The Walking Dom

Mile 2390 / KM 3846
Random Pass to Seattle to Denver to Seattle to Snoqualmie Pass to Pass Creek Tent Site

I miss: A good home cooked hot meal like a stew.

Podcast of my day: "The Monday Morning Podcast" by Bill Burr. Funniest dude walking the planet in my opinion.

Get ready for a rain rant; One day of rain is ok, two will make you want to quit and it will make you feel miserable. Everything gets wet, you're freezing, things stick to your hands, the walls of your tent are glued together when you're setting it up the next evening and taking breaks isn't fun either because you'll get cold after 5 minutes. My "waterproof" pack cover doesn't do anything, I might as well use newspaper. Boo rain! Despite of all that and against all odds I've miraculously managed to keep my stuff relatively dry. Even the trash bag I keep my sleeping bag in has had it's holes in the right places and water hasn't been able to seep through yet. I should really get a dry bag though... it's such a gamble with those trash bags. But now I feel committed to that "technique" so I might just ride it out. Living on the wild side!

I spent the weekend in Denver where I met up with some friends to see Lucero and Jason Isbell play at Red Rocks. What a venue! And seeing Lucero play it was an absolute treat. On my way back to the trail my new friend Dana whom I had met a couple of days earlier while hitching to Seattle offered to give me a ride back to the trail. And he did! So awesome! He picked me up from the airport and we went for a short hike up a local mountain near Rattle Snake Lake where I learned new things about foraging local plants and shrooms. Then he dropped me off on Snoqualmie Pass where Katie was waiting for me. The two of us got ourselves a cozy AirB&B and spent the rest of the day inside while catching up to the latest Netflix releases.

The next morning we ate about 3000 calories worth of cinnamon buns and headed north. We got about as far as 17 miles when the rain started all over again. This time we decided to march right through it until we reached our campsite in the evening. Had to cross a good sized river over a fallen log which reminded me of the good ol' days in the Sierras where we would ford dozens of rivers a day. The next morning we woke up to rain but made a run for it anyways. Felt miserable again but the clouds finally moved in the afternoon and revealed the beauty of Washington. It's gorgeous here and it looks a lot like Finland. Sadly it's not as flat as Finland and the elevation profile of the trail is literally a zigzag line all the way to Canada. But I don't mind the climbs. They make for good views which Washington is full of.

We didn't see any big wildlife this section other than a couple of butch deer ladies cruisn' around, but there's a new thing that keeps me up at night; Rodents! I hadn't had any major problems with them so far but now they're everywhere! We camped at Glacier Lake a couple of days ago where I woke up to a weird sound. I opened my eyes and saw two shadows run over the highest point of my tent. I got all creeped out, certain I would wake up with a hole in my tent or worse, my sacred trash bag! Luckily that didn't happen.

We got into Stehekin a couple of rainy days later and for once we had great timing. We got a hitch right away and arrived at the trail angels, "The Dinsmore's", house right when John, the host, was firing up the BBQ. I was starving by that time and inhaled two big cheeseburgers and a hot dog in about 15 minutes. We got to do our laundry, shower and hang in the cute gazebo for the rest of the afternoon. "The Dinsmore's" is a great place. They've got a bunk house for hikers and in it is has a TV, a fridge, a kitchen, couches, hiker boxes and all the other good things a hiker's heart desires. Hands down my favourite trail angel house on the entire PCT.

Katie and I are currently hunkered down in my tent, listening to drops of rain hitting my rain fly. We decided to avoid the rain completely and play cards and drink rum all afternoon. My tent is a good place to be other than the occasional cat pee wiffs. I forgot to tell you guys this but a cat peed on my sleeping bag in Portland and ever since that I've had to fall asleep to that disgusting smell right under my nose. You wonder "Why would you do that Dom? Just wash the damn thing! Well... I am too afraid to wash my bag in a common laundromat because I know I would fuck up 100% and the down would end up everywhere but in my bag and I would end up with hypothermia and the wolves would get to me after all. So I am going to ride this one out too!