Day 116 (14 September)

Miles 2162.1 to 2185.7. Woods camp to woods camp.

We slept really well and feel rested when the alarm rings. It‘s still dark outside and we try not to make too much noise when we pack up so as not to wake up BigBro. But his alarm rings soon as well and he sticks his head out of his tent and smokes his first cigarette of the day as usual. While we are packing up and talking to BigBro dawn fades and out comes the sun, shining through the trees, looking so pretty. I take a lot of pictures, and then we finally start hiking.

But we don‘t make it very far until I start taking pictures again. We discover a nice little rock out of the woods and step out on it. The most amazing scenery is right in front of us. A misty morning, foggy trees, the early morning sun. It‘s magical.

We soon take a breakfast break in the sun where we hang up our wet tent to dry. No sight of Big Bro. We leave again and keep hiking through forest. He eventually catches up with us and we decide to meet again for lunch. It‘s again a sunny clearing where we hang up the tent again. This will quickly become our routine now, the tent is pretty much always wet now. Condensation happening inside the tent, rain happening outside the tent. Luckily, we stay dry. So far.

We should be able to reach our goal of 22 miles today, walking is up and down but not too hard on us today. We keep getting nice views whenever the forest lifts for a bit and when we reach the bottom of a valley we leave the forest completely and are walking in lovely wheat colored meadows. Here the sun can easily reach us. Inside and outside. Such a simple life. What a good life.

We cross a few larger rivers and meet up with BigBro again on one of the many river shores. We stuff some M&Ms and Sour Patch in our mouths (still our favorite snack!) and attack the last climb of the day. Hey now, that‘s a steep one. Looks like the PCTA forgot that horses need to be able to hike this trail too (we say that whenever the trail becomes too steep for us)!

But we successfully climb it and finally reach our designated campsite at dusk after almost 24 miles. That‘s good for Washington standards! Beesknees is also camped there, a lovely lady who has been leapfrogging with us all day.

We set up, make dinner and write the blog and then enjoy our usual Great British Baking Show during dinner. The nights are coming in earlier and earlier now, and they are colder each night. Let‘s hope we stay warm tonight.