Month: July 2023

Start: 99.9

Stop: 115

Today’s miles: 15.1

Total PCT miles: 302.8

I loved today.. blowdowns and all! The three of us all woke up around 6:30 ish and slowly started to pack. I got half way done packing and decided to eat breakfast in my tent, because it was still chilly. And everything felt damp. That’s always a worry really, having wet sleep stuff. Pebbles said he slid a lot during the night on his slanted spot, I felt real bad because the one huge root through the middle of my tent sort of held my sleeping pad in place. I was cold, but I slept pretty decent, considering..

I was the first to leave camp, around 8:15. I made it back up to the original camping area we got to last night and decided to take advantage of their pit toilet there. Mosquitoes were everywhere, but thankfully Margot shared some of her 100% deet repellent-and I swear what she had worked ALL DAY LONG!

I put my pack back on, now that business was taken care of, and I got water from the first stream I saw. I wasn’t sure if Margot and pebbles got ahead of me during all of this, but I knew we’d meet up at a break spot eventually. I climbed in elevation, but nothing was very steep and there were some gorgeous views between the trees. I passed several decent campsites, one with a tent still set up-if we had pushed forward instead of that small backtrack, we may have found better sleeping arrangements, but I honestly don’t think any of us had the energy or hope to find a decent place for three tents last night.

The trail was so cruisey feeling today. It wound up and down and around-but mostly in a descent. It was easy and beautiful and smelled of fresh pine. Every so often I’d hit some switchbacks. I had several small water crossings, one of the first few got my feet wet when I decided to just walk through it instead of trying to balance on a very wet and slick looking limb.

Sometime before 10am I passed Silky with her stuff laid out in the sun to dry. I decided to push forward and keep my good momentum going, I’d lay my stuff out when I stopped for lunch. I had that thought, and then as I kept moving, a blow down here and there, water to cross, the time just flew by. I was mesmerized by the shades of lime green of the new growth trees and bushes, there was very little overgrowth like yesterday. The ground was soft pine needles and duff.. I was in my element.

It was just before noon when I crossed a bridge over a river and spotted a sunny spot with enough space to spread out my stuff. I pounced on it. Tent, ground sheet, shorts, and sleeping bag liner were all laid out, along with my socks and shoes. Then I sat down to eat my lunch. Not long after, Wolf passed by. She said that she and Pica got caught in the hail yesterday and it was awful. Then she told me she passed a lady that said the blowdowns were so bad that she was turning back, and walking back to Stehekin! WHAT?! I wasn’t sure if she meant the blow downs we just went through or if they get worse.. but my god, could it really be that bad?

She went on, and before I knew it, Silky, Pebbles, and Margot appeared. We all ate lunch and dried our stuff. Pica walked by and joined us, too. Several other people walked through, at least 3 couples, some I remembered, some I’ve never seen before. Harry and Molly, the ones that I met the night of the 23 mile day in the snow came through, too. It was a good lunch hour, certainly.
I was the first to leave, followed by Pica-I know this because they quickly passed me with those quick moving legs. The blow downs picked up some, and it definitely felt hotter out, but honestly, it wasn’t bad at all. The heat quickly dissipated once I was back under tree cover, which was the majority of the time. I crossed a large bridge that looks pretty new, over the Siutte River. The other side was like a moss covered huge tree wonderland.

Everything looked soft and the ground was bouncy. There was a couple doing trail maintenance, sawing a downed tree off the trail. And then I was back in my element, cruising on the cushioned trail, climbing over fallen trees, sometimes even walking the length of the tree because it looked easier than trying to finagle through the wild branches. Nothing felt hard, nothing felt frustrating. It was odd-I was completely content.. not a sound playing from my phone, no distractions, just pure happiness in walking in the woods.

I got to our planned stop for the day at 4:40pm. I walked though and made sure there were at least 4 tent sites, picked the one my tent would fit best in, and left my pack there. I walked back to the trail and hung out on a fallen tree, sending a message to my mom on my garmin, and waiting for everyone to show up. I didn’t want to set up my tent just in case they got here too and decided they felt good enough to keep going a few more miles.

They didn’t. Lol. Everyone was there by 5:15 and we all started our chores. Set up camp, get water, go see the river (we’re camping right beside one, but it’s a glacier fed river so there’s a ton of silt.. we got water from the tiny trickling clean water spring hidden deep in some moss). Pebbles and Silky made a fire, so we sat around talking and ate dinner there. We still don’t have a trail name for Margot.. I said “The Favorite” or “Deadpan” because the girl has a masters in sarcasm. So far, no dice.

After we hung out until almost 8:30, we decided to put out the fire and head to bed. Tomorrow is a very short day, only 12.7 miles, so that way the following morning we can get up early and get to and hopefully through the snow early. I’m happy as hell tonight it warm compared to yesterday, and it didn’t rain! So maybe tonight will be a great night of sleep, with the river being my white noise. Goodnight!

