It would be my first full day in three days after seeing my parents and taking the morning to fix my phone and I was ready to put on a good day. As usual, I have as hiking before 6am and enjoying the perfect morning. Strangely through Washington so far I have seen very little wildlife. I have never seen a cougar in the wild and that is what I have been looking for everywhere for. No luck again today. Washington is chalked full of hills. Today began with a 3k’ climb followed by a 2k’ descent and then a hot 4k’ climb up towards Indian Heaven. Indian Heaven is a collection of lakes scattered between small mountains at around 5,000’. I cake backpacking here when I was very young and the lakes are full of fish. The mosquitos were also very bad around the lakes. When I was about a year old my parents took me here and I got so many mosquito bites that people thought I had the chicken pocks. There is still considerable snow in Indian Heaven and I am camped amongst a snow field. I got my first blister in 2,000 miles today but it seems to be only a minor nuisance. Well, let’s hope for that mountain lion in Washington!
Miles 44
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