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Saturday, September 14, 2013

One Last Yogi and We're Home!

9/3/13
Manning Park to Abbotsford and over the border.

After breakfasting at 8am we purchased a sandwich to go & a drink from the cafe that would be our lunch on the bus.
TareBare met us out in front of the Lodge at 9:45 where the bus would arrive at 10:10.  Also waiting was another couple we'd last seen on Tamarack Peak who were going home to the Seattle area and two other section hikers.  Stowing the packs and poles under the bus we climbed aboard looking for a seat. We all split up to sit with folks that had boarded in other towns.
I sat with a delightful lady going to Vancouver who shared of her interesting life teaching agriculture through the Canadian Gov't programs in The Gambia.  She was very interested in my trek and scrolled through my iPhone photos asking questions as we segued through many other subjects. The skies turned dark and rain poured down as we drove by the Frasier River Valley, pretty farming countryside.  Meanwhile, Peggy was enjoying conversation with her own seat mate and at one of our stops the lady made a call to her husband.  She'd asked him to bring their larger car to come pick her up in Abbotsford because she wanted to give 3 hikers a ride to the border!
This was Peggy's seat mate, I never got their names, a very nice couple! 
Peggy's, TareBare's and my packs stuffed into the back along with our poles, they pulled into traffic zooming to the border and after a couple of miles we were stopped in a long line.  We told them to pull over so they could easily get back on the road and we would walk the remaining distance, shaving 2 miles off our 3 mile walk was great and by that time the rain was breaking up. 
We got our packs on, ponchos too and waving our trail angels goodbye we set off on the shoulder of the highway for the border which we could see was not far away. Arriving among the lines of cars we followed signs for pedestrians to go inside and present documents. 
It was a quick glance at passports and PCT paperwork both US and Canadian and we were through. There was Robin waiting by the door, my own personal trail angel, providing support and transportation to and from the trail. 
With Peggy just outside US Customs.

With TareBare and Peggy ready for the ride home.

Robin had packed a cooler with every possible goody in it for our trip home. He drove the entire way back to Medford arriving at  midnight. Peggy drove south the next day, dropping TareBare at his home to prepare for the last leg of his thru hike, Echo Lake (by Lake Tahoe) to Ashland, Oregon.

So this year's PCT hike is finished, lessons learned are tucked away, I'm grateful for the teamwork and commitment of Peggy and the love, support and understanding of my husband, Robin.
 I'm also grateful for the existence of the marvelous Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail that takes enormous effort to maintain and keep open for those who seek the solitude and wild beauty that is found there. 
Without committing myself to anything yet, the California section of the PCT still has not been finished. It could be that next year this blog will feature another distance hike from the Peggy/Jane team!

A Zero Day In Manning Park BC, Canada

9/2/13
Manning Park Resort BC

Awoke a 8:30am after sleeping like the dead, we dressed in clean clothes, (what a novel idea) and went for breakfast. 
After eating we wandered into the bookstore and looked at identification books on berries, flowers and mushrooms. Peggy found many of those that she'd photographed,  including our 500 mile marker mushroom, (it happened to be poisonous!)  I was glad to know that by washing our hands with soap we'd dodged the bullet and would not have neurological damage after all! 
 Back at the lodge I took out my tent and sleeping bag to dry them in the sun before packing things away for our bus trip home tomorrow. We relaxed and read while watching our stuff dry and TareBare came by to chat awhile.  He'd gone on a short hike to see a nearby lake, Peggy & I both wanted to go see some things while we were here but they all entailed walking and my feet just wouldn't stand putting on the shoes again. 
Later that evening TareBare met us for dinner and by 8pm Peggy & I were in our room, everything cleaned and packed for the bus trip tomorrow morning. 
Robin had answered our email and would be waiting for us at Semus, Washington just across the border from Abbotsford, BC where our bus stopped. From Google maps it looked like a 3 mile highway walk straight to the border.  All seemed in order for us to get home.

Friday, September 13, 2013

A Monumental Moment!!


