No PCT miles.
I slept okayish, considering that it was a town night. The bed was comfy but it was hot and the AC did not work. There were also traffic noises. I got up 6am and Street Fighter did the same soon after. She headed for the hotel breakfast to get pancaces and I settled for the tortillas that I had still left.
After the breakfast I started to put my gear together. It takes surprisingly long time in a hotel room where you feel you have more chance to tweak and clean things. On trail, everything happens smoothly as you just want to get going. Granted that I had now more stuff. Just few items more and the backpack feels bloated. I do have too much food, though.
There is a lot room for improvement for USPS. When you visit the post office, you can send stuff wherever and pay cash or with a card. If you try to use their online service to pre-print a label for pickup, you need a credit card or PayPal that is tied to an U.S. residential address. Luckily, the person at the hotel front desk agreed to take my package with him the next time he visits the post office. It would have been a nuisance to carry my tarp with me now that I have the tent as well.
I blindly let the time frame to order new shoes to slip by. I immediately regretted this, as it is better to be safe than sorry. Not trusting the delivery times, dealing with the old shoes and believing tat the laces are the problem made this happen. I really hope that loosening the laces help.
The checkout time was 11am. We went to the hotel lobby to hang around with other hikers. Groovy rolled in. Another hiker that I thought would be already far gone. Clearly people are relaxing their paces. We talked to Patch who had contacted the rangers about the fire closure detours and gotten lots of information. I tried to call them also as you could get the extra permits by phone after all. I did not get through but left a message. Short after good news emerged. The fire near border had reduced in size and a better alternate route was opened so that you could get to the PCT Northern Terminus and Canada. Only 4 extra miles. Great news! Everybody was celebrating.
Another thing that Patch mentioned regarding Labour Day was that there was an inn in Skykomish that is open every day and one can ask the post office to do a redelivery. I had not thought about this. I called the post office and they promised to have my box at the inn. Now I did not need to worry about when getting to the next town which was great. The post office opening hours are quite bad in small places. I still decided to stay in Snoqualmie for the day, to let the feet rest and wait for the bad weather to pass by.
Me, Street Fighter and bunch of other hikers left the hotel around noon and headed for a hostel held by Washington Alpine Club. They are on the other side of the highway and have 75 bunkbeds that you can have for 20 dollars a night. The place is amazing. Really roomy, has sense of history, full sized kitchen, nice lounge, table tennis and a great hiker box. Only thing is that they do not have wifi or heating. Small potatoes. The AT&T reception is good anyway.
Short after, many hikers went to the brewery, but I stayed to catch up with the blog. It was my intention to go there later but the catching up took a long time, especially as there were still other hikers to talk with. Should have gone to the brewery to celebrate the reopening of the border.
Instead, I tried to consume some of my surplus food and ended up eating too much. The rest of the evening was unpleasant because of this. I need to get my eating habits in order when in town, otherwise I am gonna gain weight like crazy when the trail is over. And as it is, there is only 260 miles to go. It was 10pm when I went to sleep, but felt that is gonna be hard night because of the overeating.
I slept okayish, considering that it was a town night. The bed was comfy but it was hot and the AC did not work. There were also traffic noises. I got up 6am and Street Fighter did the same soon after. She headed for the hotel breakfast to get pancaces and I settled for the tortillas that I had still left.
 |
| Hikers chilling at the inn lounge. |
After the breakfast I started to put my gear together. It takes surprisingly long time in a hotel room where you feel you have more chance to tweak and clean things. On trail, everything happens smoothly as you just want to get going. Granted that I had now more stuff. Just few items more and the backpack feels bloated. I do have too much food, though.
There is a lot room for improvement for USPS. When you visit the post office, you can send stuff wherever and pay cash or with a card. If you try to use their online service to pre-print a label for pickup, you need a credit card or PayPal that is tied to an U.S. residential address. Luckily, the person at the hotel front desk agreed to take my package with him the next time he visits the post office. It would have been a nuisance to carry my tarp with me now that I have the tent as well.
I blindly let the time frame to order new shoes to slip by. I immediately regretted this, as it is better to be safe than sorry. Not trusting the delivery times, dealing with the old shoes and believing tat the laces are the problem made this happen. I really hope that loosening the laces help.
The checkout time was 11am. We went to the hotel lobby to hang around with other hikers. Groovy rolled in. Another hiker that I thought would be already far gone. Clearly people are relaxing their paces. We talked to Patch who had contacted the rangers about the fire closure detours and gotten lots of information. I tried to call them also as you could get the extra permits by phone after all. I did not get through but left a message. Short after good news emerged. The fire near border had reduced in size and a better alternate route was opened so that you could get to the PCT Northern Terminus and Canada. Only 4 extra miles. Great news! Everybody was celebrating.
Another thing that Patch mentioned regarding Labour Day was that there was an inn in Skykomish that is open every day and one can ask the post office to do a redelivery. I had not thought about this. I called the post office and they promised to have my box at the inn. Now I did not need to worry about when getting to the next town which was great. The post office opening hours are quite bad in small places. I still decided to stay in Snoqualmie for the day, to let the feet rest and wait for the bad weather to pass by.
Me, Street Fighter and bunch of other hikers left the hotel around noon and headed for a hostel held by Washington Alpine Club. They are on the other side of the highway and have 75 bunkbeds that you can have for 20 dollars a night. The place is amazing. Really roomy, has sense of history, full sized kitchen, nice lounge, table tennis and a great hiker box. Only thing is that they do not have wifi or heating. Small potatoes. The AT&T reception is good anyway.
 |
| My resting place for the night. |
Short after, many hikers went to the brewery, but I stayed to catch up with the blog. It was my intention to go there later but the catching up took a long time, especially as there were still other hikers to talk with. Should have gone to the brewery to celebrate the reopening of the border.
 |
| The WAC cabin was a good place to hang out. |
Instead, I tried to consume some of my surplus food and ended up eating too much. The rest of the evening was unpleasant because of this. I need to get my eating habits in order when in town, otherwise I am gonna gain weight like crazy when the trail is over. And as it is, there is only 260 miles to go. It was 10pm when I went to sleep, but felt that is gonna be hard night because of the overeating.
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