Day 75: A boring day on the trail

August 23: The night was uneventful and I hit the trail at around 8:30. There wasn't a big rush. The plan for today was that I'd hike about 12 miles to the Tubal Cane trailhead where Amanda would pick me up and take me back into town. Strictly speaking, I didn't really need to go back into town for anything, but tomorrow Amanda would be leaving and I would be offline and on my own until my next resupply point in another 10 days. It seemed like I should take the opportunity to get in one last shower and catch up with whatever emails and work that I needed to deal with while I could. And anyhow, because of my permits, I needed to cover about 5 miles tomorrow. I could get off the trail today and get back on tomorrow--while still taking more than 24 hours off the trail!

So that was the plan.

And today's hike was completely uneventful. The trail was mostly flat, easy and in good condition. I traveled along it quickly and efficiently, burning up the miles like a campfire.

And a few hours later, I arrived at the Tubal Cain trailhead, not having seen a single person on the trail the entire day.

The trailhead, however, was packed with people and cars. It seemed like there were a hundred vehicles parked all over the place. The Tubal Cain trailhead is a popular one, but not for the trail that I arrived in from

We then drove back to Sequim for the night, checking into the same motel where we stayed two nights earlier and even getting the same room we had two nights earlier. 

I was a little disappointed to know that the four PNT hikers behind me on the trail would likely pass the Tubal Cain trailhead before I returned. They were probably only 5 or 10 miles behind me at most and would almost certainly pass before I returned. But they had permits to deal with as well and maybe they'd have to slow down to meet their permit schedule.

For lunch, we stopped at the Black Bear Diner and dined on the outdoor patio which was a nice place to hang out for a bit, then we retired back to the hotel room where I spent most of the evening working on Atlas Quest. Like I said, a boring day!