Episode 69: Day 165-170

Day 165:

Oooh, it’s chilly this morning! Some serious willpower is required to pack up and hike out when its cold.

Fortunately for my knee, the trail is going to be relatively smooth today – very manageable elevation changes. Even better, despite that, i’m still seeing beautiful views of Mt Rainier, and I get closer, it seems to get more magnificent by the mile.

Something cool happened! I met two hikers that I admire today – The Real Hiking Viking and Badger, who are hiking the PCT SOBO together. I follow their content online and it’s provided great insight on thru hiking. Great guys, had good conversations with both.

Newly inspired with their words of wisdom, I kept going. And even though I was tired, my legs were still churning. Eventually, I found a great campsite in the shade and set up.

23 miles today.

Mountain # 1:

Mountain #2:

My path:

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Day 166:

Rest day.

Sat by Dewey lake today just soaking it all in.

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Day 167:

Not feeling great today. I’m really nauseous for some reason, so I’m going to need to take a lot of breaks.

It’s  kind of embarrassing taking so many breaks today because I’m crossing Chinook Pass which is very very popular with day hikers, and they were easily passing me.

Eventually, I got a second wind and was able to pick up the pace.

Then I met some other thru hikers. They were easy to spot in the sea of day hikers – there a a few clear signs of the long distance ones – small pack, fast gait, and super dirty. We chatted about what’s next on the trail and went on our way.

Later on, in a more wooded area, a huge animal ran across the trail ahead of me – either a moose or an elk. So glad it wasn’t running towards me.

Hiked strong until about 8:15pm and camped.

20 miles today.

Wildflowers blooming:

This way:

Chinook Pass:

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Day 168:

Woke up to some big animal noises at 3am… maybe it’s that moose again? Nothing I can do here, so I went back to sleep once the adrenaline wore off.

When it was time to get up, it was cold! Managed to hike out at 8:30am.

After a while, I took a break at a cabin I saw by the trail. Outside I met a day hiker who offered to take my trash since he was heading off trail later today. That counts as trail magic to me! People can be so generous.

Around 2pm I got to a great water source. Looking at my map I saw that the next one is 11 miles away. Usually a 22 mile day isn’t an issue, BUT I’m taking tomorrow off of hiking, so I need to plan accordingly. Its a Jewish holiday – Tisha B’Av, a day of mourning when I’ll be fasting: so no food or drink for 25 hours. If I hike another 11, I’ll likely get to that next water source after the fast begins tonight, meaning I won’t have time to stuff my face and hydrate. I’ll play it safe and camp here tonight.

11 miles today.

By the way, Im official over 200 miles into Washington!

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Day 169:

Since today I’m fasting (no food or water), I’m taking it easy. Spent the day in my tent listening to podcasts and audiobooks.

Looking forward to dinner and getting back to hiking tomorrow.

Rest day.

The day ebbs away:

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Day 170:

I started with a good pace and made it the 11 miles to the next water around 2pm.

After that, the miles got tough. Steep uphills followed by steep downhills.

I think I am overlapping the first herd of SOBO thru hikers, meeting so many today.

By the afternoon, it got very smokey, and the SOBOs told me there are fires is both Canada and Oregon, so we are getting the second hand smoke from both.

Another bummer –  the knee pain is back – and Ibuprofen wasn’t helping. I need to find another remedy.

At some point my knee decided it was time to camp, but all I could find was nasty frog water – greenish brown with frogs and frog related items floating around in it. I put the water through a bandana to get the chunks out, dropped and iodine tablet in, and then used my UV pen to sterilize it… or at least I hoped so.

Time for dinner and sleep.

21 miles today.

Smokey:

Filtering frog water:

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