3 September Today was large mammal day. A mountain goat sleeping, a bear running, an elk bugling, lots of picas squeaking, a few marmots whistling, and several bow-hunters stalking. Yep, I'm definitely in Washington. It's also been a slow day, only 13mi by lunch, and my feet are pounding. Tonight I'm at the first and last shelter on the whole trail, a huge log cabin in Government Meadows. There are 15 of us here! A record for the trip.

5 September - Snoqualmie Pass, WA Only 263 miles to Canada! Waiting for Jason and Lara to catch me so I can spend the last 10 days with their foot-funk and bottomless sense of humor. Rumors say it's snowing on the trail, but down here it's just drizzle. I'm also taking the day off to get some new socks and shoe insole at REI in Seattle (via Greyhound.) I'm staying at a terrific hiker hostle a mile from the pass: siamese kitten, all you can eat french toast and my own room ('cause I'm the only woman!). I'll head North tomorrow, the hiker conglomeration has shrunk to Packrat, Shirt (John Perkins, VA.), Junkyarddog (Clark Matthews, MD), Jersey Jim and myself. Others leaving today: Derrick, Pete, Dennis, Tracy, Kelly and Scott. (I'm including all these details for other hikers checking my page, sorry if it bores the casual browser!) We're all hoping for Canada between 17-20 September. Whoa.

7 September Near Mt. Daniels, WA. I was here exactly one year ago climbing and hiking, it all looked so big then, now it is just another small patch of wilderness on this long journey. I love the deep blue lakes in these steep deep green valleys. Supposedly the Daniels' creek that runs off the glacier was waist deep two weeks ago, I didn't even get my feet wet this morning. All the dire predictions of snow in Washington are happily being proven wrong.

9 September Skykomish, WA. A perfect Fall day. Blue skies, breezy,and cool. This town is very hiker friendly, though I'm only staying long enough to get my mail drop, a hot meal and a shower. Lara and Jason have finally caught me, after not hiking with any other women for over a month, this is a great thing! Six of us plan to hit monument 78 at the Canadian Border on the 19th of September. Here's the breakdown: Packrat (John Roblee) a 30 yr. old ticket broker from Conn. Distinguishes himself by hiking at a fast running pace, but still looks and feels like he is meandering down the trail. Hiked AT in '94, plans on CDT. Shirt (John Perkins)(with Packrat), a 35 yr. old electrician from VA. Shirt is the trail photographer- despite many photo stops during the day, he has usually been in camp several hours before anyone else arrives. Hiked AT in '94, plans for CDT soon. Jersey Jim (Jim Smart) 40 yr. old retired jeweler from Philadelphia...and much more. Hikes with an umbrella, receives letters on the trail from his favorite bar back home. Hiked the AT in '97, plans on CDT ASAP. Lara and Jason (29 yrs. old) a couple from Baltimore. Lara is a lab tech at Johns Hopkins, Jason an engineer for Black and Decker. They left the border the same day as I did.

11 September Brrr. camped next to a chilly creek in a DEEP valley off the side of Glacier Peak. I spent an hour descending into this valley and will probably spend several hours climbing out of it tomorrow. Raced Jason down the middle section of switchbacks, and still didn't get here until 8pm. Another viewful day however, with Glacier Peak looming over the trail. A small cornice at the top of a pass this afternoon was frozen solid and scary to downclimb, but not nearly as bad as we had heard it was.

14 September Stehekin, WA. What a terrific town! Only 70 people live here in this one stop town at the end of Lake Chelan. You have to take a ferry from Chelan or hike in at least 20 miles and then take a bus to get here. I spent the day on the dock, reading mail, writing and soaking up the beautiful fall day. I got some terrific packages, cards and congratulation notes from (truly) around the world. Canada is only 87 miles away!

