Washington, The Final State

Day 92
Miles hiked: 0

Total miles: 2144.36

Place started: or/wa border, Shreks swamp

Place ended : or/wa border, Shreks swamp

  
Greetings from the Hammock, if your just tuning in we are 24 hours into our no hike drive. If your interested in not hiking and not making big miles, I suggest you pick up that phone and dial the number at the bottom of the page. We have a stretch goal of a double zero, that with your help we can hit tomorrow. We want to continue bringing you quality programming like “fat in a hammock” “bored on wifi” and “did he really just spend 10 dollars on ice cream in one day”.
Really though, today was not what I expected. Jeffe didn’t show up till 330, cardboard just didn’t show. Basically Portland was out of the question today, BUT TOMORROW, PORTLAND!
Why? Because why not. I don’t want to double zero, I don’t want to get passed by people who hike slower than me. The unfortunate part is I have an officAl end date of September 8. That’s averaging 19 miles. Day. That’s slower than I’ve gone all trail. Ahhhh, such a blah thing to happen. It’s just my family coming out and making me fall back a bit is all, I’m glad they are coming, I’m sad they are coming so late. Gahhhhhh poop
Portland tomorrow, food trucks, hopefully some ultimate. Who knows the town is my oyster and I’m feeling like seafood

Day 93
Miles hiked: 0

Total miles: 2144.36

or/wa border, Shreks swamp to Wills House/Portland Or

  

Portland I love you, but your bringing me down

Alright, it was amazing, if I ever got sucked into and gulped by a city it was this city. Just sooooo good. Everything.
Day started off difficult, the hitch wasn’t easy, and even with my persistence it still turned into a 45 min long thumbfest
But like a very slow soft serve machine, all good things come in time. We got picked up by rose a very, I can’t even describe her. The point is when your on a hitch and someone has any opinion, you agree with everything they say. Excerpts from hitches
Dj Tracy: And the space trash keeps on messing with the environment

Fat: I know the space trash is a terrible problem
Rose: with the way the government is going, we should all be ready to be put in internment camps

Fat: the government really is out of control, it keeps messing with our lives
I mean most people aren’t crazy, but when you do have a crazy hitch driver, I think of it as a fun game, where I just make this weird fake facade that tries to agree as much with them as possible
Rose dropped us off eventually and the Fat and Jeffe made their way down town. We hit up lardos, which had an amazing burger, went to Next Adventure for new gear, then Jeffe bought a room a best western because the hostel was full. That’s why we love Jeffe, because he’s not broke like me. I bought the first two rounds at the bar in return. After dropping our packs off, the adventure commenced.
Portland is a land of many things, food trucks and fancy beer happen to be the two things it’s known most for. We went to one bar place, then a movie theater that brewed its own beers As we finally watched Mad Max. Mad max was amazing, it was so over the top, it was soo not hiking, every moment that movie was tuned to 100 and I loved every second of it. Next was the Rogue brewing company, because it’s Jeffes second favorite brewery. We had poutine and as we were eating it and chilling I heard someone say what’s up Chris. I looked to my side and it was a stranger, in a way. Really it was someone I worked at a Boy Scout camp with 8 years ago, but everyone changes and until he said his name I couldn’t tell. Apparently he had just moved to Portland only a week before and was randomly at the same bar for the nigh. The point is a Portland friend was made, we galavanted around, I was denied a drink at some bar because the bartender was not feeling the fat. Finally at 330 we passed out in wills apartment.
So now you saying, “wait, what about the hotel room”. That’s a great question, me and Jeffe have came up with some answers for that. We gave our packs some much needed alone time for a day. We imagine while we were hanging out, our packs just needed a chill day of decompression and so that’s what we gave them. The point is we rented a hundred dollar pack storage room, and we are dumb for it.
Anyways. It was a day, a great day

Day 94
Miles hiked: 0

Total miles: 2144.36

Wills House/Portland Or to Shreks Swamp/cascade locks

  
  
Zero, that’s what i am. A big fat zero.
Zero number three came unexpected. Waking up on wills couch was quite a tiring effort, and sleeping in till 9 was nice too. We walked downtown back to the econolodge/ our backpacks room/ the backpack slumber party with a quick stopover for burritos at Titos, a food truck. Afterward we enjoyed our hotel room for 10 mins as our backpacks gave us a tour and told us stories of all the hijinks and shenanigans they pulled all night long.
Afterward I finally got to play frisbee, which was the reason I was most excited about Portland. Playing in tennis shoes sucks, and ripping them a little because your shoes aren’t designed for what I put them through was also not ideal. Still I enjoyed my time, I just wish I had came down with more. Lastly will picked Us up and drive us back to cascade locks. At cascade we had the Eastwood Drive In for the last time all trail. And went back to Shreks for one last night.
It was a good zero, and because Jeffes parents are only 178 miles away and we still have six days it’s not even that bad. We just need to hit 6 30s in a row. Long story short. I’m sleeping now and getting ready for a thirty after my 3 zeros in a row

Day 95
Miles hiked: 33

Total miles: 2177.19

Shreks Swamp/cascade locks to Wind River Bridge

It was one of those days, where you walked and nothing happened. But that’s thru hiking, some days you get hypothermia and some days you get hypnotized.
But let’s start at the greatest place in the world, no I’m not talking about Disney land, It’s the Eastwind Drive in. That is literally my favorite place I’ve eaten all trail and quite possibly my favorite place in either trail. I mean there a reason I ate at it 4 days in a row. ICE CREAM BOMB

BREAKFAST BURRITO KILLER

FRENCH FRIES OUI MONSIEUR

TOTS OH TOTS.

