Make a Wish from Skykomish

Days 14 and 15. Skykomish, WA.

We ate. We ate when we arrived. We ate when the first place (Valley Deli) opened. We ate lunch. We ate dinner. Hiker hunger is a phrase that reflects our bodies reaction to caloric deficit. Our bodies are marvelous at telling us to eat more and lousy at telling us when we’ve eaten too much. Skykomish is not a culinary hotspot, but we didn’t care.

Another highlight was laundry. The odors the human foot can make are immeasurable. I know there are decibels for sound, richter for earthquakes, and scovil for degrees of spice, but is there a measurement for the smell of bad feet? If there is, I know personally I was at the extreme edge. All my clothes smelled. So, the laundromat was a joyful, rejuvenating place.

My Dad was back in Portland and was willing to drive up to Skykomish about four hours, then he was willing to take us to Snoqualime where my friends had two resupply packages to pick up. Then, he was willing to take us to Cascade Locks, Oregon. I’m not sure what we would’ve done without him beingable to do all this. Thanks, Dad.

I threw in the towel on Washington and the PCT. It is clearly beautiful country. I will come back. But the snow that was always present at altitude and the steepness of the slopes was too much.

While I was angry about quitting, I was also extremely thankful that I fell in with Josh, Brad, and Cole. They were hard-working, smart, and kept up a good sense of humor regardless of the circumstances. And they cleared out the spider webs

Skykomish is a small town founded on the railroad. It was a James Hill/ Great Northern town. Trains still move through frequently, but the town is dwindling. They proudly displayed flags of this year’s graduating high school seniors. All three seemed happy. I couldn’t tell which was the valedictorian.

I left Skykomish clean, fed, and disappointed. I looked forward to the new plan: the four of us would re-start the PCT heading south from the Oregon border with Washington.