Day 140 : Trout Lake

6th September 2013
Mile 2208 to mile n/a : Horse Camp to Trout Lake
Mileage : 18

I woke up.several times during the night to find there was no let up from the rain, and at dawn there was no change. My decision to sleep on the outhouse porch was a good one, as i was the most dry among the hikers camped around the angel's RV. Dry though in this instance was a relative term. Anything that wasn't inside my sleeping bag with me, or inside one of my dry stuff sacks was completely wet through even though i had had complete shelter from the rain. The angels had put on a heart warming breakfast of pancakes and coffee for everyone, and we stood around under the RV awning each discussing hiking options for the day. The weather was supposed to improve by the afternoon so those that weren't too wet decided to hike on. Others decided instead to head to the town of Trout Lake some 18 miles o the east of the trail. I joined husband group as i worried about another night in wet if the weather did not infact improve. Most of the hikers heading in to town did so via four wheeled transport of some kind, i however did not as to do would have broken my continuous hike. I was due to get off trail to spend 10 days with Sophie being tourists in and around Seattle, and had 4 days, including today, to get to White Pass, from where i would hitch into Seattle. This meant i would not have time to go back to the horse camp if i stayed in Trout Lake that night. I could however hike into Trout Lake, and then hike out to meet the trail father on, which is what i decided to do. So i replaced 33 trail miles with 33 road miles, 18 of which i did today. If any of you readers assume road miles are somehow cheating let me tell you husband is not the case at all. Road miles are more difficult that trail miles, by a long way, and the reason for this is the pounding one's feet receive on the unforgiving road surface, mostly tarmac but sometimes concrete, which is even worse. The only way to make it stop ia to go faster and get it over with, but this just intensifies the pounding. 18 miles later i made it into the hamlet of a town which is Trout Lake. I recuperated with a diner cheeseburger and a huckleberry milkshake, and considered my next move. It turned out that a Jonah Christian group welcomed hikers to stay with them at a former school, so i headed there. At the old school i found about 20 hikers all seeking shelter from the elements, and being amazed by the hospitality of our hosts. There were beds for all, hot showers, washers and driers, a sports hall to dry out all our kit in, and to top it all off, dinner had been laid on for us all. It was heaven. If all this hospitality wasn't enough Cuddles, a cellist by occupation, was putting on a concert with his wife who is supporting him on the trail. Cuddles has been giving concerts all the way up he trail as a way to stay in shape, and i have been lucky enough to attend 3 of them, and all by chance rather than design. By the end of the concert i was crashing pretty hard and heads back to the old school to get some rest in preparation for the second half of my road walk back to the PCT and Mt Adams.