Category: Uncategorized

A great weather day today for some big climbs.  Lots of streams today, fewer big open views, but fewer blowdowns for sure made it a good travel day.

I was able to wake up early and get on trail at 6:30.  I had gone downhill from a switchback, so instead of going back uphill, I just kept going downhill and intercepted the next switchback.  The slope was about 45 degrees, so downhill both ways was the best choice.

The plants were hardly dewey, so I did not get wet at all.  About two miles down the slope I found the hikers from yesterday camped out and stirring to head out.  

The next six miles were a very shallow downhill as we went downhill along the Suiattle river to cross it, then come back up the river on the other side.  There is a shortcut that bypassed this six mile stretch, but it requires fording the river and then bushwhacking back to the trail.  At best case, it should save an hour, but having to deal with the river when everything is dry did not sound like fun, so  I stuck to the trail.  And it was a very nice walk, so I don’t regret my choice.

After crossing the river, it was a steady climb for about three hours.  I had intended on getting to the top before eating,  but I only made it about three quarters of the way before getting hungry and stopping for tuna wraps.  I saw two southbounders and recognized one from northern California. He was flip flopping to avoid weather.  I also ran across one day hiker who was a talker.

Once the climb was over, we dropped on to the north side of another canyon and it was a similar Alpine feel to the last two or three days.  Big open meadows with blueberries, big snow covered peaks, and streams everywhere.

This area still had some blowdowns, but most of them had been cut clean through.  There were still some that had to be climbed over, but they looked newer, and not years old like the previous day’s hike.

Toward the end of the day I located a campsite on the map that was six miles away that I would hit just before dark.  It sounded perfect, and had water close by.  I was running.low on water, but could last another two hours until getting to the campsite.

When I got close to the water source just before my intended campsite, I began to realize that the trail crossed the stream.  The intended crossing site had lots of stones to try to make a bridge across it,  but it was thirty yards wide and was not completely covered by continuous stones.  It was obvious that to cross it meant getting wet.  I could easily switch into the flips to cross, then just go on to camp in the flips.

But there was another option.  A very tall tree had fallen across the river 100 yards downstream.  It was eight inches around at the top fifteen feet above the water, and eighteen inches at the base four feet above the water.  It was pretty high up for such a skinny tree, and it was after 7:00 and light was failing fast.

I decided the tree would be my route.  Just getting to where I could climb up to the tree high over the river was challenging.  But I made it, and tested out the strength of the tree to be sure it would hold me.  I started across the tree, using my poles to steady myself.  I looked at the tree, and not the rushing water below.  If I was to fall, I would surely break something, so falling was not an option.  Everything went smoothly until about half way across, when the tree began to bounce and sway sideways like a tightrope.  This tree was over forty feet long from bank to bank..  I just paused and let the tree calm down, then kept proceeding.  It took about three minutes to cross, and then I was on my way to the campsite.  

All the other hikers were already there and had a fire going, so I went and set up my hammock quickly and grabbed my food and went and cooked by the fire.  Two others showed up and cooked as well.  It was nice to interact with other hikers for a while.  I don’t get that chance very often on the PCT.  Two other hikers have also done the AT, and three others have not.  Alot of the talk was about the AT and the similarities and differences from the PCT.  We also talked about the upcoming towns and what each had to offer. 

I think I will bypass Stehekin which is only 12 miles away and head straight for Mazama which is 31 miles away.  I will probably nearo there, depending on the forecast.  Everyone else is stopping in Stehekin.  I just don’t have the extra time and have plenty of food.  I am short on phone power, though.  Well see how much juice we have in the morning.

Today was a real mixed bag.  It was raining very gently before I woke up and soaked every leaf until about 11 am, then the clouds began to disperse and were mostly gone by 5 PM.  My shoes, pants, and shirt were soaked until noon, then mixed sun and a strong breeze dried me out.  I ended up being another really nice day by the end of the day.

I slept in a little because of the rain early in the morning and did not get on trail until 7 am.  I could not tell if it was genuine rain or cloud drops because I was camping low.  Either way, the effect is the same – every little plant overgrown into the trail was saturated and within five minutes, my shirt, pants, and shoes were soaking wet.  It was fairly warm and I knew I had to do alot of climbing so I did not bother with rain gear or the pack cover.  I might rethink that next time.

I had a stream crossing about an hour into the hike over a bridge that had broken in the middle but was still serviceable.  It was like a fun house ride.  A single log bridge about thirty degrees down to the water then back up.  It had a railing that was perfectly broken to match the bridge.  The railings made it feel safer crossing it.

