Wolf Bird & Sherpa's Adventures

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.

Today we were not in a rush to get moving and leave White’s Pass. Tofu and her dad, Mike, were kind enough to let us crash in their lodge room and we all didn’t need to be out of the room until 11. Mike left around 8 or 9 and the three of us were determined to milk every minute of civilization before heading back into the woods.

11 am came sooner than we hoped and it was time to walk again. We knew that we only had a short section that was open before we would have to skip a section of trail due to the Norse Peak fire, but we were eager to get the section from Whites Pass to Chinook completed before they close it again.

The trail was beautiful all day and we had great weather. Along the route to our destination of Dewey Lake we passed several beautiful lakes, ponds, and bridges. Early in the day we were dodging lots of fresh horse droppings to the point where we were really starting to get annoyed. I saw one pile and commented that we must be right behind the offending horses and sure enough we came to a clearing and a lake where a group of beautiful ponies were tied to trees next to their owners that were lounging on the edge of the lake.

After we passed that group the horse poop was less frequent and much less fresh. Soon we were climbing a mountain and at the top of the ridge we entered Mt Rainier National Park. The three of us separated as we hiked on and I noticed that there were great plumes of smoke off to the east of the trail signaling a large fire. Luckily the wind was such that the trail was completely smoke free, even though we were less than a few miles away.

I descended to Dewey Lake and when I arrived I quickly stripped down and jumped in the water. The water was a perfect temperature for an evening dip and I tried to wash up as quickly as I could before someone showed up. Sherpa popped out of nowhere before I got my clothes back on and surprised me. I helped get her water.  We had a quick argument about where the tent should go but we were able to resolve it and headed off to make camp on a nice flat spot.

Soon Tofu joined us and we hung out for a little while before turning in. Tofu also went down to the water for a dip while Sherpa and I ate dinner and got ready for bed. She came back shivering saying that the water was cold.

After getting in our tents we fell asleep quickly but Tofu and I were both woken up several times during the night to hear lots of rustling and the eerie sound of an Elk bellowing across the lake.In addition to the bazar sounds smoke started to surround us and it was stifling. It was scary because we knew that the fire was only a few miles away hours ago and we had no idea how intense it was getting. Tofu whispered to our tent that she was glad that we were here.

We eventually all settled and ignored the smoke and wrestles creatures all around and slept like little hiker babies.

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!

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.

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.