Author: Julie Blouin

Today was our last ‘full’ day of hiking! We we hike 6 miles to the finish tomorrow and then hike 8ish miles from the terminus to Manning Park, the nearest road access–this amounts to a 15 mile day, so today is our last full 25+ mile day. It doesn’t feel real.

Today was our last ‘full’ day of hiking! We we hike 6 miles to the finish tomorrow and then hike 8ish miles from the terminus to Manning Park, the nearest road access–this amounts to a 15 mile day, so today is our last full 25+ mile day. It doesn’t feel real.

We had a chilly night last night and awoke to a chilly morning. Wolf Bird, Tofu, and I put on our layers and set out by about 7am. We only hiked a few miles to Hart’s Pass before stopping for a brief break. Hart’s Pass is the last road access before the northern terminus, but due to wildfires spreading last night the road has now been closed. There is a campground where the road meets the PCT which means there are pit toilets here. So, we stopped to take advantage of the real toilets. We also discovered someone had left trail magic here last night and there was some leftover—we each grabbed a bottle of Gatorade. It was nice and cold!

 

 

We set out once again and were lucky to have beautiful views of the surrounding mountains throughout the crisp morning. We kept joking, ‘I wonder if we are looking at Canada right now’ since it is impossible to tell where the actual border is from afar.

We’ve been passing a fair amount of hikers heading the opposite direction (south). These people have ‘tagged’ the border and are hiking back to Hart’s Pass rather than continuing the 8 miles north into Canada. There are various reasons someone would backtrack like this–mostly if they have a DUI or some other crime that prevented them from being allowed into Canada, or if they didn’t renew their passport in time. These people thus have to hike the 30 miles from Hart’s Pass to the border twice! But with the closure of Hart’s Pass last night, now they will have to continue hiking south another 25 miles or so to the next road at Rainy Pass. I was not envious of their backtracking–once I reach the border I imagine I will lose all motivation to re-hike the section I just completed.

One of the groups of hikers we passed heading South was Tinker Toy and Marco Polo, an older couple. We asked how they were and they said they were stressed with the closure. We asked if they needed anything, extra food or water and Marco Polo (the guy) said thanks but they were fine. We asked if they were sure and Tinker Toy told us they definitely needed food! They hadn’t allotted enough food to take them beyond Hart’s Pass–now that they’d have to walk 25 miles further to the next open road they weren’t sure they’d have enough food. We were glad she said so–I think Marco Polo was being polite when he said no. Wolf Bird and I dug through our packs and gave them some meals and bars to hopefully get them through and encouraged them to ask other hikers they pass as I’m sure everyone would be happy to help.

I was pretty surprised that the Forest Service didn’t have signs at the border to alert hikers of the potential for trail closure ahead of time or really any way to help hikers who now would have to walk an extra 30 miles. We later heard that the Forest Service did start running shuttles from the closed road at Hart’s Pass so people didn’t have to walk the extra miles, but they didn’t alert hikers as to the schedule of the shuttles. It’s great that our PCT thru-hiking community is so tight knit that I know no hiker would go hungry, but I do think the Forest Service could have done better so as to not put hikers in this somewhat dangerous situation.

 

Hiking was beautiful today and it felt nice walking in the warm sun since the air was cool. We stopped for lunch with Tofu by a stream (this section was surprisingly dry) and chatted with some other hikers as they also took breaks. Everything felt so surreal–that this was our last lunch of the trail, that this time tomorrow we would be done. It is crazy to think about and I tried my best to soak up the peace and beauty of the day.

 

 

We hiked along the side of some beautiful mountains throughout the afternoon. Some had steep dropoffs to our left and I had to walk slowly and more carefully through them as I was a little scared with the trail partially eroding! We had decided to do a slightly shorter day today so we’d have 6 miles to the border tomorrow rather than 3 miles. We wanted to have a bit longer to give the sun time to warm us up so we wouldn’t get too cold hanging out once we arrived at the terminus. By about 530 or 6pm we descended off the ridgeline to Hopkins Lake, where we would camp for the night. We could see the lake from above and it was completely in the shadow of the surrounding mountains. It looked quite chilly! As sad as it is to be almost done, I am grateful that we are finishing before it gets any colder and before it starts snowing.

