September 2nd, 2018
Since we were on a fire detour yesterday night, we weren’t sure how close/far it was to the next water source when we chose camp. It was getting late and dark, so we ended up camping away from a water source and with much less water in our packs than usual. We skipped our usual morning coffee and second coffee and waited until we were at a water source to drink up. That was sad, but it ended up being just 2.5 miles so we survived. The fire detour was absolutely beautiful, but it was difficult. We weren’t sure how long the detour would be, but we had heard rumors that it would be ~14 miles. It ended up being more like 17, which caused us to get to our rendezvous with Renee’s sister Rachel and her fiance Matt an hour late. They killed the time shuttling hikers back and forth to the gas station at White Pass to grab their resupplies. Right before finishing the detour, we had to cross a fairly large river. It was the first time we took our shoes off for a river crossing in ages. When we finally got to the road, Rachel and Matt were there waiting for us. They even brought us vegan donuts! After grabbing lunch, our resupply box, and a bunch of candy, we headed out to the trail with Rachel and Matt for a hike. We hiked a few miles to a nice lake and set up camp. Matt and I each got stung by a few bees on the way. At camp we played euchre and then we all had ramen-bombs for dinner: ramen and instant potatoes. Hopefully Rachel and Matt enjoyed learning about thru-hiker cuisine. Rachel brought out herbal tea for an after dinner treat. We watched the stars before bed and enjoyed the chilly evening. From now on, we don’t intend to hike more than 20 or so miles per day. We’re excited for the slower pace to the finish.
Did we ever mention how beautiful Washington is? 
Rachel and Flunker came out to do an overnight with us!
