Month: June 2023

Start: 2632.8

Stop: 2648.9

Today’s miles: 16.1, but zero

Total PCT miles: 187.8

The three of us finally got on trail around 7:30. I kept pushing snooze, even though the sky was getting light around 4:45. It was cold! I was snuggled up and warm in my sleeping bag, but I could see the frost on my tent from the snow overnight. I did not want to get out of my perfectly warm bubble.

Alas, I did. I didn’t have enough water for oatmeal and coffee, plus I didn’t take my synthroid early enough, so I put belvita breakfast cookies in my side pocket of my pack and kept it moving. Once I crossed water, I filtered a liter and then ate my cookies while walking.

The trail, even in this white cloud we were walking through, was stunning. It was foggy but the green of the fir trees popped out. There were a few blow downs to go under or around, but nothing too terrible. I was happy and the views that I could see were still quite lovely.

I saw a couple deer and walked through a burn scar. This had to be the fire from last year.. the one that closed the border, so hikers that had literally hiked all the way from Mexico had to turn around as Hart’s Pass and miss the border by only 30 miles. Heartbreaking really. And the scorched zone I walked through was sad, too. These big majestic giants charred and broken. I know I’ll have a lot more burned areas to walk through, and potentially even fires to detour, but this one felt significant.

Once I got up to Rock Pass, the scenery was unreal. These huge peaks jutting out of the ground, many surrounded in snow, and the trail just wormed its way up and around them, switchbacks and steep slides, views, even in clouds, for days. I wish I could see it without the clouds and snow/hail/sleet/rain.. but even still, incredible.

The temperature steady dropped and the snow didn’t let up-neither did the wind. I caught up to A-Train (Steffi) and Drake (Thomas) several times to chat, and we also ate lunch together. It got so cold sitting there eating my hot oatmeal and coffee that I didn’t have for breakfast that I was back on trail the second I cleaned up. I was visibly shaking.

The trail from here was stunning though. I was singing Christmas songs because of all of the trees covered in fresh snow. The good thing about this snow now is that it’s not enough to accumulate to anything, but the cold weather also makes the current patches of snow we have to cross hard instead of slushy. This is great for me because the footprints that have previously stepped in and sank a little bit have refrozen and I can step right into them like steps and not slide. So far anyway.

I met A-train and Drake at the junction to a beautiful alpine lake. They found a perfect spot for their 3 man tent and were willing to let me set up practically on top of them to get me out of the wind and a lot of the snow. The problem was the spot for me was a bit more slanted than I thought I’d handle. As I’m laying here now, in a different spot I found-I should have taken the slanted spot.

I walked to the lake to see it: gorgeous minus the winds from Satan himself blowing snow in every direction. I walked around and scouted out spots.. soooo many would be perfect if it wasn’t in the current weather conditions. I found 3 decently flat spots, 2 covered by big trees, one with a small tree and a big rock I could get up next to for wind protection. One of the 2 with big trees also had big dead trees hanging. Not for long in this wind. The one with the rock I decided didn’t have enough protection. So, the third choice: I stood there shivering for 10 minutes.. watching the wind. Seeing where the snow landed.

I even went and checked out other sites after I saw Marcus (Gio’s real name) walk through. There was a good one, almost completely dry ground, but it was in a bit of a hole and my tent is too big to fit. I walked back to option three. Watched the wind again and then set up shop. I shit you not, not 5 minutes later the wind blew in different directions, swirling around-and my tent was getting pounded with snow and sleet.

I was committed, and too cold to pack it all back in and move-so I quickly finished the set up, climbed inside with a bandana and wiped out the water from this morning and then dragged my pack in. I was shivering the whole time I was setting up my bed, putting on extra layers, climbing under my covers. Shivering so hard that after 30 minutes of not getting warm, I pulled out my emergency bivvy and put it around my sleeping pad and quilt, and pulled it up to my hips.

Immediately I started to warm up. I did a big no-no and ate my dinner sitting right here. I’m so cold the idea of going to pee seems unreasonable. But I know I’ll have to hear shortly. Hopefully if there are any bears around they’re hunkered down out of this cold, too, and if not-maybe they want to snuggle. Once I go pee, and get back in here for the night, I’m going to pull that bivvy up higher. I just don’t want the condensation to get my down quilt wet, which I know it will. I think I’ll leave my liner between the quilt and the bivvy-maybe as a middle man.. it just doesn’t dry out fast. So much to think about, and hypothermia is a real scare out here.

