PCT mm 2226.4 – In Trout Lake

Another good day today.  I was able to get up and on the trail by 6:45, the weather was cool but not cold all day, and I was able to hit the road to Trout Lake by 5:30 and got a ride after only fifteen minutes.  The belly is full, the food bag is full, and I got to sleep in a bed and take a bath and wash clothes.  Food bath and laundry is the true triple crown of hiking.  A bed is just gravy.

Three other hikers were camping by the lake with me but none of them were awake yet when I set off in the morning.  The voltaren gel did not work the same wonders this morning as previous mornings, and I had a tiny bit of hiker hobble that went away in five minutes.  I guess the shorter days the last few days were a contributing factor to me feeling better the last few days.  No worries, it’s better than before so I’ll keep using it.

The terrain had a few ups and downs in the morning and I passed by several more lakes in the Indian Heaven area.  This was a nice area, but nothing special.  Most of it was in thick trees but there were some open meadows, a few streams, and some good views of Mt Adams when the trail was high.

When I stopped for lunch at a campsite right at noon, I had done 14.5 miles.  That’s fantastic considering the starting time.  The terrain had been very favorable and I had made coffee with honey in it in the morning and put too much honey in it.  I only drank less than half of it in the morning and it fueled me the whole way.  I was walking briskly all morning, even on the uphills.  They were graded well enough that it did not slow me down much and did not tire me out.  Lunch was ramen noodles and  Cheetos, two of my favorites.  I finished off the last of my freeze dried mangoes and dehydrated mandarins, too.

The afternoon left me with just about ten miles to town. It would be a big climb, a big downhill, then another big climb, and then a small downhill.  Should be cake.

The first climb was very moderate and the reward was a great view of Mt Adams.  We are hiking straight towards it now and it gets bigger each day.  You can see now that it’s multiple kinds of rock under the snow.  The downhill was cake, too.  The grades here in Washington have been quite gentle so far.

The last climb was a little steeper than the others, though.  It wasn’t bad, but I did slow down a little.  I met some southbounders on the way up and they gave me the skinny.on town.  I kept on pushing and tried my.phone at the top of the climb, just two miles from the road, but had no cell service.  The other hikers had given me the list of trail angels and recommended that I try to call one from there to arrange a ride because the road has little traffic.  I tried every half mile all the way to the road, but no service.  Great.

When I got to the road, i saw a truck going the wrong way had slowed, then kept.moving.  I set my pack by the road and went to sit on a log to write down the names and numbers of the angels on paper from the photo I had taken of the southbounders photo of the list.  A car came by, so I jumped up and stuck out my thumb, but no luck.  Oh well, back to writing.  I finished about a dozen numbers and decided I would start walking until I got cell signal.  I was getting one bar occasionally and could tell if I went down the road a short ways around the mountain that the signal would improve.  Just as I was about to hoist my pack on my back, the same truck that had slowed, came back and stopped when I stuck my thumb out.  Success.

My ride was Eddie who used to log this area, but was now retired.  He had decided to just take a drive up the mountain to look at the woods.  Lucky for me.  We talked as we went into town and as we got to the store, he gave me his card and said.to call him if I had trouble getting a ride.out of town.  On his card, it said he was a.livestock dealer.  Looks like we had more talking to do.  He said he is usually at the café at 7:30 in the morning, so I am hoping to catch him there to get a ride back up.  And people don’t believe in miracles….

Once at the store, my luck continued.  Both of the rooms they had for rent were open and there was another hiker there inquiring as well.  So we split the room with three beds and paid $12.50 each for a bed, bath, and access to laundry.  Score.

I ran to the café, and had a Vulture burger, a huckleberry lemonade, salad, and huckleberry pie with huckleberry ice cream.  Heaven.  I ran back to the store, got my.package, bought two beers and a bag of cheetos and went to the room to get a bath.  The other guy had gotten some dvd’s to watch and we watched The Martian and Hunger Games while we did chores and in-between laundry.  There is no cell service in town, but they have wifi, so emails were read and sent.  Everyone in this town is so friendly, it’s been one of the better stops so far.