Day 127

(Originally written on Tuesday, Sept 8)

Hopefully, today was my last 30-mile-day on the journey. The days are getting too short and my feet are getting too sore to do them very often. We started out at Timberline Lodge this morning at about 7:30 and it was cold. The ground was frozen and Mt. Hood had a new layer of snow on it from the storm we just got finished walking through. In the distance to the south you could also see new snow on Mt. Jefferson and the Three Sisters. With a layer of fog far below us nestled in the valleys in between the mountains, it was a sight to behold!

If you know me, then you know that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. So now you'll know that since I left the lodge before breakfast was available, I was committed to getting my mileage in today. So Bob Rob and I left at 7:30 and Trail Chef stayed back. Both Bob Rob and I have shoes that are too small--mine because I'm an idiot and let them sit too close to the fire and his because he's just been doing lots of mileage. Regardless, just know that our feet were really sore and we were both motivated to get as far down the trail as possible so that we wouldn't need to do more miles tomorrow.

We made our goal of getting to Wahtum Lake (32.5 miles away from Timberline Lodge) this evening at about 9 pm. We had to walk the last hour with headlamps. We're about 16 miles away from Cascade Locks (Columbia River and Oregon/Washington border) and are planning to take an alternate route--the Eagle Creek Trail--tomorrow. My buddy Matt is coming up to join us on the trail and then give me a ride back to Portland for the night. Despite having one last night, a real bed is going to be so wonderful.

Anyway, that's all I've got for now. It's past 10 already and I'm exhausted!