August 7th: Miles: 18 South of Killen Creek
Whew, what a long day. We had planned on an easy 11 miler for the first day on the trail but when we arrived at Sheep Lake, everybody still had energy so off we went after a nice break. Ended up with a 18 mile day. The husbands dropped us off at Road 23 (north of Trout Lake) and we started hiking at 8:30am. Great weather for hiking - it was 55 degrees and slightly overcast. When we were resting at Sheep Lake, Colleen looked down and was astounded to see that her left sole of her boot had separated from her boot. She duct taped the boot together front and back, hoping it would get her to Midway Creek where we were meeting our husbands and our resupply tomorrow. Decided to hike to Killen Creek Meadows and had to cross a strong flowing river. Colleen and I crossed on a skinny log but Jingle Bell almost fell in and decided to try another route. Three other section hikers that we had been playing leapfrog all day, were closer to Jingle Bell and helped her figure out another way across.
Ran into two PCT maintenance people who were sawing up the fallen logs on the trail. We thanked them for clearing the trail and the gal said they had already cleared and moved nine logs that day. Since we are within the Wilderness boundary, they were cutting the logs the old fashioned way.
Found a small un-named pond with a campsite just south of the Killen Creek Trail. Set up tents and ate dinner just before the rain started.
August 8th: Miles: 12 Midway Creek
It rained for awhile last night but was clear in the morning. It was 48 degrees. We took our time breaking camp as we didn't need to meet our resupply gang until 4pm. Four miles into the day, Colleen called a halt to our progress as her boot needed some serious repair work. On we went through gorgeous scenery of Mt Adams and wildflowers. At lunchtime Colleen's boot was on its last leg and she took a piece of bright orange string and tied the boot and sole together. Then she noticed her right boot was falling apart! She coaxed them along and we made it to the Midway Creek campsite. We set up camp and then headed back down to the road to find our gang. Partway down we heard voices thru the trees and it was my son Alex and Forget-me-not looking for us. Thank goodness we heard them as they were on the wrong trail (7A)!
Got everybody herded together and trooped on down to the vehicles. Uh-oh, Colleen's husband Tom's truck was sitting there with the hood open. Found out some sort of fluid was pouring out from underneath the truck. The decision was made to take Colleen back to Hood River and see if she could fit into one of my old pairs of hiking boots. Hopefully one pair will work. They are too small for me so they may work for Colleen. Oh, we had dubbed Colleen with her new trail name of SoleDuct. Get it?
Jingle Bell, Forget-me-not and I are back as camp waiting for the gang to return, hopefully with boots that work, and something to fix the truck. Unfortunately, we will have to hike back down in the dark to collect SoleDuct and bring her back up. Whew, it will be a late night tonight...
August 9th: Miles: 11 Walupt Lake Trail
My husband Dave (absolute trail angel - thank you!) returned last night after a zippy drive down to Hood River to Walmart for transmission fluid for the truck and to the house to try on some boots. Ah! The Scarpa boots fit! The three of us were waiting in Tom's truck when they pulled in at 9:30pm. Turned on the headlamps, kissed the hubby's goodbye, and marched off into the darkness back to camp.
After a warm night, we woke to fog. Broke camp and headed up to Walupt Lake Trail where there was camping and a pond. We rambled through beautiful meadows and mini lakes/ponds with the sun shining through the trees. It was a perfect temperature, 55 degrees, for hiking.
We have been fortunate that the skeeters haven't been too bad so far on this adventure. The best part is no biting black flies!
August 10th: Miles: 9 Bypass Camp
The camp was rudely awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of a juvenile elk trying to bugle, but it came out more like a bark. Scared the wits out of everybody.
Started off the day in fog which lasted until Cispus Pass. Fabulous wildflowers everywhere. Most of the morning was spent going uphill. Weren't sure that we were actually at Cispus Pass until the fog suddenly lifed and voila! There were the Goat Rocks! Amazing!
Arrived at the Bypass Camp area - absolutely beautiful. The bear grass was in full bloom everywhere. But, the clouds rolled in and started raining. We were really quick in setting up our tents and crawled inside. The rain lasted about 30 minutes and then it cleared up and the sun came out. After dinner we hiked to the waterfall. Such a beautiful place!
