Szydlo Road to White Pass... And the best mom award goes to...

My mom!!  After my class on Tuesday night from 6 to 9 pm, she picked me up and drove me straight up to where she had picked me up 8 days previous.  This was an 8 hour drive and she stopped a total of 3 times, letting me get as much sleep as I could, yeah, she is a champ!!  So after an all night drive, I was dropped off at the trail at 5:45 am while she went to drop my car off at the other end, where she was picked up by our good friend Ben and driven back to Portland so that she could catch a train home.  So I got an early start Wednesday morning and managed to put in a good day, made it 28 miles to Junction Lake.  It was a very windy, frustrating day and I was so exhausted that I ended up taking little naps every time that I would stop for a break.  Hiking tired has to be hilarious to watch though... I could feel myself swerving on the trail at times and my legs got all Jello-y.  So the first day out was pretty rough but I still managed to make a day of it, got myself in bed around 6:30 and fell asleep shortly after that, then slept straight until about 8 the next morning!  The next 4 days were much better, I was energized and very happy to be back out on the trail after being gone for so long.  For the first few days I did not see a single through hiker, then around 2 on Friday I ran into 4!  I walked up on Michigan Wolverine, Freestyle, Turtle, and Willlily having lunch.  I hiked back and forth with these 4 for the next couple of days and really enjoyed meeting some new people since I was completely behind everyone that I had gotten to know.  On Saturday the trail went by the Goat Rocks, which was absolutely amazing!!  We were hiking with views of Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. St. Helens, and these strange rock formations (the goat rocks) close up.  After you come down off of the rocky ledge you are treated with a great alpine-like meadow.  It was definitely the highlight of Washington for me so far.  So by Saturday night I had myself perched 2 miles from the trailhead where my car was parked.  On Sunday morning around 8:30 I get there, and there is trail magic, and they call me by name.  Lost and Found had been out there posted up for about a week and had talked to mom when she had dropped my car off.  They were just about to pack up camp, but she made me a cup of coffee and I sat there and talked with her and Mother Goose for a little bit, then she boxed me up a care package for my drive, complete with a poppyseed muffin for breakfast!  I didn't even have to tell her that I had eaten every last morsel of food in my pack the night before so I had gone without that morning, I felt like a very lucky girl!  Anyways, after hanging around for a little bit, I got in my car and drove back down to Etna, where I will be for the next 2 days for my classes, then go up and do the same thing again. 

By the numbers:  I passed by the 5/6 mark on day 2 of this journey, and the 6/7 on day 4, I have 360 miles left to get to Canada, and have gone 2303!!