On Monday evening a wonderful chance occurance brought Alina and I together on the trail. She had been at Sonora Pass, checking out the snow conditions there, and she was able to give me greatly reassuring news that the snow was almost completely clear of the trail in both directions. I was heading south and she was riding north, and we met at Ebbetts Pass to have dinner and share stories and adventures. Her tale about covering the last 60 miles to Canada last year was amazing; it took her and her brother and her boyfriend a whole month, and they literally dug their way through snow to get there after an early storm closed the trail and sent all the other hikers home, even when they were so close to the end. They took shovels and broke open a path through the snow that was often waist deep, eventually resorting to an alternate trail (though that was unmaintained and blocked by many downed trees). I heard from her that there are also some bad washouts that still remain in that last section, and I'm not sure how I'm going to get through there. I really admire her determination and perserverence, and I think what they did was incredible.

#2014PCT