It was very toasty high up in the cabin, where the warmth of the wood-burning stove accumulated. I didn’t mind though. Take that over a cold night any time! It took a while to get out of there, because I had to patch up a tear in the mesh of one of my shoes. I still have some 100 miles to go before the next option of a package delivery, and the shoes that I have now will have to make do. As best as I could I stitched up the tear, and now just have to hope that it will keep the lot together.
Bard, who had slept on the ground level, was already starting up the wood-stove once more, and I gladly hung out my tent to dry over the railing. Finally around 0930 I was out and ready to hike.
It was nice out. The early morning sun lighting the cabin and its bordering meadow. After heading out I soon realized that I was able to make for a lot faster pace than yesterday. My legs were willing to hike. 
It was around 1100 when I was taking a short break to have a snack when a gentleman in his truck pulled up on a dirt road. He chatted a little through the window, and when he learned that I was hiking the PCT he turned off his engine to get out of the car and talk some more. With him was the whole family; wife, grandma and grandpa and two sons. They were all here to take yearbook photo’s for the son who’d just graduated high-school. They pretty much force-fed me fruit and a sandwich, and it was a very warm and unexpected surprise at the start of the day. It had started raining, and that’s when Red came barging out of the forest. He joined the gathering, and was soon followed by Bard. They too indulged in the unplanned, but for us very real, trail-magic.
The wonderful encounter with the family would be the last joyful moment for a long time. From 1100 onward, it would rain for pretty much the rest of the day. My new rain-pants held out perfectly fine, but my feet and hands got soaked and cold fast. I didn’t stop for water or lunch, but just kept grinding through the forest. It was rough how my mindset again changed so quickly after the joy I’ve just experienced from the interaction with the kind family. The remedy to keep me warm enough, was just to keep hiking.
I kept hiking alone, aiming to get to a water-source with campsites nearby that would make for a 23-mile day. Peering to the skies, hoping to find but a smidgen of blue amidst the grey, but alas, it just kept raining.
There was water everywhere, in what in my mind I started calling the weeping woods.
It was not for around 1730 that I heard voices on the trail, not far behind me. I listened closely and knew that Arms and Double-D were catching up. It took five minutes of talking with them to snap out of my funk, and I felt instant relief. I was amazed at how dark my mood had been compared to now, and admitted that sulking and hiking alone in the rain for almost 7 hours straight was far from ideal. In good company, the day, and my cold feet seemed not so bad at all. I hiked with them through the weeping woods until we made it to the campsite where we quickly set up. I actually added 3 miles to my projected mileage, leaving only 20 miles into Snoqualmie tomorrow. There we can stay at a lodge, opened up for hikers by the local alpine club.
I’m comfy and dry in my sleeping bag now, with only the sound of thick raindrops from the pine-trees above me cutting through the silence.
An early start, for more time to enjoy in town tomorrow, is the aim.
Call me out
You stayed inside
One you love
Is where you hide
Shot me down
As I flew by
Crash and burn
I think sometimes
You forget where the heart is
Answer no
To these questions
Let her go
Learn a lesson
It’s not me
You’re not listening now
Can’t you see
Something’s missing
You forget where the heart is
Take you away
From that empty apartment
You stay
And forget where the heart is
Someday
If ever you loved me
You’d say
It’s okay
Empty Apartment – Yellowcard
