Our morning started with a 3500 foot climb right away. The first section went by well with some gradual climbing but then it got steeper with more bushes hanging over the trail. Once we got to top we were greeted with some great views, probably some of the last until after stehekin. We ate lunch at the top with semi and shuffles then started off to finish our last ten miles before camp. It was mostly down hill but one more medium climb around a bowl before we dropped in to a valley and followed a river down to Cascades NP.
Banana slug!
We got in to camp by 5:30 and felt proud of ourselves for getting almost 20 miles done before dinner on a section hike! Since we can charge our batteries tomorrow I watched a movie then fell asleep. Another great day on the trail!
Cascades!
Milk Creek to 2.7 miles past Suiattle River
18.7 miles
Our first few miles today were straight up a hillside through an unkempt trail. The bushes were soaking wet after last nights rain and promptly got us soaking wet too. In places it was really difficult to push up hill against bushes while also stepping over trees and not falling off the side of the mountain. But we made it and the other side was lovely fields of flowers along the trail with the clouds putting on a neat display over the neighboring mountains. I loved seeing the flowers and views.
I finished my book this afternoon as we were hiking through towering trees. One of the trees had fallen over and the top of the trunk laying sideways on the ground was eye level with me. What a giant tree!
It was a bit on the chilly side today and nothing really dried out. It smells like wet dogs and stank booty in our tent and it is terrible. Hopefully tomorrow we will get things dry so no more bad smells and I’ll get some ointment for my knee which is turning red.
It was cloudy today when we woke up. It didn’t start drizzling until the afternoon when it was on and off. The climbs in Washington have been no joke. One climb today was very steep and long while the second one had a bunch of blow downs (downed trees). The pinnacle of the day was Fire Creek Pass which was out of tree line and offered stunning views as far as the eye could see on either side. The layers of mountains just keep going and going. Some jagged rocky tops and some with glaciers or snow fields. It is incredible to see the diversity with the meadows of wildflowers, glaciers, and then forests with very very old trees dripping with lichen. I think I am enjoying Washington most.
It did rain on us today in the afternoon as we scurried down the pass. The trail was quite overgrown the last two miles to camp so I wasn’t even that wet from the rain since we were in the trees but then had to walk through bushes grown up way over my head into the trail and got soaked form them.
Our campsite is next to Milk creek. Milk creek is fed from the Milk glacier on Glacier peak. Today we skirted the peak and could see the glaciers up close with giant yawning open crevices. It was stunning.
The tall evergreen trees shield our tents from too much rain and we are hoping for the rain to die down in the night and then be fine tomorrow. I hope that isn’t one of those sentence I look back on and chuckle because it is so wrong……it is raining harder now. Either way we will survive. Even though I did fall off the trail twice today. I got distracted and stepped a bit off the trail and because the mountain hill slope was so steep, there just wasn’t ground next to the trail and I fell over and skinned my knees. Just small scratches really.
We met a few SOBOs today. One said there are around 400 downed trees over the trail ahead of us. Glacier peak wilderness is one of the most remote places on the trail and it holds many stories of poor trail maintenance and downed trees so I’m preparing emotionally to be scrambling over or under trees even if 400 seems like an exaggeration.
We are stopped for lunch and took a nap under some pine trees on a ridge with a spectacular view of some snowy mountains. Most of today we have sidelined exposed mountains with great views of jagged peaks, wildflowers, and snow fields. We have gotten very close to Glacier peak and it is so lovely. I love these mountains and feel so peaceful in them. Maybe I’ll feel different after hot exposed afternoon climbs with blow downs but this place is magical.
We sidelined most of the afternoon up to a pass which dropped us into a bowl surrounded by mountains and Glacier Peak directly in front of us. We ate dinner with a great view then feeling strong, we hiked another 1.4ish downhill to a campsite by a rushing creek. It was nice to get closer to the beginning of a climb for tomorrow and I found some neat flowers at our campsite. It is always important to me to notice not just the jaw dropping views of huge mountains but to remember to reveal in the tiny intricate details of plants or small things on hikes too.
I am loving all the wildflowers, learned a few new ones like Pan foil, partridge foot, and one sided wintergreen but there are some familiar ones like lupine, mountain Heather, and valerian.
The views today were the reason we didn’t go farther last year in the smoke. Besides you know the health concerns and fire risk. We saw Mt Rainer when we looked south, it was wrapped in a bit of cloud but the amount of snow on it looks amazing. Then we saw Glacier peak, which is another of the five volcanoes with glaciers in Washington. I thought I also saw Mt Baker but I’m not sure (I doubt it). It felt amazing to be out on the trail again. It is wild how the body falls back in to the rhythm of walking and my hiker hunger has come back immediately. Yikes!