Tomorrow, I’ll get up and leave my tent and sleeping stuff here and walk to the Canadian border and back. It’s just over 6 miles one way. I’m hoping I’ll do it quick enough to then pack up my left gear and hike out of this cold hole.. maybe 8 miles to a beautiful tent site I saw today. The good thing with having to turn around at the border is I know I can safely do everything for at least the 30 miles back to Hart’s Pass. Because I’ve already done it once!

I would go on chatting about all the stuff in my head, because there’s a lot, but I’m cold as hell and my fingers are starting to go numb. So, maybe tomorrow. My miles officially start counting once I hit the border! I think at the top of these posts where I put the milage, I’ll stick to SOBO numbers.. so tomorrow starts at 0 and Mexico will be 2655.

Alright. Goodnight! I bet y’all are much warmer than me right now!

Start: 2648.9 to Canadian border and then to

Stop: 17-SOBO

Today’s miles: 23.3/only 17 SOBO count

Total PCT miles: 204.8

The beauty here is unmatched, but damn it’s cold as hell! That snow I thought wouldn’t accumulate to much turned our world into a winter wonderland. In the middle of the night I could see the snow piling on my tent and making it sag, so I’d break it off by pushing on it praying that was enough to not bring it down on me.

The bivvy warmed me up and I slept with it all night, of course waking up to a damp sleeping bag liner. Crap. And it wouldn’t be warm or sunny enough today to do anything about that. I woke from dream at 5:45, and it was an odd one: NancyPants Fischer was giving me a hug and when I realized it was her I squeezed her so tight she fussed at me to let go, with that laugh of hers still in my ears now (and a couple tears now, too).

Then after talking awhile, not that I can remember about what, she goes, “ok, you’re gonna be late! Get to it!” Kissed my cheek and I woke up. Dammit y’all, I really flippin miss her.
With that dream on my mind, I couldn’t press snooze. And then when I noticed the white glow outside my tent, I started to panic. I quickly packed up just my food bag (after getting a snack out of it for my hip belt pocket), my electronics, and my water filtering stuff. I stuffed my sleeping bag in the dry bag and rolled it a few times, so if my tent collapsed while I was gone my sleep stuff should stay fine. I left my sleeping bag liner and the bivvy laid out to hopefully.. dry? Lol yeah right. But beggars can’t be choosers. I got my shoes on and was out the door.

My God it was a totally different scene than the one I saw before bed. Completely white all around. I peed real quick, then shoveled the snow away and off of my tent.. walked over to see if Marquis (I spelled his name wrong, still pronounced like Marcus) left his tent. I already saw his massive footsteps leading to the trail. He did, so I felt better leaving mine, too.

It was 6:15 when I passed A-Train and Drake’s tent.. no footsteps to be seen in the snow besides Marquis’ that I was following.. but I didn’t want to yell to them if they were finally sleeping well. I regretted that later, when I was worried about them not catching up to me, until they did 😉

It was completely white all around except for the set of footprints I was following. Thankfully because of him, I knew where the trail was going so my mind was at ease. I passed Wolf and two people hiking with her just as they were getting up from their tents, Pica and FoodTruck (they camped about 3 miles closer to the terminus) and they were just as shocked as I was about the snow! Hearing that first sound of “WTF?!” Had me laughing because I did the same thing-amazement, shock, slight horror. It’s one thing to wake up, look outside and see snow and then put on a sweatshirt while watching tv.. completely different feeling when it’s coming down and you’re miles and miles from safety and a warm anything.

I carried on. Not far from passing them, the snow turned to sleet, and then to rain: cold cold rain. Y’all, I was hiking in every layer I own and the cold water now seeping into my shoes, in a way the snow had not, had me shivering! It was pure torture ! It rained like this all the way to the terminus. I ran into Marquis about 15-20 minutes before reaching the border. He had the same thoughts I did.. try to get as far out of this hole and snow as possible today. The problem is, the border was 6.3 miles downhill.. which meant turning around was 6.3 uphill to pack up the stuff we left, then another mile or so of snowy/potentially more sketchy switchbacks and ridge crossings.. yikes.

