September 27

It turned out to be Dancing Feet and Not So Bad on the ridge. Crazy people! We hiked a little way after dark and passed up Pitfall and Diesel in camp. Haven't seen them for a while. Woke up super late, which seems to be the trend lately. Sluggishly made our way to White Pass, 11 miles. The White Pass store was really cool and the woman working there wore a Tool t-shirt and gave us all of the leftover food for the day. We hung out with Chameleon, Pitfall, Dancing Feet, and Not So Bad. An intended hour in town turned into several hours and several trips to buy more drinks and snacks. Surprise. Surprise. Chameleon mentioned that we were only an hour from Yakima and that Snoqualmie Pass was two hours so we decided to call family friends John and Paula last minute. A surreal, surprising change of events and we ended up hitching to Yakima with an awesome couple from Alberta, Canada. John and Paula took us to get burgers and now we're living in luxury in their spare bedroom. We meet tons of people every day, but it's really nice to be with people from "real" life and it was inspiring to see the home and creative retreat they've set up for themselves. A good recharge to the batteries. Thank you, John and Paula!

September 26

Today was an awesome day. One of the best on the whole trail. From the first morning steps, the views were amazing. Rolling around through colorful meadows. Climbing higher until we reached glaciers and glacial melt rivers flowing down the hillsides, a 20' waterfall, and springs everywhere. We took a long lunch and an accidental nap in the sun. We climbed higher and higher, excited to see what this Knife's Edge" is all about. We caught our first glimpse of Mt. Rainier that grew and grew until we were overlooking a huge valley of glaciers leading eventually to the mountain. We took the hiker's route that is too steep for horses. The Knife's Edge was an insane, terrifying, beautiful trail. Who would build a trail like this!?!? But I'm so glad they did. We met a sobo section hiker who looked absolutely terrified coming off of the ridge, but we headed out along it. Snapping pictures. Taking in the view. Being scared out of our minds. Crying out in terror. Worrying that we wouldn't get across before the beautiful sunset turned to dusk. Eventually we made it across the two mile ridge and the trail turned a corner overlooking a huge green meadow with a view of Ranier behind. We stopped to look around just in time to see one of the most...majestic...sights we've ever seen. Huge, shaggy, white mountain goats were grazing in the meadow, meanwhile, a herd of about 20 Elk went running in a line along the meadow and stopped behind a stand of trees for shelter. One of those National Geographic moments for sure. It just needed some epic horn music. By the time we were headed down, the sun had set and we were slipping and sliding down the scree trail. We looked back at the ridge and two headlamps were looking at us in the distance. We started flashing our lights back and forth. Coo-Hees, but still not sure which of our fellow hikers it was.

September 25

We're in Washington now and zooming through. From the moment we stepped across the Bridge of the Gods, it's been breathtaking views and exhilarating climbs. Today we got to the Mt. Adams Wilderness where there is a 14,000 acre fire burning. The trail was closed along the entire wilderness, 22 trail miles. We had to decide whether to road walk an unspecified number of of miles to where the trail was open at Potato Hill or hitch around it. With the other fires, we've either pushed on through the trail or hitched around, knowing that we want to see all of the trail and not a road. We will come back to complete these sections. This one was a tougher decision because the snow will hit this area earlier than Northern California and our window of opportunity to finish it this year could close. We decided that, either way, we really want to come back to climb around on beautiful Mt. Adams, so we stuck out our thumbs. A nice couple from Tacoma picked us up and were so nice that they took us around sightseeing to see the fire near a full view of the peak, an incredible lake (Taklak?) that had a full mirror postcard mirror-image of the mountain on it, and also suggested that we come back to Muddy Meadows when it opens up. They dropped us off at Potato Hill and were on our merry way, enjoying blue skies and sunlight. We've been really lucky with weather, so far. When we crossed the "Now entering Goat Rocks Wilderness" sign, the sound that echoed through the forest was something like "Woo-hoo-hoo-HOO-hoo-hoo." Dancing like kids on Xmas morning. We climbed up to a most beautiful ridge in time to see a fog roll in. Yuh-oh. Hoping the weather holds out for our goat rocks experience. Super excited for the Knife's Edge tomorrow. Now, we're nestled in bed listening to the Elk make their calls. It's a strange and beautiful sound. Loving every moment out here. Reflecting on what it will be like when we finish. Making our way to White Pass.

Love,
Dana "Doe Eyes"