Day 143

Sand lake to white pass to Mike Urich cabin - 26 miles

Total - 2350.2 miles (skipped)

Rough morning. Everything was so incredibly soaked from the condensation. My tent has never been so wet on the outside and on the inside. Even when it rained. At 6:10 I got moving to indicate to the guys that it was time to move as well. Trevor was having a hard morning but he slowly got going. The 2.8 miles were easy and we timed it perfectly where I could eat two hot dogs before mom and dad showed up around 8:30 am to come save the day. They had brought cold pizza, cold drinks, and cobbler and mom was loving the hikers. She was giving away all the goods to anyone who came up to our car. We couldn’t fit everyone in the car to go up to chinook pass so rocklicker, Ben, Marc and I got in with mom and dad while Trevor and Nathan stayed back. The sky looked fine until we pulled up over chinook pass to find dense smoke in the valley. Some pct hikers were considering hitching up to snoqualmie pass which was about 70 miles ahead probably but I committed to hiking hoping the smoke would be less dense over the ridges. We planned 23 that day so again, I was hoping for the best farther away from the fire. It was still Labor Day weekend and everyone and their mother was wanting to hike. Can’t imagine why with all the smoke. We met some people that had done the section which said it wasn’t bad but today was so much worse for smoke. Sad to have skipped when we could’ve gone through but I don’t think I regret the decision especially for the guys. Mom gave out more snacks to any pct hiker that would stop and say hi. I loved it but we had to get moving especially since it was 10:40 and we had 23 miles to do. Marc and I said goodbye and then booked it up the climb. The smoke was horrible so I just wanted to get over the ridge but sadly even passed the ridge it was bad. Marc and I hiked most of the day together having a great conversation on the male loneliness epidemic which I personally don’t believe in lol. It was a great conversation. We cruised over multiple ridges before getting to the water source where a ton of people were lounging around. We were back in our original bubble which kinda frustrating as I just wanted to hike without worrying if I need to pass someone or they need to pass me. Plus we all kinda go the same pace now so it’s hard. We took like a 15 break before heading out before everyone. Doesn’t mean I didn’t feel like I was being chased lol. I peed and fell behind Marc and I tried to catch up as two hikers were behind me. They can pass me on a downhill but on an uphill that’s a big fat no. I was sweating my ass off but they didn’t pass me. Marc stopped to take a small break as his Achilles was hurting so I went ahead. At this point the music was in and I was bumping. We planned to go 0.2 passed the cabin as everyone was going to be camping there but once we saw how big it was we decided to stay. My tent was still soaking wet from the morning so I made a sad attempt to dry it off in the mediocre sun. It did not work so I went in with a bandana and wiped down the puddle that had formed on the inside floor. I was cursing up a storm which Marc informed me that I needed to calm down. He was right but never tell a woman to calm down. I’ll show you calm. We ate dinner around a stump. Smitty came into camp and stated how fast I was. Went straight to my head. He’s a fast hiker as well so it does kinda mean a lot. I like him though as he’s a great story teller and is hella energetic and funny. At dinner he told us about this guy that got temporarily kidnapped at hiker town in the desert. The owner offer to drive the guy to get coffee and somehow ended up at the port of San Fran to pick up a new car and had the hiker drive one of the cars back. The hiker left everything including his phone at hiker town so his trail family thought he got kidnapped especially since it was a 5 minute drive that turned into a 12 hour adventure. So incredibly scary if you don’t know what’s going on but hilarious now as he’s fine. I was in my soaking wet tent when he was telling this story. Stuff is slowly drying off but I did put my rain gear under my pad to try and keep some things somewhat dry. We will see tomorrow. Eventful day, and very tired. Next time I see my parents will be when I’m done with the pct.

I forgot to mention that I now have a bear can again as the next 223 miles requires proper bear storage and I don’t wanna get fined. I’ve heard some people have gotten fined by rangers out here which is surprising as I didn’t think we had any of those left lol. Anyways, 6 days of food and a bear can makes my back fucking hurt. Not thrilled especially with all the up and downs coming up to the border. Shorter days with more elevation. UGHHHHHHHHHH!

Mom smelled me today. Since we haven’t had a day in town and I needed to keep the guys on schedule the others did laundry and some of them showered but I didn’t get to. I smell incredibly ripe. 7? Days with no shower or laundry keeps everyone away. I can smell myself and I need to find a lake tomorrow. My socks are hazardous. I’m about to be hazardous.