It’s a great place, if you go to Oregon and miss it, just find a corner and never come out of it, because you’ve missed the pinnacle of human existence
After that we walked, we talked.
I did use some MSR fuel in my alcohol stove today which just made it super flame like I’ve never seen it before. Also because it is in the same container as the heet but refuses combine it looks like two levels of water on top of each other which I am now referring to as “heavy water” that is all from the dumb front
Also I got stung by bees 5 times. Two separate incidents where I got one sting each, and the last one where there was a hive on trail where I looked down and had three stinging me at once. By that time when I was yelling “fuck you, cock” Jeffe had realized that that was my go to bee anger phrase and that it was the reason that I was running. Needless to say the bees of Washington are extremely welcoming

Day 96

Miles hiked: 30.84

Total miles: 2208.29

Wind River Bridge to woods lake trail junction

 I’m so full, I ate a backpackers pantry pad Thai. If you’ve never had it your missing out.
All day was hard, we hit 2 trail magics real close together/ I got two magic beers in a row.
Yes it was tiring, literally one of the hardest days all trail. Which is just dumb, dumb beyond dumb. Dumb. Goodnight

Day 97
Miles hiked: 33.54

Total miles: 2241.83

woods lake trail junction to Killeen creek

  
Awwww yeeee
Apparently, in case you didn’t know, which we were not clear of, Washington, the state, does in fact, have views. Wahhhhhhh
It’s day 3 of view watch, all were bored in the high tower, waiting for a view to come. Then suddenly a corner was rounded and we had mount Adams, then the next, endless trees and Mt Rainy. Oh mount rainy, your so pretty. So big, so cold, so rainy.
So how was the day? Good. The last two days have been hard on me. My frisbee fun in Portland came at a price, lack of mobility and soreness has been the name of the game the past two days. Finally today it was a bit better, I could move And not be totally sore.
As far as the rest of the day, we saw garbelly and wild bill, we hiked lots, saw a southbounding nutella, and made it to camp earlier than we have in a long time 8:00. Yea, 8:00 is early.
Here’s some funny quotes from Jeffe from people he has met

Guy in PA on the AT: so we used guns in the revolutionary war right?

Jeff: yes

Guy: so if we used red corvette cameros to in the war, do you think that they would be trying to make those illegal now?
Guy at crater lake to a friend:

it’s too bad that there are so many trees that you can’t see views, but you know they won’t cut em down, cus there are so many Asian tourists, and you know the Asians love trees because they don’t have any in China.
Anyways, you walk long enough, you’re gonna hear some stupid stuff, that’s the point.
Lastly we were busy thinking of out D-team, aka the group of hikers we would least like to hike with today, it’s a fun game, that I strongly recommend.

Day 98
Miles hiked: 31.94

Total miles: 2241.83

Killeen creek to exposed goat rocks campsites
  
 Yea, it’s a fun time.
It’s a crazy thing when you can be with another person for six days straight and not even really hate em. It’s also amazing when that person has the same goals for milage as well. We got a real Hannah Montana best of both worlds scenario coming out of The collaboration of Jeffe and Fat aka the Balls Hard Squad (because we decided that Poptart was the “so” of the crew).
Anyways, so what happened today? Washington decided to expand on the view it showed us yesterday. Describe in more detail if you will. What also decided to rear its ugly was smoke, lots of smoke.

We could see smoke all day

We could smell smoke all day

We could occasionally even taste the smoke.
If this seems like it was a massive bummer, it was. It’s part of trail life though, it doesn’t matter where you are, nature decides what you see. On the Appalachian Trail there was an endless thunderstorm on the franconian ridge with plenty of fog to boot. Out here I’ve been much more fortunate. Except for today, and San Jacinto day 1 I can’t remember many epic views that have been destroyed by nature. Regardless today Jeffe and I got one of my best camp spots all trail and the view of the stars and mountains is not of those things that will give me goosebumps when I go home.
I can’t even describe what it has been like to hike with Jeffe, we do get each other and quite frankly I don’t think I’ve ever had a hiking partner that could make me laugh as much. It’s little things every hour or 30 mins that makes the time go by faster. I’m gonna miss him when he hikes forward after Mt Rainy, but that’s the moment our plans diverge. Till then I’ll just keep on soakin it in.

