To PCT mile 2323.8 (stats here).
I slept good. The other hikers on the site did not stay up so late. When I woke up, a quick glance revealed that it was raining slightly and it was wet all around. My sleeping bag was a bit damp, but not that much. I decided to sleep some more in order for the weather to improve.
The weather did not improve. I got up 7am. Everybody else from the camp spot were already gone. I was stupid enough to disassemble the tarp first before packing my backpack. It did not rain at the moment, but the moisture still made my other stuff a bit more wet and droplets from the tarp increased this. I do not know what I was thinking. Another stupid mistake was that I did not put my sleeping bag inside its stuff sack. I figured, like before, that I just put it in the backpack so that it is easily pulled out and dried out in the sun. But it seemed that the whole day was gonna be rainy. I realised this soon after but at that point correcting the mistake would have meant exposing the sleeping bag for more wetness.
Today was a hard wakeup call that I am not properly prepared for a rainy weather. My stuff gets too easily wet and I do not have warm enough clothing. Compared to my "wanna-be-muscular" days the current thinnish me gets cold too easily. Having wet gear, especially the sleeping bag, amplified with the inadequate skills with the tarp, means trouble if you have 100 miles for the next town.
I checked the map and saw that there was a public cabin, free to use for all, in 50 miles. That was too far away, but in my mind I thought that if things would be terrible, I would just keep walking until I got there. But studying the map more revealed that in 22 miles there would be a trailhead with pit toilets and a parking lot. I decided that I will investigate the state of my gear in the pit toilet where it would be dry, and if the sleeping bag would be too wet, I would try to hitch my way to some nearby town.
It remained foggy and wet the whole day. It did not rain too hard, most of the time there was only a thin drizzle. I put music on to distract myself and just concentrated going forward. I did not want to go too fast in order not to exhaust myself, as I did not want to keep any actual breaks in order to not to get cold. I do not like it, but I ate my bars while moving. I could not use the hiking poles as my fingers were stiff cold.
I did not see any other north bound hikers the whole day. There were few south bounders and few section hikers going the opposite direction. Few miles before the parking lot, a couple of sobos came and said that there was awesome trail magic available, with hot chocolate and everything. I was glad, eventhough I do not like getting the information. This time this gave me some boost to go faster. Hot beverage would be something.
I was at the parking lot around 4pm. David, a local section hiker, and a Canadian thruhiker Vertigo, were there with a nice setup. David made me two delicious vegetarian tacos and some hot apple pie, and Vertigo was able to get me a hot coffee. They informed me that they've had only 6 or 7 hikers the whole day, and that most of them actually hitched to town from the parking lot because of the weather. This affected me so that I was inclined to do the same. Having some nice food in you does you lazy as well. I still checked my sleeping bag in the toilet. It was not as bad as I had feared, but still enough so that it was wise not to use it in such a state. Especially as I did not know how the weather would be.
I started hitching. The highway was pretty busy, and few cars stopped. They were all going far away, though. I wanted to go to Packwood, which was were the other hikers supposedly went and which is near the trail. Then, I got really lucky. A van came to the parking lot and a guy who looked like a hiker or a surfer waved me over. He was Broken Toe, a thruhiker who lives in his van with his girlfriend. He has converted the van himself to a comfortable living space, with a big bed, a fridge, a stove and so fort. They were about to tackle the Wonderland Trail the next day. Broken Toe offered me tea, toast, and promised to give me a ride to Packwood. An amazing and a truly nice guy. We had an interesting conversation about the trail, the way he is living and all related stuff. I was having doubts about getting away from the trail the minute that you get a bit wet, but just by meeting him made it worthwhile, no matter how hard it turns out to be to get back to trail.
The ride to Packwood took maybe 30 minutes. Guthooks recommended Hotel Packwood highly, so we went there. I was worried about vacancy as with this weather, it was likely that many other hikers would want to have a roof over their heads. I was reliefed that there was "vacancies" sign on the door. We hugged for goodbye with Broken Toe and they were on their way. When I got inside the hotel, I was told by the owner that actually they were fully booked. Damn. But she was the most sweetest lady and went through the trouble of calling all the other possible places nearby for vacancies. They were all full because there were a flee market and a biking event happening in town. But then, she remembered a local trail angel and called her. She was happy to help. I was in luck.
Dianne came pretty soon after. She lives in a beautiful home that has stunning views to the mountains. She was amazingly hospitable and made me a delicious vegetarian dinner with homemade apple pie. I spent the evening talking with her and the husband of her daughter, who was visiting for work. Throughout the evening I could not believe my luck in all this. I got to do my laundry, have a warm shover, dry out my stuff, sleep in a bed and be with great people instead of freezing my butt off in a wet sleeping bag in a forest. Or at the floor in the pit toilet which was my other plan. Granted, it would have served me right as I was so ill prepared. But without saying, it is clear that I am tremondously happy how things turned out to be.
