What a horrible night. Not only didn’t it stop raining all night long. No. Also the mice were out. We had hung our food bags on the tent poles and closed the fly so they wouldn’t get to wet. When I woke up during the night I saw a huge hole in one of the food bags.
A mouse had made it in. That sucked! So I moved my backpack away which I thought they had used as a ladder and moved the bags higher up. I tried to go back to sleep but I thought I still heard something. When I shined my head lamp on the bags a mouse was sitting right in the hole steeling peanuts. Bastard! I don’t know how it got in there but this didn’t seem to work. So finally I got up and out in the rain, put up a rope between two trees, hung up the food there and covered it up with the tyvek. 1.5h later I succeded over the mouse. Partly. Tomorrow without peanuts…
These mornings suck! Everything was wet or damp. Putting wet socks back on to go in almost frozen shoes is pretty much the worst in the morning. But also the sleeping bags had suffered a bit and the condensation water was dripping from the insight of the tent. All stuff that makes it very pleasurable to get up and moving. But – there is only one way to Canada. So finally we made it out and started walking. We started out in light rain and fought ourselves over 3,000ft back up. For what? To get more rain and eventually snowed on!
So the first half of the day the motto was head down and hike fast to not become a popsicle.
But luckily the weather had mercy with us. Around lunch and at the top of the climb the rain stopped. We were still in the clouds though butnitnwas already a lot better.
And then we hit it – the 100 mile marker to Canada! I still remember celebrating the first 100 miles. Now there are only 100 left. Jiehhaaaa! Ohhhh Canada. We are coming. I am ready to get there!
The clouds were still crazy. But they stayed calm for now. 4,500ft down to Stehekin. Our last town. Our last resupply.
More and more gear is falling apart. But now all that matters is three more days. So everything just has to hold up a bit more.
The attempt to get our gear dry at around 40F and no sun. Still everything was wet from yesterday.
5 more miles to town tomorrow morning.
