We started the morning as we ended the previous evening, immersed in breathtaking views. We could see Mt. Rainier in the distance and we spent the morning hiking in beautiful meadows and around unusual rock features. We encountered a bit of snow as we approached a famous feature of the PCT called the Knife’s Edge.
Before we reached the Knife’s Edge we had to cross several icy traverses that, to me, felt like some of the most dangerous sections of trail we experienced on the PCT. Sherpa disagrees. I usually feel pretty confident on wintry conditions but we were on a very steep slope without our microspikes and without an ice axe and I had no tread on my shoes.
We made it across alive and onto the Knife’s Edge. Sherpa started to feel some really bad pain behind her knees and so we had to stop for a few minutes to give the ibuprofen time to sink in. After a short while her condition improved immensely and we continued our walk along the narrow path. We were very lucky to hit this section on such a clear day. We found out later that many hikers had walked this section the day before completely in smoke and today, the views were astounding.
I was very eager to get to town and eat but the views kept us at a slow pace. When we reached the last major ridge of the day I saw Steven, or Alpaca, running towards us. We all hugged and then sat down a few yards away for some beer trail magic that he brought us.
It was so good to see him. The last time we all were together he was visiting Sherpa and I with his sister Chicory in Maine. They were about to do their thru-hike of the PCT.
We talked for a while considering town was so close by. We only had a relatively quick descent to get to White Pass. I had chanted the Chicken Tender mantra in my head all day, but now that we had a beer and were all relaxing, it didn’t seem as urgent.
After a while Jackpot and Storm showed up and we chatted with them then all took off to White Pass. The entire descent Sherpa, Alpaca and I chatted and we were at the trail head in no time. At the trailhead there was more trail magic. Sparkling lemonade and beer! The woman told us to take a few because she was packing up so I threw a couple into my bag then we headed for the road.
At the road, the 3 of us piled into Alpaca’s car and stopped at White Pass. Once there we bought some snacks at the general store and I ran up to get a room while Alpaca generously waited on us. Once there we saw that there were lots of our friends wandering around and Tofu was there with her dad Mike. I invited Tofu and Mike to have dinner with us and after much running around and back and forth we settled on driving to Naches for food. That way Steven could join us before hitting the road and wouldn’t have to drive out of his way.
The drive to Naches felt longer than expected but it was totally worth it. We stopped at a brewery that had really delicious appetizers, pizza, and beer. After dinner we said goodbye to Steven and returned to White Pass with Tofu and Mike in Mike’s rental car. Which, by the way, was amazing. It had radar cruise control so that you didn’t have to adjust your settings when cars in front of you slowed down.
When we got back to the lodge Sherpa an I went to our room where we watched TV, our favorite hotel activity, for a little before settling in to bed. Our room was pleasant and we fell asleep easily and slept like little hiker babies.