Day 114: Pure Beauty!

September 1st, 2021

Mile Marker: 2518.8

Miles Hiked Today: 29

Today, was one of my favorite days on trail.

I woke up around 6 am and peered outside my tent and was ecstatic. Clear blue skies were back. Score! I made it through the night without freezing! This morning though I had to keep all my layers and sleeping bag on while I made breakfast.

My little quilt made quite the dress.

After our normal routine we headed out for the day. Once we had climbed a little bit Journey pulled out his little thermometer that read 33 degrees. It was frigid and walking through the wet bushes caused all the water to splash onto us. I was happy that I had my rain pants on for majority of the morning.

Once we got high enough in the climb we started to see frost covering the trail and bushes. I was so happy we didn’t have to deal with any of that at our camp spot.

The morning was beautiful.

So much so that I didn’t even mind that it was cold. The sun was shining and it was going to be a good day.

The trail took us out onto a ridge for majority of the day. It felt like it took us forever to get anywhere because all of us were busy stopping to take pictures.

The different shades of green and snowy peaks in the background, I just haven’t seen anything like this before.

Mid morning we also hit 2500 miles!!! And only 150 to go?! How insane.

The second half of the morning while still walking on the ridge we found ourselves around an abundant amount of marmots and Journey proved to be the marmot whisperer.

He would talk to them and they seemed intrigued and wouldn’t run away. He would whistle at them from afar and they would perk up like they were listening. Marmots themselves make a really high pitched whistle.

The marmots are a different color than the ones in the Sierras but they are just as cute.

Today was just breathtaking at every turn.

At one point Journey stopped ahead of me looking at a view and as I approached him, I stopped, scanned the horizon, and yelled “Holy shit!” Rainier was in the background loud and proud. Just bam! Here I am.

Just beautiful.

We made it up to a pass and decided to dry out our stuff and eat lunch.

It was a beautiful spot that showed Mount Glacier to the North and Rainier to the south. It was the best spot to break at.

Conrad didn’t show up to lunch but Planner wrote him a note in the sand letting him know where we were going.

Typical Conrad for us though! He tends to wake up late and catch us later in the day or late at camp.

We hiked this afternoon similar to this morning. In awe and taking copious amounts of pictures. Every turn led to something even better.

The mountains were also covered in Dr. Seuss flowers that I adored.

In the evening we had a water crossing that I actually made myself nervous for. I went up to the log, decided I was scared, let Journey go first and then mustered up some courage to cross.

I’m finding out that instead of worrying and building it up in my mind, to just do it and breathe and it’ll be okay.

The evening turned out to be just as magical. Showing a wonderful alpine glow. The last hour before we reached camp, we were taking a bunch of photos again.