IN THESE WOODS: DAY 159: MUD, RIVER CROSSINGS & MICA LAKE

This - is the trail.

miles: 22

Today was all about the mud. I can't count how many times I fell down or watched someone fall down.

What is that?

Oh, a wasps nest.

Wasp nest.

It was very cold on this day. Cold, then hot, then freezing, then hot, then sweaty, then frozen. Temperature regulation is a nightmare. Ben, Smiles, Slosh and I : our energy flagging, we are exhausted.

Washington is an ass-kicker. Never ending ups, downs, and stumbles. There are a lot of blow-downs in this section due to a storm that came through in recent years (I guess there have been many circumstances) and all of the trees seemed to have fallen down. The litter the trail, the streams, and destroyed bridges. This means there are no bridges when there should be, and the rivers are raging and cold.

Washington ain't a joke.

One of many glacial creeks with blow downs and debris. This area was hit hard by a storm a few years back.

Ben taking in the view.

Milky glacial water.

It's gorgeous out here.

This is also the first time I have felt nervous about bear activity... Glacier Peak Wilderness is the first zone in which grizzly bears could* be a concern, their territories spilling down from Canada as the years go on and they spread about.

(*could meaning, it's unlikely but I still dwell on the fact that there is a very small possibility they are near)

Everything is mossy and green and plush.

A rare flat-ish section through the woods - I'll take it.

Washington is full of river crossings, here you see a rare bridge.

Looking back. It's wild out here.

Today Ben and I saw very little of Smiles and Slosh as we trotted forward bundled in all our layers, under threatening clouds.

Although beautiful, I felt eerily uneasy for most of the day. Was it the weather? Was it the still-ness? The calm before the storm? Did I know what was coming? Was it that we hadn't seen a single hiker in 2 days? It just.... feels very wild out here. No other portion of the trail has felt quite like this. For instance, the Sierras are very "wild", yet you see so many other humans that it negates that feeling, to some extent. Out here, when you don't see another soul for 48 hours (or more) and you are surrounded by towering peaks, as you meander through deep chasms in the earth, up and over (literally) mountains and passes, in and out of snow, all with the threat of a serious weather system, you start to feel very, very small and insignificant. At the mercy of the weather and the woods.

Trees grow out of rocks here.

Undulating path through the greens.

Approaching a broken bridge.

Still works fine!

More unnerving than it looks.

Eventually we would be reunited with Smiles and Dr. Slosh after encountering Fire Creek Pass at dusk. The goal was to make it all the way down to the next river where we heard there may or may not be at least one small campsite.

Fire Creek pass was treacherous in the snowy condition it was in, but Ben and I spent some time up there taking photos - the clouds cleared up just as we got to the top - WHAT A VIEW.

Once the obligatory photos were taken, we hustled down, down, down, as fast as we could in the slippery mud and ice mixture. We passed the gorgeous Mica Lake, where we actually spotted another hiker (a tent on the far side!) and felt some relief and comfort for a few moments. Ben and I briefly decided we would attempt to night hike our way down and out of the snow, in order to make it to camp at our designated spot, but we quickly realized that was a terrible idea and ditched the plan once we saw Smiles and Dr. Slosh's headlamps making their way down behind us in the distance. We were within yelling distance, so we were able to communicate with them and decided to find camp as soon as we could. It was now pitch black, and we were (stupidly) trying to navigate thick ice layered on top of mud a foot deep, and as thick as pudding, all by the light of our increasingly annoying, small, headlamps.

Note: Never hike in Washington with an E-Lite.

What came next was disconcerting. A rough stream crossing, in the dark, with no bridge, barely any light, and what made it worse? There was zero indication as to where the trail picked back up on the other side of this shallow, wide, slippery crossing. The river was so loud that Ben and I could barely scream to one another as we hunted around, with wet stump feet, along the banks of the river.

"DID YOU FIND THE TRAIL?" "I THINK I SEE IT" "DON'T COME THIS WAY, THIS ISN'T IT!" "STAY THERE"

Top of lungs screaming, our breath coming out as a white cloud of thick, creamy fog that obstructed our views even further.

Finally, from behind us, came the two bobbing head lamps that would send a wave of relief washing over us - Smiles and Dr. Slosh finally caught up. Now we had 4 heads to put together for our scavenger hunt.

After much searching, in the draining cold night, we stumbled upon a wet meadow. This would work as our camp site. Just as I was sure my toes would become frost bitten, I was un-earthing my feet and plunging them into their fleece socks and burying myself in my sleeping bag.

I think this was a record-breaking frenzy to get the tent up, and my body in it, as quickly as possible.