We arrived at the lake and it was chilly as we expected. Wolf Bird and I arrived slightly before Tofu and were shocked to hear someone calling out ‘Is that Wolf Bird and Sherpa?’ as we were looking around for a campsite. We walked to where the voice came from and discovered Murphy’s Law and his girlfriend in his tent! We hiked with him for a bit in the Sierra and also ran into him in Sierra City and Ashland. He told us that he’d already gone and tagged the border and was hiking south back to his car which he left where we camped last night (he hadn’t renewed his passport in time so he couldn’t enter Canada). His girlfriend had joined him for this last section. It was such a treat seeing a familiar face before finishing! We chatted for a while before saying goodnight and going to set up our tent.

 

 

Tofu came along and the three of us chatted as we set up our tents and cooked dinner. We were wearing all of our layers as it was already cold and the sun still hadn’t even fully set! Seemingly out of nowhere another familiar face appeared… Gentleman! He was only wearing his tiny short shorts and hiking shirt!! I was cold just looking at him. We haven’t seen him since Oregon and were so happy he caught us before the end. We chatted with him as he took a break. He wanted to make it to the border tonight and was going to hike the final 6 miles likely arriving after 9pm in the dark. We had a good time catching up with him and planned to see him tomorrow at Manning Park after we finished.

After Gentleman left, the three of us packed into me and Wolf Bird’s tent and hung out for a while chatting and listening to the ‘Final Countdown’ playlist of songs I’d made. We stayed up past our bedtime, cherishing this final night of the trail.  Canada tomorrow!!

It was nice to sleep in a bit later than usual today. I got up around 7:45AM or so, rather than our usual 6:00AM wake-up. Of course Wolf Bird was already out of the tent by the time I awoke, so I got up and set out to find him. He was down by the store and restaurant. He said Tofu was planning on taking a 9AM shuttle to the bakery and asked if I wanted to join. He barely had time to finish his question, however, before the red shuttle bus started its engine and began to pull out. I guess he was off by an hour, because it was only 8:00AM… so that made the decision for me. We would hang out here until the 11:30AM shuttle that would make a brief stop at the bakery (where we assumed Tofu would hop on, since she was on that 8AM shuttle) and then drop us off back at the trail. It is a little annoying to have to plan around the shuttle schedule, but I would rather have a guaranteed ride than have to walk the many miles back to trail. Besides, sometimes it is nice to have fewer options or distractions in town–it is more relaxing to have everything you need within 0.1 miles!

With that decided, Wolf Bird and I then got breakfast at the restaurant. We enjoyed a nice meal with many coffee refills. I may or may not have also snuck in my cinnamon bun that I’d bought yesterday at the bakery and secretly ate it in addition to the breakfast I’d ordered.

After breakfast we took down our tent and packed up our stuff and then lounged about on Adirondack chairs on the porch by the store and restaurant. Wolf Bird surprised me and even bought me a ‘bear claw’ chocolate which was really just a big heap of chocolate in an oval-ish paw shape with four almonds as the ‘claws’. Other hikers showed up as the 11:30AM shuttle time approached and it was surprising to me that we’d actually not seen or met these hikers yet… even in as small a community as Stehekin! At 11:00AM I had to go back to the restaurant to order fries to go because… well do I even need to explain by now?!

We all hopped on the shuttled when it arrived and Wolf Bird and I sat up front near the driver. The driver stood up to make an announcement before we departed and midspeech noticed I had a giant to-go box of fries. At the end of the speech he pointed out that I’d brought fries, in front of the entire bus, which I was more proud about than embarrassed by. I of course offered him some fries, but he politely declined. The shuttle took off and we stopped by the bakery, where we picked up Tofu, and then dropped us all off at the trailhead by 12:15PM.

Everyone else packed up and set out hiking right within minutes of the shuttle dropping us off, but Wolf Bird, Tofu, and I lounged about for a bit before finally mustering up the will to get walking. We planned to hike about 18 miles today, which was somewhat ambitious given that we were starting close to 1PM. We are technically in North Cascades National Park, so if we didn’t hike the 15 miles that marked the boundary of the park, we’d have to stay at an established national park campsite, which required a special permit. We didn’t want to deal with getting a permit, and also wanted to hike a full day, so we set out to hike 18 miles to a trailhead by a road and hope there’d be some flat ground there for us to camp on.

