Snowqualmie Pass to mile 2,368
Miles: 22
I have finally left the North Cascades.
I woke up to my alarm this morning at 6:30AM but refused to open my eyes. I could feel that I was in a motel bed and wasn't ready to confront the reality of forsaking that bed for the wilderness. After collecting myself for a moment, I pried my body out of bed; put on my dirty hiking shorts, socks, and t-shirt; and packed my backpack. Jaro awoke to my preparations with the sixth sense that hikers have for other hikers preparing to depart.
We headed downstairs to the Summit Pancake House for breakfast. Jabba, Badger, and James were supposed to meet us there at 7AM. The restaurant was empty and it was dark, but they were open and our waiter, Singh, led us to a long half-booth, half-chairs table. Jaro and I both sat on the booth side. Town days are too short to pass up cushy booths. We contemplated the menu, really only deciding between their two everything-included breakfast specials: the I-90 Special, and the Summit Special.
Jaro, bent over his menu, muttered, "I think I'll go with the I-90 with the pancakes."
I said, "I think I'm going to get the Summit with the French toast."
"No pancakes?"
"The Summit has three eggs. I-90 only has two."
"I think I'll get the Summit too."
Our Summit specials included a large patty of hash browns, two strips of bacon, two sausages, three eggs, and two pieces of French toast. Each special required a regular plate and large family-style oval plate to hold all of the food. We also got coffees and loaded them up with half and half and sugar.
Jabba, Badger, and James finally arrived. They also shunned the chairs at our table and opted to sit at the booth across from us. It was a convenient decision since our two breakfasts had taken up most of the six-person table. They ordered Summit specials as well, except for James who custom ordered a vegetarian version by getting specialty berry French toast and a side of eggs.
Jabba and Badger joked around with Singh. Clearly they had befriended him during dinner the night before. No big surprise as thru-hikers are in the giddiest of moods in the face of their first hot town meal. Singh enjoyed the back and forth, and hung out by our table, refilling our coffees after almost every sip.
Halfway through breakfast, an exceedingly grungy northbound thru-hiker named Seinfield hiked right into the restaurant and energetically greeted Badger. Apparently, they had hiked part of the Appalachian Trail together several years ago. Seinfield saw our breakfasts and turned toward Singh, "can I have that?"
I wanted to hit the trail with James, who needed to finish packing his bag, so I hung out in the hotel lobby. With access to a power source and wifi, I mindlessly browsed the internet for the first time in a couple weeks. I saw a live feed of the fencing world championships on Facebook and clicked the video. It was surreal to be watching a live fencing tournament from a tiny hotel on Snowqualmie Pass, Washington, but why not? When James finally arrived in the lobby, he asked me what I was doing, and I told him that I had just watched the French men's foil team beat the Russian team in the fencing world championships. Halfway through the sentence, I could tell that James had checked out. I should have just said "fencing."
We began hiking along the road and out of town, semi trucks whizzing by us. On the edge of town, James realized that he had forgotten to fill up his water bottles. "I'll catch up to you down the trail." Sure, you will, James. I hike faster than you and take fewer breaks. I was reminded of how little control you have on the trail. You can try to plan and coordinate but, once you've put in that modicum of effort, you have to let go of the wheel and roll with the results.
I hiked fast out of town. I had a six mile and several thousand foot climb to start the day, and wanted to tackle it while I was still hopped up on French toast and coffee. The trail was brushy at points but the path itself was well-worn and easy cruising relative to the rocky North Cascades. Passing day hikers all morning, I arrived at the peak of the climb and found a good log to sit on for a rest. I was in no rush for this section, my daily target mileage was about 22/day, so I had resolved to take more breaks and try to hike with others. I smacked on bars and journaled while I waited for James to catch up.
A day hiker lady came around a bend in the path towards me and asked me if I knew how to get to Silver Peak. I checked my phone maps and gave her shoddy directions to the off-PCT nearby peak. She sat on the log next to me and asked, "are you an extrovert?"
"Umm, sometimes"
"Well your friend back there in the trail says you're an extrovert." I could tell that she was referring to James.
"Ha! Well compared to him, everyone's an extrovert."
"He says that he's been hiking with a bunch of extroverts and that it's helping him grow, but it's keeping him from writing."
"Well, you've just interrupted me while I was writing."
She laughs. She thinks I'm joking. I'm not joking.
She asks me, "are you going to be in Seattle anytime?"
"The PCT doesn't go through Seattle."
She got the hint and headed off for Silver Peak.
I continued waiting for James, pulling out my harmonica. Eventually James walked up and let me know that he had stopped for a break just a hundred yards back and he was going to hike on. Then Badger walked past, saying the same. Super. Guess I missed the boat.
I hiked fast to catch up to them and we stuck together for an hour or so, Badger and I chatting about our lives and work off the trail. Usually, it seems like off-trail work is taboo, so it felt good to finally broach some topics that were important to us. Eventually we stopped to take a break, Jabba catching up to us. After a few minutes joking around, we began peeling off one by one, it was the mid-morning and clearly time to focus on making miles. Once again, I relinquished control, pulled ahead of the group, and hiked on solo.
Grumpy bird is grumpy, probably about being in the middle of the trail
I listened to "How Google Works" all afternoon and booked it down the trail. It was primarily woods walking with ups and downs and few views.
I set up camp 22 miles in on an abandoned road adjacent to the trail. My camp mates were two northbounders, Wookie and Bluebird. Ah yes. But of course, wookies and bluebirds are natural allies. We shared trail info as I set up my tent and took my dinner inside to escape the constant Washington mosquitos.