October 2022
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Day 158: Up in Smoke
September 9; Mile 2550-2554 + 13 After 158 days the trail, my plans, my hopes all went up in smoke. Today was the end of my hike, but I did not realize it yet. I woke up disoriented in full sunshine, almost two hours later than normal. I had spent all night breathing in the wretched air, and in the morning light I could see that instead of clearing, it had gotten worse. Having lost my N95 mask somewhere along the way, I pulled my buff up around my nose and tried to
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Day 155-157: Glacier Peak
September 6-8; Mile 2487-2550 Day 155 I woke to the smell of smoke. The weather forecast had granted a 2-day window of favorable winds to get past the two active wildfires, and I had squandered the first day by going less than 4 miles. I hiked down into the valley of smoke where the trail led past the first spot that I’d ever slept in my tent. Dov and I had hiked part of this section two years ago as a loop to Blue Lakes, and so I retraced our path that morning to