We set out hiking and had an uphill to start out our afternoon. It felt so incredibly hot out! We were all surprised by how hot it was and how strong the sun felt–I think most PCTers expect Washington to be pretty misty and cloudy, but this was not the case for us today! Almost immediately we ran into a super friendly park ranger who asked us if we needed any permits if we planned to camp in the park tonight. That was pretty cool to have the option to get a permit on the go, but we’d already decided we’d hike out of the park today so we politely declined. She congratulated us on our hike, which felt crazy–it does not feel real that we are almost to the end of our journey.

Before long, we came across a beautiful lake–Howard Lake. Surprisingly, or I guess perhaps not so surprisingly , this lake was only recently renamed Howard Lake. It used to be called  ‘Coon Lake’, quite a racist slur, named after the only black prospector in the area 100+ ago.

Nearly the entirety of our hiking today was uphill, and combined with the hot temperatures and strong sun, it felt a bit tougher than usual. Luckily, we had some beautiful scenery to look at as we hiked. By around 3:30PM, Wolf Bird, Tofu, and I reached a cascading stream with a beautifully built suspension bridge up above. We stopped and took a break and ended up sitting for over 30 minutes, which is quite rare for us especially when hiking out of town. As we hung out and ate snacks, some other hikers caught up and joined us. One girl had twisted or even sprained her ankle last week but is determined to get to Canada before cold weather sets in and is just powering through. After our break we walked behind her for a bit and I was so impressed by her pace–I could barely catch her!! There are some amazingly tough people out here.

 

After our snack break, we still had about 8 miles to go for the day. We rounded a bend and ran into some hikers going the other direction–not uncommon since many people are flipping up to the Canadian border and hiking south in fear of not beating cold weather or of current wildfires near the trail potentially spreading and closing parts of the trail. But as we drew closer to these hikers, Wolf Bird and I realized we recognized them! It was a crew of three that we’d met and hiked around back in Northern CA near Burney! When Wolf Bird and I had met them, all of us had flipped were heading south from Ashland, OR to the Sierra. They were probably the only people we actually hiked near for more than a couple hours on our Southbound flip besides Phil, who had hiked with them for a while too. We chatted with them for a bit and discovered they flipped up to the border after finishing the Sierra… so they have almost 900 miles of trail left! I was oddly jealous that they had so much time left on the trail, but also felt glad that I didn’t have to walk that far.

The rest of the afternoon was not too eventful. We finally arrived at the trailhead as it was growing dark. Tofu was a bit behind Wolf Bird and I. We planned to check out the parking area, which was actually off trail a bit. We expected to find an empty parking area, given that it was a Tuesday night, but were shocked to find a nearly full parking lot! The road the parking area was off of was also far busier than we expected, with cars whizzing by at 60mph. It wasn’t steady traffic by any means, but with cars going by every 10 minutes or so, it is more trafficky than many areas we’ve been on this trail.

Luckily there was a picnic table at the corner of the parking lot closest to the road that had some flat areas surrounding it. Wolf Bird and I started to set up our tent, eyeing some dark clouds moving in quickly and hoping it wouldn’t start raining. Tofu came along soon after and had to do some extra work to set up her tent because the ground was so hard her stakes wouldn’t go in!

As we were finishing setting up and starting to have dinner, a man approached from across the parking lot and introduced himself as the head of the PCTA in Washington (I can’t remember his actual title, so this may not be exactly correct). Anyway, he told us he is out here to do trail maintenance with a group of volunteers for the next few days. He pointed to a big trailer that also had a horse trailer as part of the giant vehicle and told us that was his friend who brought some horses to help pack gear to the trail. Then he asked us if we’d want some beers! Uhhh, of course! We enjoyed amazing trail magic in the form of some Deschutes Brewery beers as well as fresh veggies from his garden! The veggies even included a lemon cucumber, which the three of us had never had before. I had one of my best overall dinners on trail–with the beer and veggies as well as an amazing Pad Thai meal that Gretchen sent me! It felt like an actual meal I’d eat off trail. That reminds me–I forgot to mention the mail I received in Stehekin. Gretchen sent some truly delicious meals that had me eating like a queen for a few days, while Devon sent two mini wine bottles for us to enjoy when we finished! I am so lucky to have such thoughtful friends (who understand my love of food and drink) THANK YOU TWO!