We have been doing somewhat of shorter days in the first few days of our trip since we don’t have trail legs, our packs have seven days of food, and Washington is no joke. But already we are talking about lengthening our days since we have gotten in to camp early. It is just fun to be out on the trail pumping out those miles. Maybe we are also eager to get to Canada. Part of me feels like talking about Canada will jinx it since we have had dashed hopes of getting there before.
Shuffles, Semi, Kevin and I all got in to Seattle at varying times late last night then took an airport shuttle to a sketchy hotel. Gnome graciously picked us up this morning and drove us to the trailhead at Steven’s Pass.
It was so fun to see most of our tramily and it felt super normal hanging out, kind of like we were still on trail and not that we had taken 300 zeros between when we had gotten off the trail and coming back to the lovely PCT.
Driving up to Steven’s pass we could see the fire damage from the fire that forced us off trail last year. It had come up to the road and over some of the ridges. When we reached the pass I started crying because I couldn’t believe that we were back! Sometimes people talk about plans to meet up and have a trip together and it never works out. But here we were, back again! We took pictures at the same sign we had ended at last year and marveled at the view without smoke.
The first few miles weren’t too difficult even without trail legs. We stopped and swam at Janus lake along the way! I think we were pretty hyped to be on trail and full of adrenaline. Our packs are pretty heavy with 7 days of food so we will see how climbing up Grizzly peak goes tomorrow!
I both loved and hated this day on trail. I think the concept of polar opposites fits this ending. We were done with the trail but not quite since we would need to go back and finish Steven’s pass to the border. I was excited to go home to be dry and warm and start my new career. But I was also sad to be leaving the simplicity of trail life. This was a constant reminder that feelings and endings are not silos but interconnected webs.
We started the day peacefully while winding along hillsides with views of Shasta and Crags. I listened to a podcast of an athlete reflecting on their post Olympics depression and how they managed the feelings of loss after finishing something of such a grand scale. It was very validating to hear their perspective and also begin to think through how I would want to process such a large undertaking of hiking for 138 days and 2465 miles. I could accept that the following days may be difficult with transition but I will always have the memories and strengths I built while on this adventure.
As we descended down towards the trail head, it started getting hotter. The gnats came back out and were wildly annoying. We saw more rattlers in the last few miles than we had the whole desert section.
The last mile the trail was wide in the state park so Kevin and I could walk side by side, usually in silence as the ending of such a massive experience often lacks words to describe it.
We came out of the woods into the parking lot and saw our finishing terminus, a trailhead sign. I cried. We took pictures. Then got a ride into town and demolished giant amounts of food to celebrate.
I knew I would be back, or rather hoped I would be back. But first I just wanted to sit on the couch for awhile.
Written 10/17/22
The last day on trail. We woke up a bit earlier today to get our miles in and have time to celebrate in town. It was chilly but I hardly noticed as we started uphill. We had only a bit of uphill before sidelining the mountain with a great view of Castle Crags. It was neat to come into the trailhead from the opposite direction than we had travelled before because the views
of the state park were of the other side of the crags and Shasta. While we were sidelining, Kevin turned around to see a bunch of yellow jackets circling my pack just as one stung me on the leg. He yelled run! And we went pell mell down the trail to get away from the yellow jackets. I so glad neither of us are very allergic to being stung.
Soon the trail began to descend about 5,000 feet down into the I5 corridor from the surrounding ridge line. As we got lower in altitude, it began to get very hot. The gnats started encircling us and we had to walk very fast to get away from them. I was glad to still have my mosquito net in my hip belt pocket for this very occasion. We ended up seeing three rattlers in a rocky steep section before reaching the shade of a pine forest.
There was a trail sign a half mile before the trailhead where it all hit me. Seeing the end listed out on the sign felt different than my mindset I had had all day of getting through the 24 miles. I stood there and cried until Kevin came along side and helped me to keep going. We talked about how much we enjoyed the trail and how we couldn’t believe our journey this year was over!
We got to the trailhead and congratulated our tramily and took pictures!
I tried to absorb it all in. The last pictures, the last sitting along the road to hitchhike, the last town meal before the journey home.
Because we ended late in the day, our schedule felt a bit rushed. We enjoyed the ending but soon had to call a trail angel for a ride to town. We got our food in town and ended up playing in the trivia night there too which was very fun. Very loud, since our ears were used to the quiet outdoors but fun too.
