Pacific Crest Trail: White Pass- Snoqualmie

Day 75
2290-2306 (15.75)

I nuzzled further down into my sleeping bag, waiting for the rain to stop before I moved but had little luck. The rain slowed a bit and I made moves to get on trail. We made it to the highway just before 8 and got to the Kracker Barrel store (not the Cracker Barrel you're thinking of) when it opened. We went through food, charged devices and drank hot coffee all morning. The rain persisted but we headed back on trail anyways. We made about 13 miles of sopping wet cold and decided that it was a good night to stop early and have a fire. Attempts were made to dry off wet socks around the fire but they remained pretty soaked and we had to accept that we were just going to be wet and stay wet for a little while longer.

Day76
2306-2331 (25.6)
The morning was again a bit wet but we were hopeful that the fog would clear by the time we entered Rainier National Park. As we began the morning climb we heard elk calls and eventually caught sight of about four of them. We walked quietly for a while hoping to come across more but did not find any. We took a quick break because we were so cold and had to get up and moving again to warm up. As I made my way closer to the highway and the road through the park there were more and more people. Turns out it's the weekend, and my goodness it felt like a booming metropolis. Groups of people would huddle around to ask me questions and then I would walk another quarter mile and more people would stop me. At the bridge over the road I stopped with some other PCTers and talked about how odd it was to see so many people and how odd their behaviors seemed. One of the PCT hikers, Big Bear, explained an interesting comment by someone familiar with the trail; the woman told him she knew he had been out there for a while because his eyes were so clear, she said his eyes had no worries, no fear, no nothing, just clarity. I thought that was pretty cool. We made it to camp at a reasonable time, saw no views of Rainier today but saw some cool surrounding mountains between clouds.

Day 77
2331-2358 (27)

We woke up extra early knowing that we would have to walk big miles in order to clear an 11 mile dry section. The sunrise (we could see it!) was like the sky was on fire. We enjoyed some sunshine by a cabin and then walked on to find more trail magic about 8 miles later. The couple was getting ready to leave so they were pushing all of the leftover food on us which was amazing. Cucumber, hard boiled eggs, red vines, chocolate cream pies, cheese, candy...yum!
With 9 miles to go and my feet beginning to hurt extra I took some ibuprofen and called my parents to pass the time. I lost service but was pleasantly surprised to find a van parked on the dirt road with a fire pit and a nice man making hot chocolate. We posted up camp early and used his water to cook dinner. We roasted marshmallows by the big fire and carried warm rocks with us into our sleeping bags. The trail provides!

Day 78
2358-2382 (23.6)

I got stung by a yellow jacket in the morning but enjoyed some huckleberries throughout the morning. For some reason I was feeling pretty down and was struggling to dig myself out of my own head when I came across a tub of tomatoes and a nice retired teacher cooking up warm soup, fresh bread and coffee. We sat in chairs with blankets and warm food for quite a while. It was just the kind of care I needed to turn my day around. We walked another 10 to set up camp by mirror lake and enjoy a fire before our walk into Snowqualmie tomorrow. The trail magic these last few days gives quite an insight into humanity. Yes, many people have lost in faith in humanity and yes, there are many reasons to believe we lack it in our society today, but out on trail it seems to be absolutely thriving. The trail brings the good out of people and takes us back to just looking out for one another.

Day 79
2382- Snowqualmie +4 alternate (13)

I woke up to the sound of rain and found myself in a puddle not from rain but from my camelback leaking in my tent. We packed up camp in the rain and accepted that we were about to get more and more wet. By the time we walked into town the rain had slowed down. We found our resupply packages and reorganized them in a parking lot while our sleep systems attempted to dry out. We showered in the hot tub room (with the code from a guest) and then lazed around before hitting the trail. I talked to a guy who finished the trail 4 days ago and was just wandering around Trail Angeling. He offered some helpful advice and walked with us to the trailhead. We made a steep climb up and out of the valley to the nearby Snow Lake and set up camp before the rain began again.