I was told Washington would be cold. As expected, this was untrue. The western states of the US are one big continuous heatwave, anyone who says otherwise is either a liar or knows absolutely nothing about this country. In either case, they should be subjected to a lifelong diet of cold-soaked mac ‘n cheese for giving people false hope.
In Northern California I was often soaked in sweat, but not even in Seiad Valley did my clothes stick to me like this. Sweat was dripping down my legs for a large part of the day. It is so hot and humid here, I was praying for a breeze to just dry me a little bit. The sweat made me chafe, which hadn’t happened until now, and it hurt. A lot. And the smell, oh the smell. Marble said this was the first time he could smell another human on the trail and I don’t blame him, I have to live with my own smell all the time.
I was also very, very tired, the big bubble forcing us to compete for tentsites and be fast. Luckily, it seems people are spreading out a bit and today was better than yesterday in that regard. Fitz gave me some KT tape to stretch my left foot, which has been hurting since Ashland and it really seems to help! No longer am I hurting for an hour after every break. Plus, the tape makes me look really cool.
Also, there were 2 pit toilets on trail today, so there was some good. But overall, a shit day, a very shit day.