Day 99
Miles hiked: 31.05

Total miles: 2304.82

exposed goat rocks campsites to WACS 2305

 
  
 Gah. Let us begin
Knifes edge: we hiked it today. I heard knifes edge was crazy, the warning in Butthook said “beautiful when clear, terrifying when stormy”. It was clear*ish today, fortunately the smoke wasn’t as bad as yesterday. It by far was one of the most amazing views I’ve ever hiked on, the trail was narrow winding on a thin mountain ridge, RANIER was begging for us to stare at it in the distance and endless glacier streams and mountains abounded in the opposite direction. For 2 hours we were in hiking bliss working hard, but getting rewarded by just this endless reminder of why we are out here. Anyways, that was just the first two hours.
Then as it has been all week, we walked, and miles ticked by like seconds. We walked down, then up, then down again. Went to krackle barrel, where we ate our late lunch, and took our one break of the day, and hiked on.
Hiking styles: I don’t think many people hike like me and Jeffe. It’s unique in the sense that it just seems so absurd. Literally I plan the break and that’s it. There’s one break, maybe two and besides that it’s camp. Today we had Krackle Barrel at 18 and camp at 32. Technically we stopped for 10 mins at mile 8 because I had to get water, but that means besides that we hiked straight for the entire time. Yesterday was similar, in a 32 mile day we took a break at 12 (early because I wanted to wash off any poison ivy oils) then we walked 20 straight to camp. It’s not how we started we both agree, I remember doing 17 into Big Bear and dying because I didn’t stop. But that’s the beautiful thing about trail legs, they are the amphibious assault vehicle, they don’t care what is I front of it, they just keep on trucking or amphibious assault vehicaling.
Poison ivy: or oak, or who cares, just urishol. Anyways I am 90 percent sure I have it. I am 90 percent sure I got it when I was being a good trail citizen and wandered off into the woods for a good old game of dig the hole while you dance around. It stinks because I think it grazed by right ankle and I spread it by itching the endless amount of wasp/bee/Washington hell hounds bites that I had on my ankle from the 5 bites on the first day and 1 on the third day. They were terribly itchy and now in the cruelest irony Washington can throw at me now that they don’t itch, the ivy/oak is killing my legs right now. If we weren’t meeting Jeffes parents tomorrow and taking zeros I would have stayed at white pass today. It’s bad, and it doesn’t get better until you treat it. GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH FUUUUUCCK. That’s how I feel. Tomorrow hopefully a not itchy 17 miles and cleaning and lots of other things too.
A quote from Jeffe from dinner today

In reference to how we keep on pretending that Mt Adams tries to get everyone’s attention away from RANIER

“I like how we not only give people crappy personalities, but we are also giving them to mountains now”

Day 100
Miles hiked: 16.20

Total miles: 2321.03

WACS 2305 to Chinook Pass/motel outside of Ranier National Park

  
Yea, that’s one hundred American.
It was good and unlike any other day. We did our 16 which was great. For the past 5 days we had been doing big miles and averaging just over 30 so that this final dAy could be short. We left at 700, the earliest we have so far and made it to the parking lot by 1215. Then the fun began
And by fun, I mean nothing. That’s the root of fun for a thru-hiker. It’s the unknown exception that never happens. We drove round Rainy, took showers, sat around, got an amazing dinner, and did more TV.
Good times, tomorrow is a zero. Hopefully nothing happens Again, also I need to clean the sleeping bag. And we watched a lot of naked and afraid until midnight. That shows great
Good times, tomorrow is the last day with Jeffe. Party on.

Day 101
Miles hiked: 0.0

Total miles: 2321.03

Chinook Pass/motel outside of Ranier National Park to historic hotel in Ranier national Park ZERO

  
Nothing was done, everything was fun.
I could recount on what I did during my zero, but I’ll be quick.
Went to eatonville, did laundry, ate a bison burger, RANIER gift shop,hotel room, read/play GTA on phone (San Andreas), eat pork chop, finish a new Appalachian Trials post about bridges.
That’s it really, it was fun. Now here’s what’s on my mind.
Fire danger: fires aren’t a thing that anyone worries about on the Appalachian Trail. Honestly it was a major concern for me out here but I assumed once I was out of California I was in the gold. Not so much. In crater lake a fire started the day I was there, and currently there is a fire about 200 miles north of me which has closed down the trail and made it basically impossible to finish normal way. The PCTA has basically said “slow down” and take your time because it does not seem like it is going to be fixed anytime soon. Finishing September 8th means I have more time to wait out the fire than most people which makes me fortunate. Jeffe is in a different boat entirely and just going to figure out his plan when he gets there because he is finishing on the 3rd. It’s a real dilemma and stinks because it’s almost impossible to find out new information when we are out here on trail. Only because we stopped in town did we even get this news.
Hiking alone: tomorrow is the day I start the official end as I see it. Since my parents left a month ago I have had a plan, short miles to Oregon, then the challenge, and recently it has been the miles to Jeffes parents. Now that we have done all that it’s time for these two lonely Cowboys to part wAys. Tomorrow I don’t know what I’m walking into, maybe I’ll do some miles with Jeffe do a 30 if I feel like it, but maybe I’ll stop at 25 or 20. No matter what I have snoqualamie pass on Monday and hopefully seeing a friend then. The rest of the trail will be the “rest” of the trail. Just chillinfat not chickenfast. I don’t know what I’m doing at all, I just know it will be easy and chill

