PCT 2015 Day 125: It rains in rainforests

• Start: 2,164.5
• End: 2,184.9
• Miles: 20.6
• Camp: Panther Creek

Today it rained. Not all day, but most of it. We tried to wait out the early part of the rain in camp, but it was still drizzling when we left. A 50k trail running race was coming towards us, so we saw lots of runners throughout the morning. Sadly the aid station had gone by the time we got there. Not that we were hoping for hot coffee from race volunteers or anything. I was surprised by the number of runners who said that we were amazing for doing what we are doing in hiking so far, but I suppose it is a slightly crazy undertaking. However I think running 50k (or 100k like the Waldo runners the other week) is a bit crazy too. 

A lot of the day was uphill, as we have come from essentially sea level at the Bridge of the Gods and need to get back into the mountains. There was shelter from the forest, thankfully, but it also meant grey and misty views for most of the day too. The forest here is dense with lots of smaller plants on the forest floor and a great deal of lichen on all the trees. The damp gloom makes me think of rainforests, and I believe that this part of Washington is a temperate rainforest.

We reached Panther Creek just as the sun was setting, and found Chickadee and Stonefly already camped there. I haven’t seen them in a while so it was nice to say hi. It stopped raining long enough to get water and make camp, but it doesn’t feel like it’s done yet.