9/1/13
PCT mile 2654-2660-@2669 - @15 miles
(Hopkins Lake to the PCT Monument to Manning Park, British Columbia, Canada)

Last night Walking Home arrived back to his tent from the border around 12:30am by headlamp having completed his 2,660 mile thru hike in the quiet of his own company. (Peggy saw his headlamp go by in the darkness.)
Also in the night I had a deer that clomped around my tent for a long time, I got up, gathered rocks and tried chucking them at him, clapped my hands and making noise.  Nothing seemed to faze him.  He seemed big and scary until the moon caught him just right and threw his silhouette on my tent. I could see him chewing, tongue flicking in and out and his head dipping down to grab grass and paw the ground.  I tried to count the antler points but couldn't get a long enough look.  I could hear him breathing he was so close!   When I saw the silhouette I laughed out loud because if he was this close I knew no other animal could be near, suddenly I felt safe & sound!   Not long after that he wandered away and I fell back to sleep.  Lots of things walking around here in the dark this night!
We slept almost to 6:30, I woke and watched the sun rise upon our camp and touch the mountains with light.
Within today's first mile we'll  celebrate our 500 mile mark.  
It was cold in the shadows this morning as we started hiking but we soon reached mile 2655, our 500th mile,  which we carved on one of the huge mushrooms we've been seeing over the last few days.
We used soap to wash our hands in a stream in case it was poisonous. (On hindsight we both agreed we should not have handled it not knowing if it was deadly). Peggy has been taking lots of photos of mushroom all along the trail,  given her work in biochemistry and special interest in plants, she'll be identifying these once she get her hands on a computer and plant identification books.
Our enthusiasm for the completion of the trail waned as the trail went through wet brush and overgrown, potholed trail. I countered the annoyance of wet pants, shoes & socks by eating huckleberries. Peggy told me not to touch them in case the poison was still on my hands, so I grabbed the bush and ate them off the branch!  Never say no to a full berry bush.
The sky was blue and the air warming up, the trail wound in and out of forest and brush but there were  no vistas from mountain tops today.  I kept a lookout for any sign that we were getting close to the border.
This is the first sign we came to at Castle Pass. Still some miles to go before the border though. 

 More ho-hum scenery and then, there it was, a clear cut line in the forest disappearing over the mountain to my left, it had to be the line between the US and Canada.
My heart started to pound, I knew we were close and I picked up my pace without realizing it. 
Rounding a turn in the trail, in the shadow of the trees was a wide spot, nothing really to announce itself, was the monument.
In the above photo, the sign facing me on the right was the Canadian welcome sign. In the middle was the monument for the border agreement (under the base is the PCT book to sign for the year's hiking roster) on the left is the PCT Monument.
The writing says Northern Terminus Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.
We accomplished our goal at around 11am, hiking the state of Washington at around 505 miles!!   Yahoooo!!!
We left the monument and hiked into Canada taking a nice lunch break at a river in the sun. 
The remaining miles to Manning Park were on a narrow trail in the forest over a few mountains and down into the Park. We met a few Canadians hiking for the day or weekend, this is Labor Day weekend for them too. At last we arrived at a road and stepped onto the shoulder to walk .7 miles to the lodge, a room, a shower, laundry and a celebration!
Tired but happy to have arrived in Canada!
E-mail notes were sent by Peggy to family as we waited for our rooms to be ready. Maybe it was because I knew we didn't need to hike the next day but I could hardly walk my feet ached and felt bruised.  We saw another hiker walking by and had him join us for lunch, it was TareBare who we met in Stehekin. He'd arrived two days before. We made plans to transport him back to Medford with us. 




Wednesday, September 11, 2013

The Washout

8/31/13
PCT mile 2663-2654  -18 miles

In addition to wearing everything I owned last night I breathed through a wadded up bandana because the air was so cold.
At 5:30 when I awoke I knew that the tent would be wet inside from condensation because it had been so cold.  I used the micro fiber towel to wipe both inside and out before packing up. 
We were hiking at 7:00.  I wore my down jacket but only for 10 minutes until  I warmed up on the climb to Jim's Pass where early morning sun was warming the air.
The trees behind me are tamarack trees.

Down into the next valley we stopped in the sun by a small stream and were joined by a couple who camped there last night.  They were hiking into the Pasayten River to fish for the day. I showed him my Topo Map app and Halfmile's waypoints loaded on my iPhone so he could get an idea of how the system works, he was very interested in the apps for his own treks into the backcountry.
We knew that we would be approaching the reported slide area and potential  alternate route today so we were surprised when we got to the Holman Pass Trail junction not to find any info about the alternate.  Last year when hiking Oregon, the fire on Mt Jefferson prompted all sorts of signs for the alternate trail around the fire. Washington is much more remote so that may be one reason no one had posted maps.
We decided we would continue to follow the PCT and take our chances as others were doing, reports were that it was very doable.   We climbed up and up to a high meadow just below the pass to take our lunch, each grabbing a liter of water from the spring nearby. 
The pass is around the last group of trees.
 Upon reaching the pass we got a glimpse of the next valley, broken rock peaks, rock scree everywhere, downed trees lying where avalanche had left them, grey and bone dry.
Looking down and right from the top of the pass you can see some of the switchbacks we would be taking on our way through this area. 
Looking left to where we are going over Woody Pass, that is Powder Mountain (far left in shadow) whose flanks are scored by the slides that can't be seen from this angle.

We began switchbacks down the rocky slope on the exposed hillside, stepping over places where mudslides had piled up in the trail. As we got across about half the long traverse we began to cross slides gradually getting wider and deeper. Until we reached the biggest one. You had to climb down into it at a sharp angle and once in it, it was probably 6-8 ft over our heads, you had to get a foot hold and scramble out of it. The sides were sort of moist and the mud held together but some sloughing of dirt and rock was very possible. The faster you got out the better. 
Which is why this is the only photo I got, once I got out of it!
Peggy decided she didn't have the flexibility to climb up the steep sides so she thought going down the mountain slope more toward the bottom would help her get in and out better. What ended up happening once she'd slid down the bank into the gully, was,  the soil was loose and crumbly,  big rocks less stable and couldn't be trusted as handholds. She could find no way out that wasn't dangerous.  I could only stand up on trail and watch as she struggled to get up the bank back on firm ground. It was hard, scary work but she managed to throw herself up, catch her leg over the edge and crawl up the bank.  Then she had to climb yards up the rocky slope to where the trail was.   Words can't begin to describe how challenging the slides were, it took all Peggy's concentration and effort to get through it.  I was so proud of her and the hard, hard work it took to get through this section. We had been fretting about getting around this steep slide for days and now it was done.  We both took a minute for tears, bleeding off tension and fear, then pulling it together said,  "Let's get off this mountain."  We had 2 more gullies to face, each less challenging but still unnerving that we had to climb into and back out again. Then we zigzagged up to Woody Pass where Peggy faced her nemesis in a moment of introspection.
Peggy is down trail from me on the switchback, the slide area in shadow.

The next few miles we chose to hike to put ourselves in position to get to Canada the next day, one day earlier than planned. Although Peggy was exhausted from the anxiety of negotiating the slides we both dug deep and found enough energy to get to our camp. We still had quite a lot of exposed, rocky trail to hike. We came around this mountainside and across the boulder field,
into new valleys and lake basins.
The trail curved beside The Devil's Staircase and a drop away close to the narrow trail that made me dizzy if I looked too closely. (It's the shaded rock in the middle that's called the Devil's Staircase)

Finally we could look down at the basin that held a tiny lake and our campsite. 
We arrived at 6:30pm and set up camp. Walking Home had camped there too but he had left to hike the 7 miles to the border and back, he wouldn't cross over into Canada but turned around the next day and hiked back to Hart's Pass, home to Winthrop, Washington.  We ate dinner at 7:30 as darkness was falling in the basin, sun casting alpenglow on the surrounding peaks.  We'll be sleeping in til 6:30 tomorrow!  We have 7 miles to the PCT Monument and the Canadian/US border, then 8 more miles to Manning Park, Canada where we'll rest and look into catching a bus to the USBorder!! I can't believe this is our last night on the trail. 









Sunshine To The Rescue!



8/30/13
PCT mile 2620-2636 -  16 miles 

5:30 wake up, it rained all night and in exceptionally hard rain my tent sprayed condensation onto my face.  Last night,  in an effort to warm up from the wet and cold, I was in my silk sleep sack inside my down bag, wool hat, long sleeved sleep shirt, down jacket & wool socks on.
As I warmed up I moved my down jacket to my feet to warm them and then to various cold spots until I was all the way warm.  In the morning I called out to Peggy that I wanted to get to Hart's Pass and see if we could get a ride to a town and dry out. I was honestly thinking that I'd had enough of the rain. Peggy was agreeable, hoping that something would break and change my mind. 
I rolled up my tent, wet inside and out, stuffed my damp sleeping bag and everything else that was damp inside my damp backpack, put on the poncho and pack cover and we started hiking in the continuing rain.  Coming out of the forest we began a long hillside traverse and switch back up to Glacier Pass.  The views would have been beautiful but in the rain and swirling clouds I only got a couple of photos. 
I'm higher on the switchbacks looking down at Peggy as we climbed from our campsite up to Glacier Pass in the wet greenery. 
Ducking over the pass to get out of the wind and rain we watched clouds pour from one valley into another.  This pass had some nice campsites tucked into corners and on a clear evening would have made a picturesque place to camp. The area on top that we walked through was unusually stark, just low growing moss and ground cover and a type of tree I can't place. 

