My New Life as a Trail Angel

Post by Melissa:

I thought it might be interesting for those following the blog to hear about what a typical day looks like for me up here in Washington right now. I'm working on my next list of action items so I thought I'd just jot them right down here in the blog as I'm thinking about them. But let me first talk about yesterday leading up to today.

Yesterday morning (Monday October 14th) started off by waking up at 7am to my cellphone alarm in the Motel 6 in Issaquah, WA. I had rented a room with 2 double beds and Hard Target (Nick), Cougar Bait, Naturally Caffeinated (NatCaf), and I all shared one room. The room was small, crowded with people and gear, humid, and smelled like feet, garbage, and body order. Typical hiker trash smell with a twinge of mildew from their gear being perpetually wet in Washington. I think NatCaf smelled the best since he just joined us the night before with dry gear and clean clothes on. He has been off trail for a few weeks waiting for the weather to clear and his group had all quit and went home so he was looking for new hiking buddies to continue on with (it's no longer smart or efficient to hike alone). NatCaf waited for Nick and Cougar Bait to finish the stretch to Snoqualmie Pass and then he just joined up with them to continue north.

After everyone slowly awoke we were out the door at 7:30am and walking to iHop (International House of Pancakes) that was conveniently located in our hotel parking lot. We wanted to make sure the guys got a good breakfast with lots of carbs to fuel them for the next stretch from Snoqualmie to Stevens Pass (about 75 miles). While heading to breakfast, Cougar Bait mentioned his throat was getting sore...uh oh...I was just getting over a really bad cold myself and had warned the guys to wash their hands a lot and to be careful around me. When the guys were hiking the previous stretch from Chinook Pass to Snoqualmie, I was VERY sick for a few days...I am really hoping Cougar doesn't have what I had. 

After breakfast we walked back to the hotel and I let the boys take care of their morning "movements" and get the last of their gear ready while I ran over to Walgreens to pick up some Zicam and cold medicine to give to Cougar just in case he was getting sick. I'm a firm believer in Zicam helping reduce the duration and severity of the cold...I had missed my window though when I got sick. I picked up Dayquil, Nyquil, Zicam lozenges, and Zicam oral spray. I got a variety of meds. On the way back to the hotel I swung through the Krispy Kreme drive through and picked up assorted donuts for the guys and a hot cup of coffee for Nick. We had a 35-40min drive back to the trailhead so I thought I'd give them a few more calories to load up on.

When I arrived at the Motel 6 they were ready to go. We loaded up and set off down the I-90 towards Snoqualmie. Nick seems to be dreading getting back on the trail, Cougar Bait said he felt a little out of it (I think he was suffering from carb overload), and NatCaf was actually pumped up and excited to be getting back on the trail. It was funny to see the different moods and expressions. I dropped them off on the trail and took this parting photo of them before they set off on the next leg of their journey. When they reach Stevens Pass, they will have less than 200 miles to go!

After dropping them off, I drove the 40 miles back to Issaquah and started loading up the car. I have quite a bit of stuff in my Toyota Highlander including an ice chest, suitcase with my clothes, gym bag with Nick's casual clothing, several boxes/bags full of food and gear and I also have all of my backpacking gear for the last bit of the trail where I plan on meeting Nick at Manning Park. I've also inherited gear from Cougar Bait and NatCaf now to add to the growing mound. With all of my stuff and theirs in the car I cannot fit 3 hikers. I have to unload nearly everything out of my car when I shuttle them around so that I can fit the hikers plus their giant backpacks in the back of my car. Managing this gear shuffle is quite labor intensive. I always have to rent a hotel room in advance and unload my car before I can pick up the hikers. I intentionally pick hotels now with outdoor facing doors on the bottom floor where I can back my car up to the door to facilitate easier loading/unloading. No more stairs for me please...it takes me at least 10-15 trips to get everything moved.

