Mile 2461 to 2480
Ambitions of a twenty mile day are always tough when you wake up in a bed. In typical fashion we slept in and elongated the packing process by checking our phones, eating more food, and chatting with my parents. Ah well, there’s no reason not to enjoy the luxuries we get in town.
By ten thirty we were being shuttled back up the mountain. We figured out the schedule for the Stehekin bus and ran through our final logistics, assuming that cell service will be nada zip zero from this point out.
We rifled through the hiker box and walked slowly to the trail head before taking a few more pictures and saying ta ta for now! Having my parents around has completely changed our town experience for the better. There are no worries about how to get into and out of town, no questions about where to stay and shop and do laundry. It has made short visits into town quite relaxing compared to the frantic and usually draining experiences they have been for most of this trip.
The hiking was gorgeous today, and while I still hiked relatively quickly, I took more time to stop for a minute here or a minute there to appreciate the beauty. The views were expansive, and with the fall leaves everything pops. The evergreens blanket the mountainside, but all of the undergrowth is comprised of bold reds and yellows.
I spent most of the walk thinking about the journey. What I would say in an interview if asked about the trip. What job would that interview be for? This final week of hiking will be quite bittersweet, but I am open to my thoughts and taking a little more time than usual to enjoy my surroundings. These mountains have become so commonplace in my life I forget to fully appreciate the beauty and power of the wilderness.
