Today was a mostly lazy day, but importantly, I completed my last resupply of the trail. It should also be my last zero. Once we get back on the trail tomorrow, we’ll begin our last push to Canada!
There’s two main points of note here. First, because Snoqualmie Pass is somewhat distant from nearby towns, most hikers resupply at the nearby ski lodge (or gas station) via mail drops (and have already sent packages ahead north of here, since the resupply options aren’t great). However, by having the ability to go into Auburn, I’m able to do my resupply for the next stretch of trail now, rather than having to do it in Packwood. (And at much better prices, too.)
Also, I find it amusing that the rest of Washington is dominated by place names beginning with S. Tomorrow, I return to Snoqualmie Pass, and the next two towns are Skykomish (off of Stevens Pass) and Stehekin. Even Auburn is a suburb of Seattle.
- CareFree and I slept in. Why get up early on what should be the last zero of the trail?
- A simple breakfast: Raisin Bran with dried banana slices.
- Before resupplying, it was essential to figure out how much food I needed, so I sat down with the trail guide and tried to figure that out. Unfortunately, there still isn’t a lot of information on water an campsites along the two fire detours up ahead, but once we get to Skykomish, our next stop, there should hopefully be more information, at least on the detour into Stehekin (our final stop).
- Unfortunately, with a Saturday arrival in Skykomish planned, we can’t send our resupply boxes to the post office, since it won’t be open when we get there. (This is also problematic for my bounce box that’s already in Skykomish: even if I could pick it up to get something out of it, I wouldn’t be able to send it back out.) Instead, we’re sending our resupply boxes to the Cascadia Inn, where we’ve booked a room for Saturday the 8th.
- My cousin took CareFree and I to the local Walmart, where we got 16 days of food that should take us to Manning Park, BC: four days to Skykomish, and six days each to Stehekin and Manning Park.
- We had lunch at the Subway in the Walmart, during which we repackaged all the food we bought to take less space.
- After a trip to the post office practically next door to the Walmart, CareFree and I now have our final resupply packages going to Skykomish and Stehekin.
- After returning to my cousin’s house, CareFree and I finished organizing the food for the section to Skykomish and repacking our packs.
- There was pizza for dinner. It was delicious.
- We decided to watch a movie. There were several options, but my cousin’s daughter wanted to watch Despicable Me 3. So, we compromised, and watched Despicable Me 3. (I thought I hadn’t seen it before, but after it started, I remembered that I’d seen the opening scene while in Tehachapi.)
- After discovering that CareFree’s Canada Entry Permit application was rejected, with some assistance from my cousin’s husband and me, she re-submitted her Canada Entry Permit application. Her first application had been rejected, I think, because her scanned documents were in the wrong paper size when she scanned them in Germany (A4 vs. the required 8.5” x 11”).