Day 165 Leavenworth Zero – The Walk

0 miles

“To the forest, To the forest, To the forest.
Then, out of the forest… And happily ever after!
The whole company in “Into the Woods” by Stephen Sondheim

I ended up looking more closely at the weather forecast, and it was calling for a lot of snow this weekend on the road, before we could get to Stehekin. Then, while I was trying to clean and lubricate the zipper on my tent, it broke to the point where I couldn’t keep it closed. Combined with my broken InReach, I opted not to get back on the trail and head home.

I’m on the verge of tears. It was sad to leave Firefly, AKA and Mirthful. They were sad too. Some red and watery eyes in the last photos. We sat on the bench in front of the hotel and sang Oatmeal Tea together. Although I was very sad, I was still able to think objectively about it and believe that I made the right decision for me. I just didn’t feel comfortable going into the wild with a snowy weather forecast when I didn’t have confidence that my tent could adequately protect me from it. That could put me in a situation where I would need to use the SOS capability of the InReach that was no longer working. Now I will have to plan a future trip with better weather to cover this beautiful section of the trail.

I informed my family and a few people of my decision. Becky suggested I celebrate my trip by giving me something in Leavenworth. It was nice to focus on the positive aspects of the trip instead of returning so close to Canada. As I was walking there, my daughter Bridget called and it was very nice to talk to her. I bought chocolate at the artisan chocolate shop and then bought a Bockwurst and Hofbrau Dunkel for dinner. I finally visited the grocery store to pick up some breakfast, some deodorant (I thought the other passengers on the plane would appreciate it), and one last ice cream from the trail (1.5 quarts of Tillamook Mudslide).

The main street through Leavenworth and the Cascades in the background.

Early afternoon in Leavenworth

Back in the room, I ate some more, organized all my things for the trip home, made travel reservations, and hit the hotel hot tub.

Finally, before I went to bed, I looked at my phone and saw a forwarded screenshot of the Campbell Center’s website announcing this year’s campaign. zombie drag (Suspense dance flash mobs in all the restaurants downtown). They used a photo of me from last year as the main photo of the article/ad. I put on Thriller music and danced. I was successful on my first attempt, so my Thrill the Wild was successful. With my wild appearance (long hair and beard) I decided I would be a werewolf for this year’s Zombie Crawl.

One curious thing I noticed was the only piece of vacuum sealed food I still had. It was the dinner with the quote «Don’t stop me now.» That was the package that started all the worm stories. It seemed a little ironic that this was the only food I carried when I stopped.

The only food I have left: “Don’t stop me now.”

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