EXTREME!!!

Here I am. Chilling at the last well established trail angels house on the PCT, the Dinsmore's. The original plan was to spend no more than one night here and then push on to Staheken....but the call of comfortable couches, movies, and scenery was to much to pass up. We all knew our motivation to hike was destroyed after about half way through Office Space. Seriously all I did yesterday was eat and watch movies. It was glorious.

The Dinsmore's have a pretty spectacular fire pit that we hikers have used both nights to reflect on our journey, and I must say some of the conclusions we have reached were pretty cool. For instance, I don't know if I'll ever through hike again. Maybe I will maybe not, it's one of those things where I need to see how I feel in six months-ten years. One thing I do know is I miss hanging out in beautiful places. There is always a pressure when through hiking because you need to make the miles if you want to get to journeys end, in my case Canada.This means that I have passed countless lakes, campsites and side trails that I would normally have loved to do, but I just don't have the time. It is the reason why I will hike the John Muir Trail in the future, I want to take my time on it.

In other news, I did watch an unintentionally hilarious documentary by National Geographic about the PCT. Seriously according to this thing I am a bad ass ninja walking on dangerous geologically active terrain, while defending myself against evil doing bears. We also counted that in the 30 minute film the word "extreme" was used about 20 times.So watch out because I am pretty sure I am a black belt in some martial art if National Geographic can be trusted.

Speaking of bad ass, these last 76 miles really have been extreme. there was close to 30,000 ft of elevation change filled with some of the best sights I have seen on trail. It is actually really comforting to be able and still enjoy a lovely sight even after four months on trail. As much as I hate to admit it, Washington has been the best part of the PCT. I like it even more than the high sierras and it is only suppose to get more wild from here. The best wildlife on trail is, according to everyone I have talked to, in the last 200 miles. Needless to say I am excited. The only thing I am getting terribly sick of is kicking/tripping on half submerged rocks and roots. This happens all the time here and I can't describe how infuriating it is.

Well I should get breakfast because I plan on hiking soon. T-190 miles and 8 or 9 days.

 OH! on a side note, the pika research has been going well. The number of observations before Washington was four (and that was in the high sierras). Now I am at around 50 observations. It is actually slowing me down and making miles hard to do.