You can probably tell I am more than 2000 miles into this. I’m trying my best not to become cynical and jaded, but it is nevertheless becoming more difficult to find new and exciting things to write about. In some ways, I feel like I have seen every tree, every mountain, every wildflower, every lake, every waterfall the western US has on offer.

In that way, I have succeeded. I came out here primarily to see the land. Merely see it. Looking back, maybe I should have made my goal to appreciate it.

But at this point it feels too late to add new aspirations.

I am starting to develop tunnel vision on the end. Or, what will have to serve as the end. The real endpoint, the terminus monument of the PCT at the Canadian border, is no longer accessible.

The PCT in that area has been closed due to fires, so I will have to stop short by about 50 miles. No monument for me. No commemorative photo. If I had an Instagram to post to, I would probably be REALLY mad right now.

Washington, what I have seen of it so far, might take the cake as the most beautiful state I have ever hiked in. Jury’s still out.

The forests, even more lush and dense than Oregon, are full to the brim with healthy-looking trees, verdant foliage, and plenty of animals. Around the corner you can catch glimpses of snow-capped peaks. Climbs are steep and lengthy. Brooks and streams are crystalline. Lakes azure. Crowds on the trail are thinner, towns smaller. It’s quiet here.

I like it.

Compared to some of the final days in Oregon, near the fire in Sisters, it feels like paradise. Marching through thick smoke over endless lava fields, it felt like PCT Apocalypse part 2.

I had to leave a few days out out completely. Nothing good happened. No redeeming moments.

I almost wrote a whole entry about how much I hated the smoke and the heat and the sharp rocks. How I hated the 30 mile water carries and drinking from murky ponds. How I struggled to make the call to split up with friends again because I didn’t want to hike back into the smoke with them towards a 27,000 acre fire. But I decided to try not to dwell on negativity for once.

Solitude and quiet has been nice for a change, especially in beautiful Washington. I can do even more miles now that I am fully on my own schedule again. It’s fitting and maybe almost poetic that I will wrap up my hike in a similar way to how I began.

MAC

Milk&cigarettes

After my most recent loss today I decided to compile a list of all of the pairs of sunglasses I have gone through so far on this hike

1. IZIPIZI #E (had these for 3 years) (broke them rolling over in my sleep) (repaired and safe at home)

2. Goodr from Hikerbox #1 (pink Mt. Rainier) (lost)

3. Goodr from Hikerbox #2 (pink, so scratched I was basically blind in the center of my visual field) (put back in a hikerbox)

4. Red/black from Bishop gear store (broken on Sierra High Route)

5. Knockoff ray bans from Mammoth gas station (lost within 2 hours of leaving Mammoth)

6. Cheap amazon pair (sent home)

7. Goodr #3 black/black found on ground in Bend (loved these) (lost near Trout Lake)

8. Cheap pair from Trout Lake Grocery #1

9. Cheap pair from Trout Lake Grocery #2 as a backup

Please pray for me that pair numbers 8 and 9 will last me through the end, I am not sure if I can handle another loss at this trying time.