August 11th: Miles: Goat Rocks and Lutz Lake
Woke up to sunny skies and fog lying in the valleys below us. Broke camp later than usual, but we designed it that way so we could be at the Packwood Glacier at 11am. Didn't want the snowfield to be too hard or too soft. Made our way up to the PCT from Bypass Camp and the further we went, the more wildflowers and views came upon us. The climb to the saddle of Old Snowy was steep in places and long. But the views sustained us - I can't believe that we live only a few hours away (by car) and have never hiked this area before. It is absolutely spectacular. Once we made the turn at Old Snowy, it was an incredible, steep, twisty, rocky, slippery trail to a section called the Knife's Edge. With views of mountains on both sides, it took all our effort to concentrate on the trail. We took our time and took many breaks. We were surprised how many people were backpacking the area. People everywhere. But the views, oh, the views. I don't think I have ever been on such a brutal uphill and downhill hike.
After leaving the high country (elevation 7,400), we lost about 2,000 elevation and decided to camp at Lutz Lake. Sheesh, it can't really be called a lake - it's more like a small pond. The water isn't the best tasting either. Lots of backpackers were here after coming out of the Goat Rocks - luckily there are a handful of campsites scattered around.
We have been so happy that the skeeters have been few and far between these last few days. That is sure a treat not having to use Deet.
Tomorrow we meet up with our personal trail angel Jerryann who will pick us up at White Pass and wine and dine us. Looking forward to a hot shower!
August 12th: Miles: White Pass
This was SoleDuct and Forget-me-not's last day on the trail and it was a doozy. Left Lutz Lake before 8am and meandered down the trail psyching ourselves for one more big uphill climb. 2,000 up and 2,000 feet down. Wasn't sure what to expect after experiencing the Goat Rocks and we were delighted to be treated to a magnificent view of Mt Rainier when we reached the ridge. There was still pockets of snow at the 6,600 ft level. Rounded the corner and there was Soap Lake way below us in a gorgeous blue color. After snapping a shot, Gadget Girl accidentally dropped her camera and it tumbled down the rocks head over heels. Thank goodness it still worked!
Down, down we went towards White Pass. We all got excited when we saw the chairlift thinking we were minutes away from our trail angel crew, but alas, we still had 2.5 miles to go. Apparently White Pass is installing a new lift and it goes way up there. About a mile from our destination we had cell service so we able to touch base with the husbands.
Our trail angels, Jerryann and her two daughters Karlan and Jepper loaded us up in Karlan's beautiful Expedition and drove us the 20 miles to Karlan's cabin(s) that is nestled on the edge of the Cowlitz River. Gorgeous place! They had a feast for us for dinner - bbq ribs, corn on the cob, zucchini, roasted eggplant, salad, green and fruit, and wine to go with. SoleDuct's husband Tom arrived to pick her up and stayed for dinner. Yum, yum!
As we were finishing dinner outside, here comes about eight elk strolling through the grounds (Karlan and husband own 23 acres). We went all those miles in the mountains and saw nary an elk, goat, or other wildlife. Well, they were waiting for us right here!
Oh yes, the shower was fantastic. Forget-me-not and a few others went for a soak in the hot tub. I couldn't join them as I got poison oak from my dog the week before we left for this trip and I have been dealing with this dang thing ever since. And hot water makes it hurt and burn. Been putting calamine lotion on it but it appears to be spreading. I am hoping this won't make me have to get off the trail. We get a resupply from my sister Stephanie on Monday morning and will do an evaluation then.
August 14th: Miles 17 Anderson Lake
ugs, bugs, and more bugs, but no roaming elk in the morning. The first four miles were an easy downhill tramp, but then we went up, up, and up. The WA Data Book is incorrect, or I have an old version, as it said we would lose elevation all the way to Anderson Lake. Boy were they wrong. The scenery is quite beautiful and we really enjoyed snapping pictures of the spectacular Mt Rainier once we arrived at the ridge. The temperature was quite hot and zapped our energy in the afternoon. We flushed out a pheasant that was hanging around on the trail and it scared us to death with its flapping wings and hooting as it took off for the trees. We only came across two southbound hikers - one was an unusual guy just out roaming the woods. The other hiker was called Hawkeye and was from Telluride. He had thru hiked the PCT in 2000 and this time was just covering Washington State. We were wondering where the northbound thru hikers were...