I passed two hikers packing up and within and hour both of them had passed me.  I never saw them again, and I never saw another hiker all day.  I have been seeing and hearing hikers night hiking past me while I am camped, and usually pass multiple campsites still occupied in the morning.  I did pass several other hikers tents this morning, but have not seen or heard night hikers tonight.  That could be because I am a hundred feet down a switchback on steep terrain in the hammock.  

The terrain was always climbing or always descending all morning and all afternoon.  It’s just like the Sierra where we climb out of one canyon just to go over a pass and descend into the next one.  Rinse and repeat.  Both the climbs and descents make heavy use of switchbacks and are graded decently most of the time.  

This section is a wilderness area and they have a thing about not wanting to clear blowdowns.  All they do is cut the branches off and chop a little notch to put your foot on and you crawl over it.  Some of these trees are four feet in diameter a few feet off the ground and take some work to get over.  Sometimes they are so big or so high that you have to go under them.  Some of these you can tell are decades old.  And sometimes the blowdowns cause the trail to go up or down slope and trample the vegetation.  You would think that at some point the impact of cutting a tree across the trail is better than creating mudslides on both sides of the tree.  I must have encountered more than a hundred blowdowns today, probably more.

I stopped for lunch at a pass where the sun was going in and out but a breeze was constant.  I took my shoes and socks off to let them dry and check my feet.  The left foot bandaid had come off and that foot is essentially healed.  The right heel was bleeding a little, but the bandaids were still in place.  I put a section of gorilla tape over the bandaids to reduce friction.  That seemed to help a little and it stayed in place for the rest of the day.

The afternoon was a descent that lasted until about 3:30.  I ran out of water on the way down, intending to fill up at the creek at the bottom of the canyon.  When I got there, it was silty and there was no easy way to get down to the water.  I try not to filter silty water so it won’t clog the filter.  The next water was five miles up the next canyon.  I decided to go ahead and go the five miles without water and maybe luck out on an undocumented stream on the way up.  No such luck.  I had to hike the full five miles for two and a half hours up a warm switchback canyon.  When I did get water, it was ice cold and crystal clear.  I filled up for dinner and enough for the morning.

I could have stopped at a perfect campsite at 6:30 but the site was high and windy and very cold.  I decided to make my way down the switchbacks towards a campsite four miles further and try my luck with finding something on the way.  It was quite dark by 7:15 and I was stumbling on rocks in areas with overgrown vegetation and was not thrilled about hiking that in the dark, so I kept my eyes peeled and finally found something about half way down that worked out fine.  The ground is steep, but I had a natural chair in front of a tree that worked out great for cooking dinner in comfort.  I went ahead and made a big dinner with pudding for dessert since I had plenty of water tonight.

It’s 39 miles to Stehekin and 68 miles to Mazama via Rainey pass.  I still have three days of food I have not broken into yet, so I probably won’t be stopping in Stehekin.  The original plan was to stop there just to go to the bakery for one day of food, but dealing with the shuttle to get into and out of town for food that I don’t need does not sound like it’s a smart stop.  It sounds like the $70 VVR hamburger fiasco all over again.  I think I’m better off spending my time and money in Mazama, since I have a package waiting there and must go anyway.  This is the last resupply of the trip.  Plus snow is now forecast for the weekend and I don’t want to dilly dally too much.  Yes, snow.  Snow trumps muffins any day.

What a fantastic day today.  I got up early and was on trail early, there was hardly a cloud in the sky all day, and most of the day was above treeline with fantastic views.  I only saw two hikers all day, and one of them I had not seen since Sierra City in northern California.  And a day above 25 miles for the first time in a while despite lots of elevation change.

I got ready quickly and was on trail at 6:30 for the first time since Timberline.  It’s just early enough to be before the sunrise, but not so nearly that you need a headlamp, but it’s right on the edge.  A week from now, it might be needed that early.

I thought where I camped last night was the top of the big climb through the boulder field, but I discovered this morning that there was another 500 feet to climb.  It went quickly, and all the vegetation was dry, so I didn’t get soaking wet first thing in the morning for the first time in over a week.

I got a few brief glimpses of Mt Baker as the trail wound around high peaks.  The fall colors of the fruit bushes litter the mountains all over.  I tried a few more blueberries since I was now higher, but they are still overripe like the ones at lower elevations.  The huckleberry bushes don’t have a smell but the blueberry bushes smell like blueberry muffins.  It’s like hiking through a bakery.  Or a Taiwanese muffin sweatshop.

I took my lunch break at the top of a saddle overlooking Mt Baker and other mountain peaks with snow on them.  I let my feet and socks dry while I ate.  The right foot is not very sore today, but I’m not sure how fast it’s healing.  The left one is almost back to normal.  I will let them dry tonight then rebandage and hope they heal soon.  Or at least heal before the next rain.

