9.12.18. 13.3 miles.

I woke up this morning without my alarm, not having set it last night. I could hear that it was lightly raining, and I needed to go to the bathroom, but I forced my body to hold it until I packed up and got my rain gear on. Amazingly, my bowels didn’t protest too much.

I had one really steep climb for the morning, and it was actually really beautiful and not too bad. Maybe my legs are finally strong enough! Haha. It was still pretty cold and rainy though, sometimes breezy. I didn’t need to stop and filter water at all this morning. I know it’s bad, but it’s really hard to drink cold water when it’s cold out, so I haven’t been drinking a ton of water. I’ll make sure to rehydrate in town.

After some ups & downs, the trail went mainly downhill for a while. It was not easy going though. There were lots of big rocks and slippery roots and muddy soil to contend with, so I needed to be careful to not slip. I met a few day hikers on my way down, chatting with them. One in particular really held me up though, Old Goat. He was so nice and sweet and has section hiked the whole trail, and his sister is a trail angel in Mazama, the last town in Washington. He wanted to talk for a while... when I only had 2 miles to town! It was nice talking to him though.

After I left him, I booked it down to the pass. It started raining again, and I just wanted to get to the hotel and eat some food.

Luckily, when I got to the hotel, I was able to check in right away, and they had all my packages, including my new shoes! Thank goodness. I checked in, immediately emptied my backpack of all my wet things and draped things to dry. I got some change for the wash and did my laundry, taking a shower in between. Then I got some food from the aardvark Express, which was sooo good. I had a yummy curry bowl. I also ran to the gas station to buy the rest of my resupply. After relaxing for a bit, I went and got pizza with sprinkles for dinner, then went back to my hotel & FaceTimed with the fam, and waited for Jazmin, my friend from school, to come! She’s staying the night with me and then hiking a little bit of the trail before turning around tmrrw morning. It will be fun!