Today was exciting because we were going to stop by Skykomish right on the trail and there was a chance for food and a shower! Additionally, Sherpa has been enduring leg pain for a few days now and there are new shoes waiting for her.
When we woke there was still a significant amount of smoke all around us and the smoke-filled air created a grey haze that you could only see about 200 yards in front of you. It is an odd feeling being so close to fire and not really feeling concerned. We are just glad that the trail is open and we don’t have to skip miles. We only have about 10 miles to hike this morning so the hiking should go quickly.
It was a pretty hike though in some respects it was difficult, Sherpa is really feeling the pain in her legs and she is using pure grit to get through the miles. Hopefully the new shoes will have a positive impact and get her to the border without added difficulty.
We had a few ups and downs to tackle before descending to the parking lot. Sometimes these short climbs and descents are the most difficult, especially if you have an injury. We were excited when we poked our heads out of the woods to see power lines followed shortly by ski lifts. The area surrounding the ski resort was beautiful and open and the smoke had lessened so that we could get a more clear view of the valley.
After the climb to the top of the ski slopes we descended to the resort through a circuitous route that took us way east of the resort so that we had to backtrack through the parking lot to the main lodge. We found out later that we could have cut down earlier, but it was not official PCT. Not that we care that much. We are not purists by a long shot.
Skykomish was a neat little resort and we were glad to find that their cafe slash gift shop was open so that we could get sandwiches, ice cream, coffee, and sodas. We sat in some seats in the hallway and ate our lunch and charged our phones and relaxed. It was nice to see what a great attitude they had towards hikers. There was a great place to sit on the patio and there were hikers running around all over the place. We had lost Tofu at Snoqualmie Pass but I got a text saying that she had hitched into Leavenworth where she had a package and would be back before too long. We were glad that she was still within range since we had to take an extra night in Snoqualmie to let Sherpa’s leg rest.
We grabbed our packages from the front desk and did our resupply chores. Luckily Sherpa’s shoes had made it in spite of her knowing that the REI customer service person had recorded the wrong address. We are huge fans of the shipping services in the US. This one was UPS. Sherpa now has new shoes and she looks like a rockstar!
We also had been hovering around a few other familiar hikers along the way to Skykomish and they all showed up to our delight. Bear Can Can, Storm, and Yetti showed up before too long and then Tofu. She was star struck because she had just run into Optimistic Turtle who was hitching with a group to Stehekin to try to tag the border before they closed it due to fire. There is so much fire around it really is uncertain if we will make it to the monument before the area is on fire. We chatted and hung out together for a while, then Sherpa and I decided to go check out the new Ski Club open to hikers and get showers and do laundry.
When we arrived we found out that the laundry wasn’t operating but we could do it in the sink. The lodge was really neat and it resembled the Alpine Club in Snoqualmie except they had a volunteer that was helping people get oriented. We washed up and washed our clothes then headed back to the ski resort.
To our chagrin the cafe had just shut its doors. We had not even begun to spend the kind of money we were hoping to drop at that little store so we were pretty disappointed. We were soon pacified because the group was still hanging out and Storm had brought out a package that Payless had left and we all rifled the amazing contents. He had a great collection of Mountain House meals which we all divided up and we made a quick meal before heading back to the trail.
Yetti was leaving the trail for a few days to go to Seattle and meet his girlfriend who was going to hike with him for the last section of the trail. We are sad that we won’t see him again. Bear Can Can and Storm are hanging back as well so it is likely that we wont see them either though you never know on this trail. If not, we wish them luck on the rest of their adventure!
Tofu, Sherpa, and I headed out and we were in high spirits. We only had one more town. The trail leaving the resort was also very friendly and flat at first so we really enjoyed ourselves for a few miles. Soon we were setting up camp and we fell asleep like little hiker babies.