In the early afternoon I met a weeklong hiker doing Stevens pass to Rainey pass.  He had heard that this was the toughest and prettiest section in Washington.  So far that has turned out to be true.  The climbs are definitely getting bigger and in some areas steeper.  But the scenery just keeps getting better and that takes your mind off the climbing and various other less pleasant aspects of this hike.

I took an afternoon break at another saddle with a great view.  I sat under a sign that read “please camp elsewhere” and just a hundred feet down was a designated campsite.  Good thing I was only resting and not camping.  Just as I was getting up to leave, another hiker came by.  I recognized him immediately as Butterscotch, who I had not seen since the few days after leaving Sierra City in northern California.  That’s a long time ago, lime well over a thousand miles ago.  We had a quick chat, and then I moved on.  He stopped to take a break.

Shortly after leaving Butterscotch, I hit the 2500 mile marker.  YES!  Only 150 miles left to go.  It was just after a trail junction on the side of a mountain gain with red blueberries all over the place.  Someone had kicked some of the rocks used to spell 2500, so I stopped to fix them and take a picture.

The trail continued to climb while still remaining above tree line since about 10 am this morning.  Even at 4:45 the trail was still above treeline but now descended into a large canyon.  It looked exactly like the canyons of the Sierra.

After three miles or so of descending the canyon the trees finally appeared.  Big pines and firs, which make me happy to see, since they mean I will be able to find a place to hang the hammock.  It was after 6:00 PM now and it was time to start thinking about camping.  There was a campground that looked wooded that I would hit just after 7 PM so that would be a perfect stopping place.

I passed many great camping sites on the way to my target site.  When I got there, it was almost dark and the campsites sucked.  There were plenty of trees but most of them were too close or had dense brush or were near dead trees.  Never hang a hammock from a dead tree.  You don’t want to be sitting on the rope tied to a dead tree and have it fall right on top of you.

I finally found a site, set up, took the shoes off to let the feet air out, then cooked dinner.  I took the bandages off and the feet look so so.  The left one is fine, but the right one is still red and tender.  I will have to cover it with something so it won’t be glued to the sock in the morning, so I’ll cover it with a simple bandaid and decide what to put on it in the morning.  Hopefully most of the redness is gone by then.  I don’t have any antibiotic ointment, but the voltaren has alcohol in it, so I’ll use a dab to try to sterilize it a little bit.  I am hoping for another sunny day tomorrow.

The morning started less than impressive in the weather department, but improved all day long and ended up a very nice day.  Being a Sunday near a ski resort, the trail was crowded with day hikers galore.  The climbs and lakes continued and Mt Baker is coming closer into view.

Since I was sleeping on the floor in the RV, I was in charge of starting coffee in the morning.  I told them I was going to wake up at 5:30 but everyone was slumbering peacefully, so I waited until 6:00 before firing up the stove.  Everyone woke quickly, and Legend started making pancakes immediately.  He had a few leftovers from yesterday and make some fresh ones then started dolling them out.  I think we all ate three or four pancakes.  He makes them pretty big.  They filled a paper plate completely.

Legend can always start up an interesting conversation and this morning was no exception.  He told us a little bit about how he got started into the perpetual traveller lifestyle.  The conversation went all over the place.  Business, politics, digging privies, just about everything short of religion.

I didn’t get out of there until 9:00 but I had a very good morning.  I knew that it would be an interesting evening and morning if I stayed and that’s one of the reasons I decided to stay instead of hiking out last evening.  The fact that it rained a little last night and was sprinkling in the morning just gave extra validation for my decision.  It was sprinkling or foggy much of the morning until nearly 11 am.

The trail started out on a gentle downhill for several miles before heading up a steep climb.  It looks like the next few days are going to be the same as the last few days – four or five 1000 to 2000 ft climbs and lots of lakes.  I can see from the overall profile that the climbs are going to get much bigger for the last few days.

As soon as I got to the first lake of the morning, the trail seemed to explode with people.  I must have seen at least fifty day hikers and thirty dogs.  They were all coming from a trailhead about ten miles from Stevens pass that was only a few miles by road from Stevens pass.  I sat and ate lunch at the intersection with that trail and someone new came by at least every three or four minutes.  I saw at least twenty new people come by just at lunch.  The stream never let up.  No one turned North onto the PCT from there, so as soon as I continued hiking, I saw only two day hikers and one thru hiker.

