In Port Angeles on the fifth day walking (Sept 2nd), I quit early and checked into the Toad Lily House Hostel. I needed a shower and a (half) day off for my poor feet. (I met a lot of good folks there, give a shout if you are reading this and met me at the toad lily!)
Most days up until then I had felt very good in the mornings and very tired, weak, and in pain by the evenings. Tiredness and Pain was getting more and more common, though.
So I ditched some gear. A lot of gear. The next day, anything that could be spared was mailed back home. My pack got much lighter and my steps after that got quicker. They had to, after all, I was falling behind and had an appointment to keep st the Puget sound. Captain Jim Hall was waiting, ready to sail within a wide window of four days. Trouble was, he had contacted me with a wind forecast saying (Friday Sept 6) might be my only day of decent wind for a while. That gave me three days to make just over 70 miles.
So I started moving. I moved fast the first day despite a few stops. I stopped to talk to Donna who saves Parots, her rooster Eli who was abandoned in the woods when she started re-socializing him, and their mutual fried Nancy the Beatnik retired from Berkeley.
I stopped and talked to some young ladies out for a stroll who told me about a good deli near Carlsburg.
I stopped for a Reuben sandwich.
I walked on into the night and made it within a hundred yards of Sequim Bay State Park. I had made 25 miles. 27 if you count my sandwich detour. I found a nice hedge along the trail and I slept under it.
The next day (Wednesday sept 4rth) I decided to do it again. I kept going along the Olympic Discovery Bike Trail which I had picked up in Port Angeles until it ran out near Blyn, then I was back to following the highways.
I met Cheri Scalf who was counting Chum Salmon on the JimmyComeLately River with a volunteer whose name has slipped my mind. They educated me on some of the finer points of Salmon and River restoration that has been going on in the Peninsula. It did me good to hear some ecological success stories. In the JimmyComeLately alone they have increased the spawning numbers from a mere 7 fish some years ago to several thousand per year now. They also taught me that in fish hatcheries you can get a fish's ear bones to grow a natural barcode for ID purposes. Seriously, look it up.
I kept moving. I met Leonard at the King Ivory Crab Shack where he served me some pretty decent chowder and Introduced me to Fish Candy.
I met Rainwater Reigan whose name I have probably spelled wrong who filled my canteen from his rain cistern when I was running low near Discovery Bay.
My knees started aching, my blisters reopened, and I started popping a few Tylenol from my med kit.
Finally, East of Discovery Bay up on Old Eagle Mount road, where it turns from a paved road to a gravel road to a dirt path to an even smaller dirt path, I finally called it a day. It was an isolated place that let me walk a few miles well away from the Highway. It was hard to find but Google walking maps led me true. It was peaceful. I made camp. I slept. I had made another 20 miles. Less than I had hoped for, but I was hurting pretty good, and it was such a quiet place to camp.
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