Touching The Sky

8/13/13

PCT mile 2412-2424 - 12 miles

Elev 5200-3211

When I awoke at 5:30 & peered out my tent screen all I could see was fog and my tent was lined with condensation. We were in a cloud, cold and damp. We were camped too far away from each other to talk so I got out and went over to find Peggy getting up too. We were hiking by 7 and immediately were in the sunshine!  We had been in the saddle where the cloud settled while the rest of the world was in sun. What a difference 100 yards made! 

My tent site the evening before.

Joe Lake lay beneath where we'd camped and the valley below that was covered with clouds. 

2 miles uphill took us onto rocky slopes & up to steep alpine meadows,  higher than we dreamed the trail would go.  Lots of people are hiking south from Steven's Pass to Snoqualmie as a popular section and 5 day hike. 

It's so steep and nerve wracking that Peggy has gone ahead because I like to stop and look around. Spectacular is such a small word to describe what I see so I'll just post some photos in a row & you decide for yourself.

Mt Rainier in the distance.

Peggy with her blue pack tiny in the middle right of the rock field.

We passed  below these rabbit ears and stood at the saddle looking out at the clouds below us then curved around the bowl , which is in shadow, to stand here looking back at it all.

The trail disappears around a corner under a lip of rock, see the valley far below.

A marmot below me whistles loudly, curious about everything. Here's an example of a marmot hole by the trail, they're everywhere especially in the rocky hillsides.

It takes forever to get miles done because of the rock strewn trail, we pick our way through, no one wants to take a tumble on this trail. Feet are sore, legs get wobbly but finally we come out over Spectacle Lakes, WOW!

We're sad we don't go directly to the lakes because we would really enjoy a swim.  We have our lunch here overlooking the beauty then descend and pass the side trail to the lakes. Down  we descend to the valley floor through an old burn where it's hot and brushy but the big stands of fireweed make it pretty.

We arrived at a river whose bridge was washed out but a log was laying across and we could either wade cross in our shoes or use the log. We both decided to use the log but it was hard to get up the river bank with packs on. Grabbing brush branches and scrabbling we made it one by one.  Only one more mile to our water source where we call it a day. Today we only hiked 12 miles.  So frustrating! We need to reconcile ourselves to the difficult trail and not expect more than we can do. This is supposed to be somewhat enjoyable after all !!

We ended up camping by the Lemah River near Lemah Meadows. We were hot, foot sore, weak legged so we just set up tents and rested before getting water and doing chores.

Here's the kitchen with my water boiling for dinner. 

We talked to a gentleman from B. C. who had hiked part of the Arizona Trail, part of the Appalachian Trail and now this part of the PCT to Mt Hood,  all this summer!  He was interesting to talk to and invited us to their camp to chat but as the minutes went by, I got more and more tired & all I wanted to do was get off my feet and turn in. Speaking of feet--  I worked on mine using my knife to try to shave calluses that are giving me pain. Peggy gave me some of her KT tape that is wonderful stuff. I taped up both feet after working on them and hope this helps. Drank extra water tonight to hydrate more and went to bed.