Day 127 (25 September)

Miles 2393.1 to 2413.8. Snoqualmie Pass to Creek camp.

We slept excellently in this cozy bed. But by 7am we get up, pack our stuff and have breakfast at the nearby restaurant. Omelets for me, eggs over easy for Maya.
 
The weather is absolutely perfect today. Not a single cloud to be seen in the sky. At 10am we start hiking with BigBro. A steep climb awaits us. Up up up for about 2.5 hours. But then we reach the top of the mountain range and have a stunning view of one of the most beautiful mountain sceneries we have ever seen on the whole trail! Almost all the peaks are covered in snow, which makes it even more spectacular.

After a short break and some more snicker bars in our bellies we hike on for another 45 minutes until we hit the 2400 mile marker! Wow!!! And the views are again bombastic! It is no nice that the three of us have lunch here. Since we entered Washington I've had Ramen noodles for lunch every single day - and today is no exception. I probably will never eat Ramen after the trail again in my whole life... But they're good calories, quickly prepared and very light weight. 

After lunch BigBro starts hiking on while we still sit here and enjoy the views for a while. In the afternoon we pass a huge white mountain goat. It looks like a polar bear from far away, it is massive!
 
Shortly before it gets dark, Maya and I are debating whether we should camp here on the ridge or go on and hike all the way down for another 5 miles. Finally I can convince her to go further to catch up with BigBro. But it is almost 7pm by now, which means that we will not be in camp before 9pm. 

It turns out these 5 miles take much longer than expected since we are already pretty tired by now. Shortly before reaching camp we end up missing a junction, keep hiking straight ahead for about 15 minutes instead of turning left. Finally we make it to camp at 9.30pm next to a big river and see BigBro on the other side. He yells across the river, that his campsite is full and that we should stay on our side. The river is raging and we don't see an immediate way of how to cross it. Since the campsite is apparently full anyway, we set up camp on the south side of the river.

Luckily there is a good spot here as well. We quickly set up our tent in the dark and cold night and then prepare some Indian curry with Couscous for dinner. We eat it while watching another episode of the Great British Bake-off and then go to bed very exhausted.