I woke up and it was cold. Proper cold. Racing along the cloudy ridges, I tried to warm myself by moving. Soon I caught up to Squirrel Daddy and hiked with him for a while. He’s starting to talk to the rest of my group, exciting! This is like your one friend group meeting your other friends.
At the parking lot to the highway leading to the Kracker Barrel, our ‘town’ stop, I saw Rainer and Solemate. The both of them getting ready to drive to Yakima, where Rainer had booked a hotel for the both of them, albeit for the wrong month.
Half and Half and I shared a pizza, which was way better than a pizza in a country store such as the Kracker Barrel had any right to be. The staff was also much nicer than the FarOut comments had made it out to be. It was here that we got the latest news on the Noro virus (staple thru hiking virus that causes heavy diarrhea and puking for a day) outbreak that plagued the section between here and Snoqualmie Pass. Several of the lakes on the way potentially had it and since our water filters don’t remove viruses, the only prevention was filtration tablets or iodine. This gave rise to some panic. I thought it would be fine, as all things had been up until now.
A 6 mile hike out later, we camped at a lake. What a relaxing day!