Mile 2274 to 2292
Right. So that night was pretty bad. Pretty preety bad. Hawkeye says it’s his absolute worst on the trail… I’m not sure I'll go that far simply due to the excitement. The wind had not died down by the time we packed up (it took two sets of hands to corral the tents into their bags in the wind). We hobbled along and it felt as if we were back in the high sierras again. Rocky, steep and snowy! We hit “the knife's edge” as it’s called on the PCT. A mile long section of trail that rides along the top of a ridge where it dives away on both sides. The name is a little more hardcore than the actual feature, but the scenery was fantastic with Mt. Reiner to one side and a long valley of wavy evergreen covered mountains to the other.
We spotted some goats on the mountainside (we were in goat rock wilderness, no doubt), and I think they were looking at us saying, “why are those fools hopping around on the ridge in all this wind? Don’t they know it’s not windy on this side of the mountain?” Yeah yeah goats, we have places to be.
Those places include a cozy two bedroom motel with kitchen where mi madre has prepared roasted butternut squash! Hawkeye and I ate great food, topped off with Tillamook mint chocolate chip and then watched the second half of Die Hard before zonking out to catch up on some of the lost Z’s from the night before. It sure is great to have my parents as a support team. Not having to hitchhike, find a place to sleep, and get food to eat makes our lives much simpler and allows a little more relaxation even during short stints in town. Truly, it is a blessing.
[Despite the grumps, it sure was pretty!; Looks like the Sierras, no?; The knife's edge; standard cheesin; see those white goats on the mountain side?; more cheesing; look at that trail go!; our first elk! at the hotel!]
