Start: 1100 - Snoqualmie Pass (from Summit Inn)
End: 1730 - Goldmyer Hot Springs
Miles (today): 11 (10.5 alternate, 0.5 off)
Miles (cumulative): 2439 (2204 PCT, 160 alternate, 75 off)

"I am happy, I am strong, I am enough."

Who knows how many times I repeated that to myself today - this alternate route is so rocky that the 11 miles we managed to walk were hard earned.  Phew!  It's not that the steep terrain feels too difficult and it's not that the rocks hurt my feet like they did before - it's just mentally exhausting to constantly be aware of where each step falls.  Normally I can get into a flow and not worry so much about the terrain, but today all I did was carefully pick my way down the trail.  It took FOREVER to get anywhere.  At least the scenery was pleasant.

I had hoped to get at least 17 miles in today, but, in addition to the subpar trail conditions, we were slow to leave town (as always). We slept in (I didn't get out of bed until 0715), we took forever to get organized, and then we decided to have breakfast at the restaurant attached to the hotel (because a hot breakfast of eggs, toast, hashbrowns, and sausage is simply awesome these days).  At the restaurant we saw Dirt Squirrel, her friend Lisa, and Chili just leaving, we sat at a table next to Sprout and Woodsmoke, and Yucca and Jiggy sat with us.  We even briefly saw Roswell again - apparently it rained last night so he didn't hike out like he planned.  To top it off, we saw Mrs. Saufley/L-Rod (the amazing woman behind Hiker Heaven) - she's section hiking Washington.  :)

Another thing slowing our departure was the wifi, which wasn't the best and therefore it took forever to send Theresa the blog posts and pictures and video (I wanted to send more videos but they took forever to upload - one took all night long - so I eventually gave up).

So yeah.  The hike.  It was beautiful (when I dared to take my eyes off the trail in front of me).  It was difficult.  It was slow.  There were even fun fallen tree obstacles to find our way over and I actually needed Nick's help a few times.

Towards the end of the day it started to rain a bit - we ARE in a rainforest, I suppose I should get used to this.  At least the rain didn't last long.

By the time we got to the Goldmyer hot springs area (the reason for taking the alternate route) we decided to call it a day.  While I loathe not using precious daylight to hike (stopping early today means long days later to make up for it), I must admit the hot springs are amazing.  We bumped into Dirt Squirrel and Lisa on the hike to the springs, which made me happy (I love seeing Dirt Squirrel). Once we finally got there (the hike seemed to be a lot longer than 0.3 miles), the hot water felt so very good after the exhausting day.  I could have stayed in there for hours except I got really hungry and decided getting out to eat food was probably a good idea.

Note: I wanted to take a picture of the springs before we left; however, there were other people there and, as everyone was skinny dipping in the pools (I've completely lost all sense of modesty these days), I didn't think they'd appreciate pictures.

The hot springs left us feeling refreshed and relaxed - if I wasn't so hungry I could have gone  right to sleep.  Hopefully I'll sleep well tonight!