Wednesday, September 3, 2025
~23 miles, ~3678’/5971′
I was up at 6, and out by 6:30am. I got to see a spectacular sunrise, though the morning was cold. I saw a bunch of day hikers, many of whom commented on my small pack. How could I possibly be thruhiking?? I went over and around many mountain peaks, and was almost exclusively above treeline. I did at least one 13er, possibly two, and finally descended to 10,000′.
I arrived at the first and more popular trailhead around 2, with lots of cars and people. I decided to push to the next trailhead 3.5mi away to even out my mileage between today and tomorrow more. I arrived at the 2nd trailhead around 3pm, though my watch died partway between the two trailheads.
There were no cars there at the trailhead, so I went to stand by the highway on-ramp. I was very stressed with my decision to push further to a much quieter trailhead and worried about getting to town. But within 5 minutes, the first car to drive by picked me up and dropped me at my hotel, taking me to town via a more scenic route.
I checked into my hotel and was excruciatingly disappointed to find out that their website was incorrect – they did not offer laundry. I didn’t want to deal with going across the street to wash my clothes in my rain shell and dirty shorts, so I did sink laundry instead. I resupplied at the City Market, getting there via the town bus. I was in bed by 9:15pm, anxious about how I’d get back to trail in the morning for my biggest day of climbing and exposure yet.
Transcending Mountains 