Month: July 2023

Start: 367.8

Stop: 383.1

Today’s miles: 15.3

Total PCT miles: 570.9

I think today might be my favorite day so far on trail! If not absolutely favorite, definitely top 3.. nah, it was definitely my number one. It was unbelievable!

I slept awful, not sure why.. but I finally dozed off well after 4am and when my watch vibrated at 6:30 I did not want to get up.. but Margot and Marquis were both basically packed and staring at me through their tents. Haha. Crap. They had been trying to wake me, but I slept through their whispered calls.

They left before I had my tent packed, but I was able to quickly finish up and get on trail just before 7! Not too bad! I was happy with it. The first several miles were through the woods, the trail padded with small pine cones and soft dirt. It was around 9 when I started to climb up the steep ascent of the day, the one that took us out of the woods and into exposed stunning scenery for miles and miles all around.

We sat around and filtered snowmelt water on some rocks by a huge meadow. Snow patches were around, but nothing crazy. Jagged peaks jutted out above us and we could see Mount Rainier with every turn of a switchback. From the stream the climb got more intense and steep. We crossed lots of water and seriously I was mesmerized by the beauty of this place. It felt untouched and pristine. Tons of different colored butterflies and bees and dragonflies flitted around to all the wildflowers, the grass was popping up, so lush.

At some point we reached the ridge line and the trail weaved across the edges, with steep drop offs on one side or the other, sometimes both.. they called this part the Knife’s Edge. Looking up ahead it was easy to psych yourself out, because it looked way sketchier than it actually was. Once you were close enough to see it, it was no big deal at all. Don’t get me wrong, if you slipped and fell, well.. you’d only do it the one time.. but otherwise it was just spectacular views from every single angle.

From the Knife’s Edge the trail hit a junction, the alternate being the steep climb up to the base of Old Snowy Mountain-the steep climb included tons and tons of slate and scree to slip and twist your feet on. The regular PCT route crossed 2 snowy sections that were steep, but potentially not that bad-however the steeper, slate and scree climb was known for way better views. It’s not like it was miles and miles of an alternate trail, it was just a short but different way to get around the same mountain top.

When we finally got to the junction to either head up to the summit of Old Snowy Mountain or continue on the alternate to reconnect with the PCT, we took a break and sat at the top with stellar views, with Driver and his friend. They shared a beer with me (they had brought 3)! It was awesome, drinking a Washington made IPA at this mountain top with views of Mount Rainier, Mount St Helen’s, and Mount Adams! It really couldn’t be beat!

I sat and hung out while Marquis and Margot made the side trip to summit Old Snowy. I just didn’t want to rock climb or slide down anything extra today. When they were back, we still had almost 8 miles to make it to camp. Sheesh, the views really sucked us in today! We started heading down the other side and reconnected with the PCT. I took a wrong turn and had to back track, thankfully only after a few minutes.

The other side of this mountain was also covered in wildflower meadows and was beautiful as could be. Even still, my feet started to ache. And I realized I let my face and my legs get sunburnt. Why didn’t I put on sunscreen? I have some readily available in my hip pocket! Sheesh. I slowed way down. We all met back up at a hidden waterfall that was quite gorgeous, it’s own little oasis, and then I slowly followed them, watching as they got farther and farther ahead.

I eventually made it to camp around 6:45 ish and we went to find somewhere to set up. There’s several other people here tonight, too, including my new beer sharing friends lol. We set our tents up, got water from the lake, and immediately retreated inside our safe havens, because after a day of basically zero mosquitoes, they’re here. Ugh.

I really hope I can sleep better tonight. I’m not sure what my problem is but the last few haven’t been very restful at all. Once my phone is charged, I’m shutting my eyes and trying my best to drift off to dreamland. Goodnight y’all.

