Post-hike note: I didn’t take any pictures in Portland wah.
August 1.
My first real zero. Although the day out of Stehekin was basically a zero at only 4 miles. This was the first true zero I’ve taken and it was nice. I got up early haven’t not slept well the night before because of the loss of my pillow (RIP) and because of the loud af train.
Also, it finally happened. I don’t know why here of all fucking places and of all fucking times but it happened. I shit my pants.
While I was packing up, I took just a little too long to make it to the campground bathroom and had myself a little accident. Thankfully it wasn’t a full disaster but it took forever to clean up in the bathroom. When I got out of the bathroom there’s a line of grumpy campers waiting. Sorry dudes.
Ate my leftover granola and said goodbye to Taylor who was zeroing in Cascade Locks. I thought the bus to portland ran at 830 but it only ran at 830 going the opposite direction so I had to wait until 1030 which already threw me off schedule. I went to the Bridgeside Diner which only had bagels and black coffee as the vegan option for breakfast. Taylor ended up meeting me there and we talked some more while I waited for the bus.
Finally said goodbye to him again and got to the bus stop. The ride to portland was okay, though there were a lot of stops along the way. I set up my THLBA fundraising page after some hassle. It kind of made me nauseous being on my phone on the bus especially probably being dehydrated. The nausea lasted all day which kind of sucked.
I made it to the gateway transit center and caught a bus to Alex’s place. Before getting there I talked to Mup for a bit which was also nice.
Alex and Jamie had moved in together to a new bigger and nicer place not too far from the vegan mini mall. Their place was so nice with a little patio and yard. I write nice too much.
Alex was super hospitable and helpful. Did laundry (which I badly needed to do) and showered and went with Jamie to get food at the mini mall, both lunch for us and food for my resupply. The vegan mini mall was fucking awesome for ressuply. I got a ton of bars including carrot cake and PBJ larabars and a bunch of different Jerky AND a ton of dinner stuff including dehydrated red beans and rice and stroganoff, along with a bunch of ramen. Alex took me to a local sporting goods store which unfortunately didn’t have a lot of the stuff I needed. Since it was later in the day I didn’t have a chance to get all the food I needed or the gear or mail my resupply so I had to do it the next day. Did talk to my mom though. Also, I’m writing this on day 28 because I forgot to write on these days hence the awkward tense changes.
Turns out Sarah my climbing partner was in town coincidentally so she joined us for dinner at Rudy’s. We got vegan pizza which I’d been dreaming about for weeks, eschewing the cheeseless pizza at the different towns in order to make sure I got an actual vegan pizza. It was fucking worth the wait. Unfortunately I started feeling the nausea again and couldn’t bang bang. I also wanted video chat with Mup again which I’d had to put off since we both got busy.
Ended up passing out on the couch watching Making It, a fricking cute reality show with nick Offerman and Amy Poehler. What a contrast to the past few weeks.
Plants Outside 