Mile 2,402 – Rain vs. Huckleberries

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Mile 2402

Snoqualmie Pass, Washington

As we left White Pass, we headed right into a rain storm that we didn’t realize would last for over 24 hours.  With every mile, it seemed the rain grew heavier and heavier, so we decided to call it a day after 20 miles and set up camp under a giant fir tree.

We were surprised in the middle of the night by what is called a “widow-maker” – a large dead tree branch that fell from the tree and landed on our tent.   Fortunately, our widow-maker didn’t do any damage to us or our tent.  We were able to sleep a while longer, though not peacefully, because we kept thinking about the continuing wind and the possibility of further falling branches.

The next morning was very hard because we had to put on our soaking wet, very cold clothing, in order to head out again into the constant rain.  At this point our energy levels were quite low, but we set out early anyway.  We were hoping to make it a 35-mile day, because we knew that about 35 miles ahead was supposed to be a vacant camper’s cabin with a fireplace (Warmth!  Dry clothes!!).  We longed to dry out our clothes and find relief from the constant wetness.  Our day started to turn for the better when we saw four large elk cross the trail about 20 feet away from us.

When we reached Chinook Pass, I was at my coldest, unable to control my shivers and finding any attempt to stay warm in my wet clothes futile.  As we passed a rest stop (for cars) on the side of the road, a man was standing outside of his car in the misty rain.  This was odd.  We were in the middle of the mountains, with no sign of civilization anywhere near us. He called to us on the trail and asked, “Where are you guys headed?”  Swift replied, “Canada.”  He in turn said, “Can I buy you guys a cup of coffee?”

Little did we know we had just met Magic Man.  After looking around (nonverbally pointing out to this man, that there was no place around to buy coffee, or anything else for that matter), Swift asked the man, “where?”  Observing our confusion, Magic Man replied, “Oh, I have some in my car along with Krispy Kreme donuts.”

Delighted, we ran down the trail excited about this unexpected treat.  We each had two Krispy Kreme donuts, a cup of coffee and chocolate milk, before saying our “Thank Yous!!!” and heading back up the trail.  From that point on, I had no problem staying warm and we made it to the campers’ shelter by 7:30pm that evening.

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The fire was already going in the cabin when we arrived – started by other hikers who had made it to the cabin before us.  While the cabin shelter was a nice break from the cold, wind and wet, we still had trouble sleeping through the night.  Unexpected visitors started to attack our food bag during the night.  What we believe were mice were crawling over our bag and (true to their reputation) found and started eating our leftover cheese.  Their brazen “friendliness” in sharing our food was not funny! After re-rigging our food bag, we attempted to get more sleep before heading out for another big day of hiking.

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We awakened happy that all of our clothes were dry – our moods drastically improved as we almost skipped along, in the now sunny and beautiful Washington.  We spent the day munching away on handful of huckleberries around every turn.

Today, we have arrived at Snoqualmie Pass, where we have proceeded to eat copious amounts of food before we hit the trail again this evening.  We believe that, from this day forward, we will only have 12 days left on the trail!

~Buckeye