This morning we were sleeping soundly, when at 8am there was a knock on the door. I heard Bad Moon say that he and Happy were going to breakfast. The motel provided a great continental breakfast, including fresh fruit and homemade sweet potato waffles. We joined our hiker friends and had a delicious breakfast. I went back to the room to pack up my gear, to make a couple quick phone calls, and to try to catch up on 4-5 days of journaling.
Just after 11am we checked out and, thankfully called a trail angel, Doug, to take us back to the trail. He and his wife Janet (both retired school music teachers) arrived in a mini van minutes later and we put our packs and outgoing mail in their vehicle. Bad Moon and Happy had decided to spend another night at the lovely motel, since their box in Packwood couldn’t be retrieved until Monday, and they couldn’t hike there by Saturday. So they rode the bikes to the post office while we went by car. All four of us took care of mailing out our various boxes, then we had to say goodbye to these special friends that I have known and loved since our times together on the AT in 2001 and at all those wonderful reunion parties every year since then. Most likely, this was our last hurrah seeing anymore thru-hikers this year, as it is possible they are the lat NOBO’s and we may be the last SOBO’s if Dr. Paula got off trail.
Soon Tabasco and I will finish Washington (4 days), then we’ll hike Oregon northbound, so we likely won’t see anymore thru-hikers this year. Back on trail, we cruised from 12:45 to about 2:30, then stopped to eat lunch. The sky was looking more ominous and right after lunch rain began. We hiked in light, misty rain the rest of the afternoon in very quiet, deep forest. We broke out of forest briefly around 4:30 and were exposed to rain, wind, and fog. At 5:30 we had done enough miles and rain was beginning to come down harder. We quickly found some flat ground near the trail and set up camp. We each ate dinner within our tent and I’ve now been writing journal entries for two hours, trying to catch up.
The rain is taking a break right now, so in a minute I’ll venture out into the damp, cool night to find a bathroom, then will hop into the sleeping bag for some great sleep. We saw three elk late this afternoon running away from us through the forest and about a mile before stopping tonight, saw some low stealthy type animal, possibly a mountain lion, across in front of us a few yards up the trail, then disappear into the woods. We were both grumpy, having to deal with cold and wet conditions again this afternoon. Hopefully we’ll get a break tomorrow to dry out, though the forecast is for more rain. I am very ready to get this PCT journey done and behind me, but at the same time I still want to be out doing as many miles as possible.
If the weather holds, we’ll finish Oregon by month end and the journey, at least for this year, will be over and my thoughts and actions will turn to moving winter gear and clothes to Portland, finding employment, and the holidays. Despite the major 42 day setback losing half the summer, I’m very happy with the amount of trail I was able to hike and am thankful for the experience of the journey. O.K. today’s weather: cloudy to rainy. Low 45, high 55. Today’s mileage: 15.8; cumulative mileage: 1755.9.
P.S. Finally caught up on journaling and that feels great, with cold hands and town stops it’s been tough to keep up! Another milestone today. I’ve now hiked as many miles since my injury as before the injury.
