July 30 Distance: 3.7 miles | Ascent: 400′ | Descent: 650′ Mile marker: 505.5 Lunch: J – spicy bacon mac (A), A – chili with orzo (B+) Dinner: J – burrito (A+), A – quesabirria (A+) We walked to Oregon! Then we had to cross a terrifying bridge. We went to the hotel to book…

July 29 Distance: 21.6 | Ascent: 3400′ | Descent: 6050′ Mile marker: 501.9 Lunch: J – chili and orzo (A), A – Shin ramen (A) Dinner: J – Shin ramen (A), A – bacon mac (A-) We’ve walked so far, but we’re not even through Washington. We’re also one month in. Jason’s shoes are withered…

July 27 Distance: 22.0 miles | Ascent: 2550′ | Descent: 3260′ Mile marker: 459.6 Lunch: J – mac n cheese with sausage TVP (B), A – rice and beans (A) Dinner: J – spaghetti (A-) and mac n cheese with sausage TVP (B-), A – mac n cheese surprise (B-) Easy day. Hit snooze until…

July 26 Distance: 13.8 miles | Ascent: 2450′ | Descent: 2030′ Mile marker: 237.6 Brunch at Trout Lake café: Jason – omelet and hash browns (A), Alex – breakfast burrito (A+), shared coffee and huckleberry milkshake Dinner: Jason – stir fry (D-), Alex – spaghetti (A) We couldn’t get ahold of any of the trail…

July 25 Distance: 12.0 Mile marker: 423.8 Lunch: J – rice and beans (B-) | A – spicy mac (B+) Dinner: J – chicken chili (C+) | A – chicken teriyaki (A+) Our hike down from Mount Adams was pretty nice. There was a section with a few blowdowns, but nothing worse than we had…

July 24 Distance: 27.9 miles | Ascent: 3970′ | Descent: 3500′ Mile marker: 411.8 Lunch: Jason – chicken teriyaki (A) |Alex – chicken chili (B+) Dinner: Jason – spicy mac (B-) | Alex – Indian curry (A-) We started the day by seeing Mount Adams wayyy off in the distance. We would end up hiking…

July 23 Distance today: 18.0 miles Mile marker: 383.9 We finally got to the Goat Rock Wilderness and experienced the Knife Edge hiking. Wonderful views and an awesome experience. We felt like mountain goats hopping over the rocks and ascending the steep slope. We decided to take the alternate route to avoid tricky (and steep)…

July 21 Distance today: 23.7 miles Mile marker: 350.7 On the map today looked pretty easy – no huge climbs or bushwacking. Our feet were still pretty sore from yesterday’s big hike, but they felt okay this morning. We made it to Chinook Pass before 9am. We made our way towards Mount Rainier National Park,…

July 20 Distance today: 26.1 miles Mile marker: 327.0 We planned for today to be a long day. We got up early and just as we were about to leave our campsite, a retired forest ranger came down trail. The couple from lunch yesterday wanted to learn more about the trees, so we told this…

July 19 Distance today: 21.1 miles Mile marker: 300.9 The day started looking like a threat of rain. The weather report we called on the sat phone said otherwise. We were happy with the coolness the clouds brought as we made our climb out of the campsite. We had a few longish water carries today.…

July 28 Distance: 20.6 | Ascent: 3800′ | Descent: 4400′ Mile marker: 480.3 Lunch: A&J – tuna salad (B+ & B) Dinner: J – mac n cheese (A-), A – spicy mac (B) We got off to an earlyish start to finish climbing our hill we started last night. The trail was very well shaded…

July 22 Distance today: 15.2 miles Mile marker: 365.9 The lake we stayed at was covered with fog in the morning as we quietly packed up. There were two other people when we arrived last night. Thankfully, the sun was burning off the humidity. We made the uneventful 7 mile walk to White Pass where…

July 18 Distance today: 20.3 miles Mile marker: 279.8 We met SOOOO many people on the trail today! Probably over 200. We left the ski lifts at Snoqualmie Pass behind after checking out of our hotel. That was really the only climb of the day and not nearly as steep as leaving Stevens Pass. The…

July 17 Distance today: 7.1 miles Mile marker: 259.5 Our resupply package awaits at the Summit Inn at Snoqualmie Pass. We woke up in our lakeside tent site. Fish were jumping our of the water to catch their breakfast. But they didn’t eat enough mosquitoes as we had to swat them away as we packed…

