Day 134, August 29: Packwood / Mile 2296 to 2317

• Start: Packwood/White Pass - Mile 2295.9

• End: Mile 2316.7

• Miles: 20.8

• Ascent: 3560 | Descent: 2303

After our relaxing zero in Packwood, we got a ride back to trail at 6:30am and started up the first climb of the day. It was gentle, but the views were pretty uninteresting all day, other than a constant tree cover, which was still pretty.

We broke for lunch about 14 miles into our day next to a rushing creek. Apparently, norovirus, a virus that causes vomiting, diarrhea and nausea, had broken out in Washington along the PCT, and it meant we needed to do extra long water carries today to avoid getting water from standing pools/ponds/lakes etc. The virus can’t survive as well in moving water so we made sure to only get water from those sources. At lunch, I made sure to chug water so I was hydrated, and packed out 3 liters for the second long climb of the day ahead.

After the climb, we made it to a boundary line of Mount Rainier National Park. Soon, we got a magnificent view of the eponymous mountain, a lovely redemption from the other stormy day when we could only see a tiny bit.

Gus, who was in front as always, ended up picking a campsite that was a few miles sooner than we planned, as there was a nice view of the mountain from the camping area. We watched the sun go down behind the mountain as we ate dinner, and then retired to bed.