PCT Days 83-92

We left Stehekin on the first bus out on day 83. The Red Bus runs from Stehekin proper up to the High Bridge Ranger Station, where the trailhead is. It stops at the Stehekin Pastry Company on the way, where I picked up an excellent Raspberry Hazelnut roll. We started hiking at about 9 AM, planning to head to a campsite 19.5 miles away, near the top of the 20 mile climb out of Stehekin. After a short bit of hiking, I entered Glacier Peak Wilderness. The trail wound through dense forest at first, making its way up through the valley. A crew of Forest Service workers passed by, carrying saws. This was nice to see, as we had heard that there was a section with tons of fallen trees across the trail. Hopefully this meant that section would now be clear. I had some nice views on the climb up. We camped at a large meadow, which unfortunately was somewhat flooded and therefore buggy. A small smoky fire helped deal with the annoying mosquitoes. The goal for the next day was 23.1 miles away, at mile 123.3.

The morning of day 84 quickly turned overcast. After cresting the climb near Cloudy Pass, the trail descended and began to get very overgrown in segments. It was July 4, and I was anxious — the previous two July 4ths, I’d had a migraine. I’m not often superstitious, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t concerned. The trail was somewhat boring for parts of the day, though one section of forest contained absolutely massive trees that were neat to hike near. As I neared the day’s goal, the trail finally opened up again for a few miles, providing striking views. I reached the planned campsite before 3, and when Sunny and Max passed by and said they were going on, I chose to continue as well. After a bit, the dense brush returned over the trail, but when I made it to Milk Creek, I decided to push on and do the next climb to the base of Fire Creek Pass at Mica Lake. I made it to Mica Lake around 6:30 PM, just over 12 hours after starting. The site I camped at by Mica Lake is at mile 131.9, making it a 31.7 mile day, by far my longest yet. The beautiful, still mostly frozen alpine lake was a fantastic reward, though the mosquitoes were a bit pesky.

I slept in a bit on day 85, having felt that I earned it. The girls rolled past Mica Lake as I was packing up — they had camped 4 miles earlier near Milk Creek. They were planning on a campsite at mile 150.6, only 18.7 miles from where I was. Still, a shorter day sounded good after the previous day, and the only potentially sketchy snow that we had left was coming up. A heavy fog that covered the pass above broke just after 7:30, and I set off. Fire Creek Pass was the first alpine pass in awhile, and it was beautiful. There was a bit of snow — a moderate snowfield before half-covered switchbacks, then a couple moderately steep traverses. The trail, once over the pass, then made its way back into woods for a time. As I headed back up, this time to Red Pass, the scenery opened up again to a stunning granite landscape, with small grass and shrubs providing some green against the imposing rock. Streams snaked all over, and a intermittent fog rolled over the nearby peaks. The mood here was nearly tangible, a gloomy yet surreal beauty about the land. On the south side of Red Pass, two steep snow traverses awaited, which I crossed without issue. Shortly thereafter, a heavy fog obscured the nice view. However, two marmots came out, and began tussling on the trail. This was incredibly adorable, particularly when one conceded defeat and was chased all of 20 feet down the trail. Finally we reached a crowded but spacious camping area, where hordes of weekend hikers were out, presumably having a long holiday weekend. It rained in the evening and on and off all night.

On day 86, the plan was to at least make it to Grizzly Peak, 23.4 miles ahead. The morning was very foggy again, obscuring what were likely great views on the ridge walk to start the day. The trail passed through forest for much of the day, with the occasional boulder field breaking up the monotony. I listened to audiobooks most of the day and it passed the time easily enough. At Grizzly Peak, as expected, the girls had gone on. I got there around 4, meaning they had been there an hour earlier probably, as they get started earlier than I do most days. I took a short break and continued on another 3 miles, where I met my companions at a small meadow campsite at mile 177.1, a 26.5 mile day complete.

Day 87 was the day we arrived at Stevens Pass. We had just 11.3 miles to town. I left camp around 5:30, early for me, and made the miles relatively quickly. We hitched into Skykomish from Stevens Pass, set on going to the Cascadia Inn and Cafe for their Sunday breakfast buffet. We arrived just before 10:30, anxious we may have missed it, but found that they ran the buffet until noon. We stuffed our faces — I had three heaping plates of scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon and sausage. For $12, it was a great deal. After grabbing some drinks at the gas station, we hitched another 8 miles down the road to Baring, where we planned to stay at the Dinsmore’s. Jerry and Andrea Dinsmore started hosting hikers nearly two decades ago, converting a portion of their large garage into an 8-bunk hiker hangout, with couches, a fridge, kitchen equipment, a TV and a good selection of movies. They also built a small shed, half of which has laundry and loaner clothes, the other half, a bathroom with a shower. Sadly, Andrea passed away a couple years ago from cancer. Jerry himself is fairly immobile, so it’s up to the hikers who come through to keep the place running. Jerry is a kind, funny man, who is gracious enough to let hikers continue using the wonderful Hiker Haven that Andrea typically ran. Hikers keep the bunkhouse and other facilities clean, do laundry to ensure future hikes have towels and clothes to use, and donate a little cash to keep the lights on and water running. We set up our tents in the yard, as all the bunks were already claimed. We spent the afternoon doing laundry, taking showers, and relaxing. A few more hikers rolled in throughout the day, and the night was spent around a campfire.