The climbs continued and the lakes continued on the rest of the trail for the afternoon.  I must have walked by ten lakes today.  The second to the last climb for the day was Grizzly peak.  The banner picture is of the trail on Grizzly peak looking straight at Mt Baker.  The red plants are blueberries and huckleberries growing all over the place and they are now over ripe and starting to ferment.  I picked and ate five dozen throughout the day that were at the peak of ripeness, but these were so overripe you could smell the blueberries just walking by them.  It literally smelled like blueberry pies were lining the trail.

There was one more lake to hit at about 6:30 and it seemed like a good place to stop.  I had to climb to get to it, and as I approached, I could smell smoke.  I also ran across a deer decoy at one pass looking straight at the trail.  It took me a while to realize it was a decoy.  With those two clues signalling yahoos were camping there, I decided to keep going.  There was one more big climb and four miles to the next camping area.  I started the climb, keeping my eyes peeled for a hammock spot.  The terrain was very steep and most of the trees were either way too big and far apart, or the trees were too close together, or over terrain too steep to walk on safely.  

Just over the top of the climb, more trees popped up and I found a suitable pair of trees just twenty yards down from the trail.  I set up and cooked dinner and hit the sack about 9 PM.  It was a red sunset as I was setting up, but I had to pull out the headlamp before finishing up.  While sitting here blogging, three hikers have passed by wearing headlamps.  I guess I’m not the only one who feels guilty leaving a town late and wants to make up for lost time by hiking a little bit into the evening.  I will probably pass by them still sleeping in the morning.

The rain finally let up today as the weatherman promised, and I made it to the lodge on time to get my package and ran into the trail angel Legend again.  I met him in Seiad Valley a month back and never expected to see him again.
I woke up around 5:30 and went through my usual music routine before donning ice cold wet clothes and socks.  The temperature was not actually that cold, but it was damp and the dampness makes everything seem colder.  I got packed up and on trail just before 7:00 and even though it was not raining, everything as soaking wet so from the waist down, it might as well have been raining.

There were four or five thousand foot climbs for the day, and the first came a few hours into the hike.  Another hiker passed me on the way up, and when we got to the pass, the sun was shining, so it was time for a break to dry things out, mainly feet.  It was 11:00 when I stopped.

I found a rock to sit on and took my shoes and socks off to let them dry and put my flip flops on to let my feet dry.  The bandaids on both feet had come off, so I wanted to dry my feet well and put fresh bandaids on and cover the right one with a layer of duct tape to help keep it in place.  I also put dry socks on, knowing they would be wet in less than a minute, but they would help the shoes dry out faster.  There was still a little dew on a few bushes, but my main goal was get my feet as dry as possible as soon as possible.

I ate a mini lunch while drying and was off again around 11:30.  I didn’t want to take too many breaks since I needed to get to the lodge at Stevens pass by 4:30 if possible in order to get my package before the lodge closed.  But I also had to take every opportunity to try and doctor my feet, since they are the most important part of my body to take care of.

Most of the climbs were not too steep, but some of them had some steep sections.  We were basically bouncing across canyons like in the Sierras, but the canyons were smaller and shorter.  There were all of lakes in this area, and the blueberry and huckleberry bushes are still full of fruit here.  I stopped once to pick a handful.  I have decided that I like blueberries better than huckleberries.

I stopped by a lake just before 2 PM to eat official lunch.  I mixed a black bean soup with a ramen noodle without seasoning to try something new and it was OK.  Probably not a future staple.  I also took my shoes off to let them dry and check the duct tape.  It was still painful, but the tape was still in place at least.

From that point on, I pretty much had to do 3 mph to be able to make the lodge by 4:30.  I still had two climbs in there, so that would be hard to do.  I still had some coffee left, so I downed it and that perked me up a little.

I ended either passing or getting passed by several hikers the last few miles into town.  Everyone had town fever at that point and just wanted to get into town as quickly as possible.  I ended up rolling in right at 4:35, and headed straight for the office.  I got my package, took my shoes and socks off, donned my flip flops and headed straight upstairs to the restaurant.  Two good local beers, a cheeseburger with fries and a salad later and I was satisfied.

It was cold outside and the bartender said it was fine to bring packs inside to divvy up the resupply boxes, so I dragged everything upstairs and started loading.  When you look at a box full of food, it seems like so much, but it’s amazing how fast you can actually eat it.   Had a bag of Skittles as well as Peanut M&M’s in this box, which is too much candy, so I immediately started in on the M&M’s.  

