Start: 459.5
Stop: 485.2
Today’s miles: 25.7
Total PCT miles: 673.1
What a day, what a day. I slept really good, for the first time in several days, maybe? I don’t know, it almost feels like good sleep is hard to come by on an air mattress on the ground, because my arms will go numb and cause me to need to roll. I got up at 6:30 and quickly packed, then headed over to get water down the side trail. Some guy parked his tent and poles right beside the log we have to step over to get to the water.. you know, the last water for like 11 miles.. and had the audacity to “huff” because we were walking by his tent. Sorry, dude, you should have picked literally any other spot in the area, and people wouldn’t be passing close to your tent all morning.
I feel like I cruised pretty well the first half of the day. There weren’t any bugs bothering me, I was listening to the end of an audiobook (The Hotel Nantucket), and things were just going well. There wasn’t really any climbing yet, besides right at the beginning and it was over before I had a chance to lose my breath over it. I was still in deep woods, and now there weren’t any lakes either.. just tall tall trees and hillside.
Around 12:30 I stopped for lunch at a road crossing, basically just somewhere flat to lay out and much and rest my feet. I relaxed and as the time inched towards 1pm, I packed up and got my pack on my back. I started to feel a little woozy, and at the same I saw Margot heading my way. We talked a minute as I tried to ignore the way I was feeling, and then she asked if I was ok, saying I looked a little pale. As she said it, I was starting to get that black tunnel vision and feel all the color drain from my face.
I plopped down, my pack still on, and laid back.. spacing a little bit but not blacking out. Once I was on the ground I immediately started feeling better. Margot was worried, of course, and dropped her pack. She quickly walked off to go to the bathroom but then came back a minute or so later and sat with me until I started feeling better. Today is hot, so I’m guessing it was just dehydration. But it was odd because I had literally been sitting for over thirty minutes, I ate and drank and felt perfect, until I stood up.
When I started feeling better we continued hiking together, Margot insisting on being behind me in case something happened. Within a mile or two we came across a swimming hole and decided to get in, hoping the cold water would help cool me down, if it was the heat causing my issues. The creek water was incredible and we ended up staying there until 3pm, swimming awhile before laying out to dry off. Again-zero bugs bothering us! It was the most glorious time, and the best part of the day.
Afterwards, I felt totally normal again! Like the almost black out business had never happened at all. We were cruising, we still had a long way to go to get to camp, but we made a plan to stop 5 miles before camp, eat dinner, and then hike there regardless of the sunlight.. and we were doing great, until suddenly I see Margot ahead of me drop her trekking poles, scream, and start hauling ass back to me. Oh shit! Snake?
Nope. Apparently only I panic like that over snakes.. she had just been stung 3 times by a hornet. She was in tears, and in a complete panic, because there were more flying about, following her. We quickly backtracked to a dirt road we had just passed, and as she was telling me what happened, tears streaming down her face, her leg on fire from the stings, I ended up fighting off 2 more hornets.. I was afraid my swatting them off her was going to make them sting one of us, thankfully I was able to smash both of them before that happened.
We had to figure out what to do, we didn’t want to go back where the hornet’s nest was, which had to be somewhere close to where she got stung and left her poles. We were on a dirt road, so we checked our maps to figure out where it went and if we could reconnect with the trail. We thought it would, so that was the plan.. road walk around and reconnect up the trail a bit, away from the angry hornets. The problem? Her poles.
She looked like she was about to lose it all over again when she thought about going to get them. I said I’d get them, and the relief visibly washed over her. I took off my pack and put on my rain gear, zipped myself in all the way, and quickly darted down the trail to grab her poles and get back to her, praying none followed me. The spot where she dropped her poles had pink tape off to the right side of the trail.. it makes me wonder if someone marked the nest.
I didn’t have any problems and none followed me back that we saw.. although we were both still a little shaken up. I took off my gear and put my pack back on. We made our way down the dirt road pretty quick-fear of the hornets returning and all. As we walked, I could see Margot’s leg getting patchy red in places and starting to swell. Shit. That’s not good. I knew it hurt, she was hyped up on adrenaline but could feel the throbbing pain down that leg so much she was starting to compensate on her other foot to relieve some pressure.
We got maybe a quarter way down the dirt road, only to come to a huge fence and gate, locked, that said no trespassing. Margot was not thrilled. I told her it would be fine and talked her into climbing around the broken fence wire off to the side in the woods.. reluctantly she agreed and we continued walking down the road, now dotted with weird buildings, a couple houses, wide fields and lots of dirt roads. It was eerie, but I wasn’t too worried. Margot was afraid someone would show up with a gun or “release their dogs,” nahhhh. I told her if anyone appeared, just start crying and we’d tell them about the hornets.
It was fine. We got to the back gate and climbed through the fencing wires in the woods, then quickly saw where the trail was and rejoined it. There was another creek and it was beautiful, but we kept moving. It was a hellacious climb, especially after I almost passed out earlier and now Margot has a swollen, throbbing leg that was just attacked. We had to climb almost 2 thousand feet in elevation gain in just over 4 miles. It. Kicked. My. Ass.
When we got to the dirt road crossing close to the top, we stopped for dinner. We went back and forth about camping there or continuing on the entire time we sat, cooked, and ate our food. Once we finished eating and cleaned up, we decided to push the 5.1 miles to where Marquis should be camping. It was already 7:50 by the time we headed back on trail, so we had out headlamps easily accessible and started moving.
We finally rolled into camp just before 10pm, that we only saw in the pitch black, because Marquis saw our headlamps and turned his on, so we could follow the glow onto the side trail to the campsites. We all three shared our day, and then completely exhausted, Margot and I got our tents up. I’ll be honest, the only reason I’m typing this all up right now is because my phone needs to charge and this keeps me awake long enough to make sure I disconnect the cords.. so I don’t drain my battery.
But even still, it’s 11:11 (I miss you, Andrea), I’m wiped the hell out, and my battery is only up to 71% so I think I’ll just risk it and disconnect the cord if I wake up when I roll over in the night. We have 20 miles to go tomorrow to the to Cascade Locks and the Bridge of the Gods.. we’ll officially be DONE with Washington state! And hopefully Curmy and Cholula will be able to come get us, but if not, we can camp at the marina and see them on Sunday. We did this section way faster than we thought we would. Originally we didn’t think we’d get there til Monday.. well, assuming Margot and I can walk tomorrow, we should be able to make it by late afternoon at the latest.
Ok, that’s all I got. Love y’all, goodnight!
I miss you ❤️ and I’m glad you both are okay.