Day 65 – Snoqualmie Pass

It was the perfect night to not wear my earplugs. The outlet from Mirror Lake ran right by my bed, adding enough white noise to my camp to muffle the stick breakers that might move by. But a rowdy group of young men camping near me on the lake where conducting a lab on the properties of sound. Once they discovered that yelling mightily over the lake produced several echoes, they decided to repeat the process with every word in their vocabulary. Luckily, their vocabulary was limited or they might have been hollering all night. I put my earplugs in at 10 pm. God night, young men.

Upon waking at 4:40 am, I have this sudden urge to test the sound properties of the lake once more, in case the hungover young men might be interested in continuing their lab. But the urge passes and I am out of camp by 5:40. It is a pretty camp site.

Down to the Pass

It is about 9 mostly downhill miles to Snoqualmie Pass. As usual, I am full of energy. The rocky trail slows me down a bit. I don’t do well on rocks. But I still make good time. The early trail has lots of lakes and meadows tucked into the folds of the mountains.

The haze is not burning off. The mountains are gripping it like I grip my quilt at 5 am. Do I really have to get up? The patient sun bides it’s time above the horizon.

The bells beside the trail are taking their cue from the sun.

Music, what?!

It dawns on me that there is no reason for me to save my phone battery life this morning. In a few hours I will have all the electricity I need. That means….music! Woo hoo! It has been weeks since I listened to music. my hands tremble as I fumble with the earphones.

First up, Bonnie Rait, Laurie Anderson, Pink Floyd, Sufjan Stevens, Oingo Boingo, The National. But when H.U.V.A Network comes on my legs go into fourth gear. My knee says, “No, I don’t want to go into fourth gear.” Every step is painful. I say, “Shut up,” and shift into overdrive. “You didn’t want fourth gear? Well how about fifth, sucka?” My knee quiets down and the pain goes away. I feel great. Am I moving faster than I normally might? Probably not, but I am sure enjoying it.

And then out of nowhere, I see the buildings around the pass and I-90 running hot beyond it. I turn off my music and focus on the goal ahead.

The trail cuts through the ski slopes over the pass, instead of going directly down. I might have gone mad except for the calming influence of these flowers covering the slopes.

I crash into town, but my room is not ready. I chill in the lobby of my hotel – the Summit Inn. It is 10:30.

Chores

Here is what I need to do before bed.

• Retrieve my resupply box from the hotel
• Raid the hiker boxes
• Wash all my clothes
• Find more Leuko Tape for my feet
• Complete and upload 7 blog posts
• Eat pizza
• Drink beer
• Look for friends
• Pack my food bag
• Order new shoes, socks and food bag from REI and have it expedited to my next stop – Skykomish
• Order new shorts from Patagonia and have them shipped overnight to Skykomish

I get all that done by 10:30 pm. Some impressions from the day:

Assessment

The next section poses real challenges. The forecast is for three days of rain. I have to keep things as dry as possible even though my setup is rather exposed. Wet clothes lead to chafing and foot rot. The trail is rocky. I have to minimize damage to my feet until my new shoes arrive at the next pass. I must keep my shorts together until new ones arrive because I have no other good options. I am not worried. I just have to be smart. The unknown is exciting. I am up for it.

• August 5
• Starting mile: 2385
• Ending mile: 2394
• Daily PCT miles: 9
• Total PCT miles: 1022