I needed to get rid of some things, so I squeezed a big dollop of honey into the coffee water bottle, out a coffee in it, and asked the bartender if he would put some soda water in there.  It fizzed quite a bit, but morning will tell if I have invented something wonderful or horrible.  I also ditched the ghee.  It makes everything taste so fantastic and at the cold temperatures we have had lately, it’s not messy.  but it’s bulky and heavy and I don’t use it every night, so at this point it’s a luxury and did not make the cut.  So I now have six days of food which should take me all the way to Mazama, my last stop.  I was hoping to stop at Stehekin to load up on one day of food exclusively from the bakery, but it looks like I have plenty and won’t need to stop there at all.  Bummer.

As I was almost ready to leave, I ran into Legend, who had fed us spaghetti and pancakes the night before Seiad Valley.  He was camped here in an RV and offered an invitation.  I had planned on hiking out four miles or so and camping, but an RV is almost like camping, right?  I accepted his offer and another couple did as well.

The four of us went to his RV and he made spaghetti and Cocoa and we talked quite a bit about lots of topics.  Legend was commenting that several of the facilities available to hikers were trashed this year and may not be available or next year.  The same thing has happened on the AT over the years.  One of his observations is that the hikers don’t police themselves like they used to, so bad behavior grows faster than it used to.  He could be right.

So at least I have a warm.dry.place to sleep tonight.  the forecast for the next week is for very little chance of rain.  I need a few dry days in a row to heal my feet.  I have already heard rain falling on the RV roof three times while blogging, so I’m not sure I trust the Washington weatherman.  But I sure could use some dry weather.

I was expecting it to rain today, but I would hoping it would break in the afternoon.  No such luck.  It has rained all day long, even while cooking dinner.  But I did get to see a small.blue patch about 5 PM while I was getting rained on while filtering water.
I got up just after 5:30 and listened to music for a while before stirring and getting ready.  I was on the trail at 7 am and none of the other hikers had even stirred yet.  I never saw them all day.  When I set off, it was not yet raining, but it was foggy and dewey.  I had my rain jacket on, but not rain pants.  There was plenty of moisture on the plants, so my pants and shoes got wet pretty quick.

Within an hour, it started to actually rain.  I found a thick pine tree that was dry underneath and out my rain pants on.  I made sure my phone was secure and dry and kept on going.  Every time I thought the rain was letting up and I could out my umbrella away, it would start raining again.

There was a.big climb up to a pass before lake Ivanhoe then a steep descent to reconnect with the PCT.  I always feel more comfortable when I’m back on the official trail.  It feels like home.

The rest of the trail in the morning and afternoon were more climbs up to high ridges, then descending to the next valley.  It feels.a little like the Sierra but the grades are much better and there are no giant steps to navigate.  There were quite a few stream crossings, too.  All of them could be traversed on either rocks or logs.

I wanted to get as far as I could today without going past dark.  I want tomorrow to be an easy day into town.  I also wanted to have enough daylight to set up and cook since I was soaked.  I found a campsite that looked like I could get there right at 7 PM, so that would have to do.  I ended up getting there right at 7:05.

When I got there, three other tents were already set up.  I found a suitable hammock site just outside the campsite and immediately went to setting up camp.  Instead of getting the hammock completely ready before cooking dinner, I got only the pad set up, then changed my shirt and got into the down jacket.  I took my shoes off, but left my pants and socks on.  

I sat in the hammock and cooked while sitting comfortably.  I liked this arrangement instead of going to find a log to sit on or sitting on the ground under the hammock.  And it was a good day for testing this out, because the rain came again while I was cooking.  I think I’ll cook this way from now on.

When I finally.got my.socks off, I discovered that both blister bandages had come completely off in the wetness.  No wonder my right foot was giving me so much pain.  I think I’ll.do just bandaids tomorrow because I am running low on blister bandages.  I’ll put those on once I can have a dry day and dry feet so they will have time to adhere to my feet well before the next rain soaks them again.  We’re supposed to have a few warm and dry days, but I’m not holding my breath.

While in town, I learned of an alternative trail that supposedly had less elevation change, was shorter than the PCT by nearly ten miles, and went right by a cascading hot springs.  That sounds like an easy decision, right?  Well, I ended up taking it, and I’m not sure it was the right choice.
I woke up at a leisurely 6:30 and packed up and headed for breakfast at the inn.  Three eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and French toast later and I was ready to hike.  I had a few things to drop in the hiker box on the way out and I was on trail by 8:30.  

The PCT left the I-90 corridor immediately, but the alternate started out as a mile and a half of road walk to a trailhead.  The parking area was full of cars, and the trail had quite a few hikers on it already this morning.  The trail started climbing steps immediately, then leveled off a bit before climbing some serious switchbacks.  I’m not sure how many feet the trail climbed, but it was well over 1000 ft.

