Start: 340.5
Stop: 357.6
Today’s miles: 17.1
Total PCT miles: 545.4
Margot never showed last night. I walked back to my tent around 7pm from hanging out at the trail junction, then paced around in my rain gear and bugnet until 7:30, where I then cooked my dinner and paced around to eat it.. because, well, mosquitoes.
I could have eaten in my tent, but I wanted her to be able to easily spot me in my bright rain jacket from trail so she wouldn’t pass the junction, since it was getting darker on this side of the mountain. No luck, she didn’t show, so by 8pm I gave up and got in my tent. Around 8:30, I heard someone walking through, and I had my vestibule door open, so I popped my head out.. it was Annie and Riley! I immediately peppered them with their last Margot sighting: not since they saw her with me yesterday! They never passed her today!
That was a relief to me, it meant some time during the day, when I was in the Chinook Pass bathroom or when I was eating my lunch, she passed me. She’s ahead! Maybe she got to camp, didn’t see me, assumed I pushed on, and decided to, too. I was still having some anxious thoughts, like she took a wrong turn at a junction and is now 9 miles deep in the Mount Rainier back country.. or she slipped off the mountain somewhere and we walked past her.. but, I tried my best to silence those negative thoughts, pray she was just fine, ahead of me, and that I’d see her today.
I tossed and turned all night. I did sleep, and it was good sleep, but I’d wake up in a panic and look outside my tent to see if she magically showed up and set her tent up at 11pm or 2am or 4:15am. Ha. What a lunatic I am. I got up at 6:30 and was packed and on trail by 7am exactly. I was hoping my packing didn’t wake Annie and Riley at all, and I waited to brush my teeth until after I was on trail for a bit.
I was cruising, it was downhill until I hit a water crossing that she should be at, surely, and then there would be some climbing to do before rounding out the top of an ascent and heading back downhill into White Pass. My day was 17.1 miles and I made it to the pass by 1:30! I was shocked. The mosquitoes were out and while the views of lakes and forest were pretty, I barely took the time to notice them in my head net because of those stupid flying terrorists.
Around noon I got service and immediately text Margot. I saw it went through! She had service too! She said she was already in White Pass!! WHAAAAT?! I called her, she had gotten ahead of me yesterday unknowingly.. didn’t get to swim, and when she got to camp and I wasn’t there, she assumed I went on to the next campsite. She was worried as hell when she got there and neither I nor Marquis was there.
She slept horribly, worried about what had happened to me, thinking I may have gotten injured or something since she never passed me. She woke up with the sun and was hiking by 5:55am, her earliest morning yet, all in an attempt to find me and Marquis. She stumbled upon him before he even packed his tent, and they hiked into White Pass and were waiting to hear from me or see me show up. She said she got so worried she was considering calling my mom to see if she had heard from me.
I got to the Kracker Barrel store they were at, and Marquis was surprised by friends that showed up to see him! Laurie and Dan (I’m sorry if I’m wrong on the names) hung out with us the rest of the afternoon! They live about an hour away and decided to bring a little trail magic to Marquis (and us, thank you!!) and spend some time with him. They are so incredibly kind, gave us snacks and ice cold Cokes.
We set our tents up behind the store in their “free camping” area, then I went inside and ordered a pizza. I felt like it took 7 years to get it, but it was actually only like 35 minutes. It was pretty tasty, I must admit. Stache was there, so he hung out a bit and had a slice I pestered him into eating, the others all came in too. We got our resupply boxes and I’m realizing I had Mom send me way too much food. Whoops.
Afterwards, we did our laundry and showered.. what I would give to have a place have shampoo, conditioner, AND soap! My hair is so fried. My shower only had shampoo. A small travel sized men’s shampoo. Cool. I made it work and even managed to shave my pits and legs using lotion I carry. The water was hot, the shower was clean and large and nice.. I got a towel to dry with, so other than the conditioner issue, it was worth the $10 I spent.. especially since I didn’t have to feed quarters and pray it wouldn’t shut off before I rinsed completely.
Everyone, including Silky and Stache and many hikers I’ve never met hung out at the picnic tables behind the store, charging our things and talking and laughing. Annie and Riley showed up. It was a really fun evening, even with the stupid bugs. Now, I’m laid up in my tent, surrounded by approximately 15 other tents, listening to trucks fly down this two lane highway that’s in front of the store we’re all camped behind. I can also hear some sprinklers, and other hikers tossing, turning, walking to and from.. good thing these earplugs are about to be used!
In the morning the store opens at 8am.. so I need to organize my food, replenish some snacks, candy, and lunch food, then repack everything. I’m not sure what time we’re trying to get out of here, but I know we want to attempt to get to a campsite at 14 miles away.. soooo, we’ll see. Looks like I need to go to bed 😉 it’s probably all the soda this afternoon, but I’m really wide awake. I got quite a few of the blog posts up, but sadly the service back here isn’t as good as it is right at the store, so I can’t upload the last 3-4. Maybe I’ll be able to in the morning, if I’m quick enough.
Alright, for real now, goodnight y’all.