Day 153: The Sun Will Come Out…Today
September 10, 2017
Mile 2508.82 Campsite to Mile 2526.84 Campsite
Bright and sunny today! This was much needed after last night’s rain. The morning started off slow due to said rain. We had a hard time dragging ourselves of our wet tent which was wet on the outside due to the precipitation, wet on the inside due to condensation, and the outside of our sleeping bags were wet because of the condensation. So as you can imagine we were literally not very happy campers. It is worth noting, however, that our sleeping bags (they’re actually backpacking quilts, but I digress) were still dry and warm on the inside.
The first segment of the day to breakfast was awful for me. Glowworm had it rough more so than I getting going, but once we got going I really took a nose dive. I was hungry, tired, and hating the immediate climb after leaving camp. But after breakfast and some tunes in my ears, I was able to revive my enthusiasm for life and begin enjoying my day.
At the first sight of open space with sun we exploded our packs and dried out our tent and quilts (sleeping bags). That chore took a while, but it was much welcomed since it was the first sun and blue sky we had seen in about a week. Plus the view was unreal.
Afterwards the day just kept getting better. More incredible views of mountains with massive glaciers carving down their slopes, and vast meadows speckled with greens, yellows, and reds. After lunch at a mountain creek we hiked up to the top of a insanely beautiful pass with 360 degree views of snow capped mountain peaks with glacial lakes and grassy meadows. I’m constantly amazed at the world I’m currently living in.
We descended from the picturesque scene back into the woods before tackling a five mile straight up climb. We could see the infinite switchbacks as we hiked down into the valley from the other side. Other than the first few tenths of a mile, though, the climb turned out to be not that bad. We were actually able to crush the climb with relative ease and able to make it to our campsite, albeit after dark, in much shorter time than we anticipated.
For dinner we ate cold soaked rice noodles with a sauce powder than was meant for much more water than we had and was basically salt. If someone made me eat this is real life I would have gagged, but since we were unable to buy fuel in Skykomish and I was raging with hunger, it would suffice.
