8/25/17 – First Frost

Day 123
Miles: 2,334.48 to 2,356.91

Total miles hiked: 1,715.87
It was bitterly cold overnight. The trees under which we camped protected us from the wind which we heard high in their crowns and also from the frost that colored neighboring meadow white. 

The alarm woke us at our usual time but neither of us wanted to make the first move into the dump, cold darkness and in the end we decided to sleep an hour longer. 

I was little worried about making our miles today. We had decent elevation to gain and I pushed extra hard to make sure we cover the distance. 

 We had ten miles done in little less than four hours and we happily walked to Ulrich’s cabin for a short break. Ulrich’s cabin sits next to the trail on an edge of meadow. It is a decent size log cabin with wood burning stove inside. In the summer it is popular with PCT hikers, in a the winter snowmobilers often come.

Today there was a trail magic here, sodas and snicker bars given away by a mom – daughter duo. They enjoyed chatting with hikers, and listening to our stories, hoping that one day they too can attempt longer hike.

Of course we wouldn’t say no to trail magic and our stay at the cabin was at least twice as long as usual snack break would be, and again I had to push very hard to make up the time. I was happy for the lack of sunshine in the forest. The cool, cold nearly, air around us made the uphill sprint more bearable.

There were many ups today, and many downs too. The trail was like a roller coaster which we occasionally slowed to pick few berries along the way, and to make arrangements for Snoqualmie Pass when we got to a ridge with good signal.

The more miles we make tomorrow, the less we would have left for our nero day on Sunday. The terrain remains strong similar as today with the ups and downs just a bit steeper. We probably should get up early and start moving but the night will be very cool again, and I have a feeling it’ll be hard to get out of our cozy sleeping bags before daylights brightens the day.