Got up early and headed out around 6:30. Was hoping to slip by dog lady undetected and almost made it. Her “Service Dogs” chased me up the hill.

I want to make some extra miles today, so resigned myself limit my stops. The trail drops to 1k, then there is a long climb back up to almost 5k. It turned out to be a pleasant, shady day and few bugs.

I’m switching up my routine a little, taking a page from a German hiker I walked with in 2017 through the Desolation Wilderness. He liked to get an early start, do a couple hours of hiking, then stop for breakfast somewhere.

Sitting there eating my instant oatmeal, I was watching the behavior of the horse flies. When I’m walking, I keep running into them. They start buzzing around me in tighter and tighter circles until I smack them with my hand, they lose interest, or land on me and start biting. Well it turns out these things know where the trail is and hover at about 4 feet for hours. When something walks by, the fun begins. Stupid bugs.

Aside from the horse flies, it was mostly a bug free day. I don’t have anyone to talk to, so my mind starts wandering. Today’s topic is the Washington trail designer who is clearly a different breed from his Oregon counterpart. Let’s call him “The Lumberjack”.
Whereas the Oregon designer seemed to go around the hills, The Lumberjack chooses to go over them. His trails are wide and steep. The Lumberjack doesn’t take shortcuts. I imagine he was a cigar chomping, brute of man. Get your ass up this hill, boy. I feel him shaking his head over my pathetic pace. Nobody is worthy of his praise as we all fall short of his expectations. I spend hours thinking about this character and how pissed he is about these pansies hiking HIS trail.

In forested sections of the PCT you will occasionally see metal plates nailed into the trees to mark the official trail. We call them blazes. Here in Washington they are everywhere. Clearly a sign that The Lumberjack had low expectations of our navigational acumen. It seems that one of my hiker brethren has taken to writing inspirational messages.

I hike over a 2k climb, then drop into a long valley. Like yesterday, the prime camping spots at the lower elevations near the large creeks are occupied.   

While I was looking around for a spot, I spent a little time talking to the 3 ladies hiking together.  They are 50 somethings who started at the midpoint and plan to hike to the Canadian border, then bounce back to the midpoint in Chester and hike South.   Their combined trail name is Wander Women.

This time I’m a little better prepared for a full campsite. I loaded up with water around 5 and decide to take a bite out of the next 3k climb I have ahead of me. I reach the half-way point and setup on a nice little spot next to the trail.

A few SOBO’s walk by after 8, hungry for my spot. Sorry boys and girls.  Salty J is on his game today.