Start: 0800 - Hide-A-Way trail camp
End: 1745 - Methow River
Miles (today): 21.5
Miles (cumulative): 2633 (2383 PCT, 175 alternate, 75 off)
It's probably a good thing I struggled to fall asleep last night because I eventually thwarted a hungry mouse who chewed his way into our tent and into our food bags. At first I thought the rustling noises were from Nick, but as soon as I realized it wasn't I sat up and inspected my food bags right away. Sure enough, there was a quarter sized hole in the trash compactor bag in which I keep my food bags (compactor bags are great rain protection). There was a half dollar sized hole in the tent mosquito netting, too. I checked the food bags and yep, there was a dime sized hole. Inside the food bags I have things separated into ziplocks and there were a few nibbles in those, too. Thankfully he spent all his time chewing through our bags and tent and so didn't get to the food. I moved the food bags between us and went back to bed.
About an hour later, Nick shot up and yelled, "mouse! A mouse just ran across my head!"
It was that sort of night.
The day was better, although even the sun couldn't seem to warm the icy cold air - it was pretty chilly when you weren't moving! I went through a lot of 'costume changes' as I tried to decide if I needed to hike in a jacket or not.
The hike was absolutely beautiful - the larches are turning yellow and it is stunning!!! As I was walking up the side of a mountain I suddenly walked into an area with larches and it took my breath away. Right about that time it started to snow, which was magical and beautiful and a little unsettling (we are definitely pushing our luck with the weather and I don't want to trudge through snow to get to the northern terminus).
We also hit 2600 PCT miles today, which means we have less than 50 to go. Of course, this is like the 0.2 of the marathon 26.2 - you can't forget the 0.2 because it can be the toughest part of the race. In fact, the terrain WAS pretty steep today- the views were incredible but, as always, we had to pay for them.
I struggled a lot the last 6 miles of the day - obviously I'm not able to go 36 hours without taking NSAIDs, which I tried to do. Thankfully, we made it to the planned campsite a little earlier than I thought we would - sitting down felt great.
Along the trail:
