Day 120

27.3 miles

Camped at mile 2354

Even with the swirling clouds last night we still woke up in a dry but chilly tent. Others around Sheep lake and on the higher ridge did not fair so well. As we set out for the morning, clouds were rolling over the ridge from the west where Mount Rainer stood completely obscured. On the eastern sides of the ridges we could see the clouds roll over the top and then disappear. The first eight miles of the morning were smooth walking and went by rather quickly.

Kevin and I talked about goals we feel like we have already accomplished so far on the trail and ones we would like to focus on for the rest of the trip. This helped us to look at how far we have come and how much we have accomplished. We could see how we have grown in our communication with each other and in clarity of a few things for after the trail too. We want to keep learning new things and being grateful for each day out here!

The change in plans from the border closing has us having to work a bit harder to find things to look forward to and focus on.

Today we ended up having a few great views of Rainer which is now south of us and some of the northern cascades we will walk through eventually, I am assuming. They look large and intimidating. The views were great to see as I have always wondered if we just wouldn’t have any views in WA because of weather.

When we arrived to our planned campsite tonight, it was full of other thru hikers and weekenders. There was no room to camp. So we went a mile farther to another spot. I was surprised to see that many hikers since town. We have found another bubble of hikers even though we are behind the large bubble, thank goodness. There was a huge noro outbreak in the main northern bubble (group of hikers) ahead of us. There were around 150 hikers coming through towns at a time in WA and these little mom and pop shops aren’t really ready to handle that influx I don’t think. A lot of people got clumped together since so many skipped around the fires etc. I’m so glad we didn’t get caught in the fray. It is still fun getting to meet other hikers although the general vibe of everyone is just focus on the end and less of getting to know people around them.