Back in Seattle

So, Tom and I are back in Seattle. We hitched a ride out of Crater Lake National Park and to Medford, a town in southern Oregon. From there we caught a bus to Eugene, a great city, where we spent a few days with one of Tom's good friends: Elan. We tubed down the Willamette River, ate a lot of delicious food, and explored the city. Then we caught another bus back up to Seattle. I am flying back east in about a week, but Tom and I are taking this time to visit Seattle's parks, and spend some time relaxing.

It is a big bummer that we weren't able to hike the whole PCT like we had planned, but we still got to experience a good chunk of it, and have a great adventure. This summer we have seen 3 national parks, hiked a lot of miles, and had a great time. I learned I don't like snowy cliffs, and we both learned how much our bodies can do, and deal with.

I am reliving my days from two months ago- except in reverse: unpacking, and un-planning this whole trip. We still have 5 huge Tupperware tubs full of food, stacked against the wall. It looks like we will be eating a whole lot of instant rice and oatmeal for the next 12 months (actually, I will be eating a whole lot of oatmeal, because Tom cant stand it now).

People keep asking us if we are going to try again this season, and the answer is: no, thanks. We have already planned and re-planned this trip twice (including packing 2 sets of resupply boxes and heading out on two trips, only to have to return home). We had a bunch of close, and rather scary, calls on this last trip, and we are enjoying our time sleeping in a real bed for the time being. Maybe another year, maybe another trail. Who knows.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us on this ridiculous adventure. We signed onto this realizing it would be a great adventure, but I never quite expected it to turn out like this. We are really happy with our decision not to continue, but it is still a pretty big let down. We never could have expected this crazy weather- and I guess it just wasn't our year.