What a doozie of a day. We set our goal for the day at 40 miles since we needed to make up some miles after dilly dallying around enjoying our morning yesterday. Washington already had its claim for me as the most beautiful section of the PCT and it further cemented that claim today. Long days are easier when I walk faster so I cranked ‘Best of Avicci” playlist that provided 4 hours of banger after banger. 

Outside my one personal concert, a lot happened today, starting with a hole in my shoes growing from like a dime sized hole to a 2 inch long rip. No bueno since I’m not set to pick up my next pair of shoes for another 250 miles (or a little less than a week). At first I felt the hole would be manageable but it kept growing throughout the day and also getting all kinds of little debris in my shoe. I stopped at a little bit of service area in the afternoon to call Hoka to see if there was anything they could do. It was one of the rare moments where a large company came through! They are priority shipping a new pair to arrive in a town I can be at on Friday, meaning the shoes only have to last another 3 days. Thank you Hoka!

The next event was some surprise trail magic at a ski cabin built next to the PCT. A nice family left a cooler of beer and grapes. I skipped the beer but the grapes were special. Made my afternoon! 

In the last 2 miles to camp, I ran into a PCT volunteer trail crew. They’d set up camp and were preparing dinner so I sat down to chat with them and thank them for their service. They offered me watermelon and these scrumptious pumpkin home made cookies. Tasty town!

I’ve been listening to the complete collections of Sherlock Holmes on audio book, and am proud to say I finished the 62 hour and 52 minute audio book today. It’s masterfully done and has been a fun way to occupy my mind for approximately 190 miles of this hike (or holy hell, 8% of my hike so far lol). 
Back to the shoes — when I got to camp, I sewed the holes in my shoes with dental floss. Hope it holds.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly, mosquitos were almost non-existent today bringing a much needed reprieve from those savages.

Miles: 40.14 

Total Miles: 2,462