No PCT miles.
I got up 7am. The night was strange. The dormitory was at the top floor and without heating it was chilly. You still got sweaty as the matress had a plastic coating and there were no sheets. Mix of being a bit cold and sweaty makes not that great sleeping.
Tim made a killer breakfast. There were hashbrowns, oatmeal with raisins and walnuts, watermelon and toast. It was enjoyable to share the brekkie with bunch of other hikers. After the brekkie, socialising continued. I started to catch up with the blog but then Caribou offered that I could join her to go to Seattle with her brother. He was coming noonish and they intended to get to REI to get Caribou a new tent and just to hang around. It would be a 1.5 hour drive. I called few stores in Seattle to check if they had the Altra Timp shoes I had previously before my current problems. One place had them in stock so I was ready to hop in the car.
The drive took a bit longer. In my opinion there was lot of traffic, but I guess that a local would say that it was nothing. The car was full as other hikers joined the trip. Sitting in a car did not do that good for the feet, and I started questioning myself whether this was a reasonable move after all. It was nice to socialise with the gang, though.
Picking up the shoes went fluently enough but driving through and beeing in a big city was not that uplifting. All the traffic, ugly buildings, busy people and sense of pointless urgency. The shoes were very expensive with the added tax. After picking up the shoes, we went to REI and as others shopped, I headed to the nearest post office. It was half a mile away. The office was not bigger than they are in a small village and only one employee served a huge line of customers. It took 40 minutes to send the old shoes away to Mikko. I did not want to just throw them away as they were so new. I am not sure whether this was reasonable or not as I most likely won't end up using them.
We did nothing else in Seattle, with the exception of visiting Starbucks on our way back. I snapped a quick photo out of the Space Needle and that was it. I felt disillusioned as this was the first time I visited a big city after starting the trail. In a way, it was good to get the contrast before the trail is over. At the moment, I do not feel that I would like to live in a big city like Seattle. We got back at Stevens Pass 7:30pm. Sitting in a car six hours was more than enough and my feet felt more swollen. This made me more resolvent to take yet another zero the next day.
We were back at the Mountaineers Lodge just in time to join the dinner. More familiar hikers had joined the party. Squish and X-Static were among them. The dinner was good and socialising even more fun. Initially I thought about catching up with the blog, but ended up pushing that task for the next day. I checked the upcoming alternate routes at the trail and noticed that the data cap with my mobile subscription was about to hit the limit. I had been careless to use the map application with cellular data on and that had hogged quite a lot of the quota. I might need to buy more as I only have 100 MB left and 22 days to the next cycle.
I got up 7am. The night was strange. The dormitory was at the top floor and without heating it was chilly. You still got sweaty as the matress had a plastic coating and there were no sheets. Mix of being a bit cold and sweaty makes not that great sleeping.
 |
| A truly nice breakfast. |
Tim made a killer breakfast. There were hashbrowns, oatmeal with raisins and walnuts, watermelon and toast. It was enjoyable to share the brekkie with bunch of other hikers. After the brekkie, socialising continued. I started to catch up with the blog but then Caribou offered that I could join her to go to Seattle with her brother. He was coming noonish and they intended to get to REI to get Caribou a new tent and just to hang around. It would be a 1.5 hour drive. I called few stores in Seattle to check if they had the Altra Timp shoes I had previously before my current problems. One place had them in stock so I was ready to hop in the car.
 |
| Loitering hikers bad mouthing USPS. With good reason. |
The drive took a bit longer. In my opinion there was lot of traffic, but I guess that a local would say that it was nothing. The car was full as other hikers joined the trip. Sitting in a car did not do that good for the feet, and I started questioning myself whether this was a reasonable move after all. It was nice to socialise with the gang, though.
Picking up the shoes went fluently enough but driving through and beeing in a big city was not that uplifting. All the traffic, ugly buildings, busy people and sense of pointless urgency. The shoes were very expensive with the added tax. After picking up the shoes, we went to REI and as others shopped, I headed to the nearest post office. It was half a mile away. The office was not bigger than they are in a small village and only one employee served a huge line of customers. It took 40 minutes to send the old shoes away to Mikko. I did not want to just throw them away as they were so new. I am not sure whether this was reasonable or not as I most likely won't end up using them.
 |
| Ah, big cities. Will we get along ever again? |
We did nothing else in Seattle, with the exception of visiting Starbucks on our way back. I snapped a quick photo out of the Space Needle and that was it. I felt disillusioned as this was the first time I visited a big city after starting the trail. In a way, it was good to get the contrast before the trail is over. At the moment, I do not feel that I would like to live in a big city like Seattle. We got back at Stevens Pass 7:30pm. Sitting in a car six hours was more than enough and my feet felt more swollen. This made me more resolvent to take yet another zero the next day.
We were back at the Mountaineers Lodge just in time to join the dinner. More familiar hikers had joined the party. Squish and X-Static were among them. The dinner was good and socialising even more fun. Initially I thought about catching up with the blog, but ended up pushing that task for the next day. I checked the upcoming alternate routes at the trail and noticed that the data cap with my mobile subscription was about to hit the limit. I had been careless to use the map application with cellular data on and that had hogged quite a lot of the quota. I might need to buy more as I only have 100 MB left and 22 days to the next cycle.
Tulipa ostettua juurikin sulle ei niin hyvin sopineet Lone Peak 4:t Sacramenton REI:stä keskuspuiston metsäjuoksuja varten. Toivottavasti uudet Timp:it poistaa sun ongelmia!!
ReplyDeleteJuu! Timpit oli kyllä suuri apu että sai jalat parempaan kuosiin 😀. Jengi on kyllä ollu ihan tyytyväistä LP4:een kuulopuheiden mukaan
DeleteUnohda se vitutus siitä että muut pääsee perille, kaikilla on omat haasteet ja oot puskenu eteenpäin kunniotettavalla tavalla!!
ReplyDeleteKomppaan mielipidettä että suurkaupungeissa ei oo kivaa asua. Hyvä että on vertailukohtaa.
ReplyDeleteJa Mikko on oikeassa. Jokaisella on omat polut ja vauhdit ja matka. Mitä kaikkea se sitten opettaakaan. Ja on aivan huikeaa miten olet taistellut tiesi tähän. Todella todella hianoa. Nii.
Hey there! This is Auston, from the trail. Looks like I passed you the evening before Olallie Lake, probably passed your camp in the darkness. I'm sorry to hear you had to struggle through injuries so much; I was fortunate to avoid injuries throughout Washington and finish up the trail without much stress. I hope to read about your last couple hundred miles on the trail when you get a chance to upload!
ReplyDeleteHi there! Yeah, I figured that you went past then. When having the zeroes I thought about people that I would not see on trail anymore. Shame that we did not after that but it was fun to see you!
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