Day 150: 2583.6-2607.1
I got out of my tent to find I wasn’t the last one in camp for once. Stuck Foot was just getting his day started too. No doubt he’ll blow past me shortly after I get started, he’s got to be one of the fastest hikers I’ve com across.
Before I left camp I had to check out the pit toilet everyone was talking about last night. Whoa! This thing was like no other pit toilet I’ve ever seen. So fancy!
The first part of the day was uphill, but it was so gradual it felt easy. The day was flying by. After a few hours I hit Rainy Pass. It was packed with people, cars filling both parking lots and lining the streets. I passed the mini terminus and made my way to the bathrooms where I found multiple amazing surprises! Trail Magic and a trash for me to get rid of my stinky Thai salad bag. I grabbed a beer to save for the real terminus and shared a plum with a few other hikers, then I was off to finish my day.
The views for the next few miles were beautiful as I climbed to the top. The trail was even more full of day and weekend hikers than usual, being a holiday weekend. Everyone was really friendly and curious about my journey. I ran into more people on horseback today than all of the trail so far, including a few rangers. I stopped and chatted with them for a few minutes before reaching the view you see behind me below. I hope these people realize how lucky they are to be able to get to such a view and only hike about 6 miles to get there!
As I was headed downhill on the last couple of miles of the day Lizard caught up with me out of nowhere. Very confused on how she was behind me, I said hello as she hiked past me filling my water. Not long after Greenbean caught up as well. We hiked off together. She mentioned they’d gone into Mazama (a town easily accessible from Rainy Pass) for a couple hours, which explained how they’d left hours before me and ended up behind me. I was happy to have run into Greenbean, it made the last couple miles fly by. We arrived at a very full campsite and I squeezed in with a mother and daughter who were out for the weekend. I definitely won’t be the last out of camp tomorrow morning either!
Goodnight!
XOXO Green Light