8 miles
I wake up to find the forest enveloped in fog. Like out of a movie, I make my way through the dense silence and novelty of walking through a forest in the clouds. Everything beyond a few feet obscured and muted; calm and a little foreboding.
The forest floor is absolutely covered with blueberry bushes. Hundreds, thousands, millions of blueberry bushes, like an edible carpet out of Willy Wonka. I gorge on blueberries. "Violet, you're turning violet!"
I won't bore you with the details of my 8 mile hike, only to say it took me much too long to complete, and it was nearing 12:30pm by the time I reached the ski lodge at Steven's Pass. It was a painful limp down to the lodge, and a hard reality check that I might not be able to complete the rest of the trail.
The ski lift down to the lodge. I took this picture, wishing it had been running so I didn't have to continue limping down the trail, and then halfway down the mountain it started up. A guy yells down at me that I should have waited at the top for a ride down. Alas.
I get a ride from a nice guy named Mike, who lives in Leavenworth, but is headed to NY for a seasonal job. He hikes and climbs, and has lived all over the Pacific Northwest. He tells me Leavenworth, a bavarian-themed town an hour west of here, is the place to be. He gives me his card, in case I ever need a contact in the area, and I marvel at my fortunate hitching luck. He drops me off at the Dinsmores, and I make my way to the Hiker Haven--an entire building dedicated to hikers, with our own shower and washer/dryer. These people are amazing!
While I'm relaxing and going through my resupply, up walks Borealis! We hug and he gives me shit for skipping up to Snoqualmie, and then feels bad for me when I tell him I twisted my knee and might not be able to finish. He tells me he's taking a zero here tomorrow, and tries to talk me into staying. But I tell him I'm headed back out on the trail tomorrow morning. He won't suck me in to his "town time" mentality!
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