DAY ONE-ELEVEN, August 28, 20.8 Miles (plus 8 on detour)
At mile 2417 (sort of)
Rushed down to Snoqualmie Pass through trashy snowless ski runs desperate for the cover of fresh white. The pass is a ski resort on an Interstate all of an hour from Seattle, so it'll be rather busy in just a few short months. Everyone there was ultra friendly, picked up my resupply and had a mighty breakfast which included my first cup of coffee ever (mostly sugar and milk). Topped off with some fried chicken and Dr Pepper (not making that mistake again) and I was ready to enter one of the best sections of the trail. Stopped of at the beyond friendly USFS office to learn about a small re-route around a fire, no problem. Big climb off the Interstate was cruisy on the awesome power of Dr Pepper. Heaps of other hikers about, it's a justifiably popular area, massive views of Rainier and where I'd just been and the imposing peaks in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. This is the Washington I was expecting and I love it. Then I came across the re-route. The new, improved re-route. Seems the fire had exploded during the afternoon and the only way around was a couple of trails and roads, 22 miles in all, only 7 miles of trail are currently closed. That makes my already slightly pushing it plan to make Stevens Pass on Sunday afternoon very difficult. Walked the first part down the overgrown but well used Mineral Creek Trail and a couple of miles of road before I decided it wasn't worth pushing and set up camp. Things change on the trail, so be it. It's blowy outside.
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