O Canada!

Apparently the PCT wasn't going to take it easy this last leg of the trip.

Most importantly, it took Caroline away from me. Due to a family emergency (the crisis is over now, thankfully), she wasn't able to meet me in Chelan as expected. I spent the morning in Stehekin feeling awful. It took 2500 miles, but something finally made me feel awful. I was narcissistically hiking to Canada while Caroline was being a superhero for her family. And there was nothing I could do about it now but walk around feeling awful.

It was very difficult to hear all of the "How's it going?" or "Excited to see you're wife?" questions from everybody. Even though they probably would have preferred hearing "Everything's great!" and carrying about their day, I couldn't fake it. Nor did I really want to.

I did get a bit of a lift when a hiker who I had barely met the night before, hadn't even talked to, and didn't tell about my problems said to me "Sorry to hear you are going through family shit. If you need a shower, we've got a room for the night." I'm not sure how a shower would have helped, but I was touched by the offer.

I then made it to the post office where I picked up a care package from my mother. That helped, too.

At the post office, I got to play with the postmaster's (part lab) puppies (I miss my golden retriever). And how could I not feel better after that?

I decided not to continue on hiking without Caroline, but instead go to Chelan as planned, and visit Caroline's uncle in Wenatchee. I didn't want to be alone. And as distant family he was, he was still family. He (Craig) and his wife (Tanya) had apparently been reading my blog. When they picked me up from the hotel, they had a bag of "monster" cookies (peanut butter, m&ms, chocolate, oats, and probably lots of other goodies I'm forgetting) for me in the back seat. My mouth was watering. My eyes almost were as well.

At the restaurant over a "mammoth" burger (three patties), we reminisced about old times. After we rehashed (and rehashed) the time when we met in the Sierras, we realized that we had no other shared memories. So we set about making new ones. Like that time I sat in their kitchen playing with their two pure-bred labs (getting closer to a golden retriever).

By this time, I had found out that I would be reunited with Caroline the next day, so I was feeling much better.

I spent a couple of days off-trail with Caroline. I hadn't seen her in over two months, so I made sure not to let her out of my sight. It felt so good to be with her again, and so good to not be hiking, that I knew I was going to have trouble with these last 80 miles (due to scheduling issues, I would be hiking alone).

Although this section of Washington is beautiful, it was really more about finishing this hike already. One highlight was getting to meet Omar, a (almost all of Washington) section hiking lab-golden mix (getting even closer.  I'll be home soon for a reunion for the ages). After I petted him long enough to lift my spirits again, I waited until I was out of sight and left him some trail magic. I put two animal crackers on a "For Omar" note on the trail. I just hope he's smart enough to be able to read.

Eighty miles goes really slowly when all you can think about is Canada. There's Tim Horton's donuts, poutine, and maple flavored everything, and seventy-nine miles to go. There's curling, and 110 yard football fields, and seventy-eight miles to go. There's...there's... wait a minute, what else is there? This Canada place hardly seems worth all this trouble. I probably should have just stayed on the beaches of Mexico.

But I made it this far, I figure I might as well finish.  And finish I did.

O CANADA!!!

Yesterday evening I was thru-hiking. This morning I was through hiking. But I still had nine miles to go to get out of the woods. I was thinking about asking someone to break an ankle or two so I could be medevaced out. But that sounded a bit extreme. Instead, I think I'll just buy a celebratory motorized wheelchair and never walk again.

- Roger Dodger, eh