Here is a picture of last night’s tent site

After my dinner of instant mashed potatoes last night, I’m down to a fig bar, some granola, and half roll of sweet tarts. On the bright side, my pack is nice and light 🙂 I’ve been putting a lot of effort into getting extra miles in over the last few days so I can hit Whites Pass around noon.

To be honest, over the last couple days all I can think about is pizza and burgers. Sometimes, when my mind wanders a bit, I can even smell them. Food. Milk shakes. Anything fried. Fresh fruit. I’m thinking about all of that and more. Guess hiker hunger has really grabbed me.

Today, I’ve a little descent, then another 2k climb up to 6.5k. After that, it is downhill for 6 miles to Whites Pass at ~4k. I’m back in the woods for the most part during the descent. There is a burned out section which gives me a short mosquito break, then they come back when I bottom out.

Just before I start the last big climb, I run into a group of backpackers hiking out. 3 40 something guys and one of their teenage boys. The teenager looks like he doesn’t want to be there, heh. They are asking me all these questions about thru-hiking and seem genuinely interested. I’m in a bit of a hurry so I cut the conversation short saying something about burgers and beer. One of the guys keeps up with me for a few minutes chatting, then he drops back. I can hike the shit out of most backpackers right now. It feels good to be in that kind of shape.

Anyway, I climb this last hill, and get a nice view of an alpine lake as well as the last bowl I’ll see before dropping into the trees.

I’m thinking how cool it would be to ski this stuff in the winter. Then on my left, through the trees, I see a chair lift. Apparently there is a ski resort on the other side of the hill. Well how about that? Might need to make a trip up here one day with my planks.

I took a final break before heading into the trees, chatting with yet another crop of SOBO’s. It is funny because I’m noticing the further North I go, more and more of these SOBO’s want to talk. They want to exchange trail names, etc. Then it hits me. These folks have only been on the trail for a few weeks. They are still nooblets.

After eating my last fig bar and polishing off the last of my water, I had 6 miles to go and it is all downhill. I was making good time rocking downhill with my treking poles at an easy jog.  Hot, Hungry, Dirty, and Dry. I decended into Wites Pass like a meteor. 

I covered the 15 miles in little over 5 hours, rocking a 3 mile/hr pace.

As luck would have it, a trail angel was dropping off a hiker and offered me a ride. Trevor took me over to the general store to pick up my resupply package, then drove me down to Packwood for the room I booked at the Packwood Inn. The dude was pretty interesting. He works for Chehalis Indian Reservation as a gaming agent. He was full of interesting facts about legal jurisdiction of the State on Reservation territory.

Apparently, this tribe is very financially successful. All tribal members get a ~$30k check every year. The tribe has used money from their Casino to start up all sorts of other business ventures like brewing craft beers, construction, a state of the art hospital, and tons of other businesses. They are even expanding the reservation’s land by buying up nearby parcels. Every kid gets a full ride scholarship to the university of their choice.

Trevor dropped me at the Inn around 1:00 and the first thing I did was leave my pack at the office and go looking for fried anything and draft beer. Well, it turns out that the good town of Packwood has four places to eat. The first is a bar which is closed until 3:00. The next option is a pizza place where one of the employees tested positive for Covid and that’s closed to Friday. Craft Brewery ? Closed until 3:30. Finally, I walk to the edge of town to a burger joint. They are closed with a “Will be back” dial set to 11 Is that AM or PM? I’ve no idea.

All things eventually work out and I get my meal at 3:30. I head back to the Inn and drop into the bathtub for a long soak. Here’s the result.

For this stretch I did 149 miles in 6.5 days averaging ~23 miles a day. I never expected to keep that kind of pace in Washington. Looking ahead, I suspect I’ll have to slow down somewhat given the steeper terrain, but I’m feeling like I am going to finish this thing. I’ve ~350 miles left !