PCT day 98 - mile 2230 to mile 2256

July 26, 2022

Night was quite loud due to a close proximity of the stream and a bunch of crickets serenading us to sleep until midnight. It finally got quieter later on though.

We woke up at 6:30am few hours before the first Sunday mass, no one from the church staff was around to meet and greet us. I packed my things up and went to the general store which was opening soon and where the shuttle was picking us up at 8am. I bought a sausage and cheese muffin which I microwaved in store, most of people went to the coffee shop for breakfast but I decided to skip it, I pulled out some tortilla chips and two chocolate coconut bars from hiker box instead, it was more than enough for me.

Our shuttle aka a pick up van arrived at 7:45, there was eight of us willing to come back to the trail and somehow we all fit in, five of us sitting at the back, it was a fun but a bit cold ride. We headed back on trail with Sonic and Stretch two girls who joined us on the campsite yesterday evening, people had various ideas of how many miles we should push today, but my heavy backpack decided for me, there was no way I would push more than 25.

Other than 5 days worth of food I packed two half empty gas canisters from the hiker box (no one had the contraption to transfer gas between canisters) and my La Sportiva shoes which although they have over 700 miles on them I can still possibly use for a hundred or more miles. Instead I was wearing Fomo's old shoes called Altra today which he wore for only 300 miles and decided to get new pair as he slipped and fell on the snow recently (he also got micro spikes to be safe). The plan is to wear Fomo's shoes for as long as possible and then go back to my old shoes, but since it makes my backpack really heavy I don't know for how long I'll stick to it.

Path was fairly easy today, we met first few actual "Sobo's" people who started their walk at the Canadian border and are going where we, "Nobo's" came from, I thought we would meet them earlier but the snow in Washington was/is so bad that it delayed everybody for several weeks. I've been informed by a Sobo hiker called Strider that we won't experience any serious snow for the next 50 miles.

I'm camping at the mosquito hell site tonight located between two stagnant ponds, everyone else decided to push forward in hopes of finding less infested area but my day was long enough and I learned fairly well how to deal with those little spawns from hell by now. Looks like the ponds are also filled with frogs which are singing me anthems of their ancestors at the moment, I don't think it will hold me long from falling asleep though. Frog songs are actually quite sleep inducing in my books, so no complains there.

Tomorrow should be a long day which will take me within few hours reach from White Pass and it's Crackel Barrel resupply point the day after.

Mt Adams: