Glacier Peak Wilderness - Day 1

Somehow I had managed to convince my girlfriend Diane to join me on a hike this year. Thus far, her most serious hike had been a weekend trip during which she didn't need to carry a tent or sleeping equipment. I don't think she really knew what she was getting herself into, but I did my best to help her prepare as good as possible. 

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Finding a good location was definitely the toughest challenge. We quickly learned that nearly all National Parks in the US require reservations for every campsite and these fill up months in advance. Later, we planned to visit an area in Canada. I planned every detail just before the village where we planned to start reached the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada and burned to the ground the next day. After changing plans another dozen times because of COVID, wildfires, border closures, and weddings, we finally chose to go to Glacier Peak Wilderness, near Seattle. Until 5 days before our flight we kept on changing our route due to wildfire closures. 

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As there were black bears in the area, we would carry all our food in bear canisters and buy bear spray after landing. My backpack weighed roughly 25 kg and Diane's 13 kg. I had been training for the NYC marathon and was hoping the weight would help me stay in shape. The morning before our flight I ran 29 km, so it was tough to carry my backpack to the airport directly afterwards.

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We arrived in Seattle in the evening and went straight to a nearby hotel. The next morning we had to find gas canisters, bear spray, and an Uber to bring us to the trailhead a 3 hour drive away.