Once at the top of the ridge, I could see snow lake on the other side which is the picture in the header.  It was pretty dramatic.  The trail wound around the east side then began climbing another ridge.  The trail was pretty rocky and a little overgrown in places.  The grade was quite steep in a few spots, too.  I kept forgetting that I was not on the PCT and their pack animal grades don’t apply here.

After crossing that small ridge, the trail began a descent that seemed to go on forever.  It was endless switchbacks back and forth over the same talus field for over an hour.  I was starting to get hungry and the trail and slope was so steep there wasn’t really any place to stop and cook.  I ended up going all the way to the bottom of the canyon before finding a suitable place to stop at about 1 PM.

I made some Harmony House soup that I found in a hiker box.  I have never had their soups before, so I was anxious to try it.  Well, it was not so hot.  And I have a few more of them coming in future boxes.  This one was beefish soup with mushrooms.  The predominant taste was carrot.  It was edible, but I won’t eat this one again.

I got rolling again, and the trail started climbing a creek bed.  It was probably an hour before coming to the hot springs area.  A sign said to check in with the caretaker first.  They charge $20 to camp and $15 for day use.  And apparently you have to lay $15 to just go and look.  Phooey, I just kept on hiking right by it.

The trail was now climbing up the Snoqualmie river.  The majority of the rest of the trail is following this river up to the mountains back to the PCT.  Some sections were quite steep and seemed to climb way higher than the river, but the river would always catch up.  There were a series of campsites coming up just before dark, so I decided to camp at whatever one I hit between 6:30 and 7:00.  And apparently that was number three.

Some weekend hikers had just gotten there and started setting up camp.  I found a spot for my hammock across the trail from them.  Three more PCT hikers came and one asked to put his tent next to theirs.  They wanted to cook there and long story short, the weekend hikers packed up and moved along.

I had hiked with two of the three hikers in the past.  One near Kennedy Meadows North and the other near Mt Shasta.  They had seen my name in the registers get further and further ahead and wondered how we saw each other again, so I had to tell them about being off trail for a week.  I saw two more in the hotel that I had not seen since Lake Britton and had the same explanation for them.  It seems like about half of the hikers I meet I have met before and passed before getting off trail.  It’s neat seeing these people again.  They all recognize me even though my clothes are different and my beard is shaved and I have a different hat.

There is about seven miles of this alternate trail left before I rejoin the PCT again.  The mile marker in the title is not truly where I am, I just did some math with what I have left on the alternate subtracted from where I rejoin the PCT.  I also did not do 28 miles today.  It was closer to 19, which seems short for the day but the hiking was a bit tougher than I had expected and I didn’t start until 8:30.  I hope I am able to keep relatively close to my schedule since I have purchased a flight home already.

A quick day today into Snoqualmie pass for a half day off doing chores and recharging the batteries… Literally.  Tiny place, but they have what I need – a warm dry bed, good food, a post office, and a brewery.

Just as I was going to bed last night, the wind picked up coming straight off the lake and it got quite cold.  The wind was so strong, I could hear it blowing underneath the hammock, and I was wearing earplugs.  My face was cold, but my body stayed warm.  Sometime around midnight, the wind went away, and it warmed up considerably.  I slept well all night long.

Since I had a short 9 miles to do for the day, I slept in a little and listened to a little more music.  Since it was not terribly cold, I skipped the clothing preheat and got ready and on the trail by 7 am.  The trail circled the far side of the lake and then began to climb.

The trail had some overgrown sections, and sometimes the brush was covered in dew, and sometimes it was covered in frost.  I got a little wet, but nothing terrible.  There were many small ponds and boggy sections of trail.  I managed to drag my foot through the water on one stream crossing, so I had one nearly dry foot and one soggy one.  Both would be dry by the time I got to town.

I saw a few day hikers coming up the trail as I descended into town, but no northbounders.  It seemed to take forever to get to town, even though I arrived almost exactly when I thought I would.  Anticipation, I guess.

About a mile from town, the trail pops out onto a ski slope and you can see the whole town at once.  It’s a one horse town with one hotel, two restaurants, one gas station, and a brewery.  Yes, they have a brewery.  It was a nice walk into town.

I went straight to the Chevron (with a post office inside of it) to get my resupply packages.  They store them in an old walk in cooler, and you have to find your own packages.  Karen writes my name on all four sides, so the main one was easy.  The smaller package took a bit longer.  I had a few last minute equipment changes that she needed to mail separately from the main resupply package.

Next up was food.  There is a food truck in the parking lot, so I hit them up for some chicken tacos.  They were delish.  They also had donuts and mandarin oranges in their hiker box.  Third stop, a room at the hotel.  I reserved one, but it would not be ready for an hour, so I checked out the grocery store.  It was pretty pathetic for a store with the word grocery in it.  The Chevron was far better.

