I’m so extremely tired, and so in need of sleep, but I’m having such intense thoughts and emotions about reaching the end of the trail that I wanted to share them.

Today my mind felt as if it entered the real world, had a quick look around, and then retreated back into trail life, with the real world remnants still lingering. I suddenly realised just how quick this will be over, just how immediate re-entry will be, and just how fast this ‘real’ world can burst the magical bubble I’ve been living in for the past 5 months.

The days of waking up each morning to the sun rising behind the mountains will become a memory. Boiling water outside my tent for coffee as I stay snuggled in my sleeping bag for as long as possible will no longer be. Watching squirrels darting across the trail, birds soaring above, clouds forming in magical patterns and the stars shining above my head at night will be back in another land. The PCT symbols wedged on tree trunks giving you reassurance that you’re on track, reminding you of where you are and how far you’ve come, will be waiting for the thru hikers of 2014. The dream is almost over, but the magic will live on.

The urge to beat the weather and the end of my visa have pushed me quickly through the first 150 miles of this beautiful state. I’ve enjoyed so many moments already (except the super steep ups and downs), and I know there are still many to come over the next 350 miles; but I am suddenly struck with the feeling that I still have so many things I want to do/think/feel out here, and time is running out.

Wasn’t I meant to figure out what I want to do in life? I can’t even figure out what I’m doing the day I enter the real world. Where will I live? Where will I work? What will I do? What do I want to do? I’ve had 5 months to come up with these answers and I still haven’t put my finger on them.

I have learned so many things about myself, other people, nature, wildlife and the world. I almost feel like I’ll need to walk another 2650 miles just to make sense of it all. It’s been hard to truly process all of the events which have taken place over the last 5 months. Complications mixed with ultimate simplicity, drama and emotions mixed with pure joy. Isolation and unfamiliar places, versus congregations with new and old faces.

One big difference between the trail and the world outside the trail is time. Out here time is yours. You decide how to use it and how to share it. You can almost control how fast and how slow it goes. Out there (in the real world), we don’t always own our own time. We’re dictated, controlled by, and forced to share so much of it, we sometimes find ourselves left with nothing. Time is a gift, time should be savoured, but most importantly time should be used wisely.

So from tomorrow onwards I’m going to ensure I savour every sunrise, every cup of coffee, every sight and sound of the trail. I’m going to hold onto this time while it’s still mine, until my foot crosses the border and I’m finally forced to let it go.

From what I could decipher from Halfmile, Guthooks and Yogi’s notes, which all list different things; there was either camping and water in 25 or 30 miles from where I camped last night. I figured 25 wouldn’t be far enough but then 30 sounded too much. The problem was there’s this ‘thing’ called the Knifes Edge in between, and definitely no camping on that!

I started hiking just after 6:30am and got off to a good start until around the 10 mile mark when I suddenly got super hungry and tired and needed a little sit down in the middle of the trail. There hadn’t been a good spot to take a break in a while, so when I got to my feet I checked the elevation chart and decided to have lunch before the first big climb of the day.

On the way I ran into Bad Seed who I’d night hiked ahead of into Timberline. She’d just stopped for a break so we continued on together chatting mostly about the oddities of the trail and the people we’d met along the way. When we got to the only flat spot before the climb it was already occupied by two chatty day hikers. I wasn’t in an overly social mood so I decided to push on to the next flat spot. Over an hour later at 2pm, having done 20 miles on a few mouthfuls of oatmeal and all the snack bars in my pocket, we found a flat spot next to water for lunch. I was already pretty beat but figured I only had another 10 miles to put in before dark.

We passed many day and section hikers who asked where we were headed to this evening. When we said we planned to hike over Old Snowy and the Knifes Edge they looked at us as if we were crazy. They all said ‘it’s getting a bit late isn’t it?’ We didn’t really understand their concern as at that point we only had 6 more miles to do which we assumed wouldn’t take more than 3 hours even with the big climb at the end.

What we didn’t factor in was the time we took to stop and chat with other hikers, the longer breaks we had chatting and our slower hiking pace whilst in fits of giggles. As we headed up Old Snowy the views became more and more stunning, and I stopped multiple times to take pictures and videos along the way.