With full and happy bellies, the three of us went to bed a bit later than usual. We decided that the dark clouds overhead looked like they were just blowing over and that it seemed like it probably wouldn’t rain in the night. And the car traffic on the road died down so it was quieter and easier to sleep. It was a good day!

We had a wet night last night, which meant that this morning we had to pack up all of our wet things into our packs. At least it wasn’t raining anymore this morning.

We had five miles uphill to start out the day and by the top of the climb, we were rewarded with nice warm sun and beautiful views. Finally we are seeing the beauty of Washington! It was especially breathtaking to see lingering clouds floating below us and beside us amongst the striking scenery.

We then descended for 10 miles or so down to the Sciuate River. The original bridge that the PCT used to cross this river got washed out years ago, so now the trail is rerouted toward a new bridge they built. The result is quite a roundabout route going far upstream to cross the river on the new bridge, only to go right back downstream after crossing. The reroute was nice however, as it was pretty flat trail amongst some of the biggest and likely oldest trees we’ve seen on this trail. It seemed like all of a sudden we rounded a bend in the trail and were greeted with towering trees whose diameters were far larger than my armspan.

I crossed the new bridge while Wolf Bird paused to have a snack. I walked another hour or so on a slightly uphill trail before stopping to have lunch by a smaller river. Soon enough, Wolf Bird and Tofu caught up and joined me. We did our best to spread out our wet gear in the limited sun on the banks of the river to dry it out from last night. As we ate lunch, we debated where to camp tonight. We wanted to camp close enough to Stehekin (our next trail town, only accessible via shuttle) to catch the 12:15PM shuttle. We decided on a campsite about 7 or 8 miles ahead, as it was already midafternoon.

Wolf Bird and I set out to hike our final miles of the day slightly ahead of Tofu. We had a long uphill after lunch that went by quickly, especially since I treated myself and listened to a few podcasts. When we finally neared the top of the climb, we were treated to some amazing views once again. The sun was getting lower in the sky and it was surprisingly chilly out! We can definitely feel fall (and winter) coming with earlier sunsets and chillier nights.

As we began the descent toward our intended camp, we hiked into a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides. The setting sun was illuminating the peaks to our left in a stunning show and it was hard to keep my eyes on the trail. I did spot a marker of sticks that read ‘T-100’… under one hundred miles until Canada!

Wolf Bird and I arrived at our campsite a little after 7 and debated if we should press on since it was still light out and it was all downhill to the next camping area. We decided we wanted to press on but waited for Tofu so she wouldn’t be confused or think we ditched her. I cooked my dinner while Wolf Bird scarfed down some cold ramen (he has been no-cook since mile 700). We ate on the side of the trail where we watched the setting sun and waited for Tofu. She arrived around 730 or so and was on board to walk another mile and a half to the next campsite. She set out ahead of us while Wolf Bird and I packed up our cooking stuff.

I had to use my headlamp for the last 15 minutes or so since it was growing quite dark out. We had to cross a river on a log using my (quite dim) headlamp, which was a fun challenge. Before we knew it, we arrived at the side trail to the campsites. We were surprised to discover that we had to walk uphill up a couple switchbacks to the camping area. There were a couple people already there in their tents so we did our best to be quiet and not shine our lights on them as we scouted a place to set up.

Wolf Bird and I had our usual argument about where to set up the tent and which ground was most level. It was pretty tough to figure out the best spot because we were in a forested area so it was especially dark and hard to see, even with my headlamp. We finally agreed on a spot and set up silently. We planned to get up a little earlier than usual to ensure we’d make it to the shuttle with time to spare tomorrow.

 

Today was a cool and misty morning. Wolf Bird stopped to use the bathroom early on so Tofu and I walked together for a couple hours. It was a nice change to walk together–usually we all walk near each other but don’t necessarily talk while walking. But this morning Tofu and I had nice conversation as we walked a long uphill to Grizzly Peak. This is one of the few actual peaks that the PCT goes over–often it skirts around peaks– and we talked about that of course we don’t get a view due to being completely in a cloud. Time seemed to really fly, I think a combination of talking with Tofu making it pass quickly and the fact that my watch had broken so I was less aware of how much time had passed (I had to pull out my phone to check the time).

After Grizzly Peak, I let Tofu go ahead of me since she’s faster on the downhill. Soon after, Wolf Bird caught up to me and we walked together for a bit.

