A Big Surprise

Day 153

Waking up gets harder with every drop that pounds on your tent. That means cold hands, wet feet and muddy terrain. The lush green makes for some epic scenery, even if it's the fruit of all this miserable weather.

As we got on with the hike I realized today marked the end of September and the beginning of October. Amazing to think we've been out here since May 3rd!

As hiking in the rain and fog continued we came up on a road. We met a guy named Jimmy, who was walking his big golden retriever, and he said there was a note at the road. A note? For us in the middle of Washington, in the middle of the Raineer wilderness?

When we got to the bottom it was a trail angel we had met at Trout Lake a little while back. Sam was out meeting up with a friend to camp and she saw on the site we'd be close by! Unfortunately we hit the camp too early in the day. We were forced to leave behind a nice fire, good company, warm food and being off the feet to hike ten more miles to camp.

Along the way we ran into some hunters. Today marked the first day of hunting season! Pretty nuts to think about. Glad I have a bright red rain jacket!

We hit our camp, which is a decrepit old shelter. Looks like it was built two hundred years ago. But, it's keeping the rain off our tent and gave us a dry space to cook. Should make for a much easier morning if this rain decides to stick around.

We fall asleep listening to elk shreek their rutting call all around us.

-Andy