Start: 115

Stop: 128

Today’s miles: 13

Total PCT miles: 315.8

I still haven’t decided how I feel about today, like it was beautiful, it was challenging, and then, by 6pm I was completely over all of it, until I had dinner and was back to being happy again. What a Rollercoaster.

I slept phenomenally. I got up around 7:40 and packed all my gear, then went to eat over by Pebbles and DownUnda (Margot got her trail name today!). Pebbles was mostly packed, DownUnda was maybe halfway, and Silky appeared to still be asleep. Eventually everyone got moving, me and pebbles first, around 8:50.. my latest morning on trail so far I think.

It didn’t matter, we only had 13 miles to do, so the late start seemed like a fantastic idea. The day started with a huge climb, the only real climb of the day.. and it was 6 miles up this mountain. There were switchbacks and it was mostly wooded with small patches of overgrowth to walk through.. the issue: 110 blowdowns to climb under, over, across, or around in that 6 miles.

I thought we were making good time until I realized it was 11:30 and we were hardly half way up the climb. Sheesh. Early on Pebbles and I decided to wait for the other two to catch up, to hike mostly together, because some of the blowdowns were the size of small houses and hard to maneuver.. and also because DownUnda is 5’2” and we wanted to make sure she could get across it all. I ended up being pulled over and helped across at least 2-5 myself, so I was glad to be together.

That’s how Pebbles came up with Margot’s trail name.. she’s so tiny, she’d frequently just take her pack off and slide under the trees that the rest of us wouldn’t even consider going under.. she also lived in Australia for a few years and had a bit of an Aussie accent-so, DownUnda fits perfect. The second he said it we were all like, “YESSSSS!! That’s the one!” Pretty fun highlight of the day.

We had lunch less than a mile from the top, because it was already 1:30 and we still weren’t there. Yikes. We all headed out from lunch at different times, DownUnda first, then me. The views at the top of that climb were unbelievable! And then it was almost 2 miles of hiking around the bowl of this mountain, though melting snow and lots of water. Parts were tricky, with the melt giving way and causing a post hole or 8.. but for the most part, it was just so stunning I didn’t care.

Then came the descent, 5 miles of switchbacks that were more exposed and overgrown than wooded and had 45 blowdowns to go over. The overgrowth was annoying, leaves and bushes smacking you in the face, plus the sun was unrelenting and the trail itself was sloped and rocky with roots too, so when you could see it, it was uneven and annoying. I ended up falling 3 times.. once as a slip attempting to get over a blowdown, once to my knees in a weird trip. And then the last one about sent me over the edge.

We were just past the junction I thought we were camping at.. and the trail started going uphill. Everyone else was going to the campsites just past the junction, not realizing there was campsites at the junction too.. it’s what I get for not explaining beforehand better, and for not checking my phone as we got close. It was overgrown, I hit a rock and I kid you not-I like dolphin sprung through the air somehow-both legs together, in the air, and I came down hard on my left shoulder and the left side of my face. Where were my arms? No freaking clue.. because they were most definitely not reached out to brace my fall..

It hurt so bad that I just laid there. I sat up some, not moving much, seeing my phone, sunglasses, bandana, chapstick, trekking pole all strung out in front of me. Everyone came to check on me, I was fine, just hurting and mad and on the verge of tears. I told DownUnda to keep going to scout out campsites, and then asked Pebbles and Silky to step over me and keep going too. Silky said I had 15 minutes to catch up to them or she was coming to find me.

I only say another minute or two, forcing the tears back, and then I got up and started following them. We crossed the bridge that goes over this fast moving river, with no real safe way to get water from. We went through another overgrown switchback and I was seconds from losing my mind. And then I got to everyone and DownUnda had saved me a spot for my tent. She’s so good to me.

I rested a minute before setting up my tent. I was too exhausted to set up anything else and just left my pack by my tent and when we realized there was no water at this site, Pebbles and I took all of our bottles and bags and walked back down past the crime scene of my fall to a small snowmelt stream running across trail. Both DownUnda and Silky offered to go instead of me, so I could rest, but I was so thirsty I didn’t think I could wait for them to come back with my water. I was also a little bit lightheaded, too. Like the adrenaline from the fall wore off and I wasn’t left with much else.

We filtered and filled our bottles and refilled the bags. We both drank a liter down there, too. I was utterly spent. When we got back and we all sat around making dinner, my mood started to perk up. My shoulder has a bruise and a knot already formed. So, that should be fun. We’re all tucked in bed now and tomorrow will be an early day, because even though there was snow today-there’s apparently bigger, trickier snow tomorrow, and we want to all get up this 3 mile climb to it and do the snow business together.

I think it’s going to be better than what we were originally told. Today on trail a man passed us coming that way and said he had no trekking poles, no microspikes or ice axe and got through it without any real issues. He said he’d fall but then just get up and keep going up to the trail, he never felt like it was too dangerous to cross. That really made me feel better.