 The tree was sparsely needled in light green tufts, many of the older trees had branches like a deciduous tree. (not the Eiffel Tower shape of a fir tree.)

Crossing a cinder cone, over a short ridge walk (see the path on the ridge below)

we turned into a basin and met a woman our age going south, solo hiking for 10 days.  She was from Washington and was used to camping in rain.  I asked her the weather forecast and she said it was supposed to get better but that in Washington one never could be certain. When she found out that we'd started in Cascade Locks she told us we were "Gnarly Women!" and not to let the rain get the best of me.
These streaks were mud slides that made small gullies for us to negotiate. The trail crossed that hillside just above the trees.
As we rounded another mountain coming into a boulder field the skies looked to be clearing, big patches of blue sky coming our way.  We decided to unload our packs and use the warm boulders to lay our stuff out to dry. Everything we owned was laid out so that we looked like we were having a rummage sale!
It took a good hour, turning, fluffing and shaking things out.  Because we were close to Hart's Pass there were day hikers who began to walk by.  One group of ladies walked up and I heard one say "I know you!"  It was the lady,  the Canadian couple that we'd  talked to at Red's Pass days before!  We gave one another a big hug like we'd known one another for a long time. 
Jude, my friend from Red's Pass, is on the far left. 
She remembered me saying I craved apples so they found an apple in their packs that they gave us! This was a really encouraging moment for me because I'd been in my "rain funk" and discouraged with the trail. We exchanged emails and they continued their day hike south. 
We sat and ate the wonderful apple, repacked all our DRY equipment (and put my worries away).  We did a little happy dance in the trail, I made a sarcastic remark to which Peggy said "Jane's back!"  It gave me pause to think about how mental this hike is, how close I'd come to wanting to get off the trail and just how much I needed a pick me up! 
I've come to think of yesterday as my "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."!
Hart's Pass was a few miles further.
(See how far to the Canadian Border?)

When we got to the Ranger Station we were told there was trail magic for hikers at the picnic table.  There was Walking Home and a group of locals from Winthrop who had come to meet him and celebrate his almost finished through hike!  They had brought sandwiches, peaches, nectarines, brownies, hard boiled eggs, bottled water, chocolate, cantaloupe and more wonderful food for hikers and we were invited to partake!  Walking Home's friends were welcoming and great to talk to and we had a good lunch there. 
There were still some miles to go to our camp so we left the Ranger Station for Hart's Pass and beyond. There were many cars parked at the trailhead at the pass and as we hiked north we met families hiking back to their cars.
From Hart's Pass the terrain is rolling, grassy, with fir, pine and these new trees. Really pretty.
Looking back toward Hart's Pass we can see the snowy peak in the middle near Glacier Pass where we camped last night.
The view of mountains west of our trail and Hart's Pass.

 I talked to one family hiking back to their car, asking them where they'd hiked?   "Tamarack Peak" I was told.  It struck me that the new tree I was seeing was a Tamarack or a Larch.  Lining the trail up to Tamarack Peak they'll turn a glorious gold color and drop their needles before winter, the only fir tree I know that does that.
A new trail sign told us we were going into the Pasayten Wilderness and only a few miles further we were at our camp on the back side of Tamarack Peak, a cold spring flowing by our tents. 
It's going to be cold and clear tonight at 6500 feet elevation. The sun is setting sooner in these last days as September is upon us, dinner took a bit longer to cook due to altitude and we were in bed earlier, journaling by headlamp before 7:00.   In the night I woke up and could see the Big Dipper hanging just above the trees outside my tent, beautiful!








Tuesday, September 10, 2013

When Is The Trail Not A Trail? When It's A Creek!

8/29/13
PCT mile 2603-2620 - 17 miles

I woke to rain at 5:30, there seemed no way it was going to clear after looking at the sky so we got packed up and ready to go.  Daniel and his friend were underway at 6:30 planning to go 28 miles to Hart's Pass, farther than Peggy and I can hike in one day. We got a late start at about 7:45 and started for Cutthroat Pass just 1 mile ahead. Once up there we could see the trail disappear around a stark mountain peak. Remote and rainy, clouds creeping over the ridges, I felt like we were walking into someplace where we might never be seen again.
Wearing my Poncho/packcover, contemplating our next hurdle.
This is the view I was looking at in the photo above. I was also realizing the rain would be around for awhile, look at those clouds piled up against the peaks!