Finally arrived at Anderson Lake and battled the skeeters, biting flies and bees for a campsite. There is basically only one place to set up camp and we are sort of sharing it with a couple who are out for the weekend. They recommended we stay here as Dewey Lake is loaded with weekend backpackers and also has more bugs. Because we did a 17 miler today and are only 5 miles from Chinook Pass, we are going to take a zero day tomorrow and just do some washing and cleanup and baby our feet all day long. Jingle Bell has some blisters that need a rest from the trail.
We hung our food up in a tree this evening as we saw some quite large prints at the water's edge that look like bear to me...
August 15th: Miles: 0 Zero day at Anderson Lake
Ahhh, a zero day on the trail! Gorgeous weather, about 70 degrees according to my temperature gauge. I understand it's about 95 degrees back home. We both slept in this morning until 7am - about 11 hours of sleep!
Had a great visit from the couple who were camping near us. They have hiked extensively in the area and were a great help in planning our next section. They are from the Tri-Cities area.
Spent the day doing laundry, washing hair, and just resting. Even took a nap! Discovered we had cell service that floated in and out and was able to call the husbands and let them know we were taking a zero day. I'm carrying a SPOT and didn't want them worrying when they saw that we weren't making forward progress.
The wind has stopped blowing unfortunately and the bugs are vicious. We are taking a break from them by hiding in the tents until dinnertime.
My poison oak appears to be stabilizing for the moment. Haven't had any oozing for a couple of days. The calamine lotion is really helping.
Jingle Bell's blisters are improving - there is only one now that is irritating. I only have a couple of very small blisters on the tip of my toes that aren't too bad - taping them takes care of them.
Broke my light-weight shovel yesterday. What a bummer. Well, we will be stopping at the REI store in Issaquah when our friends Reid and Susan pick us up at Snoqualmie Pass for a resupply. We are getting quite a list together of things we need. Jingle Bell's brain bucket's zipper on her backpack broke so she is hoping REI will help her out with it.
That's it for today. We may not get cell service until Snoqualmie Pass so I may not be able to send out my daily journals until then. But who knows, we didn't expect AT&T service here either!
August 16th: Miles: 8 Resupply and Sheep Lake
Had an interesting night last night. We had turned in for the night and at about 9:45pm we heard horses coming down the trail. Instead of following the trail down around Anderson Lake, they turned into our campsite which was a deadend. I yoohoo'd to them to let them know that people were camping and to get them turned around. I asked how many people were there and a woman answered "three people and five horses". They got turned around without trampling us (we were in our tents and were NOT coming out). They didn't have lights - not sure how they could see. Then the lead guy asked if we were national forest people. I said no. Then he asked if were park rangers as our tents were the same style. I said no, just hikers. Jingle Bell stayed silent the whole time so we didn't give away how many people were in the two tents. So then he asked where we were from and I answered Oregon. Well that spiked his interest. They were from The Dalles so I said we were from Hood River. Then he wanted to know my name. I told him it was Gadget Girl. He then told me that he wasn't leaving until I told him my real name. No way Jose. I told him that was my trail name and that was good enough. Well he puzzled over that one for a minute or two. Meanwhile his two partners had mosied down to the lake to let their horses drink. This guy finally let it go muttering to himself how silly the name Gadget Girl was. Jingle Bell and I stayed very still listening to them talking by the lake and they continued down the trail towards Dewey Lake. In the distance we heard, "goodbye Gadget Girl!" "I love you Gadget Girl!" He must have been drinking while riding. No apologies or anything. After it was silent for awhile, Jingle Bell and I talked over a backup plan if case we heard them coming back. Jingle Bell carries Defense Spray so she was ready just in case. Sleep was out of the question for several hours and then it was just dozing until 5:30am.
My sister was meeting us at the Tipsoo Lake parking lot for a resupply, so we packed up without breakfast and hiked 5.5 miles out. We followed the hoofprints from the horses last night all the way until we turned off the PCT and headed down the Tipsoo Lake Trail which took us directly to the parking lot. We passed Dewey Lake and were surprised to see pockets of snow at such a low elevation. Tons of mosquitoes. Didn't realize the hike out from Dewey Lake had so much elevation gain. Gorgeous views of Mt Rainier coming down to Chinook Pass.
