Day 137: Climbing through Washington
Date: Sat 9/1
PCT Start Mile: 2407.8
PCT End Mile: 2438.5
PCT Mileage for Day: 30.7
Total PCT Mileage: 2438.5
The Highlights: constant beautiful views, Labor Day weekend hikers
This morning was cold… all of the mornings are cold now. And the evenings. The day warmed up nicely though, so I can’t complain.
Today we did a lot of climbing. I’m actually happy when the day starts with a climb now, as it’s a nice was to warm up. We started the day with about a one mile climb before a long descent of about 5 miles. The day undulated like this… a long descent, a long ascent, ending with a ten mile climb.
There were a lot of Labor Day weekend hikers out today. You can always tell the day and weekend hikers from the PCT hikers because (1) they smell better, (2) they are wearing nice hiking clothes, and (3) their packs are at least two times the size of ours. What is it that they are packing? I guess if I was only out for a weekend, maybe I’d throw in a couple more luxury items. Or maybe just better food.
On the last climb of the day, the views were great, but I was struggling. When I checked the Guthook App to see how much further we had to the tent site and it was 1.7 miles, I wanted to cry. It really wasn’t that far, but my feet hurt, my legs ached, and I wanted to be done for the day. Unfortunately, as we approached the desired site, it was bad news: already taken. Two other hikers were setting up their tents. Dammit! I wanted to be done!
We hiked a little more than half a mile and finally found a small flat site. During this last bit, it was like someone killed the heat. While it had been gradually cooling throughout the evening, around 7pm, it felt like all the remaining heat in the air just disappeared. We quickly put on our puffies and got the tent set up. After getting all my warm layers on and my sleep stuff set up, I ate my dinner in my sleeping bag. Not a fan of the cold. Washington, could you please hold off on fall for another week or so?
