Miles Hiked: 27.8
Total Mileage: 2502.1
The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was make coffee. I usually don’t drink coffee because caffeine makes me feel nuts. I plan on drinking it everyday for the rest of the trail to give me the energy I haven’t been able to find for the past month. It was nice to have something to warm me up. I packed up my wet tent and hit the trail at 7:00 a.m. The day started with a steep descent with lots of switchbacks. As soon as I got down to a milk creek at the bottom of the valley, the trail went straight back up. The climb was steep and felt long. My quads were burning and I was so exhausted from climbing up and over so many fallen trees. It was a full body workout. I considered taking a break because I was mentally and physically so beat. It wasn’t even 9:00 a.m. yet! I took the opportunity to listen to music for the first time in ages to motivate myself up the climb. It was really nice. At the top, I took a long break in the sun to dry my tent out, eat second breakfast, and filter water. The view was absolutely stunning. I thought I could see Mount Baker covered in glaciers in the distance as I started to descend.
The descent had even more blowdowns than the climb. Some were massive and I had to take off my pack to go under, or make a big, scary leap off the top of them. Several times I banged my knees and scratched and bruised them. Today was so hard! After lunch, I had an amazing time walking 5 mi to the raging Siuattle river. The trees were massive in the stretch and oftentimes it was a bit dark in the forest from how much shade they provided. Four more miles uphill to dinner at a clear and cold Miners Creek. There I ate instant mashed potatoes with Velveeta cheese. I continued uphill the camp at a different location 5 mi north of Miners Creek. I arrived at 8:00 p.m. Just behind Diva and Midnight. The temperature didn’t drop as fast as it did the other days. It was a cozy evening in my tent before I fell asleep around 10:00 p.m. My butt muscles were sore from all the steep climbing in Washington!
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
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