Start: 0730  - near Gillette Lake
End:  1930 - Trout Creek
Miles (today): 26
Miles (cumulative): 2210 (1988 PCT, 149 alternate, 73 off)

So far the new shoes are much better than the old ones, so that's good.  

Also good: Nick inadvertently stumbled upon a geocache while walking through camp this morning - it was under a log next to the tent and I can't believe we didn't see it yesterday!  We didn't take anything out of it but we left some gum and signed the log book.  :)

Another good thing: After only 2 miles of hiking I had the pleasure of meeting Emily, a section hiker.  Emily was great to talk to and I walked away from her with a huge smile on my face.  Not to long after that, I met Disciple, a yo-yo'er (i.e. He finished the trail going northbound and then turned around to hike it all over again southbound) - he and I chatted a bit.  THEN I met a family of day hikers who has never met a thru-hiker before, so I talked with them for a while.  Every interaction made me smile.  :)

While I waited for Nick at Rock Creek per the plan (after hiking 15 miles), Emily showed up playing Deadmou5 on her speakers - it was great!  We talked quite a bit more.  She plans to hike the PCT next year - it would be cool if Nick and I happened to trail magic her!  

Nick got to the creek at the same time as Roswell.  I didn't get much of a chance to talk with Roswell, though,  because as soon as Nick and I decided to hike another 10 miles I was off - I'm faster in the new shoes but still not faster than Nick.  

After a few hours I ran into a note from Dirt Squirrel and Chili telling us to go off trail to look at some incredible view.  It didn't look too far so I started walking up the steep incline.  By the time I got to what I thought was the top, I was dismayed to see I had a lot more to go.  I looked at my watch and realized if I didn't get back to the trail I wouldn't make it to camp before dark... So I abandoned the side trail and the (probably) incredible view.  It was exciting to get a note from them, though!

Just as I was almost back to the trail from my little adventure, (it was was incredibly steep and I realized I was crazy for even going up as far as I did given the condition my feet and ankles are in), Nick caught up with and passed me.  I attempted to keep pace with him but I simply couldn't keep up - even though the ibuprofen I took was helping, the incessant downhill was a bit rough on my feet.  (How does he go so damn fast downhill?)

I barely made it to camp before dark, but that's ok because Nick already had the tent up and everything.  It's becoming quite the nice trend.  :)

Along the trail:

I caught a glimpse of three mountains- Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Hood?  I could be wrong about which ones they are