I was awakened last night by the strong smell of smoke. I had to look around to make sure there wasn’t an actual fire right near us. Apparently Wolf Bird and Tofu were also awakened in the night, but by the bugle sounds of elks and from rustling near our tents. I slept right through those noises surprisingly!
We got up and set out to hike the 4ish miles to the road at Chinook Pass. From Chinook Pass to Mike Ulrich Cabin (about 25 miles), the PCT is closed as the Norse Peak Fire is close to the trail. Our hike to the road was pretty uneventful. We passed a bunch of day hikers (apparently there is a loop trail that is popular) and saw all the smoke from the nearby fire. It was pretty crazy to see the insane amount of smoke hanging over the valley.
Once at the road, we tried hitching, but at 8:00AM on a weekend morning, not many people were driving by or finishing up their hikes. We started to walk down the road, which had an amazing view of Mt. Rainier, hoping that we could get a hitch as we walked. Within minutes a red minivan stopped and asked if we needed a ride. We of course said yes and got in and discovered the driver was a previous PCT thru-hiker, Devilfish. He has been providing rides to hikers around fire closures and has also stocked water caches along the trail–hiker turned trail angel!
Tofu was trying to arrange to meet a friend at the next town, but hadn’t had phone service to get out a message to him, so she asked Devilfish if we could stop at the Starbucks we’d heard about from workers at Kracker Barrel. Devilfish obliged and drove us to the tiny town of Greenwater, which was more like a cluster of 6 or so buildings than an actual town. There was definitely no Starbucks here! We asked him to stop at the General Store instead but there was no wifi and no breakfast sandwiches or coffee (which we were now craving) to be found. He generously was willing to then drive us just up the road to a store that also had a small cafe inside. Walking in, we saw some people holding Starbucks cups! What?! Once in the cafe area, we discovered this used to be one of the first places to brew Starbucks and although not an actual Starbucks location, they still are given leftover cups and coffee from Starbucks. Tofu got wifi here to send a message to her friend and we also got our breakfast sandwiches and coffee. Score!
Finally we were ready to get back to the trail. Devilfish was willing to drive us all the way to within a half mile of the Mike Ulrich cabin! We passed DK and Dosu, a couple of fellow thru hikers, on the drive there. They were walking the road to the cabin, determined to walk every step to Canada even on roads that aren’t officially trail. We admired their determination but were also happy in our choice to hike as much as the open trail as is possible. We also passed Jackpot and Storm walking the road, but they gladly accepted a ride from Devilfish as they decided they had walked enough road miles to make up for the closed trail and didn’t need to walk the rest of the way.
Devilfish dropped us off and we thanked him profusely and headed up a side trail toward the cabin. Wolf Bird, Tofu, and I went into the cabin, mostly used as shelter in the winter for snowmobilers, and lounged for a bit, lazily trying to delay the inevitable. Finally we set out to hike and within 10 minutes I was screaming in pain! I had gotten stung in two places by bees! I later found out I had walked right by a piece of a beehive that had fallen on the the trail. I hadn’t even noticed it! I screamed in pain and yelled back to Wolf Bird to watch out. He of course selflessly used his poles to try to move the hive off the trail and got two stings himself in the process.
Wow, I was in a lot of pain from that! I got stung on my thigh and it started swelling up and turning red–one of the most painful bee stings I’ve ever had. It eventually started feeling better and I waited for Wolf Bird and Tofu at mile 2345.67 so we could take a photo of this milestone. However, the area around the sting would remain inflamed and discolored for over a week.
The trail went up and down and through a previously burned section where only charred trees remained. This was much hotter to walk through, without a canopy of leaves overhead to block the sun. Eventually we rounded a corner and crossed a dirt road where we came upon Yeti on the phone, a rare spot with phone service. There was a clear view from this spot and we could see the immense billows of smoke from the Norse Peak Fire. It was insane just how much smoke there was. We hiked near Yeti for a bit and leap-frogged with him and Nimbles for part of the afternoon.
We had a long downhill and behind my knee started hurting a bit by the end. At the bottom of the hill we stopped to fill up on water and I took some Ibuprofen to help with my leg. We stopped and snacked for a while and I was surprised Tofu didn’t catch up.
From here, we had a long uphill section for the remainder of the day. The first part was steeper and Wolf Bird went in front and I didn’t see him again until we got to camp. It was a nice change to hike alone for a bit and once the uphill mellowed out it was peaceful hiking as the sun started to set. The trail followed a ridgeline for a while and it was very distracting to see the billowing smoke in the distance… I nearly walked off the trail several times because I was so mesmerized watching it. I also picked a ton of huckleberries which slowed me down a bit.
About a half mile out of camp, I ran into Two Pass and Kraken and chatted with them for a bit as we stopped to fill up on water before getting to camp. I arrived to find Wolf Bird eating dinner. He had already set up the tent, which was super nice to not have to do since it was growing dark. I cooked my own dinner and did chores and we discussed whether we thought Tofu would come. We had all felt pretty lazy back at the cabin today, so we weren’t surprised that she probably camped just a few miles back. We were sure we’d be reunited tomorrow anyway.