October 1, 2017
Mile 2574.3 to Mile 2588.9 (Rainy Pass)
Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike: Day 150
Earlier
Dry tent! The shelter worked out beautifully, and I think we need to build a 10x10 CCC Shelter on the land on Madeline Island. We got to eat at a picnic table instead of cooking on the ground! Our tent is dry! Currently it's 9:30am and we're sitting in the shelter listening to the rain, waiting for a break in it to start walking (ha. ha.). Drinking tea and listening to the zombie book 'The Girl with All the Gifts'.
I can see blue sky but it's still f-ing cold and we're 4,000 feet lower in elevation than we will be later today.
Later
Made it to Rainy Pass. Just 15 miles today but with rain and then snow, it was a smart decision not to climb any higher. Vice, Boathouse and Sam signed the Rainy Pass register yesterday saying they were going to go 14 more miles that day, so we will not catch them. That's okay. I feel very solid that we made the right decision—it's fucking freezing our and very wet.
Boo, Happy Meal, Shade, Baby Gap, Oddball, plus some newcomers I haven't met before are all also at Rainy Pass tonight, so we had a wonderful fire, played trivia, got 2 beers from Boeing employees, and sat around the fire for 4-5 hours staying warm.
We are ~61 miles from the border, so 70 from the total end at Manning Park. I'm thinking we do 20.7 tomorrow (40.5 to border) to 2609.6, then to 2633.0 (23.4 mi, 17.1 from border), and then roll in that evening or the next morning. We could hike further, but we rapidly go up in elevation and DAMN it is cold in this tent. I can't really imagine sleeping 2,000 feet further up in elevation right now.
Oh, and, Happy Meal is sleeping in the pit toilet to stay warm. Put an ‘out of order’ sign on the outside and happened to be carrying enough incense with to make the place tolerable. Gross. And clever. Both, at the same time.
A shred of blue sky offers limitless hope