Day 134...Rainy Pass, Cutthoart Pass, and Granite Pass

Day 134

October 1st

21 Miles

PCT mile 2609

Stomper left camp about an hour before me this morning, so I was on my own again...that was until Rainy Pass (12 miles into my day). I was pleasantly surprised to find Stomper with Gypsy, No Mayo, Testament and Danger Spoon...all hanging out in the parking area of Rainy Pass, devouring some trail magic left by some awesome trail angels.

I hope everything's ok...I thought to myself. I thought everyone but Stomper would be well over 10 miles ahead by now. Luckily, nothing was wrong, the crew was just enjoying the last days of the trail. It was great to catch up to them and have more company. My daily miles were getting harder and slower, as I could feel my body was never getting enough recovery and perhaps teetering the fine line of a few nagging injuries of overuse, which I continued to ignore...telling myself it's normal to feel this way after so many miles. With the others around it was a distraction outside myself and comforting to know we were all doing about the same daily mileage as one another and I wasn't falling as far back as I imagined in my head.

I sat down and enjoyed the chips and salsa left for us. There was a log book...Hornsby had been here four hours earlier, about a half day ahead.  Stomper and I were the last ones to leave Rainy Pass. Our goal to get up and over Cutthoart Pass...there was a rumor Cutthoart may get a dusting of snow today. 

The five mile climb from Rainy Pass to Cutthoart was nice and gradual, the skies were clearing, which made for a beautiful late afternoon hike.

Coming up to the top of Cutthoart Pass

Cutthoart Pass

When we cut over and dropped into Granite Pass the wind picked up and it got cold quickly as the sun was getting lower in the sky. Both Stomper and I stopped to put on jackets and gloves. At this point we were on the side of Granite Pass, the trail cutting through the side of the mountain's ridge line. "Two more miles," I told Stomper. There was a camp and water in two miles. At that point the terrian had gotten rocky and the bit of descending from Cutthoart had beaten up my ankles, and my feet were ready to be done. I put in my earphones and blasted my music. "Two miles...that's like 10 songs," I told myself and started jamming to distract myself from the unpleasantness of the last two miles. 

It was really cold when we reached the camp. The camp was exposed with zero tree cover. If we get any wet weather...it's going to be snow. I set up my tent, my rainfly was still wet from condensation from the night before, it was so cold my rainfly froze when I put it over my tent and the remaining condensation turned to ice. I crawled into my tent and cooked dinner from the warmth of my sleeping bag, calling it a night after eating dinner.