August 19th, 2021
Mile Marker: 2228
Miles Hiked Today: 29
We all slept in this morning, letting ourselves rest. Around 7 we headed out and had a quick pace. Goldie was going to meet Horse, the trail magic guy from last night at a trailhead 17 miles down trail.
Horse also had some cold brew this morning that we all took sips (gulps) of to get us moving.
Goldie has plans to get off trail and go to Portland for a few days and pick up his cousins who are going to join him on trail. We all wanted to be able to see him off so we charged down the trail to get him there by 1 pm on the agreed upon time.
A few miles in we hit the 2200 mile marker. Which to me feels insane. We are officially hiking more miles than we did on the Appalachian Trail! The AT ends at 2190 miles.
The terrain today was relatively easy. To be honest, we have actually started to notice that the climbs don’t change much for us anymore. We know we are strong and will get through it no problem.
On top of one of the climbs we could look back and see Mt. Hood and all its glory.
It was a chilly morning but it was great weather for hiking. It kept us moving quick and taking short breaks.
A little before 1 we all made it to the trail head in time to say goodbye to Goldie. I was thankful. I would have hated to have missed the chance to say goodbye.
Planner read a quote today that was given to us from Abigail and Preston. They made quotes for all of us and we each randomly picked one and when we felt the time was right. We would read them aloud.
I loved this one that Planner read, especially the last line.
“What do you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
One and precious life.
Since we have a deadline of when we need to finish the trail, it seemed quite impossible that Goldie would be able to catch up or we would be able to slow down. We had to keep the train moving.
It’s sad saying bye to friends. Especially ones who have been in your tramily for a while. Goldie you will be greatly missed!
We all laid down for a nap afterwards and an hour later set out for 12 more miles. Before we started hiking Journey signed the trail log book and noticed that someone who went by the trail name “Grandpa” had signed that they were from Kansas City.
I was in disbelief and stoked to find whoever this Grandpa was.
It just so happened that 5 miles later we ran into Grandpa sitting at a water source. He was actually a younger man, maybe my age, and is originally from Wichita! I immediately wanted to say “Let’s be friends and find places to hike” but I kept my cool and asked all the normal questions. 😂
I also had a burst of energy from either the conversation or eating some GU energy gels and started dancing/skipping down the trail.
I can’t get over how much I appreciate the people around me. Who encourage and support and love all that I am.
Here is a quick picture of an old PCT trail sign. How neat?
We hiked into the evening and around 7 pm arrived at a gorgeous meadow for camp. It has been such a nice day.
Tomorrow we head into Trout Lake!
Iz and Oz
Izzy + Ozzy 