Month: September 2017

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.

Nearly ever since we got far enough north to see amazing sites, they have been shrouded in fog, clouds, or smoke. We have been looking forward to a clear view for some time and today was the first time we started to get that, though we were back in the clouds soon enough.

The morning started as it had ended the night before, chilly and wet. We woke up at our usual time and Tofu, Sherpa, and I walked relatively close together as we climbed the rest of the ridge. There was so much water on all the leaves and brush surrounding the trail and we were getting pretty wet.

Along the way we saw lots of birds of birds of prey and a few female grouse. Unfortunately I don’t know enough about birds to be able to identify the majority of what we see, but it was still neat to be surrounded by these unique birds.

We climbed over the ridge and a beautiful grassy valley was revealed below and we began our descent into it. It was really striking. On the way down I must have said something that annoyed Sherpa because I noticed she was mad at me. She stopped and I went ahead of her thinking that it was no big deal. We descended for a time into a forest and I stopped at a small stream crossing because I know Sherpa likes that. When she caught up to me it was obvious that I had hurt her feelings and it took us a little while to sort out but we were soon friends again.

We started walking through a lush forest and at some point caught up with Tofu and settled on having lunch at Pumice Creek. We crossed some pretty log bridges and one, on Kennedy Creek, that had collapsed into the water but was still crossable. After passing Kennedy Creek we again began to climb. After a couple of miles we arrived at Pumice Creek to have lunch. There were a few hikers that were drying their gear and hanging out on an outcropping just trail-west. We decided to be anti-social and found a spot that we hopped would be out of the growing wind a little north on the trail.

It turned out that we were very much in the wind and so lunch was a little cold. Sherpa bundled up in her classic Gi-Joe fashion. We were excited because we were going to make today a relatively short day, especially since it was getting wetter and wetter. After lunch we spent most of our time in a damp cloud before descending to our destination of Milk Creek.

When we arrived at Milk Creek we were ready to end our day. We were wet and tired. To our amazement we found that several thru-hikers had started a fire in-spite of the many fires threatening north and south of the trail. We were shocked that anyone could be so thoughtless. We did our best to glare at them as we walked around looking for a place to plop our tent. I threw my bag down to hold a spot for Tofu then went for water and Sherpa set up the tent.

When I returned, she had everything set up and soon Tofu arrived. After Tofu had set up her tent and Sherpa and I had eaten dinner, we invited Tofu to join us in our tiny tent. This became a new, short-lived tradition and we had a fun evening just chatting and hanging out together. We also did our best to talk loudly about the idiots that started the fire anytime we thought they might be passing by. Sherpa played her Final Countdown playlist, which she had made for the last day on the trail and when it was over Tofu said she needed to go to bed.

She left and Sherpa and I brushed our teeth and slipped into our bags. Soon we were fast asleep like little hiker babies.

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.

Today was exciting because we were going to stop by Skykomish right on the trail and there was a chance for food and a shower! Additionally, Sherpa has been enduring leg pain for a few days now and there are new shoes waiting for her.

When we woke there was still a significant amount of smoke all around us and the smoke-filled air created a grey haze that you could only see about 200 yards in front of you. It is an odd feeling being so close to fire and not really feeling concerned. We are just glad that the trail is open and we don’t have to skip miles. We only have about 10 miles to hike this morning so the hiking should go quickly.

It was a pretty hike though in some respects it was difficult, Sherpa is really feeling the pain in her legs and she is using pure grit to get through the miles. Hopefully the new shoes will have a positive impact and get her to the border without added difficulty.

We had a few ups and downs to tackle before descending to the parking lot. Sometimes these short climbs and descents are the most difficult, especially if you have an injury. We were excited when we poked our heads out of the woods to see power lines followed shortly by ski lifts. The area surrounding the ski resort was beautiful and open and the smoke had lessened so that we could get a more clear view of the valley.

After the climb to the top of the ski slopes we descended to the resort through a circuitous route that took us way east of the resort so that we had to backtrack through the parking lot to the main lodge. We found out later that we could have cut down earlier, but it was not official PCT. Not that we care that much.  We are not purists by a long shot.

Skykomish was a neat little resort and we were glad to find that their cafe slash gift shop was open so that we could get sandwiches, ice cream, coffee, and sodas. We sat in some seats in the hallway and ate our lunch and charged our phones and relaxed. It was nice to see what a great attitude they had towards hikers. There was a great place to sit on the patio and there were hikers running around all over the place. We had lost Tofu at Snoqualmie Pass but I got a text saying that she had hitched into Leavenworth where she had a package and would be back before too long. We were glad that she was still within range since we had to take an extra night in Snoqualmie to let Sherpa’s leg rest.

We grabbed our packages from the front desk and did our resupply chores. Luckily Sherpa’s shoes had made it in spite of her knowing that the REI customer service person had recorded the wrong address. We are huge fans of the shipping services in the US. This one was UPS. Sherpa now has new shoes and she looks like a rockstar!

We also had been hovering around a few other familiar hikers along the way to Skykomish and they all showed up to our delight. Bear Can Can, Storm, and Yetti showed up before too long and then Tofu. She was star struck because she had just run into Optimistic Turtle who was hitching with a group to Stehekin to try to tag the border before they closed it due to fire. There is so much fire around it really is uncertain if we will make it to the monument before the area is on fire. We chatted and hung out together for a while, then Sherpa and I decided to go check out the new Ski Club open to hikers and get showers and do laundry.

When we arrived we found out that the laundry wasn’t operating but we could do it in the sink. The lodge was really neat and it resembled the Alpine Club in Snoqualmie except they had a volunteer that was helping people get oriented. We washed up and washed our clothes then headed back to the ski resort.

To our chagrin the cafe had just shut its doors. We had not even begun to spend the kind of money we were hoping to drop at that little store so we were pretty disappointed.  We were soon pacified because the group was still hanging out and Storm had brought out a package that Payless had left and we all rifled the amazing contents. He had a great collection of Mountain House meals which we all divided up and we made a quick meal before heading back to the trail.

Yetti was leaving the trail for a few days to go to Seattle and meet his girlfriend who was going to hike with him for the last section of the trail. We are sad that we won’t see him again. Bear Can Can and Storm are hanging back as well so it is likely that we wont see them either though you never know on this trail. If not, we wish them luck on the rest of their adventure!

Tofu, Sherpa, and I headed out and we were in high spirits. We only had one more town. The trail leaving the resort was also very friendly and flat at first so we really enjoyed ourselves for a few miles. Soon we were setting up camp and we fell asleep like little hiker babies.

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.