Amazingly, we have time for a blog entry from the trail. Several rips and tears on various pieces of gear are being repaired by Zm as I write this. We stopped about 45 minutes early at 7:00 to facilitate the necessary repair and enjoy the bottle of wine that I carried out of White Pass.
The weather has been phenomenal and unseasonably warm. The inevitable rain is still farther out than the forecasters can predict. The hot weather has a downside, which is fire and bugs. The nearby fires have been limiting our long distance views in a way similar to LA pollution. This morning the high pressure system relented enough to allow wind and clearer views for the first time in at least a week.
So far the Washington highlight has been the Goat Rocks Wilderness. This section was clouds, rain, and snow in 2006. Yesterday it was hot and gorgeous. Zm took the appropriately excessive amount of pictures.
Another big change has been the consistency of people. Washington has no choice of resupply points, therefore everybody seems to get in lockstep with other hikers. Also people's paces are aligning because we all know we are going to make it to the border. The difference between a 25 and 30 mile pace is a paltry 2 days at the finish. We are all dialing back to the easier 25 days to enjoy the end of this experience as well as the spectacular scenery that Washington has to offer.
Within 5 miles of us tonight are many hikers. There is a good chance that most of them will be equally as close when we finish this trail. Today we got to enjoy Seahorse, Chillidog, Han Solo, Bubbles, Boots and Pepe Lopez at White Pass. Some left earlier, some later, all knowing that we will encounter each other again in the next few days.
We are in good health and excellent spirits and in near disbelief that less than 340 miles of trail remain. Good night from mile 2317 of the PCT.
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