Start: 357.6

Stop: 367.8

Today’s miles: 10.2

Total PCT miles: 555.6

I slept horribly. It’s possible that it was because I was in a tent city and I happened to drink all the caffeine in the world during the afternoon yesterday. I tossed and turned and rolled and flopped and all around didn’t sleep much at all. There was also lights on and trucks flying by.. sometime around 1am I decided to put my headband over my eyes like an eye mask. It helped so much!

When I woke up, it was because I felt like I was baking. When I opened my eyes I couldn’t see, I forgot I had the headband on! I ripped it off and was shocked to find that I was in direct sunlight, roasting, and it was almost 7:30am. Welp. Guess it’s time to get up!

I was about to start packing but decided to go pee first, since I needed to walk all the way to the front of the store to do so. I put my phone on a charger, said hi to Marquis and Margot who were both already up and at the picnic tables, handled my business, then went back to pack.

I got everything but my food packed and then took my food stuff to the picnic tables and started figuring out my life. I had way too many dinners! But they’re all my favorites so I didn’t want to give anything away. Mom also sent me some yummy coffee as a surprise! I’m pretty happy about that!

I went inside the store and bought myself breakfast and then some snacks for the trail. More and more people started to wake and hang out at the picnic tables. We somehow didn’t leave to walk to trail until 11am. Haha. It was good though, it gave me a chance to update the blog, almost completely, and post some pictures. All in all I was really enjoying sitting around listening and chiming in on the hiker chatter.

We started climbing immediately once we hit the trail. It was hot. It was buggy. Two miles later the three of us were in our underwear swimming in some tiny lake we passed. The hard part was leaving town, any mileage we made today was just easing up the next three days, so it really didn’t matter much. When we were drying out and eating lunch (left over pizza, yum) 3 more hikers showed up-Crash, RaveDaddy, and I forgot the guy’s name (sorry guy).. the first two immediately got in the water, too. Never pass up a chance to swim!

We continued climbing after the lake, close to the top of the ascent we had perfect views of Mount Rainier without a single cloud covering its summit. It was gorgeous! And then the trail followed a ridge for a bit, crossed over a pass, and then gave even more epic views of Rainier before going back down into the woods. We stopped for water a few times, including a side hike at 5:30 that we were considering camping at.. but then decided to push instead 2 more miles to the next site.

Now that we’re here, I’m glad we pushed. This site is bigger, slightly less buggy, and out in the open. Even still, we had to set up camp fast and climb inside our tents thanks to the bloodsuckers. We set up in a circle though, so we all talked and laughed while waiting on the sun to set. Another hiker, a NOBO named Scraps, showed up and gave us the details of what’s ahead and we did the same for him.

Tomorrow we’ll have a 7 mile climb to the top of the Goat Rocks, which we can then summit Old Snowy Mountain and then we go over the Knife’s Edge. He said there were a couple sketchy rock scramble parts but that the views were epic. We’re all pretty excited about that! I’m not excited about climbing for 7 miles, but knowing the views will be stunning makes it worth it. Until then, goodnight y’all!

Start: 340.5

Stop: 357.6

Today’s miles: 17.1

Total PCT miles: 545.4

Margot never showed last night. I walked back to my tent around 7pm from hanging out at the trail junction, then paced around in my rain gear and bugnet until 7:30, where I then cooked my dinner and paced around to eat it.. because, well, mosquitoes.

I could have eaten in my tent, but I wanted her to be able to easily spot me in my bright rain jacket from trail so she wouldn’t pass the junction, since it was getting darker on this side of the mountain. No luck, she didn’t show, so by 8pm I gave up and got in my tent. Around 8:30, I heard someone walking through, and I had my vestibule door open, so I popped my head out.. it was Annie and Riley! I immediately peppered them with their last Margot sighting: not since they saw her with me yesterday! They never passed her today!

That was a relief to me, it meant some time during the day, when I was in the Chinook Pass bathroom or when I was eating my lunch, she passed me. She’s ahead! Maybe she got to camp, didn’t see me, assumed I pushed on, and decided to, too. I was still having some anxious thoughts, like she took a wrong turn at a junction and is now 9 miles deep in the Mount Rainier back country.. or she slipped off the mountain somewhere and we walked past her.. but, I tried my best to silence those negative thoughts, pray she was just fine, ahead of me, and that I’d see her today.

