July17th Pear Lake to The Dinsmores

Goal---whatever it takes to put 18 miles and this section behind us. Focus---one foot in front of the other at good pace. Descending and with the lower elevation less and less snow. Day and weekend hikers appear, looking fresh in clean hiker apparel, and are given brief nods and a short hello as these two haggard-looking trekkers scoot by. Finally, Highway 2 can be seen in the distance and then the trail turns to parallel the freeway. It seems the longest time before the two meet. We emerged from Glacier Peak Wilderness at 6 p.m. Three hours and approximately 650 cars later we had our ride to the Dinsmores. Jim, the local tow truck driver, had mercy on us and despite a less than spacious place between the back of his cab and the front bumper of the large Ford pickup he had on the tow bed, it felt great to be in Baring at Hiker Haven. Jerry and Andrea are trail angels who take in starving vagabonds like us and revive their flagging spirits. Andrea showed us the bunkbed and shower/bathroom and soon had me slurping down a jar of canned pears while Jerry was fixing some hamburgers--three for each of us. What a feast, especially as it was already late and our food supply had run thin in the backcountry. What hospitality! I took a shower and was startled to see the grizzled visage staring back at me in the mirror. At eleven I took the top bunk with double matress and with full belly and somewhat clean body soon fell peacefully asleep with a satisfied smile on my face.

Trap Lake

18 Miles