Day 102
Miles hiked: 23.5

Total miles: 2344.52

Ranier national Park ZERO to Urich Cabin

  I drank a lot. It’s crazy, nobo is a party. It’s like the Wayne Gretzky quote “you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take”
Also Jeffe left, and now I’m by myself till the end of the trail. Sad

Day 103
Miles hiked: 32.78

Total miles: 2377.30

Urich Cabin to WA2377B

    
Yea, I’m so cruise right now. Just cruise. Put the windows down, and cruise. Tom cruise. On a boat, with a lot of other people, going to Jamaica.
I recovered from yesterday and made 32, that’s not so bad in my book. My stomach was annoying me, but I made it.
Walked with Face and Cheetah at two different points in the day. Apparently there are other fun people out here, I don’t even miss…..(tear forms) jef…….(can’t even write name because too overcome with grief)
Tomorrow is snoqalamine pass where I am meeting up with K2 a hiker I met on the AT last year. It’s funny I only knew him for 6ish days all trail and tomorrow I’m hanging out with the man. You never know.
Lastly I hope the poison ivy is subsiding, but I have no clue or way of knowing…….AHHHHH TRRRRAAAAIIIKLLLLL IVY

Day 104
Miles hiked: 13.55

Total miles: 2390.85

WA2377B to Snoqualamine Pass/K2’hizzle

   
We are good, so good.
It was a good day.
Ahhhh Washington, ahhh not hiking.
I did 14, thru smoke and no views, it was lame, but I forgot about that. That is because today I saw K2 and that was fun. k2 is a hiker I met in the whites, after following him and being on his tail forever. He didn’t finish his AT thru hike last year, but this year double downed and hit up NC,TN, and GA to finish it up. Anyways I hit him up, tackled a monster burger, cleaned everything, watched ant man, and got a pizza with a lot of meat. It was a win of a day for the happiest thru hiker ever.
It got me thinking about relationships out here. Until my AT thru hike, I would be hard pressed to name anyone I knew who lived out on this coast. I would be hard pressed to name anyone who lived outside of NC or its neighboring states. Now I have connects in different area codes, like Luda. But really I know peps, they are everywhere and it’s cool to know that one day if I wake up in a bush in a strange place, so long as I can hike 200 miles, I’ll probably be within a distance of someone who knows me and can pick me up.
Good day, good day.
Tomorrow I’m gonna do the hot springs alternate, prolly stop in check out the place and then push some more miles out. Probably that is

Day 105
Miles hiked: 27.5

Total miles: 2426.39

Snoqualamine Pass/K2’hizzle to bad campsite because good ones were taking SOO BAD

  

  
Yea, those were AT miles.
It’s been awhile since I felt that beat down while hiking. Two things, one I scraped my ankle on a rock about 4 miles in, and 2 I had 8 days of food in my pack.
Let’s start with the start. It started off strong, French toast and bacon with k2s parents was amazing. Stopping off and having a rest day where I could clean my pack was exactly what I needed. At a hostel it would be impossible to do what I did there. People would be staring, fats would be feeling awkward, it all worked out so well and I can officially be in my sleeping bag for the first time in 2 weeks and not have a tint of paranoia.
Afterward I hit the trail and decided to take the hot springs detour. But not for my usual reason, but because I’m lazy, and I figured I’m a bum and I should do bum things. The detour is 26 miles instead of 34 PCT miles, so yea I skipped nine and I have no remorse. Perhaps my ankle injury is my karmic revenge playing out. It happened on this ridiculous stretch of trail that was just massive rocks curled in every position, I slipped and just rubbed my ankle on a rock like I was trying to sand paper it. For the rest of the day it’s been sore and terrible seeing as I kicked it once every 20 mins.
Then the hot springs detour since it wasn’t PCT was graded for hiking only so it was so much steeper. Maybe it was the food but it took me 12 hours to go 27 miles, compared to days I’ve done 20 in 6 or more typically 20 in 7. It was bad it was slow. IT WAS STEEP. Not AT steep but annoying steep.
I’m at camp finally at 10ish and I’m gonna try and hit it hard tomorrow and maybe make it to the Dinsmores which would be a 35 🙁

Day 106
Miles hiked: 30.95

Total miles: 2457.34

bad campsite because good ones were taking SOO BAD to lake Susan Jane

 
  
 Jesus, that was a tale of two kittys day if I’ve ever had one.
Part one, miserable, dragging, just all out death welcoming
Part two slightly less miserable, slightly less tiring, but hey at least I felt better than I did in the first half.
So what happened. I think it was water, I think I may have been dehydrated. I was feeling weak all morning and for that matter most of yesterday. I went slower today than I have probably all trail. I walked 13.5 hours and made only 31ish. Gahhhh. The weird thing is when I’m dehydrated usually I notice it, I can’t focus, the front of my head just nags at me but today nothing just sheer exhaustion. The only reason I drank more water was because there was a stretch in front of me and I didn’t want to run out of water so I cameled a bit.
The point is after 4 hours of walking, when I usually would be at least at 11 miles down, today I had 8.5. And it just was worse and worse until about three when I started to feel better but was so behind on miles that I knew rest would need to be restricted.

