I want to start off by thanking each and every person who has shown us support throughout the trip. Whether it be through donations, phone calls, text messages, or comments on the instagram- each and every act of support is greatly appreciated. It truly is unbelievable to know that we've come this far. And it is through all of your support that we have been able to do so. It has been quite the journey and is nearing the end now as we are 70 miles from Seattle. As I look right now while writing this, I see we have raised an astonishing $4,936. An amazing achievement reached by all of us together. When the three of us first spoke about raising money for the Jed Foundation, our thought process was well... $1 dollar raised is better than $0 dollars raised, so why not. And here we are at nearly $5,000 raised. Amazing. Thank you again to everyone who has supported in any way they have during this trip.
We got up in the morning in Wenatchee, Washington. We camped in a warmshowers host's yard. Rod, our host, made us some awesome pancakes. He mixed in different types of fruit in the batter before cooking them- a strategy I plan to add to my cooking arsenal. We chatted with Rod for some time in the morning and he gave us some tips on what routes to take out of town. Before leaving, he took a picture of us:
We got to riding and it was smooth sailing from there. Until we got to the giant 2,000 foot hill at the end of the day. The entire day was one big giant gradual climb, but miles 45-55 or so were extra steep elevating 2,000 feet over around 10 miles. Pretty sure at some points we were going up a 6% or 7% grade. Even though it's something we've done plenty of times before, it's always tough and makes me ask myself serious questions in the moment- and funny when I look back at them. Why even climb this hill? I can just get off my bike, and sit right here at the bottom of this hill and be a perfectly happy person. And I'd be maintaining calories I would otherwise be losing! It's a win-win. And then I snap back into reality when I feel the hill getting even steeper and I have to adjust myself so I can pedal harder. Ohhhh how I won't miss the hills.
Once we got to the top we bombed our last hill ever for this trip, and it was beautiful.
Flying through the mountains that go above the clouds is certainly something I will miss. The gorgeous views comprised of endless seas of trees on these giant rocks are always magnificent.
We set up camp in a town called Skykomish. One last camp set up video:
By the time we all settled in, the sun was setting. We all went down to the river for a few minutes to enjoy the scenery. Owen and I ending up sitting in the (what felt like) freezing riverwater for a good 10-15 minutes. This was our natural ice bath for the day. At first I couldn't stop shaking uncontrollably from how cold it was. But after a few minutes I lost feeling in my legs and it was totally fine. After this we had dinner and packed it in for one final night.
Stats for the day:
these videos are divine