Arriving at the parking lot, we took advantage of the privies, and then found a picnic table to make coffee/mochas and eat breakfast while waiting for my sister. We visited with some people and the nice lady gave us some macaroon cookies! What nice trail magic! Stephanie arrived about 10:30am and we did a quick resupply. She also brought fresh carrots, celery, and boiled eggs in addition to our boxes. Thank you Stephanie!
We met a nice man from Prague (sp?) who now resides in Redmond WA. He was interesting to talk to about the differences in letting horses on the trails here. They don't do that in Europe he said. Then as we were heading up the trail to Sheep Lake,we met a nice young couple from Seattle who gave me half a bottle of lemon eu as I ran out of Deet that morning and was bummed that I hadn't included a couple of bottles in my resupply. What was I thinking!!! Smack dab in skeeter country without my Deet. Six days of bites and having to wear long pants and shirt to fend off those buggers. So those two people were true trail angels by giving me their bottle of bug spray. Thank you!
August 17th: Miles: 16 Dry camp at trail 951
Had a great night at Sheep Lake. I was looking forward to this day as I was going to see Crystal Mountain where I used to ski patrol many years ago. I wasn't disappointed - it was exciting to see the resort from way up high. Poor Jingle Bell had to listen to my babbling about 'the good ol' days of skiing and the various runs we used to do. I do miss that mountain! Oh, for any thru hikers reading this journal, there is full cell service around Crystal Mountain.
Lots of beautiful basins and we finally saw and heard marmots. It was fun to watch them for a few minutes. Ran into a few day hikers who informed us that we would probably see about 50 goats up near Norse Peak. Apparently the goats live there full time. We were very excited to see the goats, but alas, we couldn't find them. And we didn't want to hike Norse Peak on addition to all the other mountains we had already hiked.
Ran into a trail crew of the Northwest Youth Corp. We thanked them for maintaining the trail and several of them responded by thanking us for using the trail. I thought that was interesting!
After the 12th mile we were starting to tire and was ready to find the Morgan Spring trail where these supposed to be water. The trail was supposed to be faint and hard to find. They were correct, we couldn't find it so we dry camped for the night. We don't have much water so we both had a pouch of tuna fish with mayonnaise and a few carrots and celery for dinner.
Hope to find water early tomorrow morning.
August 18th: Miles: 12 Easy Day
It was windy all night long. Luckily we were on the east side of the ridge so we weren't blown around. We expected to see cloudy skies but it was another clear, sunny day. It was definitely cooler and it really helped keep our feet cool. A few miles into our hike, we came to a split in the trail. We looked for the PCT emblem but didn't find it. We took the right trail and then about .2 miles we decided to check the gps. We also heard a gurgling spring so we tromped thru the underbrush and found a small creek. We only filled up a water bottle each as we knew there was a better source a few miles ahead. Then we looked at the gps. It showed that we were at the spring that the Atlas said was two miles back. So the Atlas was confused. The gps also told us that we were not on the PCT. So back up to the intersection and we take the left fork. The gps said we were on the right trail, but it deadended at a campsite. The trail continued but then was blocked by large fallen trees. It was obvious that this was the old PCT and was no longer in service. So back to the intersection and we went down the original path and went down, down, down. So this part of the PCT is new and is not on any of the maps or on the gps. Then we had a long uphill which finally leveled out and we arrived at Camp Urich. Wow! What place! A log cabin with an outhouse! Fabulous! A local skimobile club built and maintains it. There is a big wood stove with tons of horseshoes for hanging wet gear. There was also a bin for PCT hikers with goodies. We each took a couple of things and added a few things to the bin that we didn't need (and didn't want to carry). It was nice and cool inside. We pumped water, rinsed the hair, scrubbed off the layers of dirt, ate lunch, charged the phone via solar panel, used the outhouse a couple of times, and then it was time to hit the trail.
