Day 145, September 9: Mile 2475 to 2490
Start: Lake Janus - Mile 2474.9
End: Pass Creek - Mile 2490.2
Miles: 15.3
Ascent: 3688 | Descent: 3625
Bleh. Fire is truly the bane of this trail.
I woke up to my alarm at 5:30 and the smell of smoke hit me like a freight train. The memory of smelling it and waking up worried throughout the night came back to me. I am particularly cautious when it comes to smoke as I’ve gotten a hacking cough for months after doing long adventures in the mountains when it was smoky outside, so the situation was worrying me.
I laid in my tent and tried to think about what to do. Was it bad enough that I should turn around and be done with my hike at Stevens Pass? Soon, Frankie and Gus woke up too and we all discussed what to do. I opened my tent to look at the ridge across the way and was dismayed to see it completely enveloped in smoke. I texted my sister on my Garmin to try to get info about the fires and it was helpful, but we all still had to make the decision for ourselves.
After lying in our sleeping quilts and not making any concrete decisions for a while, it was getting late in the morning and we needed to start hiking if we were going to. Everyone else felt pretty confident to continue hiking on, but I was hesitant. I told myself I’d hike on with them for a bit and then decide.
After a few miles, I decided to continue carrying on at least to Stehekin, 95 miles ahead or so. We had gotten other info that the wind forecast was supposed to change directions in two days and it would hopefully get better. I also realized I wasn’t quite ready to call my hike and be done. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to my friends and to the trail and my life on it, despite being desperate for it to all be over at the same time.
The day’s hiking was made uncomfortable due to the smoke. I kept my bandana around my nose and mouth all day, and still I got a headache and a stomachache from the smoke. It made me sad that there were some beautiful views I was missing out on, hiding behind the haze.
We ended up calling it a bit early as the next available campsite would put us at camp pretty late. So we had an early dinner and I crawled into my tent, ready for sleep.