Day 107
Miles hiked: 4.28

Total miles: 2461.62

lake Susan Jane to the dinsmores hiker haven

  
Almost forgot to blog..
It’s been high, low, then melancholy
First the high: I started off easy. Did 4.5 into town. Not a problem, very easy. Just strutting as always and the hitch to the dinsmores came as well. The dinsmores are your northernmost trail angels on the PCT and have the distinction of being the last place I know I am staying for sure on the PCT with this fire nonsense in front of me. I rode to the grocery store with Jerry Dinsmore and on the way he mention his wife was going to trail days and I could ride along possibly. I was ecstatic, stupid happy, my plan to super hitch was gone and replaced with a sure fire ride, wayyyyy easier.
The low: once we returned to the house Andrea told me she couldn’t take me because she had plans. Then an hour later she said she could take me and would cancel the plans, then an hour after that she told me she couldn’t cancel the plans again. It ended with my sure fire plan being more of a simmering whisper As I was to figure out a new Plan.
The melancholy: After being bummed and thinking of a couple scenarios Jerry said he would bring me to a town North Of Seattle if I wanted to and then I could bus to Seattle and Bus to Portland then hitch. I found a ticket on Boltbus for 26 bucks to Portland and then found out the Everett to Seattle bus would only be 150. I settled for the plan and now have a 430 ride with jerry to catch the 615 Everett bus to catch. 800 Portland bus to catch a hitch to cascade locks.
The plan could be better, but it’s all I got.
Tomorrow I’ll have a review, and hopefully some good times with some old frands who I hAvent seen since mile 1100

Day 108
Miles hiked: 0.0

Total miles: 2461.62

dinsmores hiker haven to Trail Days/Cascade Locks/Sleeping under Train Awning ZERO

  

I should have known a day that starts at 430 would be crazy. 430 is like the start of the world, it’s that moment when everything went from black to all the known universe, 430 is the Big Bang.
I woke up at 430 and got a ride from jerry to everett. Then the Everett bus went to Seattle, the bolt bus from seattle to Portland and then a hitch from Portland to cascade. Lots else happened to but the total cost monetarily was 33 bucks from Stevens pass to trail days. Well worth it. Let’s begin.
Really it was without any ceremony from Stevens to Portland but in Portland is where it picks up. Mostly I did 2 things, 1 and less eventful I played frisbee for with the same group I did 2 weeks ago. 2nd and more eventful I showed up at the Italy festival and saw a guy singing frank Sinatra songs. Here’s some quotes
“Who was the first person to land on the moon?” -singer

“Neil Armstong” -guy

“wrong, Frank Sinatra 1969” -singer
“Take that Justin beiber”-singer
“Let’s have a hand for all the folks sitting down, what are you in a wheelchair?”-singer
“You may notice a tremor in my hand, I have Parkinson’s (laughs hysterically)”
“I’m waiting for them to come out with a jack Daniels snow cone machine”
“The more you drink, the more band members you will see”(in reference to the fact he keeps on naming “band” despite it just being a recording of a backing band)
“Whatever happens here stays on Facebook”
“Let’s give a hand for Dan who is running sound (gets a mediocre applause) not too loud”
The point is for 45 mins I just saw a guy sing Sinatra songs and I sat. I just listened and didn’t worry about anything, no miles, no deadlines, it took a day where I was in the city to truly just lay back for once. When I’m in the woods, the only time I rest is when I’m done. I only rest when dinner is made and I’ve finished my miles for the day. Today my mid day, Sinatra break was great and I loved every min.
Next came the ride with Siren, Jesus and some girl to cascade. It was nice, albeit very weird to revisit the same path I was going down only 2 weeks ago. I chilled made new frands but ultimately spilt from them when we got to cascade because……I SAW POPTART AGAIN!!!
Floptart aka Mrs Kant keep up is in cascade officially today and it’s been great. Just seeing someone who was so fun to be around brings back so many memories. It’s this weird thing where you think it should be strange but isn’t. I almost feel just like I did last time I saw her in Tahoe even though that was in July 5th. SAME GOes with POWERTHIGHS. HE came up behind me when I purchased raffle tickets and just choked me out as if we had never even parted ways. Boat, steph, jabba, Nutella, and be a/snake bite I saw too, all people I’ve enjoyed seeing along the way. Especially since I’ve gone so fast, the people back here are people I long since wrote off as never seeing again, but this trail days has gave me a chance to reconnect and see them again. For that, I am happy. Tomorrow will be better.
Now to sleep on non-party island as party island rocks me to sleep.

Day 109
Miles hiked: 0.0

Total miles: 2461.62

Trail Days/Cascade Locks/Sleeping under Train Awning ZERO to Trail Days/Cascade Locks/Sleeping under Train Awning ZERO   

     
Party on Wayne.
It’s official, I went to trail days to part with old frands. I got to party with old frands.
I got free food for breaky, I paced back and forward between tent city and the gear vendors.
I got 3 compliments on my nordiques hat.

I lost in an Irish horseshoes competition because THE GAMES WERE TO 4. What’s that all about?

