It’s fall up here in Washington State and the colors are beautiful. After a couple years in LA I had forgotten what the reds and yellows and oranges look like outside. The downside? The rain. A lot of rain and humidity.
Luckily I’m quite used to it by now and master the best techniques to stay dry when cooking in my trunk, and I’ve camped in fairytale-like old growth rainforests, with trees and logs and stones all completely covered in moss.
And in between showers I got to do an awesome long hike in North Cascade NP along with super friendly fellow solo hikers I met on the trail.
Then it started to rain again, but it was a good excuse to get a burger and a beer with the cool couple of Londoners I had met 2 months ago on a parking lot - when you don’t go out but hang out at Planet Fitness, that’s where you end up making friends (and forget to take a photo when you meet again)...
And then finally, with a bit of good fortune and some careful planning and timing against the weather forecast, I was able to go backcountry again, this time in Olympic NP... with 3 full days of sunshine among the forests and lakes and amazing mountain views - so unexpected, so beautiful and so peaceful. Level of gratitude has been pretty high I must say. Even if the second night out there was pouring (oh what a great feeling to wake up in a pool inside my tent at 4am and hope to stay dry on my island / air mattress until dawn) and if I found out upon return that some rodent had mistaken my car for a B&B and had eaten my bread and almonds and pooped all over. This is all part of the trip.
Still, I start to feel that the experience is getting more and more challenging: the length of it, the shorter days, the quite defeating weather, and after my gear, my bad knee let me down on day 2 of my hike, making me think that it could very well be the end of the adventure. I know however that this is when it truly gets interesting, as I’m now pretty much constantly testing my limits and I’ve certainly caught myself thinking a bit more than usual « push through, tomorrow will be another day » - luckily, my knee is certainly weak but not giving up yet, and neither am I.
#myepicamericanroadtrip