22nd September 2013
Mile 2304 to mile 2333 : White Pass to Chinook Pass
Mileage : 29
Although i am already 150 miles into the state, it feels like i am.starting Washington today. I wanted to get an early start and finish the day's hike in the light but it was not to be. It took a while pack up as the rain was still coming down hard, and just as i was ready to go i thought I'd check i had my brand new head torch close to hand, so i wouldn't have to explode my pack later to get it. I was very glad that i did this check, as i couldn't find it anywhere. I checked inside of everything i owned and turned everything inside-out and upside-down looking for it in vain until finally i retraced my steps that morning and found it by the lake where i had gotten water that morning. At 9:30 i eventually hit the trail and hiked as fast as i could until i got to Chinook Pass 29 miles later. I think that day i stopped for a total of 20 minutes, but although i didn't take many breaks, my hiking speed was slow and i didn't get to the pass until well after dark and by that time i was cold, wet and miserable. At Chinook Pass i stook my thumb out and started waving at every passing car in the hope they were going back to Packwood and the motel room that PRT had there. Every car that passed stopped, which was good, but none were going to Packwood, so i was there a while standing by the side of the road seeing lights coming up the pass in the cold, wet, dark and hoping they were cars going my way. I was 2 cars away from giving up when Jenny stopped. Jenny was on her way to Enumclaw, but when she saw what a state i was in she took pity on me and decided to take me to Packwood and for that kindness I am extremely grateful. Upon arrival into Packwood it took a while to find the motel at PRT was staying, the whole place was badly lit and the owner badly tempered. I couldn't get hold of anyone by phone but recognised the array of hiker equipment outside one of the doors, and knocked on the door the stuff was closest to, and luckily Dishcloth answered the door. The first thing i did was get.straight in the shower and get clean and warm. I didn't actually have much dirt on me having only been out hiking for 1 day, but it did take almost 20 minutes to feel properly warm again. Some time later i was ensconced in my sleeping bag drifting of to sleep when i noticed two things. The first was.a pain in my left ankle, and the second was that my fingers were numb. I'd actually noticed this before I'd gotten in the shower, but assumed.it would go away when i warmed up, it didn't, and so i added it to my list of body parts that have gone numb. This list now includes : the balls of my feet, my left hip/waist area, which is due to my pulling the hip strap of my rucksack in really tight and it pressing hard on my hips now that i have so little fat on me, and now my finger tips. All four on my right hand are numb, and the middle two of my left hand. I understand why my feet and hips are numb, but can't explain the fingers. Starfox, who has mountaineering experience, later suspected that i could have been frost-nip, the first stage of frostbite, this seems unlikely, but not impossible, given how cold, wet and windy it was today.
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