8.25.18

I woke behind the Urich cabin cold and stairing at the ceiling of my tent. Its mid August and it has to be like 38 degrees out here. I woundered if this is just a short window or if the rest of Washington would remain cold and foggy.

I started out on the trail and thew field in front of the cabin was covered in fog. I braced myself for a chilly day, headed out on the trail with coffee in hand. As I climbed through the forest I happened upon a huckelberry heaven. I stopped every 20 feet or so to stuff one after th other of the delicious little treats into my mouth. So delicious and testy! This was the real reason people dont get to Canada, too distracted by the berries.

I entered a burn area soon after. From a far it looked like the final scene of the movie 300 with bodies everywhere after a huge battle, except with trees. It was also riddlede with more huckelberries than I could eat. I soon bumped into MadScience and we started chatting on. We quickly figured out we both lived in Phoenix at some point and that he recently completed the AZT. We chatted on and soon found an Aid station out in the wilderness. Aparrently there was a 100 mile rce going on today and runners would be passing through this section of the PCT.

I soon I pulled over for some lunch and waved goodbye to MadScience. Not but 10 minutes later, with a mouth full of Ramen I waved to the first runners passing my lunch spot. After lunch I pressed on and it became a regular thing to pull over for oncoming runners. I heard cheering in the distance and as I approached there was a group of people cheerring on the runners at a dirt road. It would be cool if they had thi for PCTers I thought as I passed by.

After the day pressed on, I got used to looking over my shoulder like a tick to see if a runner was approaching. The weather was being its BiPolar self. Warm, cold, sprinckling rain, fridged, warm, cold, it was all ver the place. Seemed to be good weather for running but I couldnt decide to keep my jacket on or not as I snaked throuogh the pines.

The gain in this seciton was vicious, and much like a roller coaster. Up, down, up, up, up, down, just seemed to be playing with my emotions and i could see how it would be a tough section for any runner.

Finally after the fog seeme to settle and I couldnt tell what time of day it was anymore, I decided to find a nice little camp in the bottom of a valley. Chilly, but protected I set up my tent. To my surprise MadScience and Gormet were there, setting up and chilling for the night. I finsihed off my stretches and my dinner and dove headfirst into my tent in search for some warmth and rest!

Gear Reccomendation: Vorahgear

Hiker Profile:

Mad science – Earlly 30s from eastern Washington. Completed the AZT, out here to take on the PCT. Started climbing just before the trail and became obsessed, he has plans to take on climbing projects as soon as he is done. He is a long distance runner, started doing some Ultrarunning with Aerovipa group in Phoenix and thru hiking just became an extension on that.