I tossed and turned all night. I did sleep, and it was good sleep, but I’d wake up in a panic and look outside my tent to see if she magically showed up and set her tent up at 11pm or 2am or 4:15am. Ha. What a lunatic I am. I got up at 6:30 and was packed and on trail by 7am exactly. I was hoping my packing didn’t wake Annie and Riley at all, and I waited to brush my teeth until after I was on trail for a bit.

I was cruising, it was downhill until I hit a water crossing that she should be at, surely, and then there would be some climbing to do before rounding out the top of an ascent and heading back downhill into White Pass. My day was 17.1 miles and I made it to the pass by 1:30! I was shocked. The mosquitoes were out and while the views of lakes and forest were pretty, I barely took the time to notice them in my head net because of those stupid flying terrorists.

Around noon I got service and immediately text Margot. I saw it went through! She had service too! She said she was already in White Pass!! WHAAAAT?! I called her, she had gotten ahead of me yesterday unknowingly.. didn’t get to swim, and when she got to camp and I wasn’t there, she assumed I went on to the next campsite. She was worried as hell when she got there and neither I nor Marquis was there.

She slept horribly, worried about what had happened to me, thinking I may have gotten injured or something since she never passed me. She woke up with the sun and was hiking by 5:55am, her earliest morning yet, all in an attempt to find me and Marquis. She stumbled upon him before he even packed his tent, and they hiked into White Pass and were waiting to hear from me or see me show up. She said she got so worried she was considering calling my mom to see if she had heard from me.

I got to the Kracker Barrel store they were at, and Marquis was surprised by friends that showed up to see him! Laurie and Dan (I’m sorry if I’m wrong on the names) hung out with us the rest of the afternoon! They live about an hour away and decided to bring a little trail magic to Marquis (and us, thank you!!) and spend some time with him. They are so incredibly kind, gave us snacks and ice cold Cokes.

We set our tents up behind the store in their “free camping” area, then I went inside and ordered a pizza. I felt like it took 7 years to get it, but it was actually only like 35 minutes. It was pretty tasty, I must admit. Stache was there, so he hung out a bit and had a slice I pestered him into eating, the others all came in too. We got our resupply boxes and I’m realizing I had Mom send me way too much food. Whoops.

Afterwards, we did our laundry and showered.. what I would give to have a place have shampoo, conditioner, AND soap! My hair is so fried. My shower only had shampoo. A small travel sized men’s shampoo. Cool. I made it work and even managed to shave my pits and legs using lotion I carry. The water was hot, the shower was clean and large and nice.. I got a towel to dry with, so other than the conditioner issue, it was worth the $10 I spent.. especially since I didn’t have to feed quarters and pray it wouldn’t shut off before I rinsed completely.

Everyone, including Silky and Stache and many hikers I’ve never met hung out at the picnic tables behind the store, charging our things and talking and laughing. Annie and Riley showed up. It was a really fun evening, even with the stupid bugs. Now, I’m laid up in my tent, surrounded by approximately 15 other tents, listening to trucks fly down this two lane highway that’s in front of the store we’re all camped behind. I can also hear some sprinklers, and other hikers tossing, turning, walking to and from.. good thing these earplugs are about to be used!

In the morning the store opens at 8am.. so I need to organize my food, replenish some snacks, candy, and lunch food, then repack everything. I’m not sure what time we’re trying to get out of here, but I know we want to attempt to get to a campsite at 14 miles away.. soooo, we’ll see. Looks like I need to go to bed 😉 it’s probably all the soda this afternoon, but I’m really wide awake. I got quite a few of the blog posts up, but sadly the service back here isn’t as good as it is right at the store, so I can’t upload the last 3-4. Maybe I’ll be able to in the morning, if I’m quick enough.
Alright, for real now, goodnight y’all.