Hiked thru some easy forest, found another section of PCT has been diverted (from hiking on the logging roads to a new trail) and then came to a burned section. Thank goodness it was short-lived, nothing like the miles and miles of burned forest we had to hike thru last summer in Oregon. Found the "noisy spring by the road" and was delighted to see the campsite nestled to the side of a ton of wildflowers. Delightful setting. Tomorrow we will tank up all containers as there is a long dry section, about 14 miles according to Eric the Black's Atlas. Hopefully the PCT hasn't been moved around.
August 19th: Miles: 14 North of Sheets Pass
The cooler weather arrived today. Woke up to fog rolling over the top of us and a nice breeze blowing. We filled up our water bags and bottles as there would be no water for the next 14 miles. This spring here is the best water I have ever tasted, bar none. I practically drank a half gallon when we first arrived yesterday evening.
With the heavy fog blowing thru, we ended up putting our rain gear on and our pack covers on our packs. Meanwhile, Hula Guy stopped to visit and mentioned that his sister (hi Hula Guy's sister!) has been reading my journal and told him he may run into us. Voila! Here we are!
The weather continued to be cold, windy, foggy, and drippy, but the hiking was fairly easy today. As we were zipping along, we heard this loud crashing in the woods and froze listening to the commotion. Turns out it was a herd of elk who heard us first and leapt down the steep hillside. That got the heart pumping... About 12 miles in, we saw the sign about a spring about 200 yards off the trail and followed the pink and blue ribbons to the source. We filled our water bottles and continued hiking to our destination. Ran into some nice forest service employees working on the trail. We visited for awhile and thanked them for maintaining the trail.
Found a fairly level campsite around 6pm, made camp, and now we are snuggled in our tents and ready for bed.
Oops, I keep forgetting to add the poem that Jingle Bell wrote. Here goes..
Hiking, Hiking Away
(sung to the tune of Up, Up, and Away in my Beautiful Balloon)
Hike, hiking away
on the PCT, the PCT Trail
Would you like to hear
our adventures on
the PCT trail today!
Sole Duct lost her shoes
on the dusty trail
but have no fear
new shoes, hurray!
Gadget Girl leads
on with her GPS
and SPOT right on
today, hurray!
Forget-me-not remembered
her poles today on
the trail, hurray!
Jingle Bell is confident
on no more bells
and no more bears
today, hurray!
We could travel
down the winding
trails up and down
awesome views
today, hurray!
Oh hike, hiking away
on the PCT,
the PCT trail today
HURRAY!
August 20th: Miles 16 Perfect Hiking Weather
It was a great day for hiking. It was only 48 degrees at 6:30am. I was brushing my teeth after breakfast, gazing out into the beautiful forest and I suddenly hear a cheery "Hi"! from behind. A northbound hiker just saying hello as he was passing by. I waved my toothbrush at him - I hope I wasn't foaming at the mouth!
We started with a big uphill and was so proud of ourselves that we tackled it in a couple of hours. Then we find out we only had gone a little over two miles!
We were close to being out of water and following Yogi's book, was able to find the spongy ground and the spring partway down the hill. Water is scarce around here and one has to fill up when the opportunity presents itself. On we went thru the woods, clearcuts, logging roads, hills and dales. Right after the power lines, trail magic appeared in the middle of the woods. Soda! Perfect! It was late afternoon when we finally arrived at Stirrup Creek but the campsite was so tiny, Jingle Bell says, "let's keep going"! "Are you sure?", I asked her, as I know how tired she gets. It was another 4 miles to Yakima Pass, which was our original destination. Well, the Coke Cola must have jazzed her up so off we went. Sure enough, a mile into it, she decided that maybe we should have made do with the tiny campsite. We continued for a another couple of miles but fell short by one mile. Found another tiny campsite, squeezed in both tents, made dinner and crashed.
August 21st: Miles: 9 Lodge Lake
Slept in a little longer than usual as we were in the trees and it was a little dark in there. Started off with a long uphill but made Mirror Lake in good time. Being Saturday, we expected to see many dayhikers and we were not disappointed. They all smelled so fresh and clean! Jingle Bell and I hatched up a plan that since we were going to have a short day of hiking, that we would pitch our tents at Lodge Lake and walk the two last miles and look for some 'real' food. Two southbounders told us that the Family Pancake House was closed. As soon as we got in cell service range, we called the Summit Lodge but the fellow who answered was difficult to understand but he did say they were not open until Sept 1st. What a bummer. We thought we'd meander down anyway, but Jingle Bell found that her blisters on her heels were worse so we decided to wait it out here at camp and leave early in the morning. Maybe we can find a cup of coffee somewhere while waiting for our friends to come pick us up.
