June 23: Beautiful, wet Washington

Back on the trail today after a very long break.

We re-entered the US this morning at Monument 78 along the PCT. The air was dank and chilly; the hills and mountains, lush and verdant. There was an air of remoteness and solitude to the crossing. (Even though we had already run into our first Southbounder earlier on our way south out of Manning Park in Canada the trail seemed to welcome us privately.)

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous for the whole day. Great evergreens and dense, fertile understory. Vast, gaping views. Bright blue sky and myriad jagged, angular, snow-spackled peaks.

Eliza and I were playful and kept a slow pace. We stopped at midday at Hopkins Lake -- a stunning, crystal-clear, snow-melt pond hiding in the bowl of a great stone colliseum -- and, after being stormed by a brigade of hungry mosquitoes, set up our tent and had ourselves a sweet siesta in the sun.

We had a few food mishaps today. The tortillas we bought at Trader Joe's last week are already substantially laden with green, stinky molds -- an especialy disappointing fact considering we bought four weeks' worth and sent them all across Washington for the next month. This evening, Eliza discovered that a plastic bag of peanut butter somehow managed to spill itself out into her food sack. So now every last plastic baggie of oatmeal and her mix and all the rest is super sticky and brown. All this and I can't find my spork. It must've gotten lost in the frantic mix of packing in the hotel in LA on Monday. I've sunk so low now that I am eating with the trowel.

We are camped in a beautiful place atop a little grassy knoll just east of Woody Pass. After eating, we were sitting and talking and were interrupted by the crash of a small avalanche occurring over our shoulders. It wasn't much but it was pretty amazing to see. Big boulders crashing down a mountainside can be pretty thought-provoking to a hiker.

We are amazed by what Washington holds for us here. Our vacation has been so so wonderful and relaxing that we didn't really know what to expect upon returning to the trail. One day down though and I feel 100% back into it.