I got to the terminus, walked a little farther so I can say I went to Canada.. and then took pictures to mark the occasion, before stripping some layers and protecting them inside my pack. I also decided to put my phone away too, just to be cautious, with the rain and snow.. and I felt confident I’d have footprints to follow.

I was the only person the most north on the PCT for a solid hour or so! There was no one more north than me until I ran into A-train and Drake! It was a weird feeling! I was happy to see them, just under an hour after I reached the terminus and started hiking back south. They ended up packing all their gear. We talked a bit about the plans for the day: they too wanted out of this bowl. There was a campsite 5 miles past the lake, 8 miles from the lake, and then 11 miles from the lake. The second 2 seemed safer, since those would be lower elevations, with the last one being the lowest. We all made “idk” faces and decided we’d just see how far we got.

I got back to camp at 12:30, slower than expected. I was shaking from the cold. I ate my oatmeal and drank hot coffee in my tent, letting all of those things warm me through. Then I packed as quick as I could. I had to reshovel snow off my tent before I could take it down. It was hard to do, and I kept pausing to warm up my hands. Now, I’ve realized I’ve broken both thumb nails pretty low on the nailbed.. it had to be when I was taking the tent down and forcing out frozen stakes. Before setting off, I put on my microspikes. Better to be safe!

I looked for Marquis but couldn’t see his tent.. I was pretty sure those were a second set of his footprints though, so I assumed he was in front of me. I was so thankful for him, all of the sketchy areas he would drag his trekking poles and so I could see exactly where the trail went. At the top of the switchbacks when it came time to go up to a snowy peak, he drew arrows showing the better way to go. A true Angel, seriously.

I started running into northbound hikers, at least 7-9 of them. I’d ask about Marquis and A-Train and Drake (I assumed they passed me while I was packing and eating, but I couldn’t differentiate their steps in the snow). Half the people saw all of them, the rest saw one of them.. I had no clue where anyone was. Except for Margo, one girl said she saw that Margo decided to walk back to Hart’s Pass yesterday.. her pad kept deflating and her leggings were torn, I hope she got to town and warmed up ok.

I made it to Woody Pass: the tent sites were covered in snow. I made my way down and heard an avalanche or a tree breaking and sliding towards the area we ate lunch at yesterday: note to self, don’t camp there! And all this time I never caught up to anyone. So, I kept chugging along. Around 3pm I saw a site or two that I could make work, but decided against it because I’d be cold as hell waiting for morning to come for that long. I was warming up pretty nicely with the steady movement.

I made it up Rock Pass and the sketchy snow area just after 5pm. Then, I made it to the next campsite area we had all talked about just before 6, and it was a ghost town. No A-Train and Drake.. No Marquis. Hmmm.. did they carry on to do a 23 mile day? It is all down hill from here to the campsites. Surely that’s what they did.. so I kept going another 2.3 miles.

I get to the bottom of this mountain and can see a tent! I walked over to it, and it’s not either of my friends. It’s FoodTruck that was hiking with Wolf and Pica. Only he is set up here, so he must have wanted to stop early. Dammit, where the hell are my friends?! Oh well, surely I missed them somehow. I found a flat spot with some distance between us so my crinkling and rotisserie-ing doesn’t bother FoodTruck, and I set up shop. I took my time and dried out the inside with the last bandana I have.. Then once everything was inside and set up, I ate dinner closer to the trail.

After dinner I got in bed for the night. Not long afterwards I heard a couple walk through. I popped my head out so fast hoping for my friends, but it was a different couple, Molly and Harry, hiking north at the moment. They did as I did and walked around until they found were they wanted to lay claim. And now, at 9:20pm it’s starting to get dark. My bed stuff is a little damp. I’m cold, but nothing like last night. It’s drizzling a little bit out there and I think it’s time for me to roll over and call it a night. Sweet dreams, y’all.

Start: 17

Stop: 36.2

Today’s miles: 19.2

Total PCT miles: 224

I went much farther today than I thought I would, especially after yesterday being a long day, too. I didn’t even get on trail until 8:15, thanks to being cold, damp, and slow to pack up and eat breakfast. My lighter wouldn’t work this morning, which would be a big problem if my jetboil “starter” button didn’t eventually catch to start the flame to heat my food. It’s always been finicky, which is why I have the lighter. Shit.

