2023 PCT - Day 2 of the final miles

Not much water up there and a heat wave coming.

Checking the Spot in the morning, I of course found that Runningbird was already on the move. She had covered over 14 miles the previous day, even with the late start. During the day today she did text that there really wasn't much water to be found up there but she was getting on. Later in the day, when I was trying to gather more information, I found on the Washington Trails site a note that said the North Cascades, north of highway 20, was unlike most of the areas to the south and west in that it did not get the level of rainfall, and that hikers should pack in more water than normal. I'm sure Runningbird is aware of that but it doesn't do me any good.

I was staying out in my trailer on this visit and so went into the cabin to find Jim already up and the coffee ready. He was also getting ready to make breakfast as his son and his buddy were here. JD made sausage and Swedish pancakes that were pretty darn good. Did I ever mention that Jim used to be a chef? His first job at Crowley was as the chef on Mr. Crowley's yacht. After breakfast and visiting, we drove into the town of Republic 25 miles away. We made the trip mostly to get an orange for the barbecue sauce he was making to go on the ribs he was making for dinner. In town we also stopped in to look at a gate at the farm supply store and stopped into the brewery and a cafe for a quick check-in with his friends. From there we of course had to cross the street for an ice cream cone before heading home. Oh yes, we did remember to get the orange at the grocery.

The farm supply store in Republic, WA. I like the tractor stored up on the roof.

Back at the ranch we checked the weather on the phone app and noticed the warnings for the coming heat wave. Temperatures were projected to go into the 80's on Sunday and then a run into the 90's for a couple of days. I remembered Runningbird's fact about the change in temperature per thousand feet and decided to skip the math as the result wouldn't be good. Dinner of course was great and we enjoyed ribs, salad, and reruns of the garlic mashed potatoes just because they had been so good the night before. Eating the potatoes I remembered Runningbird was having a problem with her tooth and pretty much her hiking dinners were consisting of ramen broth and watery mashed potatoes with protein powder and nutritional yeast. Blah! Yuck. Pass me some more garlic mashed potatoes please! For dessert I enjoyed an ice cold nitro cold brew Guinness. Only later considering the "cold brew" meant it contained espresso.