In the afternoon, we entered Glacier Peak Wilderness, another notoriously beautiful section of trail. We had some views of the surrounding mountains in all directions as we climbed in elevation, but soon clouds started blowing in. It was fairly windy, so the clouds were blowing quickly all around us making for a surreal experience alternating walking through mist and clear sections.

We planned to camp at Reflection Pond tonight. According to Guthook, our PCT app, it sounded like the water in the pond was rather stagnant, so we decided to fill up on water at a stream about 1.5 miles before camp. I carried about 3 liters of water and behind my knee immediately started aching from the extra weight. I discovered that if I bent over at the waist, with my pack resting more on my back than on my hip belt, the pain was dramatically reduced. So, for the final mile and a half of the day I walked like a crazy bent over ogre. It is surprisingly tough to walk uphill like this and I was very glad to finally arrive at camp.

We arrived at the pond to discover a few tents set up on the left side of the pond and only one on the right side. Wolf Bird and I went to the right side and started setting up to the tent that was already there (the hiker was inside their tent already). This area was super windy and also in a cloud, which resulted in the wind causing moisture to drop from the trees above and get us and our tent quite wet. Not the most ideal campsite.

Eventually Tofu arrived after having an emergency bathroom break on the side of the trail. It happens even to the best of us. She set up next to us and we chatted with her and the other hiker next to us who was just out for a section, but planned to hike the PCT next year. He hiked the AT previously and for some reason felt the need to tell us all these ‘tips’ about thru hiking that are common knowledge, especially to everyone who has made it so far along the PCT at this point.

We went to bed after eating dinner in the chilly windy weather, and were lulled to sleep by the sound of the large drops of water falling from the trees and hitting our tent all night.

It was smoky once again when we woke up this morning. I guess this is the new normal for us. The walking this morning was at a relatively high elevation and we walked by a few lakes. One of the lakes still had a bit of snow at the edge!! It is crazy that snow has lasted all through summer and may even still be here once the first snow of the winter comes!

We had a long downhill this morning that consisted of switchback after switchback. Midway through the downhill, I started really having to go to the bathroom but there really weren’t any good spots since the trail kept switching back–if I went in the woods by the trail, the trail would eventually switch back and I’d be pretty visible from that second switchback. I tried to think of other things and convince myself I could wait until I made it to the bottom of the hill, but soon it became a full on emergency! I ran into the woods at one point and found the best spot I could. Phew, I just barely made it! Wolf Bird also had to go but he was able to wait until the bottom of the hill.

Anyway, with that taken care of, I felt much better and the rest of the downhill was easy. I waited for Wolf Bird at the bottom of the hill by a footbridge. As I hung out there and had snacks, Two Pass and Kraken caught up and chatted with me (and later Wolf Bird) for a bit.

Of course, being at the bottom of a hill, we now had to walk right back uphill for about ten miles. It was a pretty uneventful climb. We didn’t have any views due to all of the smoke. I tried not to be too saddened by the lack of views, but hoped that this smoke would clear up soon because I’ve been looking forward to the scenery of Washington the entire trail.

I listened to a new podcast for me today–Dirtbag Diaries. I really enjoyed one episode in particular about a 12 year old girl who kayaks the length of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon with her parents–likely the youngest person to do so. Her dad recorded her along the way and it was super inspiring to hear the girl discuss how scared she was before some big rapids but then she pushed through it and was so excited at her accomplishment. Her fear reminded me of how I felt before a couple of the river crossings in the Sierra before our flip, so her story really resonated with me. Clearly she was braver than I was!!!

On the next downhill, Wolf Bird and I ran into Storm, Jackpot, and Yeti! It was good to see them again. We chatted for a bit. They are taking it easy because they have extra time before Yeti is meeting up with his girlfriend, so they were in good spirits due to their shorter mile days! We said goodbye to them and hiked on a couple miles before stopping for lunch. We crossed a fairly big stream for this section amongst a sort of rockfall area with lots of big boulders. We had lunch by the stream (a late lunch for us around 3PM after 20 something miles) and eventually Storm, Jackpot and Yeti caught us once again! They told us that the entire section of the trail from White’s Pass to Snoqualmie is now closed due to fire (they found out from some Southbounders)! This was the section we just completed a couple of days ago… I was so grateful we were able to do so before it closed. What a crazy year with all these fires and snow and whatnot!