That's it for now - kind of a slow day, not much to report!
Oh, I do have make a correction - we thought the fellow who passed us a couple of days ago was called Hula Guy, but his trail name is really Hula Daddy!
We also ran into another thru hiker called Furniture. He was interesting to talk to also!
Oh, one more thing - we couldn't figure out why there were so many military planes in the sky a few days ago - there were a ton of them flying overhead - and my sister informed me via email that President Obama was in Seattle for a fundraiser plus some float plane entered the restricted flying zone so some National Guard jets left Portland, OR in a great hurry and created a sonic boom over the Tacoma area. Her son saw the windows in the house flex inward from the boom. Being on the trail we don't hear much about the outside world just trail talk on where the next water supply is, camping spots, or exchanging info about this and that.
August 22nd: Miles: 2 Nero Day
Woke up to the soft pitter patter of light rain. We quickly packed up and headed down to the Summit Lodge. We saw an open sign at a small brown building and beelined straight there. Had a great deli bacon and egg burrito and a latte. Ahhhh! Tasted soooo good...
Ran into two other southbound section hikers, Grape Nuts and Mike (sorry Mike, can't remember your trail name) and exchanged information about water, campsites and such. They told us that the closed section was now open so we didn't have to do a detour. We were so happy!
As we were waiting for our friends to pick us up a man and his wife stopped their car and asked us if we were thru hikers. We said we were section hikers and they offered us Krispy Kreme donuts and asked if there were other hikers in the area. Then they gave us a box of donuts and asked that we get them distributed. I had never had a Krispy Kreme. Wow, more trail magic! Jingle Bell took the box over to the deli and asked them to give them to the hikers coming in (after we took one each, of course). Our friends arrived and we proceeded to spend the rest of the day cleaning up, resupplying and being wined and dined by our good friends Reid and Susan. Susan also ran us over to REI in Redmond to do a pack replacement and new hiking shoes for Jingle Bell and a water filter replacement for me. Thank you Reid and Susan for taking such excellent care of us!
A perfect day for a nero day...
August 23rd; Miles: 7 Alpine Lakes Wilderness - Ridge Lake
Susan sent us on our way with Swedish pancakes, bacon, fruit, and coffee/mocha. It was wonderful! Reid returned us to the PCT trailhead to start our final leg of our three week trip - the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Elevation gain was 2,250 ft, a little lower than I expected. We only went 7 miles for two reasons: Jingle Bell now has her new boots and needed to get a feel for them (and start breaking them in) and because we got a late start, 10:45am, we stopped at Ridge Lake at 3:45pm because according to the GPS waypoints and the Atlas, there wasn't any water or campsites for another nine miles. Of course we now have to make up the missing miles from today and pile them on another day. We are planning on getting an early start in the morning.
So far what we have seen of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, it is rugged and beautiful. We ran into a lot of day hikers today - so nice to see so many people out enjoying the outdoors. At the moment I am being serenaded by marmots in the boulder field adjacent to our campsite. It is 7:20pm and I'm ready to hit the sack!
August 24th: Miles: 15 Lemah Creek
Woke up at 2am wondering who had turned on a light. It was the moon! We had been under the trees for so long, we didn't realize that the moon had turned full. Jingle Bell experienced the same thing at 1am. It was bright enough to read our watches without a light.
Sometime during the night the wind came up and knocked Jingle Bell's food bag out of the tree. She opened the bag and found that a varmit had chewed thru the bag and proceeded to take every single one of her peanuts, macadamia nuts, and her very special dark chocolate M&M's that she looks forward to eating everyday. They left the one thing she doesn't like - the dried cranberries!
