Thursday, September 27, 2012

9/7/12

   On Wednesday we continued hiking northward. We had big dreams of big miles. But after just 6-7 miles, Lauren's knees were swelled up and really bothering her. She stopped and wrapped them, but the pain was still too much. I helped lighten her load, but we were still traveling less than two miles per hour over easy terrain. We decided we should take a day off and we hitched into Packwood again, just 28 miles and a day after we left the first time. Very frustrating for both of us.
   We took a day off in Packwood and I really enjoyed the town. We stayed at the quaint Hotel Packwood which was within walking distance to the rest of the town. I was able to spend some quality time applying for jobs and lounging. We met some great people in town and I even had the owner of the sporting goods store buy me a beer at the bar!
   Today we hitched back to Chinook Pass. It wasn't an easy hitch either, took three seperate rides, but we made it back around one pm today. Lauren's knees are  feeling a bit better, still not 100%. I took a bunch of her weight again today and that seemed to help. We are so close to the finish. I have mixed feelings about finishing! I am excited to start a new chapter of life, not excited to finish this one. We have a few backup plans if her knees can't make it right now, but that is worst case. We hiked 13 miles this afternoon and she felt pretty good. Tomorrow we will hike over 20 and that will be the real test.
   The hiking here is just amazing. We are walking right on the crest with views of mountains and more mountains on both sides. No real signs of development. We are however camped right under a flight path to Seattle/Tacoma international airport, seems the flights are coming through non-stop. Kind of fun to watch though. I like to think about everyone on those planes and how they all have stories and all have a reason to go to Seattle this evening.

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