In the morning, I wish I could say that I felt any better – but I don’t. A self-defeatist attitude has well and thoroughly settled into my brainpan. I ask myself “what’s the point”, but I know that’s a stupid question – there are 155-odd miles to go. I’ll hit 2500 this morning, and I’m both looking forward to it and dreading it.  Continue reading →

Cloud + cold = frost, and when I wake in the morning, there is an abundance of it all over everything. There are, however no clouds in the sky – it looks like it’s going to be a gorgeous day, despite the ominous weather forecasts of yesterday – and the frost kind of makes everything look a little more magical. Nature, how you do dat? Continue reading →

I’m only conscious 30 seconds before I’ve convinced myself I’m leaving town today. I have to walk. Have to. I don’t want to walk in the rain, but I do want to walk these last 200 miles before winter sets in. I guess that just means walking in the rain, if that’s what it means. So it’s just a matter of taking care of postal business and getting a hitch up.  Continue reading →

The first words out of my mouth this morning are curses – it’s raining. Again. UGH. I loiter around because I don’t want to deal with it, but there are pressing things to think about, like how I’ll only have a Snickers and a pack of Idahoan potatoes left after this day of hiking. I gotta get into town today. Continue reading →

The rain starts up around 4am, defying the weather report’s later prediction; no one starts moving until 6. The regret at leaving the dry confines of our tiny tent worlds is strong this morning. But we have miles to make, so we’re eventually all out and rolling down the trail in the rain. Continue reading →

I’m up around 7:30 – too early for a town day – but I need to get some writing done before I leave town. Lucky for me, there’s room-coffee available. It’s not great coffee, but it’s coffee, and it gives me the motivation to get up off my ass, get dressed, and head for the computer in the lobby. Continue reading →

In the morning, everything is kind of damp – sleeping bag, tent, clothes left outside of sleeping bag. That’s what I get for camping in the open instead of in the trees. I paw through my food bag for food for the morning, but nothing seems particularly appetizing. Nothing does on a town day. I’ve got 16 miles to go to Snoqualmie Pass, where a hotel room is waiting for me; snacks will be acceptable for that distance. So many snacks, but snacks. Continue reading →

It’s not quiet in my site at the end of a gravel road, but it is weird as hell. Around 1am, an elk starts tromping around and yelling near my tent; around 2am, someone goes by with a white headlamp that shines directly into my tent, and around 3am, the elk is at it again. So much for uninterrupted sleep. Continue reading →

The night is quiet, so quiet – this has to be the quietest place I’ve ever been. The deer I spooked earlier going to pee seemed strangely loud, but things have settled in for the evening – myself included – and it’s so quiet that my eyelashes scraping against my sleeping bag are nails on a chalkboard, and my heart is thunder raging in my chest. There’s so little sound that I have no reference for what’s loud or quiet, and, so disoriented, it’s less sleeping than it is my brain deciding that the input not matching expectations requires a hard reset. In the morning, I’m well and truly ready to leave the silence of the evening behind, and my footsteps are loud as I make my way down the hill to Chinook Pass. Continue reading →