Trip Miles: 321
Today is another zero, no hiking for me. Unless you count walking around the Bavarian town of Leavenworth. My mom drove up today in my car to bring me my resupplies and some non hiking clothes to wear. It is such bliss to wear flip flops, it has been hard to wear shoes and socks every day! My toes like to be free!
I assessed what I had in my resupply and found I had done a really good job of predicting what I might need at this time, including extra calories. Then we hopped in the car and headed back up over the pass into Leavenworth for the afternoon.
I always forget how crowded the town can be, so it was a bit overwhelming to see all the tourists. After not finding a parking space, I decided to go to Safeway first and get some fresh food to eat for the weekend. My guilty pleasure was finding 3.5 oz packages of Garlic Herb Kerrygold butter. I bought two. And some Mocha Cappacino Hazelnut spread.
Happily stocked, we drove back to the Main Street, found a spot to park and walked to lunch. The rest of our visit included a stop by shops for chocolate, salami, and dairy free gelato. Most of which has already been devoured…
Heading back to the car, the hills around Leavenworth had filled with the hazy smoke from a nearby forest fire. Matched with 95 degree weather and thunderstorms this weekend, I am feeling lucky I had planned to take a zero today. Maybe I’ll take one more…
I spent the rest of the day writing and chatting with Candace, listening to intermittent rain and the clash of thunder. And working my way through a stick of butter and some German Chocolate fudge.
http://www.trailjournals.com/journal/entry/429786
Destination: Stevens Pass
Today’s Miles: 0
Start Location: Stevens Pass
Trip Miles: 321
Today turned out to be another zero. More thunderstorms forecasted and my schedule pretty flexible, I decided to wait to leave until tomorrow. My friend Steffanie drove up and we went to breakfast. Our sons played baseball and we’ve been friends ever since. A nice way to spend the morning.
I filled the rest of the day with pack organization and confirming with friends when they would be meeting me later in my hike. Having hiked parts of the upcoming trail, I’m excited for this section.
The book is filled with many witty and thought provoking stories, but the one on page 169 stood out. It is about going to your 30 year high school reunion, looking around at a sea of evidence of your own mortality and feeling the grains of sand move faster in the hourglass. Then, your mind goes to a memory of someone you have met who was living life as though they had just tossed their caps at graduation. The world was for the taking. Anything was possible. And the fountain of youth appears to you.
As I go through this adventure, it often seems unreal, like I am watching it from the outside. But I have no doubt I am LIVING and not dying. I have come so far, and still yet have more to experience.
We all have that thing that we wish we were doing, gets us excited about the future and makes us feel alive. Hope? Optimism? Excitement? As you read the journals of us out here on this great trail, I hope you are giving thought to what YOUR adventure would be (no matter how small) and then go out and make it a reality. The world is ours!
Destination: Saddle Gap
Today’s Miles: 21.83
Start Location: Stevens Pass
Trip Miles: 342.83
Having waited out the thunderstorms, my friend drove me up to the pass to get back on the trail this morning.
Evidence of the power of the rain, it looked like the forest had had a parade for Thor. The trail was lined with pine needle confetti and little green leaves. Water rivulets had made mini log jambs and interesting designs with twigs and other debris.
It wasn’t long before I passed some forlorn hikers headed out, with a tale of being stuck in storms at Pear Lake and ready to get home to dry out.
This first 7 miles from Stevens Pass was familiar as I had done it in a day hike the year before. At the Union Gap trail junction, there was a large party of adults and kids who had come up the Smithbrook trail, some day hiking and a few heading north to Rainy Pass. I quickly pressed on so I could have a quieter day.
Today felt a little off, hard to get back into a rhythm of hiking. The bottom of my feet complained all day, very sore. I stopped after 16miles at Wenatchee Pass and took a nap. Ahh, the power of a nap. Took some pain reliever and pushed on to make camp at Saddle Gap at mile 2497.83.
Not sure if it was the terrain of the trail today or something else but it was hard to make the 20+ miles I needed to today. I threw myself into my tent exhausted, enjoyed an amazing sunset and fell asleep.
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