Reaching the top:

Still on the Edge:

We made it to camp around 10pm after fumbling our way along the dark ridge and down the other side into the valley. At one point I rolled my ankle and fell on my knees while Bad Seed held her breath. I wasn’t scared until her constant persistence of how high up we were and how steep the drop was finally got the better of me. My headlamp cuts out most of my peripheral vision, which in this instance wasn’t such a bad thing!

Thankfully nothing freakish happened to me today, other than getting a little unsettled when there was nowhere to camp at the end of the day and I had to push until dark to reach a campsite. The final hustle helped me clock 20 miles on my nero (near zero) day. I was aiming for 17 to avoid breaking the piggy bank, but thanks to the lack of flat ground to camp on I was able to throw in 3 more (total = 34.6 miles = 2 zero days).

I slept in until 7am this morning, then shot out of bed and headed straight to the cafe where I ate last night. I ordered huckleberry pancakes and coffee and had a great chat with Connie the chef/waitress/cashier extraordinaire. I’ve never seen anyone multitask quite like this woman. She could flip French toast, heat apple sauce and ring up my bill simultaneously. I bought a huckleberry scroll for the road then headed back to the grocery store to sort out my food and repack.

There were five of us who stayed overnight above the store and luckily all managed to get a lift back to the trail head with a man named Pat. Pepper Flake and I rode in the back of Pat’s pick up truck all the way back up the mountain in the glorious sunshine. The trail climbed straight away and I took the lead and charged up the mountain with four cups of coffee spurring me on. I only stopped once to pee in the first 10 miles and found an awesome campsite near a pond for lunch. A few of the others caught up, but I packed up after devouring the huckleberry scroll and charged on with a minimum of 17 miles on the brain.

I was doing well for time until I reached the milky Lewis River. I made a very long assessment of any possible rock jumping opportunities, but realised my feet were going to have to get wet so I changed into my Frocs. The water felt ok at the beginning, but it soon froze my feet numb to the point that they were stinging!

From the river it was still over 7 miles to where I’m camped. So often you see campsites scattered everywhere along the trail, until it starts getting dark and you really want to find one, that’s when you can’t!

I just managed to set up my tent before I needed my headlamp. The large animal I heard running through the trees had made me jumpy, but in all honesty, I do freak out a little about mountain lions at night. I try not to, but sometimes I can’t help it. I sang aloud while I set up my tent, and made a point of hammering my tent pegs in noisily with a rock. I’m camped right next to a river which is drowning out most of the sounds outside my tent. I’m going to sleep now so Friday the 13th can clock over to tomorrow without a hiccup!

Leaving Trout Lake now…

Whoever designed the last 6 miles of trail heading to Rd 23 into Trout Lake was obviously in a hurry to get there. They decided to abolish the concept of switchbacks completely, and instead just went straight up the hill, and straight down the other side.

The 23.9 miles I hiked to get here were relatively easy compared to the last two days. I only had to climb 2912 feet and descend 3697 feet which was a little kinder to the knees. But I really didn’t feel at all well today. I struggled to eat in the morning and had a mixture of hunger pains and a general feeling of unwell which lasted into the afternoon.

I did see the biggest elk this morning too, which at first I thought was a moose because it was SOOO big and had giant antlers, but I’m pretty sure there aren’t any moose around these parts. A few minutes later I saw a full herd of more elk (I think) without antlers. These must be the females? Obviously I know nothing about these creatures so feel free to educate me!

At lunch I managed to eat two bean burritos and had a good rest after putting in 13 miles before midday. But then after lunch I felt even worse in the stomach, and was pretty sure I would actually vomit at some point along the trail.

The nausea sensations remained with me for most of the afternoon but seemed to settle over the last few miles, maybe because the steep ups and downs were a good distraction. I hit Rd 23 just before 5pm and raced down to ensure a quick hitch into town. That quick hitch took over 1.5 hours. Only two cars went by in that time in the direction I was heading, and it was the second car that took me into town.

I managed to get to the one cafe just before closing time, had a burger, put my laundry in the laundry line, had a cold bath, and am now dressed in a sleeping bag in my room above the grocery store as I have no other clothing. I have saved 31.6 miles in the piggy bank thus far, and hope to keep up a good pace to reach Snoqualmie Pass for my post office pickup next Friday. I’ll be stopping at White Pass on Monday morning, but hope to make it a very quick detour and hit the trail again in the early afternoon.

