Wednesday, August 15, 2018 – 12.90 miles

My ride worked out this morning and I rode to the trailhead with some other hikers on a couch in the back of a truck. It was amazing. That couch made me miss couches. When I gave the trail angel gas money, he thanked me but said it wasn’t necessary and he would use the money to buy more sodas for trail magic. Can I have the money back then…

I decided to try wearing a particulate mask today to see whether it would help with my cough. I had bought a few N95 masks back in Bend, anticipating smoke further north along the trail. Getting used to the mask was difficult, and my face was dripping with sweat behind it, but I do think I coughed significantly less when wearing it. Unfortunately it impeded me from eating as many huckleberries as I would have liked. 

I knew that I had been heading towards Mt. Adams for a long time, but today the trail finally broke out of the forest with Adams looming on the horizon. The view was hazy, but better than my expectations. It’s not a grey lump! Hurray! My standards have fallen so low! Sad!

Past Lewis River, which was an easy rock hop, a campsite offers an amazing view of the icefall. I’m camped there tonight despite the grubbiness of the site, having squeezed my tent into a small cleared spot sans toothpaste stains. Unfortunately the PCT doesn’t get any closer to Mt. Adams. It’s a drive-by.

At the Trout Lake trailhead, a hiker suggested that I should have the trail name ‘Bane’ due to my masked resemblance with the Batman supervillain. Pockets has more sentimental value and I intend to keep it, but I’m going by Bane from now on, because it’s way cooler.