Day 18 (120)

Miles: 26.9

Mileage: 2,490.9

What a day. It was hot. I was slow. Full sun. Barely any wind. So much sweat.

Not twenty paces after leaving our tentsite this morning, the uppers of my right shoe ripped in half. The part of the upper covering my toes is now completely detached from the part covering my foot. It ripped right where the laces end.

Richard spent 20 minutes stitching them back together. Then, about a mile from tonight’s tentsite, all those stitches ripped out. Now, it’s repaired with paracord, a much thicker string than nylon sutures. We’ll see how tomorrow goes.

I’m really hoping the temperatures cool off. It has been so hot and the extended exercise in this heat is draining. I expected to be tired, but this is excessive.

The scenery was beautiful today. The terrain is less rugged than in the central Washington Cascades. But looking in any direction, all you see is ridges fading from green to purple across the horizon. It feels lovely and remote.

There has also been an abundance of berries. Blueberries, huckleberries, raspberries, thimbleberries, salmonberries.

There are a ton of people at this campsite tonight. They are loud. But they gave us chocolate. Let’s all go to sleep.