Tuesday August 6, 19.5mi/31.4km

Profanity Ridge (440.5/5728ft) to Sherman Pass (460.0/5436ft) (WA)

It was already warm when I started walking at 6:30am, but there was a nice breeze. I hiked thru the last part of the burn area, it was probably another 3mi/5km.

And then all of a sudden, the PNT turned left, good thing I was paying attention! I haven’t seen any PNT markers at trail junctions here in Washington, but Montana had plenty…

And as soon as I left the burn area, I started hearing cows in the forest. I never saw any, but this cattle trough had some nice water. Reminds me of the CDT!

Around mid-morning I reached the summit of Copper Butte mountain, elevation 7100ft/2165m. It was a nice spot for a sit, and there was a nice breeze too.

Another summit view.

As I was descending back into the trees, I started seeing many mushrooms. And this one was particularly enormous!

The last few miles were just purely enjoyable walking on a magnificent trail in beautiful weather. These are the days that I kept hoping for on the AT…

I got to Sherman Pass at 3:30pm, and since it is a very lightly traveled road, I didn’t get a ride until 4:30pm. It was a 45 minute drive into town, since there was road construction on highway 20.

I got dropped off at the grocery store at 5:15pm, did my shopping, and walked across the street and grabbed the last motel room. I had a super quick shower, since everything in the town of Republic closes at 8pm, and I still had to do laundry and eat dinner. I ended up eating a microwave meal in my motel room, since the restaurant’s kitchen had closed early. I’m grateful to be getting back on trail early tomorrow morning, with a ride from a local trail angel, Karrie!