At a small creek next to a spring, Mile 2349

Last night, Murphy struck. Pretty much everything that could have gone wrong, did, with the exception of a large falling branch, which didn’t land on me. I didn’t get out of camp until 10:30 this morning.

The plan was only ten miles today, which is where I’m at right now; this is the last spring before an 11.8 mile dry stretch, and it was best that I stage here tonight.

So, Murphy. My shoes are starting to split across the toes, after only 100 miles with a moderate-weight pack. This is completely unacceptable from a trail persective, but Brooks Cascadia 10s are notorious for this kind of problem. Steve is going to bring up a new pair when he meets me at Snoqualmie in a few days. I’m going to try Tenacious Tape, and see if that helps hold them together for the next 50 miles. I don’t want to switch models, since these fit so well, and trying a new model of shoe on a long-distance hike could be problematic.

And the spring. It was merely dripping, and it took me 45 minutes to get the 2.5 liters I needed for the next dry stretch. Of course, once I went back downhill past my campsite, there were two other streams which were flowing a bit faster, and could have saved me a ton of time. Grrrrrrr…

But the hike down to Mike Urich Cabin was easy, ending in a long run through flats down to Government Meadow…a lovely place.

Anyway. Ten miles. Stopped at the cabin, which is owned by a local snowmobile club. It’s a really nice place, excellent for shelter during inclement weather. There was a bit of stale magic inside, but I wasn’t that desperate.

I signed the register, and saw that Fuzzy Star had just been there (she’s the German girl I met at White Pass). Also saw ManBearPig’s entry; I know him from the FB group. There were some complaints in the register about people leaving trash, but the cabin was in fine shape when I got there. Oh, and there’s a Real Privy!

So I sat on the porch, in the shade (sitting on a Real Bench is a delight), and had my lunch. I also met two girls who were going from Chinook to Snoqualmie, on their horses. They would pass me eventually, meet me at Mirror Lake, and then I saw them at the pass.

After the cabin, it was five and small change miles to my campsite. There was a spot on the trail where you’re supposed to have an excellent view of Mt. Rainier. Or rather, you would. There’s enough smoke from the Cougar Creek fire, on the SSE side of Mt. Adams, that all I could see at the view point was a small bit of Little Tahoma.

A little further up the trail is the Falls Creek Burn. It’s really eerie, because it’s this entire bowl full of silvered, burned trees. Then if you look back up the trail, you could see the sun. Except the sun was red, from all the smoke. It was a fascinating composition, so I took a handful of pictures there.

Anyway, I got to the campsite, and had camp set up in half an hour, which is a big improvement over earlier in the hike. Dinner was a bomb…nothing sounds good at all. So I’m drowning my sorrows in a cup of cocoa. I think my rather discouraged mood is partly because of lack of food. It’s not that I don’t have it, it’s that nothing is appealing. I messaged Steve and said that I’d like to have a true zero at Snoqualmie. I need to regroup a bit.

Tomorrow, do the dry stretch, and see if I want to go further. Probably will, as it’s only 11.8 miles.

*Photo credit: Eric Aalto