The rain stopped around midnight, and was replaced by a cold, dry wind. Later, I got up to go to the bathroom, and was surprised to find that my rain fly had nearly been dried by the wind already.
Some rustling noises kept me up. Then, later, a scream. A mouse had gnawed into Elizabeth’s tent to retrieve some spilled trail mix.
The rest of the night was uneventful, and we got going around 8:45 in cold, but dry weather.
After the climb, we had a ridge walk with long views into several valleys. Larch (I think) became the dominant species here.
But, it wasn’t larches we wanted, it was drinking water. Because of our hasty camping yesterday afternoon, we hadn’t filled up our water bottles before making camp. After staying in camp for 18 hours with only a little water, we were both quite thirsty.
Ironically, the rain had made us thirsty.
We were on a dry stretch, but after what seemed like forever, we found an excellent spring tucked away behind a campsite.
The ridge walk continued, and we saw many more views.
We descended to the last major trailhead left (Hart Pass), and were happy to see that somebody had set up some trail magic.
Soon after we left, the clouds began to roll in. Then, it started to drizzle. It might be misery all the way to the border.
Then all of a sudden, the clouds cleared, leaving a trail of blue sky all the rest of the way to Canada.
All that remained for us now was to cover miles, and cover miles we did. We didn’t make it to our campsite until after dark, but the end of the trail was in range tomorrow.
24 miles left.
My blog posts lately have been very matter-of-fact and statistical. I give miles, times, and so forth, and report on weather, scenery, trail magic, etc. I’m reporting about which things I’ve seen before happened again today.
In the earlier posts, I had a lot more to say about how life on the trail differed from normal life, and about all the new things I was seeing every day. Now, I’m not seeing all that much that’s new. Hiking has become daily life.
So, I think I’m ready for this to be over.
oh boy! very excited for you and elizabeth! here’s to a dry border crossing!
if you’re looking into trains, look for the starlight express (though you’d have to go back to seattle for it, my dad says it’s an amazing train ride!)
btw this starlight express https://www.amtrak.com/coast-starlight-train not this starlight express http://www.starlightexpress.com/
take care!
Funny, I’m waiting for that very train right now