PCT 2016 Blog

Start: 1215 - White Pass (from Kracker Barrel)
End: 1915 - near Crag Lake
Miles (today): 16.5 (16 PCT, 0.5 off)
Miles (cumulative): 2345 (2121.5 PCT, 149.5 alternate, 74 off)

It seems impossible to get out of town and back to the trail before noon.

The morning was spent organizing our resupply, doing laundry, eating breakfast (Nick made French toast and scrambled eggs), and adding a lot of food and clothing to the hiker box. I know we definitely made Woodsmoke happy as he took almost all the food , including several of Mary's meals. It killed us to give them up, but since the missing box was found and delivered we simply had too much food. Normally we'd bounce some ahead but, sadly, we didn't have access to a post office.

No access to a post office also means I had to give up my awesome running pants and the spare hiking shoes Mary sent. I'm pretty sure those shoes will make some hiker very, very happy - they have less than 200 miles on them. I tossed my Altras in the box, too, but I am NOT sad about seeing them go (we bounced them ahead from Cascade Locks just in case my new shoes didn't work out).

Even though we left our room at 1030, we ended up hanging out at the store talking to other hikers, like Aquarius and Miyagi (Aquarius has Ranauds, too!) Just as I was getting up to leave, Grandma, the hiker I gave some Aleve to yesterday, came in and thanked me for helping her. She did it wasn't just the Aleve that helped - apparently my comment about the terrain being as rough as the Sierras made her feel better, too. She ended up sitting with us and I decided to postpone hiking to have a conversation with her. She is such an interesting person and so incredibly fit! She is 71 years young and still hiking very difficult trails - I can only hope I'll be that in shape when I'm her age.

Once we finally started hiking I realized that my pack is way, WAY too heavy. I knew it was overstuffed when we packed up in the hotel room but tried to convince myself that the weight wouldn't be that bad. Well, I was wrong - it is. My pack is likely the heaviest it's ever been simply because I'm carrying a few extra things, like an umbrella and an extra long sleeved shirt, and because I think I need to eat more food than I truly need. My food bags are ridiculously heavy!!! Yes, we are carrying 3 extra dinners each... But that doesn't explain all the weight. Oh well, I suppose I'll just have to eat more to get the weight down. LOL

The weight of my pack made the day a little rougher than it should have been, but I made it.
I did have to stop and collect myself (and massage my feet) with about 5 miles to go, though (maybe I still need to take ibuprofen). I also spent some time saying hello to some horses, which made me feel better.