On day 88, I took a zero at Dinsmore’s Hiker Haven. We hitched back to Skykomish in the late morning to get lunch at the Sky Deli and Pizza. I had a 14″ pepperoni and pepperocini pizza and a large Death by Chocolate milkshake, both of which were superb. I brought back a third of the pizza for dinner. We hitched back to Baring and I put together my snow gear — ice axe, microspikes, snow baskets for trekking poles — boxed it up and went to the small post office outpost in the general store in Baring to send it home. I should no longer require snow gear of any kind this year. We had another fire, roasted some marshmallows and enjoyed the peaceful evening.

We hitched back to the trail around 8 AM on day 89. I picked up and sorted out my resupply, then hit the trail. Stevens Pass is a ski resort, and so the trail wound its way under ski lifts as it climbed out of the pass. Mosquitoes were out in force, preventing any sort of meaningful break. The trail passed a handful of idyllic alpine lakes as it snaked through the forest toward Trap Lake. The ascent up Trap Pass was tough, but the view of the lake was phenomenal. Pieper Pass lay ahead, a massive pile of shale running up to imposing black peaks. These peaks loomed above the valley, afternoon sun just showing behind a gray sky. This pass was steep at times as well, but about halfway up, an incredible view of Mt. Baker came into sight. The mountain was breathtakingly huge on the horizon, towering over the nearby ranges, peak in the clouds. After crossing the pass, I hurried past the beautiful but very buggy Deception Lakes and made camp at mile 207.9, a 19.5 mile day.

Day 90 was to be a 22.2 mile day, to a campsite shortly before a protected fragile area, in which camping is prohibited. The day was typical for this area of Washington: a mix of forest and ridge walks, clouds and fog at times, and constant elevation change. There were several fantastic views throughout the day, and a couple tough water crossings that had me walking with wet feet. Having wet feet is fairly normal in Washington however — if not from frequent stream crossings, then from mud, or the trail flowing like a creek, or most commonly, from what Sunny has dubbed the “car wash”. The trail is regularly covered in overgrowth, and when there is condensation or rain on the brush, it gets a hiker soaked; thus the “car wash”. The day was filled with mosquitoes yet again, although I found respite in a few breezy places. Unfortunately, our campsite at mile 230.1 was laden with the little bastards, so we hid in our tents all evening, barely daring to crack the bugnet enough to reach a hand out and stir a pot for dinner. It started pouring at one point in the evening, which was fine, as it had been forecast to rain all day and had held off until that point.

The morning of day 91 started out misty and buggy. Trying to do one’s morning business while being swarmed by mosquitoes is not very pleasant, I can unfortunately report. I quickly packed up and made my way out of the hellish mosquito territory, over a ridge and into the lovely protected area. Alpine streams snaked through delicate grasses, ponds dotting the foggy but clearing landscape as the sun did its best to shine through. The trail then descended a seemingly endless switchback, with mountains across the valley providing excellent scenery along the way. The clouds wrapped around the peaks as they blew by, and a gentle breeze helped ward off mosquitoes. Once in the valley, a sign at a junction suggested an alternate for stockmen, as a bridge ahead was out. Sure enough, at Lemah Creek, there was no bridge, and a ford was required, at one point nearly thigh deep and fairly swift. Having crossed without incident, I was yet again resigned to hiking with wet feet. The climb out of the valley went through an old burn area, the dried out husks of old dead giants looming above. Frequent trees across the trail made this section frustrating at times, though the view was tremendous, particularly of Spectacle Lake and its surrounding mountains. After passing a few alpine ponds, the trail began a climb on pure shale. As it turned out, almost the entire next 5 or so miles were on shale, on the sides of steep slopes. This was quite painful on my wet and already sore feet, and by the end I nearly had tears in my eyes. My shoes are not very well cushioned, which typically is something I like for long distance hiking as it forces one to be more cognizant of one’s steps. However, this pair is at its life’s end, with over 500 miles on them, and after miles of unstable, sharp rock, I was wishing for something with a bit more cushion. We camped at Ridge Lake, a cute alpine lake with excellent views. Unfortunately, intermittent drizzle and pesky mosquitoes kept us in our tents most of the evening yet again.

Today is day 92. I had just 7.2 miles to hike into Snoqualmie Pass, and so I slept in a bit and got a late start, around 7:30. I quickly came upon the Kendall Katwalk, a famous section of trail that was dynamited out of the side of a steep cliff. The result is a small stretch of trail that is absolutely breathtaking, with incredible views of the surrounding mountains. After crossing this, the trail rounded a bend and Mt. Rainier came into view. The massive peak, at 14,411′, dominated the horizon, jutting far above every other mountain. From this point on the trail, the peak of Rainier was 45 linear miles away, making its presence all the more impressive. Around this time, I also passed a stone “1000” written out on the side of the trail, which confused me at first, and then I realized: this was the 1000 mile marker for anyone who flipped up from Lone Pine, myself included. I didn’t feel too much of a sense of achievement at the time, with over 1600 miles to go. Still, in retrospect, it’s a big milestone. The trail then descended into the woods the rest of the way, and my progress was regularly though pleasantly interrupted by day-hikers who wanted to chat a bit. I finally got to town around 10:45, and shortly thereafter enjoyed a delicious fried rice from a food truck called Aardvark Express. While eating, a woman with a serious hippy vibe sat nearby and we started talking. Calling herself Mayhem, she offered me and my friends a ride to her apartment, where we could do laundry and shower. This was unexpected and greatly appreciated, as the only place to do those things was by staying at the overpriced Summit Inn, which we planned to avoid. We’re hanging out at her place now, with the plan to head back to the pass later, get dinner and beer at the brewery, and hike a couple miles out. We’ll be getting to White Pass in five or so days, where I have new shoes waiting for me.