Cold nights and staying warm.

It was 8pm just before the ascent to Goat Rocks Wilderness and a knife edge ridge walk. There was no way I was going to attempt this in the dark, especially with some ominous clouds rolling in. A little light from the moon bounced around my camp, not enough to see so I switched on my head torch and carried on supping on some hot chocolate.

My torch began to pick out something falling around me, its beam reflecting thousands of particles. I assumed it was some light rain but then noticed that they weren't 'falling', more 'floating'. It was the first snowfall and whilst not heavy, it only deposited a light dusting, it was a sure fire sign that the Washington winter was beginning.

The mornings and nights are cold, the days chilly. I wake to ice on the tent and on the trail, my boots crunching on the frozen dirt as they break through the crust. Ice protrudes horizontally from bushes where the wind has forced it sideways. I unscrewed my water bottle to take a drink but instead of water flowing out, I was met with a clunk as a block of ice slid down and hit the bottle neck. Time to start sleeping with it in my sleeping bag - that will be cozy.

My feet are in bad shape. Not blisters but areas that are red and tender, painful to walk on and I don't understand what is causing them. Possibly grit from the trail working it's way into my boots and rubbing those areas, I have been forced to stop in Packwood for a day to try and start some sort of healing process.

A quick gear sorting as well as I send back my summer sleeping bag (a down bag on loan from Gary Peterson at Western Mountaineering - thanks Gary!). I have also picked up my down jacket, got new socks and my beloved neck buff knitted by my girlfriend Cherry back home (the best piece of kit!). My Terra Nova tent is also past it's best so I now have a Tarptent Contrail model which is 33% lighter and offers me a lot more internal space.

Low temperatures are the name of the game now and I have to be prepared for it to get a lot colder.