I went back to the hotel to check in, then showered and started laundry before the mass of hikers started theirs.  The clothes weren’t completely dry, so I set them out on the bed to finish drying.  Next up, the brewery.

The brewery was called Dru Bru, and they had been mashing all day.  When I walked in, I was rewarded with a fantastic mash and hop smell and they had just gotten a shipment of fresh wet hops just that morning.  The funny thing is that they did not really smell like hops.  I guess they need to dry to get the smell I am used to.

I ordered a flight as I usually do at a brewery, and they were all outstanding.  Their session IPA was their best brew.  It was probably my favorite brewery of the entire trip.  I’d like to go back again some day.

Next up, back to the food truck for dinner.  I got a teriaki bowl and it was as good as the tacos.  Rice, chicken, cabbage, green apples, and cilantro on top with a pineapple muffin.  Sounds weird, but it was great.

Back to the room to finish chores.  First up, booking a flight home.  I’m half way through Washington now, and feel confident enough that I can keep up 25 miles a day, even if I need to hike into the darkness.  A quick email to Ken to update him on dates, and I can go to sleep (after finishing blogging, of course).  Did I mention I have a nice soft dry bed?

I awoke to cool temperatures and clear skies.  The last weather report I got said four more days of rain.  I’m glad he was wrong today.  Late in the afternoon I had sprinkles, but I have dry socks and shoes and that’s what’s important.

I woke up at 5:30 and hit the tunes while preheating the clothes again.  It takes about fifteen minutes and that’s perfect for morning music time.  I was on trail by 6:45 and even though the ground and grass wat still soaking wet, I could not see a cloud in the sky.  The picture was taken about a mile from my campsite when the sun finally crested the mountain across the way.  The trail turned East and I almost stopped to get my sunglasses.

The grass continued to be wet until close to 11 am which seems like a long time for everything to stay wet and needless to say my shoes had no chance of drying.  At about noon, I passed two other hikers who had stopped at the spring and had everything laying out drying.  The grass was still putting out alot of moisture, so I was still waiting for it to dry out first.  I had stopped for a mini lunch at 11:00 so I was hoping 2:00 would be a perfect time to stop for main lunch and a drying session.  There were several power lines about that spot in the trail.

There was quite a bit of climbing and descending all day.  At this point hiking is hiking and you just keep moving.  But some of the grades today were pretty steep and hard on the ankles.  

At one point in the morning the trail popped up on a ridge and Mt Baker was staring me in the face.  And it looked far snowier than all the other volcano mountains gains we had passed so I am assuming the rain of the last three days had deposited fresh snow on the mountain.  Yesterday seems the likely day since I had snow flurries where I was, and Baker is at least 4000 ft higher than where I was at the time.

As I began to hit the power lines in the afternoon, I was scouting for one that had rocks and not grass to stop on.  The second one was perfect.  It had three big rocks for sitting about 100 ft uphill from the trail.  I headed straight there, got out my lunch food, then took off the shoes and socks and put the flip flops on.  It felt great, and the blisters from yesterday were slightly worse on one foot and better in the other.  I pulled the bandaids to let them dry.  By the time I had eaten and headed out, both socks were dry and the shoes dry on the upper, but not the insoles.  It still felt much better being dry.  

Within an hour, the shoes were completely dry, and as luck would have it, that’s when it started to rain.  I put the pack cover on, but the jacket was too hot.  The area I was hiking apparently had gotten alot of rain, even though it was barely sprinkling on me.  I was not getting wet, but my shoes were.  I was using the poles to try to take the wetness off the grass and huckleberry bushes, but I was still getting wet.  The tops were wet and I could feel the tops of my socks getting wet, but the sole and heel were staying dry.  The heel was the part I was worried about because of the blisters.

Late in the day, the rain had stopped, but ominous clouds were all around.  I spotted a lake on the map that looked where I would end up about 7 PM and would be about eight miles from Snoqualmie pass, so it seemed like the perfect target for the day.

I had to go up and over one peak before climbing into to the lake.  On the previous downhill, my right foot started bugging me.  Coming down this last descent, it was full on hurting like shin splints.  There has been so much downhill, and I have been altering my step to protect the blisters, but apparently I have torched my right shin muscle doing so.  I manage to get to the bottom, but had to stop twice to massage it.

The last climb to the lake was pretty steep, but only a mile long.  The outlet stream crossed the trail three or four times, and at one point was a fairly large waterfall.  I finally made the lake just before 7:00 and found a spot for the hammock right in front of the lake.  It’s called mirror lake and fits it’s name perfectly.  I got a picture that is a perfect mirror image except you can see one ripple from a fish jumping.  At first I thought it ruined the picture, but the ripple is so perfect, it actually makes the picture better.

