September 15, Day 149: 2584.1-2613.1
Miles Hiked: 29
Gratitude of the Day: I’m thankful for all the extra layers of clothing I’ve been carrying. Tonight I’m going to need them.
Today was a planned big day with a total elevation gain and loss of 10,000 feet. The reason for the push is to set up for the border on Friday. So I set my alarm for 5am but didn’t start getting things ready until 5:30 and began hiking out of camp at 6:25am. It was 15 miles of uphill to start the day, still climbing out of the Stehekin Valley but the weather was beautiful, slightly chilly but the movement, hat and gloves kept me warm. When I reached Rainy Pass at 9:30 there was trail magic, Germinator (2018) and his mother Maggie had a variety of delicious fares, hot chocolate to warm the bones and plenty of chairs to go around. Even with a planned big day I stayed there for an hour. At 10:30 though it was back to the climb, still 7 miles to go. As I reached Cutthroat Pass the views to the north were just incredible. Every corner and view was a “wow” moment and I passed the 2600 mile marker.
Cool Cat, Clancy and I stopped around 1:30 to eat lunch and dry out our tents. At 2:15 I packed up and pushed up the last little bit of Methow Pass before descending into the valley below. I still had 10 miles to go for the day so I pushed to the last water source 2.7 miles from camp and stopped to take a break to filter water and eat a snack. The last bit to camp was another climb but it cuts off half of the climb for tomorrow. It’s hard to believe in a day and a half I’ll be at the Canadian border. Tonight it’s supposed to get below freezing, but I also sit 40.5 miles from the border.
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