Finally we willed ourselves to walk the final 9 miles of the day. We had a 7 mile climb (Washington is much hillier than Oregon, but luckily it hasn’t felt too difficult) up to Piper Pass. Then, we had a downhill to Glacier Lake where we camped for the night. The lake was nice, but I imagine it is so much more beautiful when it is not shrouded in smoke and the sun is glistening off the blue water. Oh well. We cooked our dinner and watched an episode of Master of None before going to bed.

 

Today is Wolf Bird’s birthday!!!! I am so grateful to have him as my hiking partner on this trail and truly couldn’t have gotten through some of my toughest days and scary sections without him by my side. I have been really excited that we get to celebrate his birthday on the trail together.

For the past month or so, I have been trying to think of creative gifts I can give him that aren’t heavy that I can secretly carry in my pack. Back in Packwood, I bought a bunch of lottery scratchers as well as a pack of balloons. Then when we stopped in Greenwater (when Devilfish was driving us around), I got him a cool Bigfoot birthday card. I had no idea we’d be in town on his actual birthday… if I had known I probably would have tried to ship a gift here. Oh well.

Anyway, my plan was to decorate our tent with all the balloons so Wolf Bird would wake up and be surprised by his birthday decorations. Since we were in town, though, me, Wolf Bird, and Tofu each got our own bunk in a giant bunkroom.  I figured decorating this area was a good replacement for decorating the tent. The problem was that I was waiting for Wolf Bird to fall into a deep sleep all night, but it seemed to never happen! He would start to snore for a minute and just when I was going to get out of bed to go get the balloons I had prepped and blown up ahead of time, he would stir and wake himself up. I found myself waiting and waiting and having trouble staying awake listening to his breathing to see if he was asleep. Eventually he got up to go to the bathroom, which was a long walk down a couple floors in the giant cabin. I debated trying to speedily set everything up while he was gone, but couldn’t even peel the duct tape quickly so decided against it. I eventually gave up around 2AM and figured it wasn’t worth getting no sleep, so I let myself go to bed.

When I awoke in the morning, Wolf Bird was already up and out of the room. Dammit! I decided to just throw the balloons all around his bunk area where his stuff was and then texted him to come up to the bunkroom. He came up in a minute and laughed upon finding all the balloons sitting sadly on his empty bed. Oh well, I tried! He appreciated my effort and made me lay amongst the balloons for a photo.

We planned to head out today around midafternoon. Wolf Bird, Tofu, and I walked the half mile into town to grab a birthday breakfast! Overnight, smoke had settled into the area and we could no longer see the mountains that surrounded us on either side–they were completely shrouded in smoke. My leg was really hurting me and I had to hobble/walk quite slowly into town. We went to a restaurant at the hotel in town and had an unsatisfactory meal, but enjoyed each other’s company. After breakfast, the three of us headed to a coffee shop to work on our blog and use their wifi. We did this for a couple hours and then had to stop and get more food at Aadvark Food Truck. We ate some tasty curry bowls (and enjoyed a free beer each!) and then picked up our resupply packages, which were inside a non-functioning freezer at the local Chevron. We literally just walked into the gas station and walked into the freezer and looked through the hundred or so packages until we found ours, and then just took them… not the most secure system.

After all of these town chores, we set out for the cabin again to get our stuff together and get ready to head back to trail. My leg was still hurting me quite a bit on this super short and easy walk back to the cabin. I was growing worried about being able to hike out and what I could do–I really didn’t want to take multiple days off, which I think would be the only real solution to get my leg feeling better. Back at the cabin, Tofu was efficient as usual and set out. We told her we’d be heading out right after her and we all planned to camp at a lake about 5 miles up the trail.

After she left though, Wolf Bird and I discussed what to do with my leg feeling how it was. We were literally putting on our socks and shoes when I made the tough decision that it would probably be smartest to rest my leg and ice it some more and just head out tomorrow morning. I was really torn about it, but was hoping that 12 more hours of rest would do some good.

This meant today was an unplanned zero day. It seemed like a good day to do so–Wolf Bird could really relax on his birthday! I showed him a video I made for him that was a compilation of happy birthday videos from his thoughtful friends across the country. We then got pizza for dinner and pigged out together before then relaxing in the comfortable living room area. I read a book of climbing accidents which was super terrifying but I like reading about that stuff for some reason. Wolf Bird then watched a couple of episodes of Master of None.