Before I left home I had bought all the food that Nick would need for the remainder of his hike to make it into Canada. I had prepackaged each day's worth of food in individual ziploc bags so he could quickly grab his food and toiletries and get back on the trail. I didn't want him to have to spend one minute in the grocery store on his zero days fussing over food resupply (gear changes are unavoidable). I ended up giving almost half of his pre-made food bags to Cougar Bait for the last 2 hiking stretches because he didn't get his resupply boxes in time and/or didn't have enough food. This means more trips to the grocery store now for me to ensure Nick has enough food to finish now. Cougar Bait is working with his family to have the rest of his resupply food sent asap so that he'll have enough food to get to Canada too. It's hard enough keeping Nick's calorie needs met...it's too much for me to do this for other hikers and too expensive.  

After I loaded up my car, I cleaned up the room a bit and then left the maids a $10 tip. I always feel guilty that the maids have to do extra cleaning on hiker rooms. We typically leave behind an insane amount of garbage and there is quite a bit of dirt and debris that falls all over the floor when laying out gear to dry. The rooms are usually smelly when we leave and pretty grimy. So I always leave a tip to help soften the blow. :-)

I then drove back to Bellevue which is a city bordering Seattle. My good friend Ashley lives here and she has been letting me crash at her place whenever I need a place to stay while in the vicinity. She happens to be out of town right now so I am having fun house sitting and taking care of her golden lab Rosie and kitty Zanni. Both are really needy animals who love to get rubs and attention constantly. They have been good companions for me, especially when I was sick and lying on the couch for hours on end a few days ago having a Netflix movie marathon. I've only been around these animals for a few short weeks but I already love them as my own <3

Once settled in at Ashleys, the first item I took care of was ordering Nick a 3rd pair of waterproof socks. The first 2 pairs have failed him and he is tired of having cold, wet feet. NatCaf had a pair of Rocky Gore-tex waterproof socks that he really liked and said they had worked well so I jumped online to Campmor and purchased them. I got the 2 day express shipping so I could try to get them before Nick starts the next section of the trail from Stevens Pass to Rainy Pass on Thursday or Friday. The only issue is that I have to physically be at Ashley's place to receive the package on Wednesday...otherwise they won't leave it behind. I may need to be at Stevens Pass Wednesday so I'll need to figure out how this is going to work. Having packages shipped can prove challenging when you don't know exactly where you are going to be from day to day!

I spent the majority of the night staring at maps of the next section of trail from Stevens Pass to Rainy Pass and trying to locate places where I can intercept the guys on the trail to bring them more supplies. This section is about 126 miles and with snow could take them about 10 days. They cannot physically carry 10 days worth of food so they need to be able to get to me somewhere in the middle of that stretch. Here lies the issue though...there are NO roads that cross the trail in this stretch. There are some hiking trails that they can take to hike out to a road but we need to research which route is the most efficient. They would potentially lose a day of hiking trying to get to me to get supplies. Unfortunately the map that I have doesn't show enough of the trails so I'm going to buy another map of the Glacier Peak area to further research these other trails that intersect the PCT.

I also received a few texts from Nick via his GPS device asking me to pick up a Steripen for him, extra lithium batteries, a spoon with a longer handle for Cougar, and some butane. I would go to REI tomorrow. My new home away from home.

Papa Bear also called me to tell me that he was leaving Sacramento to head back to Washington. He had quit the trail because of the terrible weather conditions but seeing now that there is an Indian Summer this week and the weather is beautiful, he told his wife his heart ached for him to be back on trail trying to get to Canada. He would pick back up on Chinook Pass where he left off. I wish him the best. I also saw a few other posts on the Facebook "PCT Class of 2013" page of other hikers who were doing the same. They were kicking themselves for going home instead of waiting for a break in the weather to finish.

I then spend the remainder of the day watching a series of scary b-rated movies while researching maps and reading park services websites and then I fell asleep on the couch sometime after midnight I suppose. I woke up at 4:44am and went to the bedroom and got into bed. I thought the time was a little eerie but was so tired I fell right back to sleep. 

