Since we were camped on the open ridge we got up early. We did of course screw around for over an hour though. Got down into the basin and took a bunch of photos. I had a couple from 1994 that I could not figure out where I took them from. I could find the matching rocks and whatnot, but the angles were all wrong. I saw a giant boulder and then figured I probably had climbed up there and taken photos...sure enough.

Gabe said that I sure knew how to blow an early start. I told him a good day is "10 by 10". For the last few months it was "10 miles by 10am", now my philosophy is "10 feet by 10am".

Felt a lot more energetic today. Finally worked off the Beer and Monopoly regimen that I did in Snoqualmie Pass.

There were a couple really steep climbs today, but they were fun to do. I realized my 1994 photos were slightly out of order and I missed taking about five of them. On the upside, this also meant that we would be at Stevens Pass sooner.

Passed a few folks in their 60s and 70s. They were part of a weekly hiking group called the "A & P Gang" (Aches and Pains). One of the women asked me if I was thru hiking and I said I was. She cheered and pulled out a ziploc bag of carrots from her garden.

I ate the carrots and walked at the same time...some of the pieces went up my nasal cavity and I started choking and coughing pretty hard.

The day got hotter and hotter, something I haven't experienced in a long while. We caught up to VP eventually. The three of us ended up at Stevens Pass around 3:00pm. I made out a "Skykomish" sign by using a magic marker over two maps. We didn't really need it though since a car coming out of the parking lot turned out to be a couple PCT hikers. They gave the three of us a ride to Skykomish. VP nearly forgot his poles but Gabe had grabbed them.

The couple were from Portland and managed one of the stage theaters in town. They knew my friend Tina Satter who has since relocated to NYC. He was section hiking from Cascade Locks to Stevens Pass. They couldn't give us a ride to Baring since they were stopping at the pub in Skykomish.

Gabe and I decided to have a beer at the pub and then make our way to Skykomish. VP went there on his own. My beer was delayed since I was taking a few photos of Skykomish. The hotel where Curtiss and I stayed is closed down now. The post office looks a lot different and I'm not sure if it is the same building.

I updated this site while Gabe and I had chili dogs and beer. The couple ended up giving us a ride to Baring.

We crossed the train tracks and went down to the Dinsmore's house. Jerry and Andrea are a couple who have been taking in PCT hikers for years. It felt a bit awkward walking down their driveway carrying a can of pringles in one hand and an 18 pack of beer in another. As we got closer I saw a woman interviewing Andrea. I joked at how I felt awkward showing up at their house with a bunch of beer and Andrea informed me that I was the second or third person that day to do so.

It turns out that the woman doing the interview was from KPLU public radio, doing a piece about the PCT. She had found the PCT planner and this blog beforehand while doing research. She interviewed me and it went alright. She asked about the impact that the book "Wild" might have on the PCT. I told her I was all for increased numbers of hikers on the PCT. I didn't always feel that way, but now that the IMBA (International Mountain Bike Association) is officially pushing for bikes to be allowed on the non-Wilderness parts of the PCT, we need all the help we can get.

Sorry, I do not wish to "share the PCT" with some jerk going downhill around a blind corner at 15mph. That is going to be someone's hike that gets ended or someone's little kid who gets hurt. If bikes are allowed on the PCT, hikers will stop hiking it and it will become a de facto mountain bike trail instead. I have ridden mountain bikes on (legal) trails and there is no way I would want to ride where there might be hikers. It is too dangerous. It is the same reason that ski areas don't have shared trails...it is too big of a liability. Rant over.

Cinco showed up a while later... I hadn't seen her since around Vermillion Valley Resort. She couldn't get over the "body of my beard" and was impressed. Hiker Box Special was standing next to her and he said "yup, it is impressive, I can't grow one like that so I'm shaving every week"

The trains would go by once an hour or so. As one was coming by Let it Be started yelling "LOOK LOOK!". I turned and looked and the bodies of about five 737 jets went by on a flatbed trailer. I wasn't able to get a photo or video of it though. I had never seen anything like that before.

Did some computer stuff and went out by the train tracks to get my email. It is all Edge network around here except for this little 10x10 section of dirt near the train tracks, for some reason you can get two bars of 4G there.

Soon again I will have water I don't have to filter, power that is there when I need it, easily available food that I don't have to carry, cell service, fast Internet that works, and a wife that I can't hold because the dog has shoved her way in between us.