2 1/2 more miles and we reached Granite Pass, almost devoid of trees, loads of granite rocks littering the landscape as we followed switchbacks down from the peak to cross over to the next mountain.
We were to traverse the side of the peak in the middle (with the cloud on it) where, later in the day,  we would climb over Methow Pass. 

The valleys were filling with clouds before our eyes the mist rising faster than we could imagine, creeping over saddles and at times enveloping us only to clear as it poured over the next peak. The rain never let up, we sought an overhang to take a quick snack break. Water ran down the mountains creating more creeks than the maps had listed and we sloshed through all of them. 
By this time we were each hiking in our own little world, hands cold and cramped.  Coming to Methow Pass the skies really opened up to pour a deluge on us.   Out of that deluge appeared another hiker, Walking Home, a thru hiker from Winthrop near Hart's Pass. He'd started at the Mexican border in April and quite literally was walking home. 
He passed us quickly and we all started the downhill section.  I was wet except for a small square of torso, my hands so numb I had trouble working the clasps of my pack if we stopped for food.
Neither of us ate or drank as we should have today, it was just too much trouble to get to stuff and stand there dripping as we ate.
We had about 8 miles of forested trail to do, dark and dreary.  We came across a creek that had flooded it's banks pushing yellow mud and boulders to obliterate the PCT for about 20 yards.  Standing there studying the scene,  we saw where other hikers had marked the resumption of the trail with a pyramid of rocks.  We picked our way across the mess, at this point not caring whether or not we were wading in water, we were soaked anyway. This is where we started asking each other  "When's the trail not the trail?  When it's a creek!"  
Our 15 mile day would have ended when we went through a long section of brushy hillside trail, but it was only 2:30 and too early to stop. We decided to filter water for a dry camp and tackle the next climb hoping for a better campsite. Our mantra was "Let's get this misery over with."
2 1/2 miles & 981 ft up we came to a site just below Glacier Peak between 5 & 6,000 ft elevation. We knew it could be cold but really wanted to stage ourselves in order to get to Hart's Pass sooner rather than later. 
We pitched our camp, rather, Peggy got her tent up, I got mine up but had to dry puddles from the inside floor and try to dry it somewhat before putting my gear inside.  Meanwhile it rained on and off.  My down bag, damp for the 3rd night, concerned me. I was worried that it could fail to keep loft and warmth if I couldn't dry it soon. 
I'd worn the same wet socks for 3 days because I wanted to keep 1 pair dry for emergency warmth. I tried wrapping my damp shirt around my torso to get it to dry while wearing my down jacket in camp. I was hoping to get some clothing  dry before I had to put it on again tomorrow morning. Dinner was eaten whenever we were able, between rain showers and tent set up. Mine consisted of instant mashed potatoes and a packet of Spam, a surprisingly satisfying meal when all else was failing! 
I'm proud of what we put behind us today, neither of us enjoyed it but we put our heads down and got the job done hiking more miles than anticipated which put us in a good position for getting to Hart's Pass tomorrow.
I hardly took any photos today, it was  just too wet to find anything nice about the hike today. Grumpy.



Monday, September 9, 2013

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head

8/28/13
PCT mile 2592-2603

I woke at 4:30 am to the sound of rain then at 6 with my alarm, the rain had paused at 6 so we got up and started packing. Of course it started raining again.
I ran out to get the food bags we'd hung and saw that a squirrel had chewed holes in my food bag. Investigating further I saw that the powdered milk package was chewed open, some packaging on another item AND it chewed a nice bite out of part of my chocolate cookie I was saving for today- that Stinker!   So I cleaned it up and ate the rest of my cookie right then- Grrrr.  We used the small dry area under the  tree by my tent to stuff our packs.  I packed my tent away wet and we got going in the rain.  The uphill brushy trail left us wet from mid thigh down,  rain was washing down the train so I slopped and sloshed with every step and soon was muddy almost up to my knees.   Because I get hot when walking uphill I keep my rain parka open,  either I'm wet from rain or I'm wet inside my rain poncho because the condensation builds up inside.  I hate camping in the rain!

On this rainy day I didn't find much to get excited about and found I hardly took any photos, it was too dark for my camera to get much detail anyway. 