See, it’s cool with the ripple.

It’s all about me.  Today was my 50th birthday, and other than the rain, it was a good day.  I stumbled upon a cabin right at noon and stopped for lunch but it was full of hikers who made me a breakfast scramble “cake” complete with a candle to blow out.  And like a fool, I left afterwards to finish hiking in the rain.

It didn’t rain overnight and was quite chilly, but I wore another layer to bed and was warm as toast.  I woke up at 5:30 and started up the music as I slipped my clothes into the sleeping bag with me to preheat them.  Big, were they cold.  It took at least ten minutes just to warm myself back up, much less the clothes.  I finally dressed, and the preheat worked as I was not chilled at all.

I added my down layer and went back South on the trail to get water.  The spring was flowing pretty slowly, and I was collecting water it started to rain.  Great.  I ran back to the campsite to make sure nothing was getting wet and took my down jacket off and tried to sponge it off.  I got packed up quickly and headed out.

I guess today was not the best day to put on dry socks.  I tried to avoid every.piece of vegetation possible, but in under 15 minutes my socks were wet.  Oh well, I still have one last dry pair for hiking that I can save for later.  It rained on and off all morning.  It even snowed for about five minutes.

When I stopped for a snack break I checked the trail ahead and noticed that there was a cabin that I would hit about noon.  That would be a great opportunity to cook a hot lunch and save a cold one for a rainy day.  Well, a rainy day without a cabin.

I hit the cabin just before noon and it was full of people, so I set my gear out in the porch and hung a few things in nails to dry.  Two people left shortly after I arrived so there was more room to scope the place out.  They had a wood stove going full bore, there were three cots, and an upstairs loft for sleeping.  I hung yesterday’s wet socks above the stove to dry.

There were two hikers there who were taking a week off to do trail magic for other hikers, a girlfriend of one of them, and two other hikers who had been there for five days.  Yes, I said five days.  I don’t know who the other two who left were.

I began cooking some black beans and rice just as the two running the show began cooking something.  They had bacon cooking, potatoes cooking over the wood stove, then started making cornmeal flapjacks and gravy.  I had finished my lunch and was packing up to leave at 1:30 when one of them urged me to stay and eat with them.  It looked good and how could I refuse?

They cooked and cooked and at 2:30 it was finally ready.  Somehow they had found out it was my birthday so they out a tea candle on it and sang happy birthday.  It was quite nice.  And it tasted great.  Two of the other hikers had also had birthdays on the trail.  When you think about it, the normal time to hike the PCT is six months, so on average half of the hikers will have a birthday on the trail.

I asked them for one of their ginger ales to lack out for the evening and offered to contribute to the food fund, but they would not take my.money.  happy birthday to me, indeed.  I packed up again and finally headed out at 3 PM.  Alot later than I wanted, but the delay was worth it.

Once out in the cold rain, it was evident how warm and inviting the cabin was.  It would have been so easy to spend the evening there and drink whiskey all night long.  But that’s not my style and with Canada so close I don’t want to waste too much time.  Rain is inevitable in hiking and hiding from it just makes the whole trip drag on.  It’s not fun, but there are far worse things.  Things like wildfires.

Later in the afternoon the rain let up and I could see a few mountains and even saw a rainbow.  The sun peeked out at splotches around the mountains, but never shone on me.  I picked out a campsite on the map that I should be able to hit just after dark, so a little night hiking could make up some of the most time in the cabin.  I was getting hot spots on both heels, so I thought I should stop and change into the socks I dried at the cabin.  Sure enough, blisters were forming on both heels.  Three days of hiking in wet shoes will do that.  I was wishing now that I had taken my shoes off at the cabin and let both pairs of socks and feet dry.  I won’t make that mistake again.  I put bandaids on and changed socks and set off again.  It was less than five minutes before these socks were wet again, but they were slightly drier than the pair I just took off.

When I got to the campsite about twenty or thirty minutes after dark, there was already someone camping there.  No worries, I had plenty of energy and a hammock, so I would find one further on.  It took about thirty.minutes to find the ideal site with just the right size trees far enough apart and no vegetation underneath them.

I set up the hammock,.cooked dinner of parmesian noodles, drank my ginger ale, and rolled into bed.  It’s 33 miles to the next resupply point that has one hotel, a few restaurants and a brewery.  I won’t make it tommorow, but I should be able to roll in early enough Wednesday to get all my chores done quickly enough to have time to hit the brewery.  Mmm, beer.