The Unpolished Princess

Start: 85.7

Stop: 99.9

Today’s miles: 14.2

Total PCT miles: 287.7

Man, I’m still a grump when I wake up. I heard Silky saying, “good morning” over and over to let us know she was leaving, and all I said back was a loud, “NOOO.” Haha it was 5:55 and there just was zero motivation to get up that early! I did, finally, at 6:20.. those 25 minutes made all the difference in my sanity.

Margo, Pebbles and I packed and headed out just after 7am. The trail was gorgeous, winding through deep woods with a raging river next to it.. it was steadily going up elevation wise but the way the trail wound through the trees it didn’t feel like it. All day long, we’d leap frog each other, take breaks together (with Silky, too, we caught up to her taking a break pretty early on), eat lunch on a log together.

As pretty as it started, the afternoon got hot. I was moving so slow, it felt like all of my energy had been zapped-so zapped that I kept wondering if it was my thyroid, because I’ve been tired on trail, but I was barely moving. It was frustrating, for sure.

Margot and I crossed a fast moving river on a wide but broken log.. well I did, Margot crossed on a smaller but solid log that had me nervous as hell watching her. FakeSnake, the Australian meteorologist we met in Stehekin, helped guide us over. I was grateful he was there and watching, one wrong step and it wouldnt have been pretty-either tangled under the crazy limbs broken in the water or sailing all the way down until you hit new limbs in the water. Margot and I waited on the other side to make sure Pebbles and Silky went over the correct/safest way.

From there we started climbing in elevation. The trail would weave in and out of tree line, and when it was out-it was overgrown valley with bushes that cut and stung-and reopened the scab on my shin. Dammit that hurts. When that finally chilled out, because we got high enough elevation wise to not have anymore of those gangles of bushes, it turned into water crossings, rocks, and snow patches.

Margo and I decided to just walk through some fast moving water, instead of trying to rock hop to keep our feet dry. Silky and Pebbles took their shoes off to keep them dry and so we got ahead of them. As we went, the water crossings got more frequent, sometimes the current coming right through trail, from all the snowmelt. I immediately thought of how happy I was I didn’t take the time to take off my shoes, since it wouldn’t have mattered for me now anyway.

As we crossed a snow field that wasn’t steep in anyway, Margot and I noticed the storm clouds rolling in. We picked up our pace a bit-the rest of our day was uphill, and right now we were very exposed. Before long, we heard thunder-felt it really, and then the lightening started to crack across the sky. But, so far, no rain. Not yet. We stayed together, both jumping when the thunder would rumble through our souls, and eventually we came across a decently wide area of tree cover. It looked safe from falling debris, it would hopefully keep us dry when the rain we could see in the distance finally made its way to us.. we decided to stay right there until the storm passed. I did not want to keep climbing in elevation and risk being exposed with the rain came-and because that lightening was terrifyingly close.

Pebbles got to us, happy we had said we weren’t going to hike out until it passed over, and minutes later Silky got to us too. Minutes after that-the rain came. Silky got out her Tyvek and we all four huddled under it, until the rain water came tunneling through the middle of the trail, and the middle of the four of us! Thankfully, the trees were sheltering us from the majority of the rain and hail.

Peter and Pickup showed up during our pause from hiking. They were absolutely soaked through. We talked a bit and once the rain let up, we all hiked out together. I wasn’t quite ready, but I wasn’t going to stand there alone in the storm. Immediately, we were all soaked through, too. Oh, hell. Nothing to do now but walk, but I was honestly still struggling pretty bad.. slow moving, especially uphill.

The higher we went, the more the trail turned into a sea of hail.. like the trail was covered with hundreds of thousands of white and clear dippin dots-seriously.. marble sized hail accumulated so much that it was several inches deep in some places. It wasn’t snow, and it was slippery-like lots of ice cube balls to slosh through. Watching every step carefully and trying to move quick enough to warm up some, because no matter how hot I had been only an hour ago, I was now shivering in my rain jacket.

Margot and I were the last to make it to the planned campsite. She seemed spent-cold and out of it. The icing on the cake-Pebbles let us know as we got there that there were no more campsites that weren’t currently under water. The majority of the area flooded out, and Silky, Pickup, and Peter had their tents in the only non flooded spots left. There’s a specific four letter “f” word that came out of my mouth in that moment. Betcha can’t guess which one?

Margot looked utterly defeated. She was shivering and her eyes were blankly staring. I knew she was hungry and needed some hot food to eat, but the rain picked up again and I thought sitting there to eat wouldn’t help the situation any. I remembered seeing some flat looking areas off a trail junction back a quarter mile and talked them both into hiking back to there, to scope out tentsites and eat. They agreed.

When we got close to the junction, I got Margot’s water bag from her and sent her to find a spot (basically to make her keep moving in this random freezing weather), and Pebbles and I filled up all three of our water bags at a fast moving creek. We went to find Margot, only to realize what looked flat from the trail was actually not flat at all. We probably spent a good 15-25 minutes trying to find something decent, then settled on the original very lumpy and sloped spot we saw from above.

We got all 3 tents up, albeit it uneven, but it would work for tonight. We fixed Margot’s tent-it randomly had a hole in the roof and that’s a recipe for disaster in the rain. Then we got as warm as we could and ate dinner. As drastic of a change as this afternoon was from this morning, and as upset as I personally felt that we made it to the campsite and didn’t feel like anyone was willing to make room for us in a storm, I really had a great evening with these two. We laughed and joked and laughed some more until close to 9pm, when we all huddled in our tents to try to get warm for the night.

Im currently so cold and can’t tell if my stuff is cold, wet, or just damp.. like even my sleeping pad feels wet but I know the inside of my tent is technically dry.. it has to be the moisture in the air, the humidity, the condensation brewing from my hot breath meeting this frigid air.. yeah, it’s time to tuck these arms in and get warm-or try anyway. Sweet dreams.

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!