Snoqualmie Pass, WA

Tonight Dave called in with only 4 miles to go until he got into Snoqualmie Pass. We had a chance to talk about the previous days.

First, I had thought Dave camped the other night with Boy Scouts (bad cell phone reception). He really camped with the Cowboys. There were two couples, Master Chef and his wife McNaughton and Sawblade with his wife Pink. Dave named them all. They introduced him to McNaughton whisky, now Dave's favorite (although I think anything out of the ordinary on the trail could be considered his favorite!).

The night Dave and the guys met up was at a shelter / cabin like structure. It had 4 walls and a wood burning stove. Dave was the first one there, but by the end of the night there were 8 hikers staying there. Everyone needed to get out of the rain.

Last night they camped on or just off of a road. Dave estimated they did 22 miles yesterday, and about the same today. He hasn't seen much of Washington due to the fog and rain.

Dave talked about the Trail Magic. He and Zero were hiking together and were wet and cold. Out of nowhere they found a guy "Not Phil's Dad" who was out hunting. Hunting season (I believe bow hunting) just started. Not Phil's Dad had a tent up, with extra hot cocoa, chili and hot dogs that he shared with Dave and Zero. Not Phil's Dad is truly contributing to the Trail Magic! He is called Not Phil's Dad because pf his son, "Not Phil". Not Phil hiked the PCT last year.

Dave said that he would hike for miles and miles and miles and miles with no water... and as he approaches these small towns he finds rivers. You would think that with all this rain there would be ample water locations!

Dave also talked about the climbing up hills and down hills, the cold, and the rain. The sad thing is that he couldn't see much of what he was hiking due to the rain and fog. His quote tonight is "I"m sure Washington is a beautiful State, if I could see it!". He ran into two hunters who agreed that Washington was beautiful. They call the rain "liquid sunshine". Dave said it would be more beautiful if it were moonshine! Although he's miserable, he does have quite a sense of humor! Someone told him that Washington has a lot of old growth. Dave commented that all he needs to do is look at a mirror to see old growth!

He feels that he is getting used to the rain, or at least learning to cope with it. After two days, his goal is to find some sort of shelter to dry off and get warm. Things are so wet that his skin is getting loose (that could be weight loss too). He has a stone bruise on his food and his hip is really sore from his backpack, but these are minor and he knows he can push past this.

Dave's resupplies did not show up at the Chevron station. I sent his food from Wisconsin. Ground takes much longer than I had thought. He'll be able to purchase food here at least. The package I sent to Zero with clothing did show up. Zero also had some spare fuel that he is sharing with Dave. I've got a call into the next resupply location to see if he has his packages there. If not, we've got a few plans. We know someone who knows someone in Seattle. If needed, we'll send some resupplies for Monday. It is very frustrating to spend time purchasing, packing, and mailing items that don't get to him in time. I guess this week I'll start mailing packages to the California stops to insure that they are waiting for him! I, personally, will be thankful when this resupplying is over!!

I gave Dave the forecast for the next 5 days. No matter what I said, scattered showers, partly cloudy, sun, etc, his reply was, that means rain. There is just no let up of these showers. The temp may hit the high 50s, but averages high 40's. There is just not enough sun to warm things up.

Dave was walking through a forest today socked in with fog. The sun was trying to peak through, but all it did was make the fog look green.

It was nice talking to Dave even though spirits were dampened by not getting his supplies. He's staying at the Howard Johnsons. The HJ employee is going to call the Post Office in the morning to see if Dave's packages are there. If not, he'll just purchase food and move on. One way or another, his hike must go on.

Trail Angel Jane