Day 195

Day 195 (pct 85): 27 miles

I woke up late but thankfully hammer was bumping some music which got me going. The mosquitoes weren’t bad but of course as soon as I went to answer the call of nature they smelled my vulnerability and swarmed.

I made a mistake today that I had gone the whole trip without doing so far. I had come close a few times but today was the first time I actually did it. To set the scene, I swallowed a fly and weezed for a few minutes before I spit it up. After this unpleasant experience, I put on my headnet cause I didn’t want to repeat. And a few minutes later I let out a wad of spit not thinking that I had my headnet on. There are few things in the world that make me feel dumber than this.

I caught up to hammer as he was talking to another hiker. I had just gotten 1 bar of service and found out the doc said my foot problem was just plantar warts and athletes foot. I was overjoyed that it wasn’t a rare foot bacteria or fungi. I ran up and told hammer the good news in front of another hiker who left shortly thereafter probably turned off by a stranger taking about fungus on his feet.

We finally entered glacier peak wilderness today which I’d been hearing about for so long. It is pretty damn pretty so far but I expect it will only get better. Part of this expectation is based on the fact that the climbing looks absurd the next few days so it better be rewarded with stunning views.

Late in the day I saw a family of marmots on the ridge and it was adorable. I don’t know what these marmots up in Washington eat but they’re all fat as hell.

5 miles before camp there was a stream crossing and I didn’t see an easy way to cross so I opted to get a running start and jump across to a rock on the other side. I made it but the arch of my foot landed right on the side of the rock and it dug into my foot a bit which hurt like a motherfucker and caused us to camp a few miles short of where we wanted to go. This pain better go away by morning, although I have a feeling it won’t.

Song of the day: see you again/Tyler the creator