Final Resupply in Stehekin (2570.0 mi +50.0 -136.1)

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Just imagine the scenery, since the mornings have been too foggy to see anything.

Leaving Leavenworth was, uh, slow. I got on trail at 6 pm after a few beers and a late lunch, and managed a solid 2 miles before finding a nice campsite.

Friday was a foggy morning and a wet afternoon. But I went over Grizzly Peak! An actual mountain peak, not a pass between peaks. It was nothing special (especially with the fog), but the PCT doesn't go over the top of many mountains, so it was cool nonetheless. After hiking all day I ended up at Lake Sally Ann, with dozens of other hikers. It was wet and I had condensation inside my tent.

Leaving camp on Saturday was predictably cold. And the foggy weather stayed around all day. Though most of the wet was from the plants I was hiking through, not from the sky. There were patches of sun throughout the day that were very warm and enjoyable. Camping happened at Fire Creek, which also had a ton of hikers. I had to camp on some wet grass, since all of the good sites were taken well before I arrived.

On Sunday afternoon there was finally some good weather. For lunch a big group (I am so sick of big groups of PCTers at this point) found a spot exactly where I planned to eat lunch. It was cloudy but windy, so things did dry out. Later in the day the sun made an appearance. I camped at Miners Creek next to a raging river. There were a bunch of other people there, but I found a spot around the corner and out of the way.

Monday was actually nice. My tent was dry when I woke up, both inside and outside. I started with a big long climb during a cool morning, and then a big long descent on a warm afternoon. I was pretty much solo all day, other than some people on the other side of the river from where I ate lunch. I made camp an hour outside of Stehekin, for a nice easy Tuesday morning.

Now I'm excited to get into town, since I haven't had any service since leaving Leavenworth, which has significantly negatively impacted my ability to plan the end of my trip.

I'm not at all ready for the end, both in the sense of "I have not coordinated with the people I intend to end with", and in the sense of "I am not ready to return to civilization". One would hope that big groups of people would get easier and not harder to deal with less than a week out from the finish. My reintroduction to society is going to be, uh, interesting.

Happy Meal, 1140