Thursday, October 4th.

Thursday, October 4th: Todays miles = 20.4. Total PCT miles = 2,476. Miles remaining = 187.5.

Today was another 9am start. Even with the drive to get to Stevens Pass/Skykomish I still could not get out of my sleeping bag any earlier. It was another sleepless night for me. Its been two nights in a row now that I have not gotten any sleep! Hiking Washington miles are hard enough as it is but hiking without any sleep and a resupply of just sugar is, well... just miserable.

The hike was beautiful today, although, I will admit that I didn't take much time to soak it in. I knew I had to hike 20 miles today and get to the pass in time to hitch in the day light.

I made it to the pass around 4:45pm and got a ride almost immediately from a girl about my age. The hitch from Stevens pass to Skykomish is 25 miles. This very kind girl, Jenna, drove Baboon and I about 20 miles East on the road before we realized that Skykomish was West! Jenna turned around, drove us back to where she picked us up and then continued another 25 miles out of her way to drop us off at the deli in Skykomish! I couldn't thank her enough. She helped us out more than she can know. It was getting dark and our chances of making it to town at that point were very slim.

We arrived at the deli 8 minutes before close and I was reluctant to order because, I've worked food service and you always hate those bastards that come in just before close with a big order, and hikers always have big orders. The lady behind the counter told me she could do cold sandwiches and told us to take our time shopping. I started grabbing random things off the shelves as my sandwhich was being made. To be honest, I had no idea what I was buying at the time. After the lady handed me my samdwich she told me that if I waited until she closed up shop that she would give me a ride 6 miles down the road to the Dinsmores, a trail angels home. I don't remember eating the sandwich, really, but it happened sometime between the time she handed it to me and the time I got in her car. She turned the heat up all the way in her car because she could see how cold I was and drove me right to Jerry and Andrea Dismores. They met me outside and explained to me that I was welcome to shower and give my clothes to Andrea. She would then wash them for me. They had clothes for me to pick from for while my clothes were being washed. I chose very oversized sweat pants and a cotton hoodie! They then directed me to a building in the back of their house that had 6 bunks for hikers, many recliners circled around a coffee table, two TVs, about 200 movies, a microwave, toaster oven, coffee maker, fridge, computer, and a slew of books. Andrea told me to make myself at home and rest up for the last part of my journey.

After I was clean I sat by the wood burning stove in the hiker room for quite a while looking through the bag of goodies I bought myself at the deli. I had Cheese Its, Pringles, soda, fruit, and microwave popcorn! It was a good night! I actually slept for most of the night!