The weather was great for hiking, although it was quite windy all day. It took about 4 hours to hike around the first basin - a lot of uphill. At noon, we made the turn at a saddle and found ourselves in another basin where stopped to eat lunch and rest our feet. The rest of the afternoon was spent on switchbacks, miles of switchbacks, all downhill. We saw Spectacle Lake in all its glory. Once we passed Delate Creek we entered the burn section from the fire last year. This section was closed until last weekend. We could smell the burned trees and see where the crews came in and fixed the PCT trail.
We were so happy to see Lemah Creek and nobody had taken the one camping spot. We actually have seen very few people this whole section, and the few we have seen are mostly headed southbound.
We have been extremely happy with the lack of mosquitoes. Yes, there are occasionally one or two floating around, but for the most part we haven't had to spray ourselves down two to three times a day. We have seen a lot of ants.
Saw one small snake this afternoon and it wasn't a garder snake. It stopped to have a look at me, flicked its tongue a few times and then slithered away into the underbrush.
Jingle Bell's new boots were bothering her left ankle today. We reckon they're still breaking in. She put some moleskin on the rubbing area and is hoping for the best.
Today I really started missing my husband, son, and dog Bella. Just four more days until I see them!
August 25th: Miles: 14.4 Waptus River
Woke up to unexpected sunny skies. The long range forecast had been for weather to start moving in today. There must be a strong high sitting over us as it was a very hot day, even here in the mountains. Every hiker we ran into was grumbling about it.
Three miles into our day, Jingle Bell realized that she left her socks back at the campsite. She had put them out in the sun to finish drying. Oh well, she said there was no way she was going back for them!
We started with a 5.2 mile uphill, all switchbacks. One thing nice about this part of the PCT is the trail grade is not super steep, but it means there are a ton of switchbacks. It can get pretty boring going back and forth on the same hill/mountain. We ran into a handful of southbounders, one who told us about a small lake on a side trail near the top that a lot of hikers swim in. That helped get us up the trail! We found the little lake, dumped our packs, stripped off the clothes and hopped in. Yep, haven't skinny-dipped in a looong time! Man, was it cold and refreshing!
The views here of the mountains are wonderful, but I think we were pretty blown away with the Goat Rocks Wilderness stunning beauty, and this area can't quite meet our expectations. But I've always wanted to hike the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and now I have!
After lunch, we continued up the hill and noticed that the day was getting hotter than yesterday. We had to stop a lot to drink water and take our socks and shoes off. We crested the mountain and headed down the other side. Yes, it was miles of downhill switchbacks. This was getting a little old. Halfway down, I decided to listen to music on my smartphone, and what do you know, it really helped to pass the time!
Jingle Bell really struggled with the heat today. Her new boots are rubbing against her ankle bone and her right calf was really hurting. We had hoped to reach Waptus Lake as there is supposed to be great campsites there, but it's totally fine that we made it to Waptus River instead. Looking at Eric the Black's Atlas, it looks like the next three days will be just as long and switchbacky as the past few days. Jingle Bell is counting down the days for when she gets to return home to a hot bath, clean clothes, and real food!
August 26th: Miles: 17 Campsite north of Swift Creek
Woke up to a gorgeous morning and a setting full moon over the top of the mountains. Just a whisper of clouds threaded around the moon, a precursor of the change of weather that would happen later in the day. We made it to Deep Lake with Cathedral Peak towering overhead at noon. The wind was increasing in strength and the clouds were starting to thicken. I pulled my solar panel out hoping to charge my cell phone as I would need it in a couple of days to call our friends for pickup at Stevens Pass. No luck with the charging - the clouds came in swiftly and the temperature started to drop. We packed up quickly and started the afternoon uphill session. By the time we reached the ridge, the temperature had radically dropped and raindrops started falling. We pulled out raingear, put on the pack covers and headed down the other side. It was getting colder by the hour. Based on my temperature gauge on my pack, it dropped 20 degrees in the afternoon. We reached Swift Creek, which is defined as a "difficult ford" and saw the two places that had logs over the rushing water that we were to cross on. I went first and crossed on the logs and quickly found out how slippery the large rock was that the logs were jammed up against. It should have been a warning and I should have been paying attention. Jingle Bell and I both made it over both sections of Swift Creek, but it was where the very last piece of getting back on the trail