PCT day 100 - mile 2288 to mile 2315 (White Pass)

"There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in" Leonard Cohen

"I absolutely hate mosquitoes, fuck! Sorry I think I have a mosquito breakdown. Fuck, fUCK, FUCK, AAAaa!" Sonic

It was quite an angry day, but it ended in a quite interesting resolution.

While walking to White Pass I met Sonic who camped just few miles ahead of me on top of the ridge hoping that she will escape the mosquitoes there but sadly she didn't. She was quite cranky already when I met her but then we ended up walking through yet another mosquito hell, she was walking without a head net (which she lost a while ago in Oregon) and deet spray protection, so after couple of minutes she completely lost her temper and started to walk really fast trying to get to White Pass as quickly as possible swearing and shouting like a pirate. I could still hear her banshee like screams in front of me half an hour later, if I didn't know what it was I would have thought someone was getting murdered.

I arrived at Krakel Barrel gas station in White Pass an hour later and met a lot of familiar faces: Tank Top, Fomo, Lucky, Quicksilver, Sugar, Starburst and Truman the dog were there, Sugar has sprained her ankle and the couple was in quite miserable condition having to take several days off. Sonic and yellow blazers Sugar Mitts and Lostandfound were also here. The presence of last two annoyed me, they were constantly getting hitchhikes from town to town being ahead of the rest without actually doing much hiking, what was the point?! I was trying to convince myself that it didn't bother me, everyone was doing their own thing.. but really, deep inside it annoyed me, I felt it was utterly pointless and stupid, suddenly I joined the cranky club as well.

Tank Top left after a while to meet his friend in a nearby city, Fomo and Lucky hanged around a bit longer to give me time to join them for couple of miles. I resupplied finding a lot of good things in the hiker box, I only had to buy couple of snacks and protein. I double checked if my my bank card has been canceled and indeed it was, apple pay and cash from now on it was then. Sonic let me dump couple of dirty clothes with her washing, I brushed my teeth, had an ice cream immediately afterwards and was ready to go just before 11am.

We went out with Fomo and Lucky and while hiking I shared my thoughts about Sugar Mitts and Lostandfound with them, being quite mean to both of them in the process, we had a laugh and changed the subject to other hiking related dramas and Football Manager for whatever reason, haha. Few miles later I decided to get a break by the lake we were getting water from, they decided to carry on because of the mosquitoes so I stayed behind. I walked on my own for a while, seen a massive elk along the way (their hoove tracks left on trail were nearly as big as a cows!) and one of a sudden this poem came to my mind.

I knew it was worthwhile as it appeared ready in my mind so I just had to write it down without thinking much about it. It was a synthesis of today's events, the conversations I recently had, audiobooks I've listened to and topics I've been thinking about since the start of the hike. It appeared out of nowhere, when I really gave up hope of writing it down somehow. Here it is:

Ain't we just
A wobbling mass of
Flesh and self pity
Drifting through space
Given to us
Going down the slide
Of finite time
Looking for answers
Finding more questions.

Realising
Sometimes
With space and time present
That there was no one
To answer questions
We asked.

Explore that anger
Dive into this anxiety
Dissect the sarcasm
Just don't let it
Destroy you.

To get the answers
You have to ask
The right questions.

I caught up with Fomo and Lucky after an hour, they were sitting by the river. I've read it to them, Fomo (who also liked to write creatively) said it was alright and that I should post it on Guthook (GPS app we were using for navigation on PCT) so I posted it under the water marker we were currently sitting by.

Rest of the day I felt the unbearable lightness of being taking pictures of frogs and weeds and generally feeling inspired. I wrote few other things down which I knew from the experience wouldnt be any good as they were just reflecting the initial write up, but it was all ok.

I set up camp and ate dinner along many mosquitoe companions 9 miles away from Chinook Pass Trailhead where Lucky's friend will be hosting a trail magic tomorrow morning. What an unexpectedly and wonderfully retrospective chunk of a day it was.

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