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 had a daunting 1600′ climb followed by another steep 600′ climb in full sun. We marched on for those 10 miles and made it to our lunch break before 1pm. The loose rocks, washed out trails, and numerous fallen logs made it a bit challenging. But the views of the section were spectacular.

At this point, we’re beginning to feel some achy muscles. But we’ll toughen up. No amount of weekend and after work training could’ve prepared us for 36+ thousand steps/day with weighted packs. We’re hoping we can get our legs under us before we need to hit the 20+ mile days.  But for now, we’re slightly ahead of our planned pace.

We stopped for a long lunch and nap. Jason made the egg stir fry surprise and Alex had the Shin ramen noodles. Jason didn’t burn the stir fry this, but they were massively undersalted- something to keep in mind when we get them next. We seemed to find the one spot without mosquitoes and even laid down to take a quick nap.

Alex also befriended a bumblebee during lunch.

We saw much fewer people on the trail today. We leapfrogged the guy from the UK. And we were passed by the same woman we passed the day prior after leaving the terminus. We were surprised that there weren’t more people heading north to tag the monument. We have several theories:

• Other hikers are opting not to start north because of time constraints
• The trail is just thinning? People are spacing out more
• A lot of people started on the weekend- even if their permit didn’t have that exact start date, so we started the same time with more people.
• Did something happen in the world that shut down the trail? Probably not this one

We sauntered into camp just before 6pm and were swarmed by mosquitoes – more than anywhere else so far. But Jason was tired and ready to call it a day after a the tough 15.9 miles. The mosquitoes were so intense we decided to have a lighter dinner and hide in our tent, even going to bed before 8pm. But we can get another early start tomorrow.

Tomorrow we should get back to Hart’s Pass – our original starting point – and make progress on fresh trail. Then just a few days to Stehekin for our first resupply (and shower!).