Day 11: 100 Miles!

Miles: 12.9

Total:  ~100.1

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The miles went fast. We woke to clear skies, and watched as the other hikers packed up with us. Thankfully last night fog burned off and it was warmer in the morning than last night during dinner. This came with the consequence of a buggier breakfast, but not intolerable.

We made our descent through several areas of burn zone. By our reckoning, we passed through two different burn zones, one about three years old and one about one year old. Both came with an abundance of black charred tree bark standing in rich contrast to their blood red trunks, and the purple flowers that bloomed at their base. We are debating whether they are blue bonnets or lilacs. An internet search awaits us.

We made quick miles and stopped at a spring for lunch. The burnt forest kept is exposed to the sun, and we yearned for the shade... but when we found the shade of the trees, we also had the clouds wrap up around us. 

We have settled into a cabin for the night. There is mouse poop, but the cabin is warm and dry, and the night looks to be heading towards more moisture than we want. We are sharing the cabin with three other thru-hikers.

Tomorrow we are aiming for 19 miles, so it is time for us to get to bed.

Day 12: Deja WA wa

Miles: ~19

Total:  ~119.1

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The title serves as a nod to one of my last entries from our 2010 thruhike.

It was a green tunnel day, a day of grinding miles, and a day filled with the familiarity of Washington rain. These all made it hard, but we busted out the miles.

After waking at the early hour of 530, we packed up and headed into the fog. And that was the better part of the first half of the day. Fog, mist, and sometimes light rain. The sky played tricks on us, sometimes clearing and casting shadows, and other times looking like it was going to burn off.

We all put our earbuds in and grinded the miles. At one moment we emerged on an immense field of devastation. It looked like a clear cut forest, but there were too many logs still standing. After closer inspection, I realized it was a forest fire, but one that was so old the charred bark was all gone, and all that was left were the sun bleached trees. I estimated 10-15 years since the fire, but we found a sign indicating the fire was from 1988, thirty-one years ago. It takes a long time for regrowth. At the current stage the floor was covered with millions of bear grass stalks with the weird multiflowered stalks. It was quite a site to behold.

At the top of our midday climb we took lunch on the trail. Wrapped in our rain gear, ponchos, and tyvek we complained about the weather enough that the aun decided to slowly creep out for the remainder of the day. In fact, at our late afternoon rest, we all laid upon the ground, feet on the packs and sun on our face. It was a glorious break from an otherwise wet day.

The site we found for camp is small, ao our tents are scattered 30 yards apart, but we still had dinner together.

Tomorrow is another long day. Time to go to bed for another early rise.

Day 10: shoulda got water at that lake

Miles: 13.7

Total:  ~87.2

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Sun all day. It was fantastic.

But, we had hard climbs. (Wouldn't be washington without them). In the morning we had a solid climb out from Dewey Lake, to a stunning view down to Chinook Pass. For anyone who wants to take a drive, the highway we crossed was 410 (I believe), and it is probably Washongton's most scenic pass for a car to travel over.

We dropped our trash at the rest stop to lighten our packs, but our dreams of getting fresh fruit from kind citizens were crushed. Apparantly we don't look dirty enough or emaciated enough yet.

Then we climbed to sheep lake, where we should have filtered water. Little did we know it was the last water source before camp. And that was our battle for the day. We were on a hot high ridgeline with no runoff, and no signs of runoff for miles. We all had enough to miserably hike, but we were worried for the two dogs traveling with us (Phoenix and Sheila).

We stopped at a snow patch to let the dogs roll in the snow, and we scooped the slushy mix into our spare water bottle to hope for melt enough to water the dogs. Eventually we reached a point where there was water off the trail, but it was a 400 foot drop in about a quarter mile. We dropped our packs, left V8 to watch them, and then the three of us and the dogs embarked on the steep descent.

Watered up, and dogs bathed, we climbed back up to cind V8 sitting patiently waiting for us. We caught our breath from the grueling climb and made the final push to camp. 

We are sharing the site with two hikers that were here before we arrived, and one that arrived just after us, as well as one more that just rolled in. Cramped quarters, but we make do. Fog rolled over the hill, and now the site is extra chilly. Hopefully it drifts away by morning, and we get another sunny day... but this timw with no water challenges.

Day 9: The fog lifts

Miles: 13.1

Total:  ~73.5

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Today started with a solid climb of 1500 feet. These big climbs are what Washington is known for. 

After a quick drop to a stream, and a log crossing to keep our boots on, we started our ascent. But not before seeing a herd of roughly 20-30 elk far off across the meadow. Then the ascent began.