Ok, it’s bedtime. It looks like I’ll be sleeping mostly on my right side tonight, thanks to my new sore shoulder. Good times. Goodnight!

Start: 128

Stop: 141.9

Today’s miles: 13.9

Total PCT miles: 329.7

I slept pretty dang hard.. and that 6am wake up call came way too fast. We were all up, packed, and on trail by 7, although I was really trying for 6:30. I just like my sleep! That being said, today started with a big climb again, and I wanted to be up it faster than yesterday.. because the last 2 miles of this climb is said to have sketchy snow.

The first half mile was nothing but overgrown greenery, soaking wet with dew. I was drenched within minutes, and babying my right leg so the scabs wouldn’t get reopened. It was a lot of switchbacks and once we got above the overgrowth it wasn’t too bad. There were blowdowns but they didn’t seem crazy like yesterday.

We got to a beautiful campsite and sat awhile admiring the scenery: huge mountain peaks with scattered snow and lots of waterfalls, pristine, untouched snow in patches all around. It really was something. The views from there only got better. We climbed to an alpine lake that was mostly frozen over, except around the edges. Silky went for a quick dip! Her polar plunge had me shivering so I skipped and kept hiking.

The next curve of the mountain had a downward sloped snow traverse.. nothing too crazy, but me being me: I walked and climbed down and around and up to the other side of the trail. I probably expended triple the amount of energy to go that way, but I didn’t care. There’s something about solid ground I have more trust in. DownUnda and Silky came my way, Pebbles went around too, but it a shorter distance because his long legs could reach rocks ours couldn’t.

From there we continued on to a snowfield with water rushing under it from all the melt. I was a little nervous, thinking I’d break through-but thankfully none of us did. It was pretty easy and smooth going, even for snow travel. We started up the exposed switchbacks that would lead us to the final ascent to Fire Creek Pass. Parts of all of the switchbacks were covered in snow.. and a good portion of it I was able to skirt around by climbing up the brush on the sides, between the switchbacks. They were so steep-but I felt way more safe than I would on the snow, potentially slipping to my death.. ok-dramatic, slipping to a broken bone. Lol

There was one section where DownUnda and I took the brush route and Pebbles and Silky took the snow-they got there before us, and then DownUnda slid right before reaching the trail, because it was so steep. I tried backtracking to her, the others jumped to her rescue too, and they were able to pull her up and then assist me back up as well. Fun times. From there, we walked across two traverses, one that was sort of steep, and then the highest one which didn’t feel steep at all. Thank goodness.

The other side of the mountain was also mostly snow free. We laughed and cut up the whole way from the ridge to a shady spot maybe a mile or so downhill, through some snow and then some beautiful green hillsides. The three of them glissaded down a safe hill, I did not-I slid on snow enough on accident to sit down and do it on purpose.

We had lunch together, marveling at our good fortune for passing this section when we did-10 days ago during the snow storm we had, another hiker went over this and almost the whole thing was covered completely and his videos looked terrifying. I have been so anxious over this section since first learning about it back in Stehekin! And now, we conquered it.. without even putting on microspikes!

The rest of the day was up then lots of downhill. Pretty stream crossings that were fine, and then one huge mama that about took us out at the bottom of the valley floor. We had to cross raging water to get to the trail, and there was no way around it. They scoped out the safest place to go, first Silky, then Pebbles. When he realized the river bed dipped kind of deep like 3/4 of the way across, he planted himself firmly and helped DownUnda through it, and then me, too. The water was so strong during that dip that my leg almost got swept away from me-I was so so grateful I wasn’t doing this alone. I probably would have slipped and gone for a very unfortunate swim.

The trail on the other side was a mess. Rocks and tons of overgrowth for almost a full mile. We made it to the new destination, 13 miles instead of 15, because we were all so wiped out. Silky had already started setting up her tent near 3 guys that passed us at the river bank. The sites were covered by blowdowns and one guy was basically set up on trail.. so the 3 of us made sure Silky was fine with it and we hiked on another mile to a creek with some nicer sites.

Pebbles, DownUnda and I set up near each other and left space to make a fire. We did our chores then ate dinner at the fire and had the best time. These two really make me happy, I’m glad I found them.

Now, laying in bed, im taking stock of my injuries. My left shoulder is purple from my dolphin fall yesterday. My legs are getting covered in those same sweat bumps I had on the AT, even on my knees. My scrapes hurt but are trying to heal as much as they can with me constantly getting smacked by something. My feet ache. All in all, I’m still having the time of my life though. It’s incredible out here, and I can’t believe that split second choice to jump to the northern border has worked out so well.

I still would like a hotel night soon though. This may be the longest I’ve gone without one-I’ve slept in a tent every single night since Saturday June 17. WHOA! I’m just now realizing these numbers.. that’s 13 days on my air mattress in my tent. I think it’ll be 16 before I get to town, and who knows if they’ll have a room. God, please let them have a room! And on that thought, I’m off to sleep! Goodnight!