I drank a lot with a lot of people. Powerthighs, floppy, Jules, freedom trail, twink. It was good times. I got like 3 bags, stickers, a box of honey stingers.
I sang run this town, highway to hell, wasn’t me, and many more songs.
It was great

Day 110
Miles hiked: 0.0

Total miles: 2461.62

Trail Days/Cascade Locks/Sleeping under Train Awning ZERO to The Dinsmores Hiker Haven

      
*ill do a more detailed write up another time of a of trail days
I slept next to a train last night, and by that I mean why would I pitch a tent when I can sleep under a permanent structure like a homeless dude. So me Jules and Freedom train all cowboyed as the rain drenched everything not under the structure for the second straight night.
We got breakfast with twinkle at the Eastwind drive in, the most magical place ever. I had 2 breakfast burritos and a hash brown for only 10 bucks. So good, just sooooo slow. During breakfast twinkle said that she lived near Stevens pass and could drive me back if she could fit me in the car with her friend. I thigh it wouldn’t be bad, but apparently squeezing 3 people into a Mini Cooper isn’t easy. Her fully blacked out cooper was amazing despite its size shortcoming.
On the ride back I was subjected to girl talk as she talked to her old friend about life, men, and such gossip. I talked occasionally but kept to my phone and tried to give them as much privacy as a Mini Cooper would allow. Then once we dropped off her friend in Seattle Twink went 1 hour out of her way to drop me off at the Dinsmores, where all this Trail Days nonsense started.
I wanna super shout out Twinkle Toes, she just finished her Thru hike 10 days ago and without her driving me back to the trail today would have been a much more annoying day.
At the Dinsmores I found Cardboard and got ready for tomorrow, a day where I finally walk again, will I make it? I don’t jnow

Day 111
Miles hiked: 18.54

Total miles: 2480.15

The Dinsmores Hiker Haven to Pear Lake

      
I’m a little angry, it would appear I left my stove at the Dinsmores. Gah this is the second time I’ve lost my stove, I can only hope it’s there this weekend. Also blah it rained all day, it’s gonna be a hard last week if it stays like this…

Day 112
Miles hiked: 28.66

Total miles: 2508.82

Pear Lake to CS2509

    
Ok, let’s start, I didn’t lose my stove. It rolled down the hill as i unpacked yesterday. Stop the alarms, everything is so so in Chickenfat town.
So how was today? Wet.
Yesterday it rain,; yesterday I did 18. Today I did 28, and apparently, when you walk in the rain for 28 miles straight it tends to suck. I had moments of “ahh this is nice” but for all of today the game was more of a, “I hope it doesn’t come down again” day.. It’s a fun game, but I kept on losing.
It’s funny, here I am, at the end of a second thru hike, and this is the furthest I have ever hiked in continuous rain. 260ish days of hiking and today was my longest in rain. So yeah, it got to me a bit.
Really the thing on my mind the most is the fire closure. It sucks so much to have this mess up my footpath with only like 100 to go. I know it’s not my doing but I want so bad to go through it, I mean it’s pretty wet, rain be all up in here. Really just there is no way to really elaborate how much it is messing with my mind. Makes me wonder why I did the jacinto road walk and made the steps if it is just gonna get shat on by this fire closure. I would do the road walk but I don’t have enough time to make the extra hundred miles of blah, do I want to? No, but now it’s not really in my hands

Day 113
Miles hiked: 23.90

Total miles: 2532.71

CS2509 to Vista Creek Campsites

      
Oh my god this is crazy
Let’s start with the last thing first, these mice are crazy. This is the third night in a row the mice have been crazy. Like today for dinner they had no fear, they just would crawl up to me as I ate, and now I feel them on my sleeping bag. So crazy so annoying.

Second today is the closest I’ve ever been to breaking on a hike. Today i was 4 miles into the day and it started to snow after it had already been raining for the first 3 miles. The snow was sooo cold and I not having rain pants or a rain jacket or gloves (all I have is a Houdini wind jacket and umbrella) started to get very very cold. It wasn’t fun at all and I literally boiled over one time and just yelled fuck at the top of my lungs. I got out of control the weather got to me and I was going to call the day quits at the next flat spot. Fortunately the flat spot was 6 miles away and by the time I got there the sun had kinda came up and the snow hell I was in was less snow helly. The facts are I couldn’t feel my feet for about an hour and after that it took a long time for me to feel normalish again.
Lastly I walked all day from 830 to 750 with only 1 sit down break of 15 mins and still only made 24. Maybe it harder here, maybe idk but dang I’m dying right now

