Day 3: Morton, WA - White Pass, WA - 54 miles - 4505 ft of gain

This morning I opened the blinds to see the sun shining, yes! Our first 40 miles was flat riding, which was glorious! The pine trees greeted us and kept encouraging us (or maybe just me) forward.

Our first bike malfunction was discovered at our 18 mile sag stop. The spoke on Jaerrid’s bike was busted, so we pulled out the spare bike and he rode that for the rest of the day (which had regular pedals on, so extra props to him for getting it up the mountain pass).

In the town of Packwood we caught our first glimpse of Mt Rainier. And Mt Rainier kept making a surprise appearance all day.

At mile 40, we started making a 14 mile climb from 1,000 ft to 4,500 ft. It was a steady push to the ski resort at the top. The views were spectacular and around each corner was something new to keep my attention. At one point I pulled in for the “vista stop” and turned around and there was Mt Creepy, I mean Mt Rainier, in its full glory stalking me from behind. I didn’t even expect to see it because I thought we turned away from it. For most of the climb I was by myself. Al caught up to me from behind after one of the boys decided to catch the van to the top, and then we found two more boys at the vista stop. So the four of us finished the final 3.5 miles to the top together.

Our lodging for the night is at the ski resort condos. As I was getting a few things out of the van, a couple pulled up and started asking questions about our ride. They told me about a hike behind the condos that took us around a lake. They also invited us to come visit them in the winter and ski the mountain. Washington has not been on my ski list, but maybe! I wanted to hike, so I asked if anyone wanted to join. Several of us set off around the lake and we ended up hiking a portion of the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail), which is a trail I’d love to section hike (no thank you to doing the whole thing at one time 2600+ miles). I’ve already hit a small section in Washington and loved the views. Monny found a snake on our hike which was a highlight for him. Seeing as it was his birthday, it was extra special that he got his wish!

We ate dinner in the condo and had a great time laughing and chatting and laughing. Most of the laughing wouldn’t make sense to anyone outside the group, but isn’t that what experiences like this are for… building connections around shared experiences. We ended our dinner with Monny (birthday boy) using my Base Camp cards (which have random questions on) to ask anyone a question from the card. Then Mike finished our evening with a devotion.

Tomorrow it’s all downhill!