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 in full sun. Even the relatively cooler morning hours didn’t help much. During our climb, we met our first through hiker going north. He was doing a “calendar year triple crown” (Appalachian Trail, PCT, and Continental Divide Trail in the same year).  It’s super cool and wildly impressive, but I’m just trying to survive this one.

After the climb, we were rewarded with a great view of Spectacle Lake and the backside of the peaks we saw the night before.

We then descended into a small valley before climbing another 1000′ to the ridge. We stopped for water about 2/3 up – the last reliable water source until camp. We filled up and planned for lunch on the other side of the ridgeline.

We found our lunch spot on a sun-baked, super exposed outcrop. There was no apparent water source for miles. Yet we were mercilessly attacked by mosquitoes. For every one we swatted, two more would show up. Even the occasional wind didn’t blow them away. Where do mosquitoes live? We’ve been finding these pockets of either no mosquitoes or all the mosquitoes, but there doesn’t seem to be a pattern or consistency in habitat. It’s baffling. We must be missing something…

For lunch, Jason had garlic mushroom orzo (B-) and Alex had cheese shells with tomatoes (A+).

The rest of the day was spent circling the valley. It had amazing views including an ominous looking Mt. Rainier lingering in the distance. It’s so much larger in our field of view than just a few days ago!

The only downside was that for close to six miles, the trail was stones and talus and loose rocks. The rocks poked our feet, tired our ankle joints, and pulled a 5″ strip of tread off  Alex’s shoe (repaired with super glue overnight).

After alarming some pikas, we finally reached camp after a final 550′ climb. We setup next to a small lake nearly at the ridgeline. Tons of mosquitoes here despite the strongest breeze we felt all day. We’re really looking forward to the bug spray in our box at Snoqualmie Pass.

For dinner, Jason had chili and rice (A-) and Alex had jambalaya (A-).

Tomorrow we’ll hit Snoqualmie pass and collect our third resupply. We plan to spend the night at the inn and get real showers and do an actual load of laundry for the first time in a few weeks. Jason also has some ideas to fix and reinforce his pack. The reorganization inside has stopped the holes from growing or spreading. He’s hoping that the reinforcement will allow the pack to go the distance.