16 September Moving along almost annoyingly slowly towards monument 78. There's only 28 miles left to the border but we all agree there's no reason to rush as it's so beautiful out here. The trail followed some great alpine ridges the last few days, and because we're only going 22 mi. a day, we've had plenty of time to lounge around in the sun and enjoy the views. The marmots and picas seem to agree with this plan. The blueberries are turning red.

17 September 7 miles to the border, we are camped at the edge of a cirque surrounded by high walls of schist and granite. It's our last night on the trail, and just as we were sitting down to a fire that Jason built, enjoying hot drinks and starting to tell our now age-old trail stories....Jim heard a thump comming from the direction of his camp set up under the trees about 50 ft away. Since we had been surrounded by curious and bold deer all evening, Jim decided to go investigate. In a few moments we heard "ah,where's my sleeping bag..." Well he found it and several other items scattered about the near by woods, all slightly damp and clearly chewed on by the salt-craving deer. When he retuned with the news, we were all already giggling uncontrollably at his bad luck when Packrat remembered that his sleeping bag was drying on the top of his tent...so off he went. Again a few moments later we heard a "yechk", which of course sent us into another round of uncontrollable laughter. He returned with his sleeping bag,which was so soaked in deer saliva (at least he hoped that's what it was!) that it weighed about 10 extra pounds. He attempted to dry it in front of the fire while we couldn't stop laughing (and chasing away deer) for the rest of the night.

18 September Manning Park, Canada The sunrise filled the eastern gap in the cirque and turned the east facing rocks brilliant orange. Lara and I shared some hot tea and eventually, we all started the 7 mile decent down to the monument, the end of our trail, and five months of hiking. As Lara and I started down the final switchbacks, we saw the clear cut line that forms the U.S./Canada border, an exhilarating and depressing feeling filled me as we reached the monument and the four guys that were already there. It was a chilly morning and we were all hoping the sun would come out from behind a large spruce to light up our small celebration, but we remained in shadow for the two hours that we stayed to take pictures, cook a small lunch and drink a bottle of wine (courtesy of Jim) and Jack Daniels (courtesy of Jason.) Finally, the last seven miles to Manning park, which included a 1,000 ft. ascent, we over, and we came,a bit bewildered,onto Canada's highway 2. The six of us, adorned with packs and ski poles, headed down the highway, I at least, felt very foreign. Once at Manning Park, (a small provincial resort/park with a restaurant and cabins) we were all suddenly very tired. But since we are all still in our own hiking-world, surrounded by each other, our packs still packed, our poly-pro still on, the reality has not fully hit yet. How many mornings will pass before I don't wake up planning my milage for the week, think of my aching feet, or miss the soft comfort of my down sleeping bag?

22 September Seattle, WA. Whoa. I guess I just hiked from the Mexican border to Canada. It's hard to understand this now as I sit inside here at a desk, writing on a computer...The last few weeks of the trip were among the best for me, amazing weather, and I loved the remote wildness of the Northern Cascades. The group of fellow hikers I was with through Washington added much to my trip as well. It has only been four days since I stopped hiking everyday, but my body knows what's going on and has started a wholesale meltdown- especially my feet. Lara and Jason, who came down to Seattle with me just left to fly home to Baltimore. Last night I said good bye to Shirt, who returns to Virginia and we all left Jim and Junkyardog in Vancouver, last seen headed for the Ivanho across from the greyhound station. I'm looking forward to running, there's a marathon next month I might give a try, and of course I have lots of studying to do before the biology GRE's in November. These little goals are helping to keep me from feeling too lost. Five months is enough time to establish a strong daily pattern of living from which it is very difficult to break free... I'll be heading back to Maine in early October, and plan to go to the American Long Distance Hiker East gathering being held in Hanover, NH. I'm already looking forward to a reunion with my hiking crew... I am also planning a few slide shows around the New England area to help finish the fundraising I started before the trip, and to give me an excuse to talk endlessly about the last five months to anyone that will listen. [Dates and locations will be posted on this website soon.]