Zero Day in Corvallis
Considering I have been getting up early on the trail, I ended up waking up at 5 am, even though I had no place to be today. I didn't get up until well after 6 am, because the guest bed I was sleeping in was really comfortable with a huge, push comforter and 4 huge, soft pillows.
Eventually, I was able to extract myself from that sea of comfort and went downstairs to hang with Vee and Marc as they were prepping to leave for work. They had offered me eggs and toast to make myself breakfast. I did so after they left so as not to be in their way. I made scrambled eggs with some cherry tomatoes from their garden and put that on top of the toast.
As much of a treat as that was, I was still ravenously hungry, so I headed down to the WinCo that was near their house. I got in and out as fast as I could considering I was tempted to buy the whole store. My purchase was probably a little confusing as I had healthier foods like a salad, fruit, pickles, and coconut water, but also bought a container of frosted sugar cookies, chips, and a couple bags of candy.
I went back to Vee's house, attacked the sugar cookies, and talked to her adorable parrots (the conversation was one sided). Then, when I went to update the queue of blog entries, I crashed hard. I had been working so hard to outrace the fire closures that I had no idea how exhausted it had made me.
I spent the rest of the morning /early afternoon laying in bed, occassionally getting up to do a blog entry, get more food (the biggest motivation for getting up), or soaking in a magnesium salt bath (thanks, Vee!).
Later in the day, I was a little more awake and was able to finish updating the blog entries and do research on the fire closures, planning out my next steps for hiking the PCT.
I found out a couple of interesting updates. The first was that there was a severe thunderstorm warning for Shelter Cove, with half dollar sized hail. The warning said to expect vehicle damage. I had to roll my eyes considering that type of thing has been typical of the last couple days. I seem to be leaving a wake of destruction behind me. In reality, I was really grateful that Vee had taken me off the trail.
The other interesting information that I found out was that the fire closure I was going to skip around was holding steady, and the detour around it was not bad at all. There were all sorts of uncertain rumors about this closure/detour, but a fellow hiker who went through the area clarified that it was not bad, and included pictures and videos if the route.
I checked the fire information for Eagle Creek and the Columbia Gorge and found out that the trails and roads on the Washington side were all open. The bit of fire that had jumped the river was very tiny and not near the trail.
All this information meant that I could (at the moment) hike the majority of Washington, only being shuttled around the Norse Peak fire. There were two other fires near the PCT (Jolly Mountain Fire and Diamond Peak Fire) but the trail was still open at the moment.
I made a plan to pick up the trail right on the Washington side of the Bridge of the Gods. I wouldn't be crossing it, which is usually an exciting PCT landmark (entering the final state), but I might be able to at least see it.
I talked to Vee when she came back and we went over transportation options. It looked like the best option was for her to drive me to Vancouver, WA and I would take a bus to Stevenson, WA which was right near the bridge.
I would have to do a large food carry for that section. I had 5 days worth of food, which would get me to Whites Pass (originally one of my resupply stops), but I only had 1-1.5 days past there until I hit the Norse Peak closure. From there I would have to be shuttled around to the next resupply stop, Snoqualmie. It didn't make sense to resupply at Whites Pass, so I went back down to WinCo to get 2 days worth of extra food and some dinner. After that I went to bed.
Eventually, I was able to extract myself from that sea of comfort and went downstairs to hang with Vee and Marc as they were prepping to leave for work. They had offered me eggs and toast to make myself breakfast. I did so after they left so as not to be in their way. I made scrambled eggs with some cherry tomatoes from their garden and put that on top of the toast.
As much of a treat as that was, I was still ravenously hungry, so I headed down to the WinCo that was near their house. I got in and out as fast as I could considering I was tempted to buy the whole store. My purchase was probably a little confusing as I had healthier foods like a salad, fruit, pickles, and coconut water, but also bought a container of frosted sugar cookies, chips, and a couple bags of candy.
I went back to Vee's house, attacked the sugar cookies, and talked to her adorable parrots (the conversation was one sided). Then, when I went to update the queue of blog entries, I crashed hard. I had been working so hard to outrace the fire closures that I had no idea how exhausted it had made me.
I spent the rest of the morning /early afternoon laying in bed, occassionally getting up to do a blog entry, get more food (the biggest motivation for getting up), or soaking in a magnesium salt bath (thanks, Vee!).
Later in the day, I was a little more awake and was able to finish updating the blog entries and do research on the fire closures, planning out my next steps for hiking the PCT.
I found out a couple of interesting updates. The first was that there was a severe thunderstorm warning for Shelter Cove, with half dollar sized hail. The warning said to expect vehicle damage. I had to roll my eyes considering that type of thing has been typical of the last couple days. I seem to be leaving a wake of destruction behind me. In reality, I was really grateful that Vee had taken me off the trail.
The other interesting information that I found out was that the fire closure I was going to skip around was holding steady, and the detour around it was not bad at all. There were all sorts of uncertain rumors about this closure/detour, but a fellow hiker who went through the area clarified that it was not bad, and included pictures and videos if the route.
I checked the fire information for Eagle Creek and the Columbia Gorge and found out that the trails and roads on the Washington side were all open. The bit of fire that had jumped the river was very tiny and not near the trail.
All this information meant that I could (at the moment) hike the majority of Washington, only being shuttled around the Norse Peak fire. There were two other fires near the PCT (Jolly Mountain Fire and Diamond Peak Fire) but the trail was still open at the moment.
I made a plan to pick up the trail right on the Washington side of the Bridge of the Gods. I wouldn't be crossing it, which is usually an exciting PCT landmark (entering the final state), but I might be able to at least see it.
I talked to Vee when she came back and we went over transportation options. It looked like the best option was for her to drive me to Vancouver, WA and I would take a bus to Stevenson, WA which was right near the bridge.
I would have to do a large food carry for that section. I had 5 days worth of food, which would get me to Whites Pass (originally one of my resupply stops), but I only had 1-1.5 days past there until I hit the Norse Peak closure. From there I would have to be shuttled around to the next resupply stop, Snoqualmie. It didn't make sense to resupply at Whites Pass, so I went back down to WinCo to get 2 days worth of extra food and some dinner. After that I went to bed.
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