Day 117- a surprise

I don't know what it was, but my dad and I cranked out a 23 mile day. We began with the pretty level 5.5 miles to rainy pass (highway 20). Along the way when I was about 100 yards ahead and saw our second bear in two days. Unlike the first one this one took off down the hill as soon as it saw me. 2 bears in two day, my dad must be good luck! At rainy pass we took our first break and had a cinnamon roll each. Between the sugar and calories it must have powered us up cutthroat pass which was a 2500 climb. Along the way we met many day hikers who loved hearing about my trip and that I was finishing with my dad. He also could have been motivated to get up the hill by the 7 year old girl we saw hiking down the hill with her dad saying they had camped at the top. A good break, a lunch of jalapeño hummus and we were off to conquer two more passes. We both survived the climbs over granite and methow passes and my dad said he was good to keep going. Before we knew it we were at the bottom of the canyon and crossing the methow river. It was 430 and we had already gone 20 miles! Once again he said he was solid to keep going. We were shooting for a campsite near the river at an old horse camp. Sadly we never found it and ended up walking a couple more miles to brush creek. Along the way we saw some of the largest piles of bear scat i have ever seen. I wasn't afraid though, after all I'm a through hiker. We settled into camp and cooked up an amazing dehydrated shepherds pie. The one excellent thing about having my dad hike with me is he is more than happy to do dishes, something I was never very good or reliable at doing most of the trail. With this giant day, my dad and I are set up perfectly to complete the 51 miles to manning park in the 3 days we planned.