was where I stepped on a flat rock and my feet flew out from under me and the next thing I knew, I was clinging to the edge of the small waterfall trying to find a foothold with water pouring over me. Jingle Bell wanted to pull me up but I was concerned that I would pull her over, especially with the slippery rocks. I clawed my way back up and over the ledge and stood there with my heart pounding in my throat. All I could think of was I was so glad I had put my fanny pack in my backpack earlier and my phone and camera didn't get damaged. Thank goodness my sleeping bag was wrapped in plastic and the pack cover was on. After that little episode, I gingerly made my way to another spot and crossed over to the trail. By now it was raining pretty steadily, but I was already thoroughly soaked. We talked about hiking as far as we could the rest of the late afternoon but had already covered 16 miles and wasn't sure where we would find a campsite, so when a small campsite appeared about a mile from Swift Creek, we decided to make camp and get warmed up. We squeezed the two tents in and got in. I changed out of my wet clothes into my long underwear and climbed into my sleeping bag. After getting warm enough to make a bit of dinner, I opened the tent fly enough to set my stove out and heated some water. Went simple and made mashed potatoes and a cup of tea. I put the bag of mashed potatoes down on my feet inside my bag and it did a fantastic job of warming the bag and the feet! And then I ate it. Yum, yum! Jingle Bell started saying how she had to go potty but didn't want to go out in the rain and get her stuff wet again. So what does she do? Strips down to her birthday suit, clamps on a hat and runs into the woods and does her business! It was pretty funny!
August 27th: Miles: 13 Stevens Pass
I woke up at 12:30am wondering why I was chilled in my sleeping bag. I turned on my headlamp and saw that the top of my sleeping bag was moist. I looked up and watched in astonishment as water dripped in where the tent pole hub pressed against the rain fly. Yes, it was raining pretty hard outside (it rained for 12 hours), but this was a new tent (Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2) and should not be leaking. I started looking around the rest of the tent and sure enough the two outhaul areas were also dripping water against the mesh and was splashing into the tent onto my sleeping bag. I put my bandanna up above to catch that drip and moved things around in the tent so my bag wouldn't get wetter but I was awake most of night trying to decide what to do with a very wet tent and now a wet sleeping bag. We still had one more night to go before Stevens Pass and to top of it all off, it was quite chilly. I checked the temperature and it was 40 degrees in the tent. When it was bright enough to call it morning, Jingle Bell and I reviewed the Atlas and saw that we could actually hike out to Stevens Pass today via Trail 1060 (Surprise Lake). Once we ate breakfast, packed up our wet tents and stuff, and headed down the trail, we were surprised to see snow on the hills/mountains above us. What a shocker! No wonder it was cold!
We made it to the cutoff of Trail 1060 and said goodbye to the Pacific Crest Trail. Then we spent about 3 hours going 4.5 miles navigating a pretty tough, steep, rocky, twisty, trail peppered with tree roots, boulders, and streams pouring down the trail. Surprise Lake was beautiful but at that point we were focused on finishing our three week trip and kept going. We agreed later that this last 4.5 miles was the hardest of all the miles we hiked. It made the Pacific Crest Trail look like a magic carpet! We met a nice man out for a day hike who offered to drive us all the way to Bothell if we couldn't get ahold of our friends before he finished his hike. It was great to have a backup plan in place. We arrived at the trailhead where the cars were parked but decided to continue out to the highway to see if we could find some cell phone service. Jingle Bell said she was going to flag down a police car and I said I was going to hike on down the road 1,500 feet to the Iron Goat Interpretive Center and see if I couldn't get cell service there. I met a couple of older guys who let me use their cell phone (different service) and was able to call my friends for pickup. I started hiking back to Jingle Bell and lo and behold, a state police car stopped in front of me and had Jingle Bell in the back seat! The police officer offered me a ride but I politely declined and hiked back to the Interpretive Center, where the officer dropped Jingle Bell off. Our friends from Bothell showed up about an hour and a half later to pick us up. My husband and son were making their way from Hood River and were stuck in traffic in Tacoma. We had quite the reunion when we arrived at their house and spent all evening catching up.
I am planning on adding photos to my journal entries when I get home and settled back in. I always find it tough for the first week sleeping inside and having to get back into the swing of things.
I want to thank all the trail angels and support crews that helped us with our three week adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail. That is truly trail magic!