Day 114
Miles hiked: 21.85

Total miles: 2554.56

Vista Creek Campsites to CS2555

    
Those god damn mice were crazy. They kept me up like all night, and I even moved my food away, they had no fear. At one point I think I killed one by womping it with a trekking pole and then some bigger rodent came up and stole that guy away. LIKE WHAT??? It was terrible, the only permanent damage is it bit a hole in my toothpaste.
But today, I made it to the fire closure, and I surprised myself and played by the rules. For days, especially since it has rained recently, I have been asking myself “do I just go for it”. Today I imagined a scenario where I go to gold bar and somehow hitch to stahekin. It wasn’t great but I decided a 35 mile loss of miles was better than the monetary fine that would exist if I hiked it. Honestly, that’s what was stopping me, I figured it was safe, and if it wasn’t I could turn around but the fine would have been too much. I AINT GOT MULA, so I chose the cheap way.
As I made my way down the suiattle River trail I passed by 1 day hiker alone, 3 guys going on an overnight, and finally an hour and 30 mins into walking trail maintainers. I greeted then and kept on walking, as I was almost out of earshot the older lady asked if I was a thru hiker, because the PCT is now open. This made me angry, I passed by 4 people, and none of them said anything about it, despite the fact I greeted them as they walked by. Then the lady almost let me go, and if I hadn’t had my music off I would have kept walking further. I turned around and to add to my anger once I got to the PCT someone had taken down the Closed signs, which means one of those four knew……
Anyways I walked and made up miles and here I am 21 mile day but really I did almost 30, that’s the furthest I’ve ever walked in the wrong direction.
2 thoughts:

1.i know someone who was thinking about hiking through the fire when it still was closed was someone who had skipped some PCT miles here and there before this fire. His estimate was about 30 miles. I don’t understand anyone’s logic going through the burn area if they aren’t a proponent of the continuous footsteps idea. That was my biggest motivation was the fact it would ruin my Mexico to Canada footpath.
2. There is a mouse around me right now, he’s a lot more cautious than last nights one, he didn’t even come out until I turned my light off, compared to yesterday when he was running around me as I was eating and sitting up, I like this guy better. That being said, I still hate him

Day 115
Miles hiked: 29.13

Total miles: 2583.69

CS2555 to fireweed trail camp

      
I finally made miles, for the first time in 5 days I made miles. For one reason or another, but mostly rain/snow/coldness I have fallen short and just made blah miles. So yeah, today I’m happy, today I’m pleased I made those miles. It sucks and wears on you constantly falling short. Walking all day and only making 25 is a shock to my system, when I was with Jeffe we would do that before 4ish.
Now that isn’t to say today was a return to form, far from it, every step was agony. I don’t know when, I don’t know how but the bottom of both my feet feel like they hate me. People say ” hates a strong word” but I mean it. If I push off the ball of my foot it just means no fun. Once Jeffe was talking to someone who was going to a doctor cus the girl foot hurt, and Jeffe just said “don’t make it easy on the doctors” what he meant by that, is we just walk too much. Of course my feet should hurt, quite frankly it’s an accomplishment that they haven’t hurt his bad yet, and extremely fortunately that they hurt this bad with only 66 miles to go.
66MILESTOGO WHUTWHUT
Besides that, walking, lots of it, painful amounts of it.
Lastly today I met Gene the machine, a thru hiker who was at the dinsmores on Thursday (two days ago) and hitched/rode the ferry to the lake Chilean ranger station. That would have been me had I not talked to those people yesterday. I would have been in the same boat, well kinda, he left from the dinsmores and I would have left from the suiattle River trail. After I talked to Gene he decided he was going to SOBO the trail he skipped and do the same hitch back to there. It’s unfortunate for him but that just goes to show you gotta hike what you wanna hike.
I think if cardboard, or anyone else that I hiked with at least knew that the closure would open by the time we arrived there, they probably wouldn’t have jumped around. They just freaked out and didn’t want to deal with the possible hassle of the long hitch.
I think lastly it ended with ridiculous luck from me. Everything that has happened this thru hike led to me being at the closure, literally the day after it opened. Just recently, a Nero into snoqualimine, a zero with Jeffes parents, trail days zeros, my family deciding to disregard my projected end date and saying they would show up on the 5th. Everything led to me getting that right place right time. Yeah I was first to legally get through the fire closure and yeah, I’m back to being super lucky.
And 2 days ago, in the snow, cold, freak out nonsense my thermarest z-lite sit pad fell off my pack 🙁 sad, trail will provide for someone else

Day 116
Miles hiked: 5.22

Total miles: 2588.91

fireweed trail camp to rainy pass

  

So today was a Nero, tomorrow was a zero, and I’m still not a hero.
Five miles is all I walked, took about an hour and a half then I showed up at the road and hitched to newhaven to get signal.
My ride to newhaven was a Canadian guy named Roy who was dropping his friend off at the trail. Roy who is 80 was a badass, and still is a badass. Too often I meet someone out here who claims stuff and I give them a “yea sure” but when Roy said “the PCT and other long trail seem too urban and populated” I believed him. He talked about his rambunctious youth of just going out into the woods with survival gear, ditching cars and going away on vacation, dropping everything and living. Roy is a badass I tell you, I could hike the CDT, hell I could be the first person to thru hike the lunar circumference trail, LCT and still not be as cool as him. Plus he paid for a soda and bag of chips for me while he talked. Also he only sleeps 5 hours and 30 mins every day. Wahhhhhhh crazy, you meet a lot of people on a thru hike, many fade away like the memory of a view, but every once in awhile you meet a person who is MT Whitney or San jacinto. That was Roy.
Once Roy left me I proceeded to loiter around newhaven until they arrived. It was non eventful, nor was the rest of my day. My sissy and father showed up, we drove to twisp, then dinner, then twisp and now I sleep in the weird attic like house of one of his friends boyfriend house. Idk.
Tomorrow is a zero, I’ll explain why then. Also my end date is sept 9, I’ll explain why then.