A long consistent climb with little to no respit. The fog was patchy, and the mist was nonexistent, but the trees were dripping, so we had a fairly consistent need for pack covers and rain gear. Periodically the clouds would drift enough to give us some stunning views.

In the last third of the climb, B- made a request to push to the top at his pace. We let him move on, finalizing his trail name. At first thought, Hillslayer, but in the end, we settled on V8, an engine that grinds up the mountain.

As the day progressed, fog lifted and we all were afforded incredible sights to behold. At one point, I looked up and saw an amazing view of Mt. Rainier. Each of us reacted exactly the same as the view popped into our eyesight, expressing our astonishment with the same two words.

We pushed through hills and small climb and drops the remainder of the afternoon, perpetually getting a new treat for the eyes as the sky eventually cleared to all blue in the final miles of the hike for the day.

We arrived at camp, hut not before I realized that I am having some bad foot problems which stem from damp air and poor sock shoe combination. Hopefully I can make improvements to my situation tomorrow.

I wish I could post more pictures while on the trail, but this is the best I can do for now.

Day 8: Foggy Washington (Rewrite)

Miles: 12.4

Total:  ~60.4

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It was written.

This blogpost.

But somehow it got lost.

Sigh.

You get the bullet points.

- we hiked in misty rain all day

- it is nice having Pseudognome join us

- community dinner followed by bear bag shenanigans.

- hopefully weather turns better tomorrow

Day 7: Zero in White Pass

Miles: 0

Total:  ~48

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It was a lazy day today. (For most of us)

We woke and slowly made up the motivation to walk over to the hotel where B- was staying. Then we proceeded to lounge at the KrackerBarrel gas station waiting out our laundry cycle, so we could experience clean clothing again.

When mail arrived, I called B- over from the hotel.  His box was not in the mail car. It looked like we were going to need to delay another day, but I looked in the log book of hiker boxes, and his was listed. I suspect they just misread/misheard yesterday when he asked for the package. It was too bad because he had already spent money on food so now he had too much food for this leg. No matter, we were happy to take some food off his hands to eat.

We lounged outside the hotel laying out the food and playing cribbage and catch up with Pseudognome (also known as DK).

All while I did this, and B- attended to his slow organizing, Apricots sat dilligently working through her coursework. She is taking a class to add a CTE endorsement to her teaching license. The class runs largely while we are out hiking, so her town stops consist of playing catchup on the reading, and writing the assignments. It is a lot of work for a rest day, but she is a hard worker.

We decided to leave the hotel room to her for the night so that she could have no distractions while working. The three of us returned to camp. Pseudognome and I played cribbage, while B- set up his tent and chilled to himself.

Tomorrow we will return to hiking.

-Team Psychricots +2

Day 6: To White Pass

Miles: 0

Total:  ~48

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We slept in this morning. Or at least I did, as the sleep on the air mattress was much better than the previous night. I crawled out of the tent, and saw that Mittens had packed up completely, he was ready to be retrieved by his parents.

I walked the sleeping pad over to Sam and Travis, and they promptly told me to use it for the rest of the hike. They gave me their phone number and said that I could contact them after the hike to arrange to get the pad back to them. (Thanks a million!)

One gear problem solved. Next up, could we get to White Pass to meet our other hiking partner on time, and could we find a rain jacket for Apricots?

Mittens taught Apricots and I a card game while we waited for his parents to arrive. We still were a little unclear what our strategy was, but we soon learned that hospitality was afoot. Mittens' parents knew that we had a schedule to keep and that the unexpected detour threw us off course a bit. As such, they took the time to drive us from Walupt Lake to White Pass with a gear stop in Packwood (where, unfortunately, no rain jacket could be found).

All total, I think his parents drove ten or so hours today to help us whilst retrieving an injured Mittens. And after all of this, they are driving more to get to their annual fourth of july festivities. Thank you for helping out. We are sorry Mittens hurt his leg, and wish him a swift recovery.

After they dropped us at White Pass, we quickly checked into our hotel room and began the showering shift.

Clean bodies, back on track, and connected with our hiking partner who was meeting is at the pass, everything is looking good. We killed time waiting for B's dad to show up. He and a friend were taking their motorcycles up here for a pseudosurprise visit with assorted food stuff and gear to help B out should he need anything.

Amid all the gear... 

An extra rain jacket... and hidden in the rain jacket was a bottle of wine (a gift for Lauren and I for putting up.... err I mean taking B- on this adventure) Thanks Bill and Maartje, he is a great hiking partner!

The trail has a way of working things out.

Tonight Apricots and I went to the campground with our newest party member Pseudognome, and played cards in the shelter of our tent, away from the mosquitos.

