Looking back as I was heading up white pass

It's not new, but clouds came in last night and once again woke to no views. It was pretty windy though. I've decided to call the sa couple, dr mcdirty and cougar, the doctors bc they are both dr's in sa. I really love the ppl in this section right now. It's such a rare thing. It reminds me of our Sierra bubble: nate/meg, jackie/mike, et/heffe, chris/Alissa, heartbreaker, sketch, ohm, banjo, digger, frost....think that's all I remember for now but it was just so awesome leap frogging that group for the section. I don't know most of the ppl in this section but so far, I like them and nobody's super annoying. I hiked up to white pass and I loved it all. Clouds were coming in and out so fast and I stopped at the junction where you go to climb glacier peak and reminisced. All of the snow bridges were gone and the colors have turned red. It was so diff in July. I took so many pics.

I started climbing over the ridge where the trail breaks off from n fork Sauk river and it started raining a bit and I was socked in again. Once I got over the edge, it was a whole other world. I imagine, on a clear day, you see glacier peak but I could only see a bit of the bottom. It felt so remote out here. I ran into the docs again and wanted to take their pic. I haven't taken any ppl pics in awhile. Then I continued down until it was lunch. I pulled off on the side of the trail. Not a super great place but my feet was starting to hurt. It was a bit breezy so I knew I'd get cold fast. Then once again, baton joins me for lunch. He's the only person who has asked to join me for lunch. Most ppl never invite themselves. I need to remember to take his portrait too before I forget.

Then I was off. The rest of the afternoon turned into blowdowns, super muddy trail, tons of brush, a broken bridge and rain. There was this one part w tons of brush so it completely soaked my shirt. After the broken bridge, it was this non stop steep climb in the rain. I was so wet and started to get really cold when I stopped. About 3/4 of the hill, I saw others call it quits early and set up their shelters. I thought the same since there wasn't very many reliable sites soon. I stopped by the stream and pondered next to a small site. I actually didn't know where the trail went bc there were downed trees and water rushing down all over. I was hoping to see if the docs came by but I ended up pitching. I didn't wanna get stuck somewhere w no site and have hypothermia. The ladies are camped a little above me.

Once I pitched my tent, I had to take off all my wet clothes and switch into dry ones. Thanks to the wac, I never want to experience near hypothermia again. Immediately, it felt better. But tons of wet dirt was dragged inside. It's so dirty everywhere now. I went to get water from the stream and it was so so cold. Times like this I'm thankful for the steripen. I cooked dinner from my tent. It was so nice. Except I cooked the backpackers pantry spaghetti but it wasn't that good. I think the flavors were actually a bit intense. It was super filling and I couldn't really finish but forced myself to so I wouldn't have to pack it out. Baton passed me and he was going up a little to camp. I was so glad to be stopped. I'm kinda bummed to not be camping w the others tonight.

Today was a weird day. It started off so amazing and quickly turned wet and cold. Man I prefer smoke over this any day. It's still raining and it doesn't seem to be letting up at all. I'm gonna try sleeping w some of my wet clothes overnight and see if I can dry them. I really pray tom will be dry or at least breaks in the day to dry out my stuff. Everything is so wet. I never want to camp in wet weather ever again. I am going to be a fair weathered camper for life. I don't know how I'm going to get up and hike tom. I haven't seen a clear day since snoqualmie pass.