That brings me to today. I woke up about 7:30am and even though I'm exhausted, and could sleep a few more hours, I immediately started thinking about all of the things I needed to get done today. I needed to get up and get moving. I am at Chace's Pancake Corral having some yummy potato pancakes while I type out this to do list:

In no particular order....

1) REI trip: 

• Steripen
• Lithium Batteries
• Spoon with long handle
• Butane
• Speciality Bars/Foods for Nick's Resupply
• Glacier Peak map

2) Grocery Store:

• Instant Oatmeal
• Tuna Salad Packets
• Coffee Creamer
• Trail snacks (fruit snacks, jerky, trail mix, bars, etc)
• Snack size ziploc bags
• Drinks for the guys when they come off trail (chocolate milk for recovery)
• Ice for icechest

3) Post Office Run for Cougar Bait

• Check tracking to confirm package has been delivered and is ready for pickup
• When packages arrive, drive to PO and pick up 2 boxes

4) Research places to sleep near Stevens Pass and book hotel room to accommodate 4 adults

5) Continue looking for places to exit the trail for resupply for the 126 mile stretch from Stevens Pass to Rainy Pass. Ideally using a new Glacier Peak map showing all of the side trails.

6) Research how the government shut down could affect the Park Service roads and trail head access. I need to be able to get to them to give them their supplies and some of these forest service roads could be closed from the gov't shut down. I may end up doing a drive out there to see with my own eyes if I can get to where I need to be. I'm literally their life line on this stretch! I can't let them down.

7) Verify if Stehekin is officially shut down for the winter (also update Papa Bear). Online it looks like they shut down on October 13th. Stehekin is a small town 18 miles south of Rainy Pass that offers a shuttle from the trail into town so hikers can pick up resupply boxes, buy food, and visit the infamous bakery. 

8) Check extended weather forecasts

9) Contact my sister and have her send me my old sleeping bag. I loaned my ultralight 900 goose down fill Feathered Friends sleeping bag, head lamp, and pink ultralight rain jacket to Cougar Bait so he would stay warmer and safer on the trail. I had planned on spending a night or two on the trail at the very end waiting for the guys near the terminus so I'll need my old sleeping bag sent to me so I am prepared myself. 

10) Research how long it will take me to get from Bellevue to Stevens Pass tomorrow (try to avoid rush hour traffic). Get to Stevens Pass a little early to check into hotel, unload gear, and scout out where the boys will be coming off the trail.

11) Wash my clothes and Nick's casual clothes at Ashleys

12) Fill up my gas tank for the bazillionth time

13) Take Rosie for a walk

14) Give status updates to Nick's, Cougar Bait's, and NatCaf's families

Okay, I think that is a good list of items for the day...I better get moving. 

The reason I am here is to make Nick's life easier and to do everything possible to help him achieve his goal of making it to Canada. Oh, and I kind of love the guy too :-) I want to do as much as I can and let him focus on hiking (the hard stuff). It's incredibly difficult for Nick now with the lousy weather and slow moving in the snow. He is tired of hiking and longs to come home. It's no longer fun as he puts it...its an endurance event. Last night NatCaf and Nick said it was like reaching mile 22 on a marathon...they've hit the wall, climbed over it, and are in the home stretch. It's painful and grueling but will all be hopefully worth it when/if they reach that sweet monument in Manning Park, BC.

We are relying on the good weather to hold so they can make good progress in the upcoming week. It's now a race before the next storm hits. Our group is down to 3 hikers in excellent physical condition with a huge desire to finish what they started at the Mexican Border (which feels like so many months ago). What would keep them from finishing now is another severe storm rolling in making the snow levels too deep to pass, or the trail conditions becoming too dangerous to pass (i.e. swollen river crossing). It sounds like they are accepting the fact that they need to dig deep and get comfortable with being uncomfortable from here on out. Fingers and toes crossed the weather is on our side. Go get em' guys!