It was damp outside but not actively raining. The morning went by fast and I started to pass new hikers coming in from Hart’s Pass. I asked a few if the road was open, as in-for me to walk 10 miles down, to get a lighter.. and then take a hot shower at the Lions Den to warm up for the first time all week, but they all said no, not yet. I wasn’t about to hike an extra 20 miles over a lighter, I’d just have to pray the starter thingy kept working I guess, at least til I hit the next town.

The views were different, simply because there weren’t any in the white cloud I hiked in. Which was sad, because this scenery was stunning on the way in. I hope all of those hikers passing me in the opposite direction have better weather on their return. I started (and finished) an audiobook (Same Time tomorrow) and it was phenomenal. I never saw any of my friends. I guess they had stopped before me or were never in front of me to begin with.. which also makes me wonder if those footprints and arrows were really from FoodTruck and not Marquis afterall.

I passed one couple and we chatted a bit. They asked about conditions, I was honest. I asked about the road, they shot down my hopes. I told them about my lighter situation and the girl of the couple dropped her pack and dugout hers to give me! WHAT?! She’s like, “why not? We have two” wow the kindness of strangers!

I made it to Hart’s Pass and got my food for the next 3 days out of the bear box. I verified that my friend’s food was all still there. I talked to the big group of hikers at one of the picnic tables that were just getting up from the 10 mile road walk. I used the pit toilet, I laid on another picnic table with my socks and shoes off-letting my toes air out.. and then I got cold.

It was only 3:30pm. I could set up camp here somewhere, or I could hike 5-6 more miles into the unknown and camp there, closer to 6pm and be warmer longer by moving. If I waited, I bet my friends would camp here.. ah, I was too cold. So I put my socks and shoes back on, loaded in my new food, and set off.

The clouds lifted a bit and man was I glad! The views are simply breathtaking.. the climb was too.. haha but it did make me warm up. I had to cross a bit of snow, one section that I put my microspikes on to be safe.. the others weren’t bad at all. Every turn I kept saying, “WOW,” out loud. I wish I could describe it better for you.. being able to see the tiny trail sketched into the side of this massive mountain that I’m just walking along.. besides magical I’m at a loss for words.

When I got to where I wanted to camp, I set my stuff down and ventured down the side trail to the tiny snowmelt stream to get water. There were more campsites down this way, too.. but all of them, minus one, was lumpy or slanted-and the one good one had FoodTruck’s tent at it already. He was inside, I whispered a hello just incase he could hear me, but I got no response.

On the way back from getting water, there was a deer just standing beside his tent! I snapped a pic. It was pretty neat. I set up my camp, dried my tent out with my already damp sleeping bag liner, which now I can’t use tonight to help keep warm. Fudge. But it had to be done, and it was either that or a layer of clothing, and in the cold weather, those are too precious to give up.

As I ate dinner, I walked around with my bowl, eating and moving to attempt to keep warm. It wasn’t working but the rocks were colder to sit on. The deer came and visited me, without a care or scare in the world. It kept its distance but circled the area, checked everything out. I pray it, or the nosey chipmunks I also saw around, don’t try to chew on my tent strings-or tent at all for that matter.

It’s 9:20pm and the sky is still light. It’s so crazy to me. I think I may have some snow to traverse tomorrow, but it shouldn’t be anything sketchy as all the people I saw leaving harts pass have already gone up and over everything ahead of me anyway. So it should be ok 🙂 I guess I’ll find out tomorrow either way, huh? I haven’t had service since the start of this new journey, I’m itching to call my mom and hear her voice. Some of the comments mention service at one of the passes tomorrow, I sure hope they’re right.

Otherwise I won’t get into town for 3-4 more days.. really hoping on the 3 and then I can zero there Sunday since I can’t get my resupply box mom mailed to me until Monday anyway. The comments say all kinds of stuff-like other places to stay that aren’t listed on the app we use. I don’t have service to find out for myself, so I also hope I don’t bust ass to get there a day early, just to have to set up my tent another 2 nights at a campground. Although I would get a hot shower and be able to do laundry. There’s something about a hotel/motel/shack with a bed and a private bathroom that’s calling my name. And God let them have an available room with a heater!

Ok, I’m shivering pretty hard now. Time to figure out how to get warm over here. Sweet dreams. Pray for warmer weather to come my way! Like-50-60s would be great. These 30s and high 20s at night (only 28 the one night, don’t let me be that dramatic) are quite colder than I thought it would be. Goodnight!