Author: Courtney

Start: 303.9

Stop: 323.6

Today’s miles: 19.7

Total PCT miles: 511.4

I tossed and turned, a lot, but overall I think I slept well. I got up around 6:45 and felt guilty as hell as I started to pack and could hear Stache waking up because of me. Sorry, buddy!

Marquis and Margot left out around 7 and I was out at 7:15. My campsite had a gorgeous view of Mount Rainier, at that moment it wasn’t covered in clouds. I ended up brushing my teeth on trail, to leave Stache alone, but had to wait awhile before I could eat my breakfast.. I’m glad I switched from oatmeal to something quick, like poptarts or breakfast bars-I don’t like them all that much but they can be eaten while I walk.

The first 6 miles flew by. It was wooded and mossy and had simple climbs and soft descents. Around 9:45 I caught up to Margot in a burn zone. We sat and rested our feet a bit. Burn zones are sad and usually hot with no reprieve from the blaring sun. We ended up walking through several burn zones today, but that first one was the only tough one for me, with a bit more of a steady slow climb than before.

The water is also not as frequent, so trying to remember when and where the last water will be was irritating.. but not terrible. I didn’t need a whole lot today anyway. Marquis told us of a plane crash site and Margot and I decided to get there to eat lunch, too. When I made it, I laid my tent out to dry the condensation and then headed down to the site. It was anticlimactic. There was just the motor and very little scrap metal left, no body or wings.

We had lunch together, laying in the sun and resting our feet. Marquis had carried on before I even left to see the plane crash, he had already eaten, too. He’s fast.. eating and walking lol. When I got going again, it was back through a burn zone and then into a gorgeous meadow with the last water running through it. I filled up my 2 liters there and sat and talked to Annie and Riley (who had caught up to us at the crash site, saw the plane and carried on) until Margot came walking up minutes later.

I was mostly joking, but I wanted to camp right there. The sites were beautiful, the trees were lush and the meadow had so many wildflowers.. not to mention the water was there. Even still, after sitting a bit, I continued on. The trail climbed up to a ridge line and then followed the ridge around several mountains. It was the most beautiful part of the day, watching moody clouds roll in and over me, until I was actually inside the cloud itself.

I also had great cell service during all of this ridge line walking, so I called Mom and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Keith! I spent the last hour or so of my hike catching up with my three favorite people. It really perked me up, not that I wasn’t already happy.. I guess I was just that much happier now. When I finally got to where Marquis was, just past a junction, I was worried.

He said the comments on our app said there were good campsites down this side trail a little bit. The side trail looks like an animal trail, but ok. He waited before going down so that we wouldn’t miss him.. since I had finally made it to him (5:45pm), he went down to scope out the sites while I waited on the trail at the top to make sure Margot didn’t pass. When she got to me, we went down the steep mountainside, too. Both slipping a little but not completely falling.

The sites.. well.. they suck. We’re all 3 shoved in and around some trees and rocks. All of our sights are slanted and lopsided. It’s on par with the day of the thunderstorms and hail when we had to backtrack and bushwhack only to find slanted spots. There weren’t many options around this area though. We considered pushing 3.3 miles to a lake, but many people would already be there, and Margot has some serious blisters coming up on her feet, since her shoes are falling apart on her. She gets new ones on Saturday morning. I know she can’t wait.

I’m pretty excited for Saturday, too. I’m ready for my good meals Mom sent me (the last ones I had at home), a shower, and some real laundry-because that hand washing in the sink business is not enough for my socks. We still have tomorrow and Friday to get through, and then we’ll have all day Saturday to do our chores. Marquis may head into town on Friday instead, but I think we’re planning on being more cautious with the whole norovirus business going. Who knows, though? We’ll see what happens. Goodnight!

Start: 323.6

Stop: 340.5

Today’s miles: 16.9

Total PCT miles: 528.3

I felt like I was siding off my sleeping pad during the night, but even still-I slept hard. I’m pretty sure my night was filled with dreams, every single one of them escapes me now. I slept late, 7:45, and I didn’t have one single care. I had been tired and I wanted to sleep until I woke up.. so I did.

To my relief, Margot didn’t get up to start packing until she heard my sleeping pad deflate. She had been awake for a while, but wasn’t ready to start hiking.. Marquis had already vacated, quietly (because I never heard a peep), and as of now-I still haven’t seen him all day. He was planning to go farther than us today, so I’m sure he’s about 3 miles ahead right now.

I finally packed and was on trail by 8:30 ish I think. Maybe a few minutes early, but who cares, really? The views were so nice and the climbs-though they were there and seemed to bring me high above the clouds at times to see mountains upon mountains in the distance, they felt mild and easy to traverse.

I passed the Chinook Pass parking lot and took advantage of their pit toilet.. then continued on my way. At times I was inside the border of Mount Rainier National Park, but the trail weaves in and out along a boundary line for several miles-so at this exact moment, I’m not sure if I’m in the park or not. It has been gorgeous! So many green hillsides covered in wildflowers. Lots of day hikers and overnighters too.

At the bottom of a descent that I practically ran down, I came to Dewey Lake. I followed the trail around and found a spot to eat my lunch in the shade, with the plan to take a swim afterwards. The mosquitoes were so bad there, that I just quickly ate and decided to hike the trail to the other side of the lake, in more full sunshine to find a spot to swim.. thinking that would give me a brief break from the mosquitoes and make it easier for Margot to spot me swimming when she passes.

She never showed. Someone else did though, while I was just getting out from my swim and standing in my undies in the sun trying to dry-and constantly swatting at the pests attacking me. This hiker said she didn’t remember seeing someone with my description of Margot, shit, maybe she passed me while I was pooping in the parking lot bathroom?

Once I dried enough and got my clothes back on I filtered my water and kept hiking. Ups and downs, all gentle, all giving me the epic views you’d expect beside a national park. I even came upon this MASSIVE snowy mountain, real close compared, and I’m pretty sure it’s Mount Rainier..But a swivel of my head pointed me to the actual another snowcapped mountain that looks just like Rainier a bit farther off in the distance-looking smaller, thanks to the closeness of this one, but with clearly a lot more snow at its summit. I tried to figure out the names of the two mountains, to know for sure, but I don’t have service and there isn’t a name on my FarOut App.

I passed a couple with a dog coming towards me, who actually stopped to really consider who they’ve passed and they too don’t remember seeing Margot. So maybe she didn’t pass me after all? Today was filled with junctions on these mountain passes, and I really hope she didn’t go the wrong way, pass this spot completely, or some other way miss crossing paths with me.

I found where we agreed to camp and set up my stuff already.. I’ve been here just about an hour now. My rain gear is all on-thanks to the mosquitoes and I’m hanging out at the trail junction for a bit to see if she comes along. I’m sure she will.. I just hope her feet are doing ok. They tend to really hurt going downhill and today had a decent amount of it. Her new shoes are only 17 miles away!

When she gets here (assuming she didn’t pass me up already) I’ll let her decide tomorrow’s game plan. We’ll either go 14 miles and camp 3 miles shy of Whites Pass and go into town first thing Saturday morning, or we’ll go the full 17 to town tomorrow and sleep overnight camped outback of the store that allows that. I know she’s worried about the virus going around as much as I am, and everyone sick is going to the town we’re headed into.. so it’s just a little tricky.

I’m going to hang out up here for a bit longer, and if she’s not here by 7:30 (another hour) I’ll go make my dinner. She loves to swim, too, so maybe she had a blast at that lake after me 😉 We shall see!

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.