July 28.
Set my alarm for 5 and didn’t leave until 8. Fuck. So much for early starts. Turns out Salty, Potter, Naps, and Frank were all camped out at the creek too, a few sites over. Also turns out fucking Darwin was camped there too. Missed my chance to not only talk to him but to camp with him. Damnit.
Anyway, the hike to Trout Lake road was mostly uneventful. Lots of hiking through forest and around Mt Adams. Some amazing views of Mt Adams near some burn areas.
Made it to a dirt road less than a mile before the road to Trout Lake where some former PCT hikers were set up doing some trail magic. Salty and Potter were there and apparently had been there for a while. They told me they camped with Darwin at Killen Creek. Salty showed off his ultralight pack and 7lb base weight which I’m a little jealous about but I’ll probably never get a down quilt so it doesn’t matter.
A hilarious British nobo named snake showed up. We got his trail name from almost stepping on a rattlesnake in the desert and being unable to get away from it.
Stayed there for a bit, just shooting the shit and taking about trail stuff before finally hitting the road and heading down to the road to Trout Lake. I walked down the road to try to get service and get a ride to town but Verizon wasn’t working. Went back to the north trailhead where I heard there was some trail magic. Salty and Potter were there and while I was munching on an apple a few cars passed by. I ran back to the road but missed them.
I stood there with my thumb out getting weird looks from cars passing by for about 10 minutes before a truck full of white dudes picked me up. As I loaded my backpack into their truck, I saw that they had a bunch of hunting gear. They were from Vancouver and were up here hunting. It was a dad and his maybe sons? They were okay though I did have my guard up initially in case they planned to make me their next prey. They asked me a lot of questions about hiking which I was glad to answer. Never gets old talking about this. Made it to the Trout Lake Grocery where they dropped me off. One of the guys gave me some bars he had which was very nice of him though they werent vegan and I didn’t feel like getting into the whole vegan thing with a bunch of hunters, especially ones who were nice enough to give me a ride.
The women at the store were incredibly nice and super hiker friendly. They told me about their register and about the town. I got my resupply and some snacks and went out into the little yard they had set up for hikers.
There were two other hikers, spock and moonshine, two other Sobos who had started a few weeks before me. Spock it turns out was broken toes friend, the guy he had dropped off and hiked with North to the border
Spock was a polish guy from New York who was kind of weird or maybe just stoned or drunk or both. Moonshine was also polish. Spock had a nasty blister and had been in Trout Lake for a few days trying to let it heal. Moonshine also had some kind of injury and was planning on hitching to Cascade Locks so I might see her there in a few days.
Was able to video chat with mup again which was nice especially since we got a little frisky while taking. God I miss sex.
Three other hikers showed up, a nobo section hiker named low and slow and two flip floppers whose names I didn’t get. They ended up staying with moonshine in her room. Low and slow got the other room and I stayed on the lawn with spock.
I was going to stay at the campground but spock let me know I could stay on the lawn and even helped me check with the owner when I started getting anxious about it.
I was too late to get any food from the cafe which didn’t help my anxiety about staying there or getting back to the trail.
Cowboy camped on the lawn which was nice though the main street of the city was right next to us and there were some bright lights on from the house next to the grocery store and there was a full moon that was also bright. Trout Lake is nice but I kinda wish I had gotten back on the trail that same day and gotten a few more miles in. Oh well. At least I got some Huckleberry Lemonade. 
Plants Outside 