Day 102 | mile 2325.7 - 2365.8 | 40.1 miles

Woke up at 5:50. Oatmeal and carnation breakfast essentials packet. Both came from a hiker box in Packwood. It wasn’t good. A cinnamon raisin English muffin with Nutella made up for it

Hiking at 7:10.

I read in my PCT book last night that the last 57 miles into Snoqualmie are the worst miles on the PCT. Cool! That’s like most of this stretch. The book urges the reader to skip those miles. Haha. I’ll be walking through those miles today.

First thing today was a steep uphill to Sourdough Gap. Made me hungry for sourdough pancakes with whipped cream, toasted slivered almonds, and maple syrup. Mmm. I need to get a new starter when I come back.

Got reception on top of the ridge. Made some calls to make sure the rest of my resupplies in order. The box that I couldn’t pick up in Packwood should get bounced to Stehekin. And Alex will send me a box to Steven’s Pass. Phew. I never want to think about resupplies again.

Alex also booked me a room in Snoqualmie. YAY!

I did not see a single NOBO today. And every SOBO I met is very surprised I started in Campo. Finally, I said, “Well, that’s the trail, right? Aren’t you going to Campo?” Apparently, it’s just early. Now that I’m so close to finishing, I cannot imagine just starting on this journey. They’re not even 500 miles in. But they seem to love it, so that’s good.

I fell when I was drinking and walking at the same time and spilled most of my water. Then accidentally walked past the stream where I was supposed to fill up. The next water was only in 5 miles. But someone left 2 flats of Costco water bottles on top of a hill. I chugged two bottles. Delicious!

Met some trail crews working on this section of trail. So thankful for them. They cleared the trail of countless trees. One of them even gave me a treat: fruit snacks and nutter butter. I should’ve been giving them treats.

Stopped for lunch at a shelter at 2 pm. There was an older guy there already - Ralph. I scarfed down a tuna packet with tuna and tortilla chips that someone left at the shelter. How many ounces of mouse droppings did I consume? We’ll never know.

Ralph and I talked about his trip. He was hiking with his wife, Amy, from Chinook Pass to Snoqualmie and back. But she bailed on Snoqualmie. I found out she is staying at the same hotel I’ll be in tomorrow. I was expressing my excitement to meet her when Ralph asked me to kindly not say anything to her. He doesn’t want to be in trouble. Understood.

I was only 21 miles in at that point and had to keep moving. Finished Brotopia.

who will win: huckleberries or fruity gummy bois?

Annoyingly, the last 10 miles were a series of sharp ups and downs. Not fun. I listened to MBMBaM and This American Life. I have 3 more This American Life episodes left. One for each resupply.

Had to get off the trail to climb down to get water for camp. There were a bunch of people camped there and I really wanted to take off my shoes and camp there but I pushed on another 2.5 miles.

Rolled in to camp at 9:20. Had past-a-roni with tuna, brushed my teeth, and passed out.