That's a Wrap - The End of the Trail for This Hiker

Trail mile: 2360.9 - 2375.5 = 14.6 miles

Elevation:  4665.7 - 4053.8

I wake up with a wet tent and everything damp, but there is a beautiful red sunrise and a clear blue sky. The fog and rain are gone.  I am very grateful for a beautiful day. 
  

Here comes the sun - finally!

A beautiful, sunny, clear day!

The day presents us with lots of steep up and down trail.  We stop at the top of a climb in a flat place to eat lunch and spread out all of our wet things to dry.  My calculation of the miles to Snoqualmie ends up being flawed.  When I catch up with Mama Bear for lunch, she is looking at her map and points out that it looks further to Snoqualmie than I had figured.  I see I made a calculation error and it will still take two days to get there, particularly since there is a great deal of climbing to do.

We drape tents, coats, sleeping bags etc on the bushes to dry in the midday sun while we eat lunch.

My left knee is more swollen when I get up this morning.  As the day goes on with all of this crazy steep up and down, the knee is killing me. I finally resort to taking an opioid pain pill I had left over from hand surgery earlier this spring.  I'm grateful to have these drugs, but wonder how I'll hike because I'm a lightweight when it comes to any sort of drug.  I only take a half tablet because I don't want to be too loopy and fall off a cliff.  The pill does make me loopy, but at least I could hike.  I start looking at my GPS for where the trail might cross forest service roads in case I have to have Marv come rescue me.  As I negotiate the trail between Tacoma Pass and Stampede Pass, I cross ten roads that are all too rough or overgrown for the truck to drive up. I finally get on a high ridge where I have cell service and I call Marv to tell him that I don't think I can hike another day on my knee.  It is getting worse and worse.  He sees a road ahead of me (National Forest Development Road 54, the road at Stampede Pass) that will work to come get me tomorrow.  We agree to meet at 9 AM tomorrow for a some time off the trail.  As I come to the road he described, I see that it is indeed a nice, wide gravel road.  I will hike back here in the morning.  I also hike under a couple of high voltage power lines, which gives me a little open area between the dense forest.

I am delighted to find some Trail Magic at this intersection.  A Trail Angel has left a bag of organic potatoes with aluminum foil to wrap them in to bake the spuds in the fire.  As good as this sounds, I don't take any.  It is too late in the day to bake a potato and I still have 2 miles to hike up a steep hill to meet Mama Bear where we agreed to camp.  I do take a handful of the animal cookies that are also there.  This is a good treat as I hike on.  At this time, Mama Bear doesn't know that my knee is worse and that Marv will pick me up in the morning.  I start the very steep climb on the other side of Stampede Pass, wondering if I'll be able to make it to the place we agreed to meet.  Or, if I'll then be able to hike back down that steep trail in the morning.  After 0.6 miles, I see one of Mama Bear's trekking poles beside a side trail, with an orange cloth tied to it.  I think this must be a water stop.  I pick up her pole and hike around the corner to see her tent set up for the night.  I am so relieved that I don't have to hike another mile and a half.  She tells me that the steep climb was too much for her this late in the day and that her feet were getting tired, so she decided to stop early.  She also didn't know if I'd be up to it with my sore knee.  I so appreciate her thoughtfulness!

I tell her about my worsening condition and the plan for Marv to pick me up.  She decides since we are almost to Snoqualmie Pass, she will get a ride to the Summit Inn with us to meet her friend, who will join her for part of the hike.  I will keep her informed as to whether I will be back to the trail after resting my knee.  Marv picks us up in the morning as planned.  The three of us have breakfast at the Summit Pancake House.  I give Mama Bear (Stefanie) a big hug and promise to look her up the next time we are in northern Idaho, if I don't see her back on the trail.

Epilogue:  My knee continues to get worse, even off the trail.  For several days, not only my knee is swollen and sore, my entire leg is swollen.  Both of my ankles and feet are also swollen.  I am faced with the fact that my hike is over.  I don't want to do permanent damage to the joint.  I've had a great adventure, but I'm also terribly disappointed. I was not able to hike every mile of the trail as I wanted to.  In fact, due to flipping back and forth and taking days off the trail for blisters and back spasms, I ended up hiking just under 1500 miles of the 2650 planned.  If I had been able to start a couple of months earlier, I could have taken my time and been in better (cooler) hiking weather for the desert, and gotten to Oregon and Washington before the fire season started.  I learned a great deal about the trail, its beauty and challenges.  I feel thankful that at age 66, I'm still capable of challenging physical endeavors.  I met incredible people who share a love of the outdoors.  The trail restored my faith in the younger generation, meeting many 20 and 30 somethings who are compassionate, smart, and thoughtful, with balance in their lives between work and play.  They were willing to share food, supplies and companionship.  I always felt welcome and included, despite the age difference.  I hope they all fulfill their goal of completing the trail.  Hike on and HYOK!