Then we showers quick and caught a nap before catching the train to Sacramento for our flight home.
At the train station I was excited to see three other hikers we had been leap frogging in this section. We had a noisy celebration and memory swap on the platform before the 12:30 am train made it and took us away from the PCT and all the elements of the trail we will soon long for again. But first, a nap and lots of snacks.
Even though we witnessed a lovely clear sunset last night, everything was wet with condensation when we woke up. A cloud must have come through overnight or the dew was thick! Our tent was soaked and my sleeping bag was the wettest it has ever been on this trail. But the sun came out and blue skies started to peep through the cloud banks shortly after we awoke. We decided to get to a trailhead and yard sale all our stuff, meaning lay it all out in the sun to dry! It was really nice all day and we got our stuff dry which made our packs lighter and brought a piece of mind that we would be warm tonight!
It was a weird feeling knowing today was the last full day on trail. Kevin and I talked through some of our favorite places, food, towns, and campsites. We are so grateful for all we have learned and how we have grown together.
It is also difficult to process because we haven’t completed the whole trail because of the smoke and fires in Washington. Because we aren’t ending at the terminus it feels sad and happy. Sad we won’t be in Canada but happy to be at the end, ready to be out of the rain and cold and acknowledging the distance we did hike. Holding both emotions today felt tiring along with the 27 miles we hiked.
We arrived to camp just as the last light was fading. We could see the sunset reflected on Mount Shasta as we ate dinner with Shuffles and Semi. We reminisced about some of our favorite parts of the trail. Some of the difficult times were remembered too and we were proud of ourselves for our perseverance. I was happy we could return to the section in Nor Cal to finish all of Oregon and California. The views of Shasta have been amazing as well as passing a few landmarks that are famous on the PCT.
I finished my last audio book while walking today. It was called The Alice Network, historical fiction, and about a spy network of women in the First World War. After that, I listened to some music and soaked in as much of the trail as I could.
I want to remember the cool breeze, the smell of evergreen trees in altitude, the colors of the fading sunset, the way the last hill feels hard and sometimes endless right before camp, the joy of seeing the expected campsite and how it immediately feels like home.
A couple miles into our morning it began to rain. Then the rain turned to hail. Then the hail began to collect on the ground in drifts and piles. It hailed for a few hours and I had to repeatedly shake off my umbrella. I felt bad for Kevin because he didn’t have an umbrella and his shoulders and backpack were covered in hail, looking like piled up snow. Finally the hail slowed to a drizzle and eventually stopped. Late afternoon we crossed highway 3 which goes into Etna again and another town to the opposite direction. Another hiker was there contemplating hitching into town and being done with the cold and wetness. It was definitely tempting.
But in two days we will be in Dunsmuir and done with what we can finish of the trail this year. At some points we could see the rain engulfing the ridge we were on and the next ridge over was in the sunshine. I dreamed of being in that sunshine. But then I remembered the desert heat and then I was okay in the rain. The way the clouds moved over the mountains made for such epic views and it was so neat. The area also absolutely needs rain and moisture.
Day 135
20 miles
Etna to South Fork Scott River
Day six of rain
Our ride out of town was at eight am. We had scheduled a ride with Molly. She is the local trail angel who enjoys making multiple trips up and down the mountain each day to pick up or drop off hikers. Because she is so familiar with the mountain road and because of her high speed performance driving classes (she told stories), she drives the curvy mountain road like a race track. It is a mostly deserted road which probably makes it more safe but it is still quite the experience.
From this point, we have 98 miles until we get to the 5 in Dunsmuir. I’m not really sure what I will feel or think when we see the interstate in the valley as we descend to town and the end of our journey.
While in town, Kevin and I bought our train and plane tickets home! For my resupply, I bought all my favorite foods. Oreos, candy, pretzels, chips, crackers, carrots, cucumber, green pepper.
4 days of food
The mountains and clouds were very spectacular today. The weather was confusing, the sun was hot but the wind was cold and I often felt one without the other so there was no balance! We could see giant sheets of rain on neighboring ridges or valleys. It didn’t start to rain until we just got to camp. We managed to set up camp and get in the tent without getting too wet and while still maintaining our marital bliss (as in not arguing too much). Anyone ever seen those people who roll into campgrounds and the whole campground can hear them set up camp “together”?!
I am hoping it won’t rain all day tomorrow like it is predicted.
ashleyisoutside 