After a 28.9 mile day with over 6000 feet of climbing from Trout Creek to Blue Lake today, my whole body hurts. The lake is a popular camping spot for overnighters and the only free space I could find was near two other women; who didn’t mind me encroaching on their space if I promised to share some trail stories with them.

I was on the trail at 6:20am this morning and struggled a little getting packed up and ready in the dark. It’s taking longer and longer for the sun to come up these days so I guess I’m going to have to get used to it.

I hiked 6 miles in under two hours this morning because the terrain was so flat, but then the climbing begun. I have been feeling a little off the last couple of days and honestly thought I would need to stop and vomit on a few occasions. I wonder if it is heat related and I’m not getting enough water? There was a 10 mile stretch after Panther Creek to the next water source, but somehow I passed it and had to go another 3 miles on my 1.5 litres. I miraculously managed to do 18 miles before finally stopping for lunch just after 2pm. I was exhausted and thirsty, but happy I only had 10 more miles to do afterwards. They turned out to be very steep uphill miles however!

On the way up I was suddenly hit with the realisation that I’m in Washington, I’ve almost been on the trail for 5 months, and I’ve come such a long way! I remember during some of the first days on trail wondering how on earth I would actually walk over 2000 miles and what 5 months on trail would be like. Well now I know, and boy am I glad I’m here now and not still back at day 1 in the desert!

It’s already after 10pm as I joined the two ladies around their camp fire to tell them stories, eat their left over dinner and drink hot chocolate. I’ve got about 24 miles to get to Trout Lake tomorrow, which should be achievable given there’s a lot less climbing compared to the last couple of days. Thank goodness! Goodnight for now from mile 2213!

When people say Washington is steep, they ain’t kidding! I felt a little bummed stopping at 6:30pm this evening but my feet were beat and the next water source was another 3 miles away. Then I checked Halfmile’s app and realised I’d hiked 23.8 miles, climbed 6078 feet and descended 6474 feet, all in 12 hours. No wonder my body was tired. It was also somewhere in the 80’s today and incredibly humid!

I also found a perfectly flat campsite here at Trout Creek and wasn’t sure where the next one would be. Sadly I think my night hiking days are over, and since it starts getting dark just after 7:30pm, it really cuts my hiking window to 13 hours including all breaks. I have saved 13 miles in the piggy bank thanks to the additional 6.8 I did today, and the 6.2 yesterday. I need to check and see how my stops are lining up with days of the week. Hitting a post office on a weekend could totally set me back.

I almost sent my diva cup home at Cascade Locks and oddly enough today I needed it. This explains why I wasn’t feeling great last night. Guys I know you get uncomfortable when women talk about their periods but this topic was one of my big questions/fears before starting the trip. All I can say is a heavy hip belt and cramps are a nasty combination, and ladies try the diva cup. It’s creepy at first but this is something I’m going to continue using in the real world. Be sure to test it out a few times like any other piece of gear before the trip!

I passed a couple south bounding today who started at the Canadian border. They assured me there was nothing too death defying about the trail, unless you get 60mph winds on Knifes Edge. Hold on… there’s something called Knifes Edge!? I also met Girlie Girl today and immediately understood why she got that name. She was plaiting her hair with a small mirror hanging from a tree branch. We had a great chat and after she told me she was carrying 10 days of food I wanted to change her name to Beast!! I’m carrying 4 and that seems like too much!

When I finally reached Rock Creek for lunch today after 13 miles I was completely out of water. Usually I would do this distance comfortably in the morning with one litre, but I forgot just how much I sweat on the steep uphills and the humidity killed me. I was joined at lunch by a giant slug and a section hiker who I was hesitant to communicate with at first, as he didn’t look like a thru hiker and had a creepy vibe about him. He turned out to be very nice, and is planning to do the entire trail next year. I’m a little more careful about engaging in conversations with randoms after a man in the hot tub at Timberline said he’d massage my feet when I told him I was a thru hiker. I politely declined and made a quick exit!

And lastly, yesterday while I was hiking a very loud random siren sounded. I only caught the end of it but reviewing this video made me giggle, so I thought I’d share it with you for a quick laugh. Off to sleep now, hoping for a big mile day tomorrow! Oh and I have my SPOT device back and will be checking in every morning and at my lunch breaks.