Eventually a group of four or so more hikers arrived at the cabin–we had pretty much the entire place to ourselves until they arrived. We all went to bed pretty early and planned to get up early to do a full day’s hike tomorrow. Not necessarily the most exciting birthday for Wolf Bird, and not what we planned, but I was glad we got to spend the day together.

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.

We decided to take an unplanned zero today and it ended up being a nice break from the trail. We are staying at condos at White Pass Ski Area that they rent out in the summer season. It is very remote here–it is literally just these condos and the gas station/store that are located where we are. Luckily, Tofu and her dad were heading into Packwood today and let us tag along. Before we headed out, we got breakfast at the Kracker Barrel Store at the gas station. Basically just bananas and muffins and OJ. While we were eating one of the woman at the store made an announcement to all the hikers hanging out at the store that she just got a call from the Forest Service and they opened up the section of trail that had been closed yesterday due to forest fire! Yes! There was still at 25 mile section that was closed, but they also opened a section, so now we had to skip fewer miles. We were really happy to hear this!

We did laundry at the Kracker Barrel Store at the gas station and checked out of our room at the condos. Tofu and her dad are letting us crash in their room since it has beds for us–so kind of them!!

We then hopped in the car with Tofu and her dad and headed to the town of Packwood. There is a flea market there this weekend so it was pretty hopping! We got burgers and ate until we couldn’t eat anymore. Then Tofu went to look at the flea market and I decided I could stand to eat some ice cream as this didn’t really count as eating more. We found out that Yote and 2.Toe were in town so we met up with them at a bar and Tofu’s dad bought us a round of drinks. It was so great to hang out as a big group once again, likely our last time before the end of the trail. Yote and 2.Toe are hiking with family the next few days, so they’ll be doing shorter miles and likely won’t catch us before the end. We were all very glad to reminisce and spend time together before parting.

We stopped by the grocery store before leaving town and I secretly bought a couple of mini cakes for Wolf Bird and Tofu’s dad. Her dad’s birthday is tomorrow and Wolf Bird’s is coming up on 9/4. We then headed back to White Pass. We hung out at the condos for a while and then had some dinner and surprised the birthday boys with their cakes! They enjoyed it and we all devoured them easily.

We went to bed excited to get back on the (open) trail tomorrow!

Apparently, we are the slackers of the group we camped with last night, as everyone was already packed up and gone when we got up at 6:00AM. In the end it evens out, as we take fewer breaks then others so we end up catching and passing those that got up earlier.

We had beautiful views of Mt. Adams for the beginning of the day today. The air was fairly smoky due to forest fires in the area, which leads the sun to look like an orange orb in the sky. It was pretty surreal. We had to plan our day around water sources, or at least be cognizant of where the nearest water was all day, as this part of Washington is fairly dry–they have had almost 90 days without rain here which is very unusual.

We leapfrogged with Jackpot and Storm, Fresh, and Nimbles throughout the day. For some reason my leg behind my knee started to hurt today–sort of where the top of my calf muscle is located. I tried to do some stretches to help it. We took lunch after about 19 miles and then set out to do the final miles of the day.

It was pretty hot out so about 4 miles from where we intended to camp tonight, we took a short side trail to Sheep Lake. It was quite beautiful and clear with a nice sandy bottom. Wolf Bird and I went in, which is a big deal for me as I always think going in a lake sounds refreshing until I get there and feel how cold the water is. The same thing happened today, but Wolf Bird persuaded me to go in. I haven’t showered in a while so I felt extra dirty and decided it was probably smart to go in to rinse off. I went in with my clothes on and did my best to ring out the dirt. As hard as it was to force myself to go under (I took probably 10 minutes of slowly lowering myself into the water centimeter by centimeter), I felt much cleaner and much more refreshed afterward. However, I was also cold! The sun was starting to set and it wasn’t as warm as earlier in the day.

