Day 142 - Urich Camp to wa2379
Phew, last night was tough. All three of us were tented inside the hut, up in the loft. And it was very hot up there. The trail maintainers kept the stove on, and all the heat came up to make a dry sauna around us.
Sizzler was the first to break. He took off his tent, and set it up outside on the porch. I was already napping, when Slaughterhouse got up and went to the porch as well, without her tent.
I tried setting my sleeping pad outside of my tent, thinking it will be significantly less hot without it. It was the same terrible, searing, dry heat. So I also got up, took my quilt, pad and improvised pillow, climbed down from the loft, and went to the porch.
Outside it was cold, and the porch was already crowded with Sizzler’s tent and Slaughterhouse on the floor. I managed to squeeze in, just blocking the door to the hut, which opened directly on me. But once under my quilt, it quickly got warm enough, and I slept well.
I did wake up twice to sit while the inhabitants of the hut opened the door, so they could step outside to take a piss. But other than that it was a good spot.
In the morning, I got up and decided I’d get back up to the loft for a quick nap, if I could handle the heat. But when I got up I noticed it was already 6:30, so it’s time to start packing anyway.
Sizzler and Slaughterhouse also got up a minute later, and we packed our stuff quickly at the loft, then went back to the porch to have breakfast. All the trail maintainers were still asleep by the time we left, so I couldn’t thank anybody again for their hard work.
The weather was much like yesterday, all foggy and cold. For the first half of the day I couldn’t see any views, except from an occasional quick window in the fog, which showed me some green hills on the other side of some valley. After a while, the fog lifted, or maybe I just entered the one valley which wasn’t all covered. The skies were still overcast, so I didn’t get much sun today, but at least I started seeing nice views again.
I had a ton of berries today, every time passing more and more clusters of bushes. Some of the berries were huge, but even the smaller ones were tasty. I was going for the “fill my hand with berries and chug them all” technique, as opposed to the “from bush to mouth” one. But it’s all good.
I almost didn’t need to fill up any water, because the cold weather made me drink less. I finally came to the spring with the “spongy ground”, I was hoping to camp by. At first I completely missed it, but then I decided to check Halfmile’s app, and discovered it was already 0.05 miles behind me. Good thing I checked.
Going back a bit, I noticed there is no chance of camping there. It was all slanted and wet. Not exactly muddy, but not good for camping. I filled up water for dry camping, then headed out. I figured there is a dirt road about a mile further, and I might find a spot by it.
Going on a few minutes, I just found a nice spot over here, on some old, overgrown dirt road. There is a tree in the middle of the road, so no fear of being run over by anyone at night.
Just before making dinner, Slaughterhouse passed by. She said she is going to do a few more miles today. Sizzler went by shortly after, going further as well. I’ll see them both tomorrow at Snoqualamie Pass.