I suspect B- enjoyed serenity in the hotel room, provided the copious piles of hiker gear did not overwhelm him with the funk.

Tomorrow: Laundry and food resupply.

Day 5: Take a load off Nannie

Miles: ~5

Total:  ~48

46.42443N 121.47213W

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In a rather logical expectation, I generally will say "Take a load off Annie" anytime I stop and take my pack off. Well, we were camped up near Nannie Ridge, so when I said it last night, Apricots was quick to point out I should be saying, "Take a load off Nannie."

Genius.

I had unrestful sleep last night. The stress of Mittens' injury, the hazy intel on the trail out (which looked good, but i didnt know if it would peter out of existence), the cold clear night... and the misfortune of a popped air mattress. Oof, it will be a tough day.

This morning we helped ease the load in Mittens' pack by taking some of his gear and loading it into our packs as we descended Nannie Ridge down to Walupt Lake. The descent was short, but steep, as it was not official PCT the grading was not equestrian built. Approximately 1800 feet, and two miles later we arrived at the lake. 

As we settled down to talk to the camp host (who was out), Apricots realized that her rain jacket fell off her pack somewhere on the trail. (Lets hope we encounter no more rain). She went back to the trailhead hoping a dayhiker might have found it, but no luck.

In short time, I approached another guy waiting for the camp host and asked if he knew how far out we would need to drive to catch cell reception. The guy, Travis, said 60-90 minutes of drive time, and asked why. I explained that Mittens' had been injured, and he immediately called over his wife, Sam, who was a Physicians Assistant in training. She looked at Mittens' knee and gave her best take on the injury, a sprained knee (with some technical medical terms).

We eventually grabbed a campsite because we knew that we would likely be camping the night there while we looked for a ride down the mountain. Turns out the site we grabbed was nearby Sam and Travis. We set up camp, and sent Mittens on a mission to find a ride to cell service. Sam and Travis offered up a ride tomorrow morning, provide we could not secure one today.

Eventually, Mittens showed up in a truck and said he got a ride with the camp host. Apricots hopped in the truck with them, so she could make some calls as well to coordinate gear and meetup with another hiker in White Pass.

B- and I stayed back and played Chess and Cards to pass the time. Three hours later, Mittens and Apricots returned.

The plan: Mittens' parents to the rescue. They will arrive here tomorrow around noon.

So, all things in working order now... except I have no air mattress, and Lauren has no rain coat.

We spent the evening sitting by the campfire with Sam and Travis, their forest ranger friend Matt, and their daughter. They prepared extra pot roast, so there was some lovely trail magic with them sharing delicious dutch oven potroast, and chocolates from s'mores.

Then they heard my air mattress popped, and said that they had an extra and no one should sleep on the cold hard ground. More trail magic, woot woot! Thanks Sam, Travis, and Matt. It was a great evening to a stress induced day.

Time for much needed sleep.

Team Psychricots (plus Mittens and B-)

Day 4: Mittens hurts his knee

Miles: ~10

Total:  ~43

46.45229N 121.43259W

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The rain passed over last night, and we had sun patches during breakfast, so we seized on laying our tents in the sun to dry. Whilst dining on breakfast, a PCT northbounder from Cape Town, South Africa. He was marveling at our dry tents, so I can only assume he spent night at a more exposed location and packed up too soon to seize the sun.

Our day consisted of a pleasant flat four mile stroll to start the day, but Mittens was still moving slow from his aggravated ankles which he rolled the first day. 

We had an ibuprofen party to hide our aches and powet us up the climb toward Cispus Pass which we heard was going to be a rough snow filled climb. B- and I shot up the hill with abundant energy while Apricots paced with Mittens who seemed to be expressing more discomfort with all aspects of his hike. He said he had too much clothes, and food, and fuel, and that the weight of it all was causing him pains.

After lunch at a very relaxing stream, we started our final ascent the pass where "10 miles of snow" was rumored to exist. Before we got to any serious patches, Mittens told us that he tweaked his knee and that it was in a good deal of pain. 

As a group we discussed exit strategies and realized that we could backtrack about a mile to Sheep Lake, and then side trail about four or five miles to Walupt Lake where we will likely find a car, or cell reception.

So, here we are at Sheep Lake hoping that Mittens knee will be kind enough to help hin carry out his backpack.

On the bright side, this is a very scenic campsight, and we had a campfire to pass the early evening hours.

We will see what tomorrow brings.

Day 3: Wherin Mittens gets his trail name

Miles: 12

Total: 20.4+

46.38847N 121.45117W

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Whereas yesterday was a tough day, today was much more mellow.

