downs, and very up and very down, for 26 miles, that’s what it was.

Luckily, we were surrounded by ripe huckleberry bushes for the entire day! These lil berries taste delicious and are everywhere out here. We don’t get much fresh fruit so it’s really a treat to our tired tongues.

Other highlight today: the sunrise at our campsite was unbelievable and it was cloudy all day. Small platters of rain fell in the morning and the evening. However, the clouds did not cool off the air and the warm humidity had us sweating in 90 + degrees all day, but at least little sun exposure!