Day 13 - Highway 12

I got my first 12 by 12 today. What this means is that I hiked 12 miles by noon. A big deal for me and it got me to The Kracker Barrel at White Pass just in time to eat two hotdogs and a soda for lunch. Not what I was hoping for but it beats tuna in a packet and Fritos. 

I was hoping to be able to get to J&G's place early in the day but for some reason my phone won't work. Everyone else that has Verizon had service but it seems my phone isn't receiving a signal. It says No Service - no ambiguity there. 

I borrowed someone's phone and left messages with the gals letting them know I'm here early. I don't know if I'll see them before 5 pm,  which was our pre-arranged time, but I hope I do. Mostly I'm just anxious to see if everyone is ok at home and I had hoped to use this time to update my blog and answer emails. It also looks like it's possible my phone might be on the fritz. Best laid plans...

Today I met someone on the trail, named Mr Pillow...

...who is hiking southbound, and he had met a couple of northbound folks who were hiking with another and that other person had fallen at Packwood Glacier. A 200' drop and he had to be helicoptered out. With injuries. I'm sure glad I hadn't heard this before I crossed yesterday. Yikes! 

In that vein I had a hard time getting to sleep last night. I kept having intrusive thoughts of my hike and it was disturbing, to put it lightly. When I woke at 2:30 am that's the first thing I thought of. I guess it scared me more than even I thought. In fact I had to cross another spooky place today and I had to talk to myself to make myself go there. 

This is going to be tricky if I have to talk myself through this kind of thing every time I come across a dicy spot. There're too many dicy spots for this. 

On a positive front, there is a guy who I briefly met two days ago when he blew by me, named String Bean I might add, who is chasing the supported PCT speed record. He is on schedule to break the record of 59 days set last year by 7 days. That's right! Fifty-two days to hike 2,650 miles. Holy frijole!

A word about supported vs self supported, since folks don't necessarily get the difference. A supported hike is one where the hiker is met with supplies, food, massages or whatever they might need at road crossings or other points where support could be provided. Self supported or, PCT style, is where the hiker is responsible for carrying all food, gear and water needed for any one section. No support is prescheduled and no rides are accepted. If a hiker needs food the hiker has to walk out to get the food (or water, gear, etc). The two different approaches are apples and oranges, both fruit but they don't taste anything alike. I am happy to say the self supported record is held by Anish the Ghost. 60 days and change. Anish is my shero!

PS. There's a good article about Anish in last months Backpacker magazine. Check it out.