Over the Bridge of the Gods… Washington begins…

If you plan to take the Eagle Creek Trail into Cascade Locks this is my advice… 1. Although rumoured to be steep, and bearing in mind I didn’t see it for myself, take the Indian Spring Trail down to Eagle Creek. 2 miles beats the alternate 6 any day; I don’t care how steep it is.
2. Don’t do it at the end of a long day when your feet are hurting, and 3. Don’t expect TOO much, I thought there’d be unicorns and Oompa Loompas running around the way people had talked about it. Sure walking under a waterfall was pretty neat and a first, but I just wasn’t feeling it after the 20 miles I’d hiked to get there.

The first 12 miles barely had any water. I was lucky I grabbed half a litre at the just trickling Salvation Spring because the mysterious piped spring that Yogi and Guthook mentions at mile 2132 was nowhere to be seen. I concurred with three other hikers that this pipe didn’t exist because we all ended up out of water and thirsty at Indian Springs.

Poor Joel, an older hiker I met for the first time yesterday, was sprawled out on the trail about two miles from the spring when I walked by. He’d already run out of steam but was hoping to make it all the way into Cascade Locks. He managed to catch up while I was eating lunch and we chatted about the incident where another hiker told me not to do the Eagle Creek Trail, and told me I should ‘be a man’ when I told him I wasn’t interested in hiking all the way from Timberline to Cascade Locks in 24 hours. Joel had been sitting at the table behind me and overheard the whole conversation. This other hiker was so concerned about people who had missed sections who call themselves thru hikers. I told him to hike his own hike and not worry about how others hike theirs.

Joel and I also discussed which route to take to the Eagle Creek Trail. He showed me his map and decided he would take the short way on Indian Spring Trail because he was shooting for Cascade Locks. I figured the other route continuing along the PCT to Wahtum Lake would only be about 2 miles longer and would let me stay on the PCT for as long as possible. As time ticked over I thought maybe my route was actually 3 miles longer, but when I bumped into a group coming in the opposite direction who had a map with distances on it, I realised I’d travelled an additional 4 miles to reach the intersection at the opposite end of the Indian Spring Trail. I wasn’t overjoyed by this news.

I think the additional miles messed with me mentally, as I simply wasn’t able to enjoy this trail that I’ve been looking forward to hiking since I started planning my PCT hike. I also wasn’t able to make it all the way to 4 1/2 mile camp. I stopped at another camp 0.7 miles earlier and am now a little bummed that I’ll have close to 9 miles into Cascade Locks tomorrow morning. Ah well, tomorrow is still a bonus mile day.

On a side note, I’m pretty sure there’s a rodent trying to get into my food bag. Instead of having it gnaw through my tent, I’ve put it just outside. I’ve also put my trash ziplock outside as a decoy. I can hear the bag rustling and am pretty sure I’m going to find a few holes in the morning.

Today’s weather was an absolute contrast to yesterday’s with clear blue skies and full sunshine! I was able to see the top of Mt Hood for the first time and could see all the way back to Mt Jefferson where I’d been only a few days before. There were lots of day hikers from Timberline on the trail, so my first few miles were slow, as I couldn’t help but stop to chat and answer their many questions. One group of four women asked if I could take a picture of them and were absolutely shocked to discover I was a thru hiker. They said most of the ones they’d seen were dirty, smelly and mainly had long un-groomed facial hair (referring to the men I assume).

I told them all about my journey so far, about UB, run ins with wild animals and windstorms. Their excitement gave me such a boost that I hiked the first 9 miles without taking a break, then found a nice open flat spot to have lunch. I ditched my salami at Timberline as I suspect it was causing my after lunch tummy discomfort. I did feel a little better a today so maybe this was the key.

I had to cross Sandy River immediately after my break, and was surprised at how nimble I felt hopping from log to rock to log all the way across. A group of women watching even gave me a round of applause when I reached the other side successfully. Soon afterwards I took the Ramona Falls trail to see the giant waterfall, then came across another river crossing which I did not execute quite as eloquently.

The rest of the day was mainly uphill along switchbacks, then finally down again to the campsite I hoped to crash at. I was devastated when I found it occupied by four tents already. One of the occupants was a former PCT hiker and offered me a space, but it was so crowded I simply followed his directions to the closest water source (which took me a while to find), then carried on until I found the first semi flat spot.

Tomorrow I’m planning to hike around 23 miles to the 4 1/2 mile camp on the Eagle Creek Trail. I’m excited to see this trail which I’ve been planning to hike ever since I started reading about the PCT!