We got back to hiking and it took me a while to warm back up walking in wet clothes. It was an amazingly beautiful section. We are now in Goat Rocks Wilderness which is one of the notoriously beautiful sections of trail and it did not disappoint. Unfortunately that means that many weekenders (even though it wasn’t the weekend, mostly this is a term for people just out for a night or two) were around too. We got up to the top of Cispus Pass and could see all around us and were shocked to see maybe 30+ people camped below!! Ugh, it was growing dark and this meant we’d likely have to hike on a bit further to find a camping spot. Oh well, luckily it was beautiful . We walked past some amazing waterfalls and eventually ran into Fresh, Nimbles, Jackpot and Storm. They were setting up camp and told us of a flat spot they’d seen nearby. We set up our tent and had dinner as it became dark. I was excited for tomorrow as we’d be going over the Knife’s Edge, which was a narrow section of trail with amazing views… and we were meeting up with Steven, Chicory’s (our friend from the AT) brother.

 

 

As we were packing up this morning, Yote, 2.Toe, and Bamboo emerged from a side trail–they’d stayed at an established campground nearby that was slightly off trail. Bamboo stopped to chat–we haven’t seen him since our flip. He has had one of the craziest transformations on trail–his hair is now fairly long and sticks almost straight up in all directions and he has a big beard and is quite skinny. It was good to see him and chat briefly before he set off. We likely won’t see him again as he is getting off trail for a work conference for a few days.

We had a big climb up this morning for nearly 10 miles, but it turned out to not be so bad, as it usually turns out. Midway through the climb I caught up to Yote, 2.Toe, and another hiker I hadn’t met yet taking a break. In talking to the other hiker, I discovered that we had just missed trail magic yesterday! She spoke in detail about the Mexican feast people had brought to the trail, with fajitas with fresh veggies, chips and salsa, and even margaritas. I couldn’t help but be a bit saddened to have missed it–they must have packed up before we got there. Oh well.

Finally we got to the top of the hill and the hiking got easier. We even crossed a trailhead by a dirt road that had an outhouse so I got to go pee in a real toilet! Quite the treat. I was sort of dragging so I threw in my earbuds and started listening to an audiobook I had just downloaded–The Girl on the Train. I’d heard good things and that it was a NYT bestseller. I listened to about 40 minutes before I gave up, frustrated by how petty and self-centered the narrator was. Maybe it gets better, but I could not get through it. I switched to my Harry Potter audiobook and was much happier.

We kept leapfrogging with a bunch of hikers today. It seems we are in a bit of a bubble (many hikers in the same section), which I don’t really like. I hate having to pass people and then I take a break and they pass me, then I hike and have to pass them again. It’s really a minor annoyance, but I prefer more solitude if I have the option.

Wolf Bird and I stopped for lunch about 18 miles into our day at Sheep Lake, which was in reality more of a marshy pond. We had to get water here though, as this was somewhat of a dry section. We had a nice leisurely lunch and discussed baking and what baked goods we would want to bake for much of it. Not surprising we were talking about food WHILE eating.

 

After lunch, we set out again. I was kind of excited because we’d discussed doing a bit of a shorter day. The water sources were spaced far apart–our last source for a while was only 8 miles from where we had lunch. After that it was 10 miles after that (which, if we went that far would be an insanely long day). We prefer camping at water so we don’t have to carry water and dry-camp (carrying water is pretty heavy). So if we camped at that last water source, it would be a 26 mile day, which is shorter than we’ve been doing. It also would mean we’d get to camp with at least an hour or two of daylight to spare, which would be a nice change to getting to camp as the sun is setting as we have been lately.

We arrived at the lake that was the last water source around 5:30PM. It was pretty buggy so we quickly filled up on water. We had a brief discussion and it seemed Wolf Bird was leaning toward hiking on since the day was still early and it was mostly downhill from here. I gave up on my desire for a short day and we set off, carrying a heavy load of water since we would now be dry camping.

This next section was mostly downhill and pretty easy walking, although made slightly tougher with my ~4 liters of water I was carrying (8lbs worth!). We planned to camp at a dirt road/trailhead and when we arrived we discovered a group sitting in a makeshift campground in a parking lot eating dinner. Bamboo was there! Along with Turk and Pretzel and a section hiker. We ate and chatted with them and Turk, Pretzel, and Bamboo decided to hike on a bit more while Wolf Bird and I and the section hiker set up camp. Wolf Bird and I got into our classic argument about where to set up the tent and where it was least slopey and went to bed mad about that. Besides that it was a good day with lots of miles completed.