I slept good. The other hikers on the site did not stay up so late. When I woke up, a quick glance revealed that it was raining slightly and it was wet all around. My sleeping bag was a bit damp, but not that much. I decided to sleep some more in order for the weather to improve.
The weather did not improve. I got up 7am. Everybody else from the camp spot were already gone. I was stupid enough to disassemble the tarp first before packing my backpack. It did not rain at the moment, but the moisture still made my other stuff a bit more wet and droplets from the tarp increased this. I do not know what I was thinking. Another stupid mistake was that I did not put my sleeping bag inside its stuff sack. I figured, like before, that I just put it in the backpack so that it is easily pulled out and dried out in the sun. But it seemed that the whole day was gonna be rainy. I realised this soon after but at that point correcting the mistake would have meant exposing the sleeping bag for more wetness.
 |
| Not as wet as in this creek, but too wet anyway. Almost no pictures from today because of that and the cold. |
Today was a hard wakeup call that I am not properly prepared for a rainy weather. My stuff gets too easily wet and I do not have warm enough clothing. Compared to my "wanna-be-muscular" days the current thinnish me gets cold too easily. Having wet gear, especially the sleeping bag, amplified with the inadequate skills with the tarp, means trouble if you have 100 miles for the next town.
I checked the map and saw that there was a public cabin, free to use for all, in 50 miles. That was too far away, but in my mind I thought that if things would be terrible, I would just keep walking until I got there. But studying the map more revealed that in 22 miles there would be a trailhead with pit toilets and a parking lot. I decided that I will investigate the state of my gear in the pit toilet where it would be dry, and if the sleeping bag would be too wet, I would try to hitch my way to some nearby town.
It remained foggy and wet the whole day. It did not rain too hard, most of the time there was only a thin drizzle. I put music on to distract myself and just concentrated going forward. I did not want to go too fast in order not to exhaust myself, as I did not want to keep any actual breaks in order to not to get cold. I do not like it, but I ate my bars while moving. I could not use the hiking poles as my fingers were stiff cold.
I did not see any other north bound hikers the whole day. There were few south bounders and few section hikers going the opposite direction. Few miles before the parking lot, a couple of sobos came and said that there was awesome trail magic available, with hot chocolate and everything. I was glad, eventhough I do not like getting the information. This time this gave me some boost to go faster. Hot beverage would be something.
 |
| Davids trail magic was awesome. Sadly the weather had a diminishing effect. The tacos, still, ah. |
I was at the parking lot around 4pm. David, a local section hiker, and a Canadian thruhiker Vertigo, were there with a nice setup. David made me two delicious vegetarian tacos and some hot apple pie, and Vertigo was able to get me a hot coffee. They informed me that they've had only 6 or 7 hikers the whole day, and that most of them actually hitched to town from the parking lot because of the weather. This affected me so that I was inclined to do the same. Having some nice food in you does you lazy as well. I still checked my sleeping bag in the toilet. It was not as bad as I had feared, but still enough so that it was wise not to use it in such a state. Especially as I did not know how the weather would be.
I started hitching. The highway was pretty busy, and few cars stopped. They were all going far away, though. I wanted to go to Packwood, which was were the other hikers supposedly went and which is near the trail. Then, I got really lucky. A van came to the parking lot and a guy who looked like a hiker or a surfer waved me over. He was Broken Toe, a thruhiker who lives in his van with his girlfriend. He has converted the van himself to a comfortable living space, with a big bed, a fridge, a stove and so fort. They were about to tackle the Wonderland Trail the next day. Broken Toe offered me tea, toast, and promised to give me a ride to Packwood. An amazing and a truly nice guy. We had an interesting conversation about the trail, the way he is living and all related stuff. I was having doubts about getting away from the trail the minute that you get a bit wet, but just by meeting him made it worthwhile, no matter how hard it turns out to be to get back to trail.
 |
| My personal Jesu... eh, savor. |
The ride to Packwood took maybe 30 minutes. Guthooks recommended Hotel Packwood highly, so we went there. I was worried about vacancy as with this weather, it was likely that many other hikers would want to have a roof over their heads. I was reliefed that there was "vacancies" sign on the door. We hugged for goodbye with Broken Toe and they were on their way. When I got inside the hotel, I was told by the owner that actually they were fully booked. Damn. But she was the most sweetest lady and went through the trouble of calling all the other possible places nearby for vacancies. They were all full because there were a flee market and a biking event happening in town. But then, she remembered a local trail angel and called her. She was happy to help. I was in luck.
Dianne came pretty soon after. She lives in a beautiful home that has stunning views to the mountains. She was amazingly hospitable and made me a delicious vegetarian dinner with homemade apple pie. I spent the evening talking with her and the husband of her daughter, who was visiting for work. Throughout the evening I could not believe my luck in all this. I got to do my laundry, have a warm shover, dry out my stuff, sleep in a bed and be with great people instead of freezing my butt off in a wet sleeping bag in a forest. Or at the floor in the pit toilet which was my other plan. Granted, it would have served me right as I was so ill prepared. But without saying, it is clear that I am tremondously happy how things turned out to be.
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