July 16 Distance today: 14.4 miles Mile marker: 252.4 Last night we camped next to a river with a pool of standing water just behind our tent. You’d expect lots of mosquitoes, right? No! For some reason it was shockingly mosquito free. Today, we had a long climb out: 2600′ in 5.1 miles. It was…

July 15 Distance today: 18.8 miles Mile marker: 238.1 We’re getting faster packing up camp. We’re also sleeping past our alarm. Combined, we’re starting our hike at around the same time every day. Trail was cruisey and not too rocky. We powered for the first 6 miles with no interruptions. The river we crossed had…

July 14 Distance today: 19.3 miles Mile marker: 219.3 The campsite we had last night was one of the best so far. A pristine mountain lake watched over by jagged rocky peaks. Thankfully, the rocks didn’t choose last night to tumble down the hill. We had a decent climb out from the lake and over…

July 13 Distance today: 17.2 miles Mile marker: 200.0 At 7am, we were pushing south to Stevens Pass. The trail got easier and wider the closer we got to the trailhead. We eventually heard highway before we saw it. Cars are loud and obnoxious. They should make them quieter. It’s quite jarring to hear the…

July 12 Distance today: 16.8 miles Mile marker: 182.8 We didn’t quite make it to the lake we were aiming for yesterday. But we didn’t necessarily need the miles and we wouldn’t be swimming in a lake if we arrived after 7pm. So then today we passed the lake around 10am and of course had…

July 11 Distance today: 19.8 miles Mile marker: 166.0 This morning was cold and we didn’t want to get out of our tent. We snoozed through our 5:30 alarm to finally get up a little after 6am. Our hope that a dry night might lead to dry clothes were dashed by the morning dew that…

July 10 Distance today: 14.8 miles Mile marker: 146.2 We were camping in a cloud. Which sounds lovely until you remember that clouds are 100% relative humidity and cold. We called in a weather report at 5am hoping that would somehow change fate. It didn’t. But it offered a glimmer of hope: a break in…

July 9 Distance today: 16.2 miles Mile marker: 131.5 Thinking we’d beat the heat with an early start, we woke at 5:30. Ha! But the long day was certainly needed. The trail leading away from camp started a bit cruisey, then we came across some blowndowns. Then there was the bushwacking. Then there was the…

July 8 Distance today: 19.5 miles Mile marker: 115.1 We passed the 100 miles from the border today! We’re 2/53ish the way to Mexico! Last night was a bit later than we would’ve liked. The last section of trail was a bit steep and bush wacky. But we had more climbing yet this morning and…

July 7 Distance today: 15.1 miles Mile marker: 95.6 The vacation away from the trail came to an end as we prepared for a long climb out of Stehekin Valley following the Agnes Creek. We woke up to a mostly empty campsite. Those not picking up a box got on the early bus to get…

July 6 Distance today: 0.0 miles* Mile marker: 80.7 Because we were committed to taking a zero day (no trail miles), we slept in til past 8am only to find the campsite nearly abandoned. It seems everyone else was making their way out of town today. We assumed that a new influx of hikers would…

July 5 Distance today: 5.0 miles Mile marker: 80.7 We stayed at the Bridge Creek campsite at North Cascades National Park last night. We ran into a fellow hiker yesterday who claimed they might have covid and was trying to get the first bus into Stehekin. We opted to have a slower morning and take…

July 4 Distance today: 21.9 miles Mile marker: 75.7 We started the day slow, blowing past our 6am alarm to finally wake at 6:45. When we got moving out of our mosquito infested campsite, we immediately stumbled upon some weekend backpackers out with their dog. They were curious about Alex’s bear can strapped to the…

July 3 Not a bad day! We just hit our lowest elevation yet. Distance today: 17.4 miles Mile marker: 53.8 We woke up at camp early to get a jump on the day. Before we left, a brave marmot crept into camp probably looking for snacks. We had a short ascent then a long, long…

July 2 Distance today: 16.8 miles Mile marker: 36.4 Today was a relatively easy day. We woke up after everyone else at our site and left camp right at 8am. At 10, we stopped for an early lunch. Jason stomached some potato mac surprise; not burnt, just not very good. Alex had mushroom garlic orzo,…

July 1 Distance today: 15.9 miles Mile marker: 19.6 After tagging the border and truly making our way southbound, today’s miles actually counted towards the 2650 indicated on the monument. There were several people at the campsite. We woke up from their waking up. We broke came before 8am and began a tedious day. We…