PCT mile 2379.74-2393 @ 14 mi
Elev 4700-4202
M tent was covered with condensation so I used my microfiber towel to mop up this morning. We had long descents today and the trail was covered with brush, my pant legs, shoes and socks were soon wet. We crossed dirt roads and multiple clearings for power lines, areas of full sun from logging, brushy growth like devils club, berry vines, maple bushes. No real reason to stop and look at anything.
Climbing around a replanted area we stopped to rest and saw that a stretch of trail was covered in ripe huckleberries. We took 30 minutes to treat ourselves to handfuls of sweet berries.
For lunch break we stopped at Stirrup Creek and got wet to cool off. We saw a hiker stop to fill his water bottle and climb the rise to our resting spot. His name was Lorax, a young man who had started in May at the Mexican border walking 40 miles a day at times! He had a stop watch on and stopped it as we talked. He knelt to take weight off and we exchanged information. A really nice kid, he slung his pack on again and joked that we'd never pass him with the miles we were doing! He's so right, he was going to do in 1 day what it would take us 2+ days to do! We had a long descent down to Yakima Pass where Twilight Lake was, we decided to do the extra mile uphill to a larger lake and position ourselves for 9 miles into Snoqualmie Pass and resupply the next day.
We pitched our tents in a small spot by the shore since the sides of the basin were steep leaving not many places to camp. There were 2 small groups of people already camped so we chose a place further around the lake. Here's our spot and a view of the lake behind us.
Our spot here was the nicest part of the day today! We made dinner and aired out our sleeping bags from the damp night before. In bed around 8pm we read and got ready to sleep as it turned dark. Suddenly bright strobe lights began to flash in the sky over the cliff and down in the valley that we'd come through earlier that afternoon. We talked about what it could possibly be and then heard thunder. We watched the lightening for 3 hours before it started to rain at 12:30am. Nothing could be done but tuck in and sleep if we could.
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