As I left Rainy Pass this morning and headed into my last section of trail to the monument at the border, I felt sorry for all the hikers who had missed the chili dogs the night before. And I was also sorry for the weather that they were hiking into--and that I was also enduring. Winter seemed to be in a hurry to arrive, as clouds threatened overhead all day. The rain started in the morning, and by afternoon it had turned to snow.

The higher we climbed, the colder the temperature got, and we could see that some of the mountain peaks ahead already had a dusting of snow on them. Summer is a very short season up here; the previous year's snow doesn't melt until late July or early August in some places, and here it was only a couple months later with new snow approaching.

This whole last section of trail is new to me, as I had to take an alternate route along Lake Ross, a little to the east of here, to reach the border in 2014. So I was really excited to be finishing the ride with entirely new territory (although I wouldn't have minded some sunshine to go with it!).

#2016PCT