When I arrived in Leavenworth, I was in need of a break. The terrain in Washington is not to be sniffed at, even without the high altitude of the Sierra it was deceptively harder. My plan for the trail gave me plenty of time to rest in Leavenworth before heading to Stehekin to pick up from there, and absolutely cruise to the end. Day by day in Leavenworth, the smoke from nearby fires became thicker as the wind changed direction and I watched the atmosphere slowly change.

For the first of three days, I hung out with Lunatic and Pie Guy in town. We organized some of our resupply, and went to the renowned Dan’s Food Market for lunch from the deli. Towards the end of the day, we moved accommodation from a motel in town, to the KOA campground just on the edge of town.

I spent the next day exploring Leavenworth by myself. The others had returned to trail, and I still wanted to rest. While I was wandering around, the annual autumn parade was hosted in town. I spent an hour or so just watching the show as marching bands and parade floats went down the main street.

On the third day I hung out with another hiker named Caboose, who was once the very last hiker to finish the Appalachian Trail. Caboose was planning to start section k in a day or two, so I figured if I could use this headstart to keep ahead of him, even by a little bit, then I might have good odds of making it to the end.

After hanging out with Caboose for the morning, I took an afternoon bus to Chelan. I got in to Chelan early in the evening and was surprised to see that the office for the campground in town had already closed. I needed a place to sleep before my ferry in the morning, so for the second time on this trip, I found myself stealth camping in town.