We had a long slow start... two hours to eat and pack up. We were all fairly exhausted from the day before, but fortune favored us, as the rain had seemed to pass. In fact all day we never had any real significant rain fall. It was overcast, and we had a few blue patches, but overall a chilly mostly dry day.

We pushed out four miles to start the day, running in to two southbound PCTers who said microspikes would be needed to go over goat rocks. They also said we could take the alternate stock trail around the snow field, so while they filled the party with a sense of foreboding doom, we also had the good sense to not worry too much, as there is an alternate available to us.

At lunch, H- continues to elaborate on all the things that make him him, and this included his cold hands. Since he has warn gloves almost every minute of the hike, we have given him the name Mittens. He now has a trail name, a cultural mark of his experiences on the trail. Lauren is Apricots, and I am Psycho (or Moose) pending who you ask.

After lunch we grinded up a hill, exhausting our balance on snow patches here and there, before catching a fantastic view on the next day of travel.

We settled in to camp, with sloped tent sites, and enjoyed dinner while we talked about the campfire we all wanted  but were too lazy to build.

Tomorrow will be a little harder, and the next will be daunting... but white pass is almost here.

Team Psychricots

Day 2: The Beatdown

Miles: 14.64

Total: 5.75+14.64

46.30438N 121.51316W

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The morning started with a quick climb to elevation where we started feeling the 7000 feet of thinner air. Then the thunder rolled... and we knew rain might be potential today. Our goal was to continue moving north with the clouda at our back and Mt. Adams to our right.

The trail emerged from the black and white forest burn onto the shoulders of Mt Adams, where steap snow ravines and crystal blue glacial mounds framed the rock as it climbed into the clouds. 

As we wound along the shoulder of the behemoth (legend has it that the round top is a result of a jealous feud between Adams, Hood, and Rainier), the trail entered a field of rock slide and volcanic debris. It was a marvelous task for the trail crew to carve a trail through the boulder fields, one which likely required a lot of dynamite.

Then the rain came. It was light, but we did not know how heavy it would get, so we all threw on raincoats, ponchos, pack covers and trash bag rain skirts. Yeah, we looked a goofy troop, but its better to stay dry.

Towards the end of the boulder field, 10 minutes after suiting up, we hit a stream which was running a little too wide and fast to rock hop our way across. All of us changed into water shoes and trudged through the ice cold glacial melt. A blast to our feet, but it did reinvigorate our will to move again.

The miles afterwards were coveres with intermittent snow fields, 20 foot stretches. These stretches can be fatiguing, as your feet don't ever get a strong hold, and slipping with a pack is a unique challenge in balance exercise.

The need to cover miles missed yesterday, pushed us beyond our conditioned levels, and H- is feeling very defeated. He has mentioned jumping off at the next town, so I counseled him on how to face small goals to make the next four days easier.

We stopped half a mile short of our goal, as the campsite was nice and we were all beat. After dinner we all dove into our reapective tents.... some of us before dinner (me).

As i write this, a faint roll of thunder passed by, and the not so light patter of rain taps on our tent.

I hope we wake to clear skies, because rain is super demoralising, and some of us our questioning our life choices... including me.

Fear of bad weather has a very salient impact on me. I will sleep with earplugs for sure.

Day 1

Miles: 5.75

Total: 5.75

46.18650N 121.57661W

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Lauren and I woke this morning with frenzied anticipation of a new adventure. This time around, we decided to share the joy of the PCT with two of my students from Corbett. I have taught one for two years and the other for three years and they are both agreeable kids who were pretty enthusiastic about this adventure. After several conversations with the parents, we felt ready to roll. Lauren and I had some last minute appointments to wrap up before heading out of town, so we didn't hit the trail until 3:30.

Given the later start than anticipated, we were not confident in making the planned for miles, and after a little group chat we decided to cut it short, and tack the miles onto tomorrow, as it appears the miles will be easier.

The hike was fairly non descript today, but several miles passed through a burn zone, which always carries with it an earie presence. Despite the eariness, it still exhibits solid beauty as views are less obstructed and the contrast of burnt trees against sun bleached tree snags is always pleasant.

Just as we neared our camp for the night, a view of Mt Adams opened up. At our camp, B- climbed tonthe top of a nearby hill to sit and watch the sun set. He said that clouds openes up and a great view of Adams awarded his side quest up the rocky knoll.

Our dog Phoenix still had energy to play fetch so we tossed a stick for awhile before hanging our food bag and calling it a night.

It is chilly.

Team Psychricots +2

Psycho and Apricots (Roger and Lauren)