Day 117
Miles hiked: 0.0

Total miles: 2588.91

rainy pass to Rainy Pass Zero

Hold the phones, cancel the press. I was wrong. Apparently my mom is showing up when I thought she was and I just ducked myself by taking an unplanned zero.
I ate the best pizza I have all trail today in winthrop but besides that all signs point to loss. I sat in a car and played on my phone, but signal was slow so I really just piddled around slowly. If I didn’t have a headache I would write more but for now, blah

Day 118
Miles hiked: 41.60

Total miles: 2630.51

rainy pass zero to cs2631

You know I think on day 105 I told someone I was done doing 30s. Today I didn’t just fail in that, I failed quite spectacularly. A 40 because of the shenanigans that happened with my dad saying the wrong date. A 40 isn’t ever easy, but today sucked. I felt sick to the whole time. I was Jordan game six today and it was an experience. When every 30 mins you bend over and just tell your stomach to chill, it’s not a good day. But I made it. Some crazy part of me was like “go the distance” then I reminded that part of me that i don’t night hike and the hour and 30 mins of it that I did do, I didn’t enjoy.
There are deer running around this campsite, if one of them messes with my tarp I’m not gonna be a happy camper
Tomorrow 20, Canada and then 8 more to manning park.
Just writing that right there hit me. 28 is a good day of hiking, I love 28s and that’s all I got till I finish my second thru hike. There was something I did on the AT in my journal that I now plan to do here, cus it’s how I feel. I feel……..like THE motherfucker.
Motherfucker I started later than most thru hikers.

Motherfucker I with the desert heat on the daily

Motherfucker I only took 5 zeros in the first 2150 miles

Motherfucker I did the Oregon challenge

Motherfucker I hiked the whole thing with mostly only a wind jacket and umbrella as cover

Motherfucker i did a 42 &40 back to back

Motherfucker I did 30s everyday in the sierras

Motherfucker I did the fire detour legally

Motherfucker I just used a tarp for 90 percent of the trail

Motherfucker I used a tarp for a week where it rained daily without stakes

Motherfucker I passed and finished before almost everyone I know

Motherfucker I wore the same underwear every day

MOTHEFUCKER I WORE THE SAME UNDERWEAR EVER DAY

Motherfucker I magically found a ride to and from trail days

Motherfucker I did 30s the day after being blackout drunk

Motherfucker I did 7, 40+days

Motherfucker I dealt with hail, rain and snow while hiking by myself constant times.
It feels good to be here, Jeffe and I both echoed the sentiment that we would like to be done weeks ago. It’s just been this slow dragging process 25 here, 30 here for us to make the miles and get to the point I have today. Tomorrow I finish the PCT like the motherfucker I am

Day 119
Miles hiked: 28.39

Total miles: 2658.91

cs2631 to END OF TRAAAAIIILLLL CANADA BABY!!!

  
It’s been a day. For a 28 miler it has been a long one.
I woke up with wildlife, deer closer to my tent than they have ever been, just tramping outside, it ended with wildlife, jaws and killer sharks on television.
In between there was walking, elation and more walking after elation.
I made it to the boarder at 240. I was there alone for awhile till a German thru hiker showed up. She was crying from elation, it’s odd for me to see such an emotional response since I’ve never seen another thru hiker at either end for both of my hikes. She summed it up perfectly when she said “we finally did it”.
Regardless of the fact we had never met, we had done it. We were connected by our mutual miles which mattered more than the individual moments spent together. I pictured, drank my high life (the champaign of beers) and just soaked in finishing for the moment once she left. For being this monumental place, I’m surprised most thru hikers don’t spend more time at the monument. I feel the 2 hours I spent almost felt minimal, I would have spent more had the sunlight not been a factor later.
Anyways I got to the hotel, watched tv and have been wifiing for the past who knows how long.
All the things that happened today while important wouldn’t have been as important without the journey. The 118 days prior to today were just as important as those two hours I sat at monument 78 soaking in the clouds and trees. Every person I met, every one who motivated me to keep on walking so without further adu
I would like to thank my hiking partners:

Riderdieh, Lobo, Floppy, Jeffe, Powerthighs, Touch Of Grey, and Cardboard for accompanying me along the way.
I would like to also thank all the other hikers I met who are extremely numerous, but especially Becca, Freedomtrain, Jules, Rabbit, Houdini, Roadwalker, Malibu, Queen B, Tex, Just Coffee, Pretzel, Baby Killer, Prickly Pear, Wu Tang, twink, Apache, Rocky And Radish
I would like to thank the simpletons who have helped me during the journey:

Shelby, Fred, K2 and the Stones (what a band name), ziggy and the bear, the dinsmores, DJ Tracy, Linda Love And roy
Lastly I would like to thank anyone who has read my journal. I don’t know why, it’s just smut, but thank you for reading my smut.
I am going to do one more update detailing post trail day 1-14. Thank you so much