It took us awhile to hike to Hwy 20 where we walked out to a rest area, hiking trailhead and toilets.  We ate lunch under the tiny overhang of a Forest Service informational sign. 
There was a hiking couple waiting for his parents who were to have met them an hour ago with their passports for Canada and their last resupply box of food.  We asked him about the trail north where we were all going,  he told us that Rainy Pass was still 1.7 miles up the road by road walk and we decided to go back to the intersection of trail and hike up to the official Rainy Pass (instead of a rest area).  Back on the trail we came to a broken log over the river, we would have to wade across. Since we'd just gotten a bit dry we decided to road walk the 1.7 miles to the actual pass.  So, back to the rest area where we saw the couple and his parents who'd just driven up. I asked some details from him and we took off at a fast pace road walking along the shoulder of Hwy 20 to Rainy Pass.  Road walking can be unpleasant with traffic zooming close, tossing rain at you. We hurried and tried to keep as far away from traffic as we could. 
 The sun came out shortly and as we reached the Rainy Pass Campground sign it was a beautiful, warm day. Taking advantage of the window of good weather we opened our packs, pitched tents and hung stuff all over the sign and nearby tree branches to dry.  A few hikers came by looking for the trail north or south that we were able to direct.  About 1 hour later stuff was dry and the clouds were returning so we packed up, crossed Hwy 20 and found the PCT trail heading north. 
We passed a number of day hikers coming down off the trail who were interested in what we were doing, offered lots of encouragement and told us of a few spots where we could find campsites.  There were 2 miles to go to water and 2 more to our proposed camp. 
 We would have liked to go farther but the next known water was 6 miles away and availability of tent sites for 2 was unknown. It felt unwise to be above tree line in a possible storm plus we're approaching 6100' elevation and it can be colder up high. All these were things to think about when deciding to stop or move on.
At 3:00 we arrived at our campsite, scouted around and found much nicer sites tucked down in the trees that weren't visible from the trail. A tiny stream ran down by our camp where I found gentians not quite blooming.  The sun was patchy with clouds pouring over the peaks scudding fast across the sky toward the northeast.  All our wet clothing was laid our to hopefully dry and while Peggy took a nap I poked around and found a huge flat topped boulder to climb on to get a view of the cloud show.
Two hikers came in looking for campsites, one a thru hiker and the other a 44 y/o man from Portland, Oregon who was really interesting to chat with.  He makes his own gear so I asked him a lot of questions, inspecting gear and discussing going stoveless, eating cold food. In S California, where wildfires destroy forest every year, some stretches of trail ban all stoves. Many hikers find not cooking a real option, no stove = lighter packs and a measure of freedom from conventional camping. They add water to a regular meal at noon (some use an old plastic peanut butter jar with screw on lid) and it sloshes in the pack's side pocket for hours until the noodles, rice, beans etc are edible at dinner time.
My own food pack still seemed heavy, I've been distracted by rain etc. and haven't been eating the extra food I packed from Stehekin. I'll do better tomorrow.
There was an alert at the trailhead about bold mountain goats following people trying to get close, it told you to wave your arms, toss rocks and yell loudly to get them to back away. Their horns are sharp and they can be dangerous. They may be looking for salt on sweaty hikers, Yikes!
Our camp for the night.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

30% Chance Of Rain

8/27/13
PCT mile 2580 (Stehekin)-2592-12 miles

There is a weather report of 30% chance of rain for the next 3 days but we can't stay here for days waiting for clear weather, we decided 30% will have to be good enough.
Up at 6:45 we were breakfasting at 7:15 and paying the tab at 7:45, Peggy raced to the computer to be sure Robin had gotten our email telling him when to meet us at the Canada/US border.  He'd answered us and would be there!   Peggy raced back, grabbed her pack and we boarded the bus at 8 am sharp. A quick rifling through her pack, she couldn't find her wallet, so the bus driver let her race to the hotel room and double check that she hadn't left it behind. Back on the bus franticly searching,  it was found. Whew!   Having a set schedule is nerve- wracking but we made it! 
The driver stops at the bakery on the way out to High Bridge every morning and since we were the only 2 not staying at the bakery we got to go to the head of the line!  A fresh slice of quiche for my lunch today, a 4pack of fresh bagels and a chocolate chip cookie for me.  A hoagie sandwich for Peggy's lunch,  a bag of sourdough rolls and a chocolate chip cookie for her as well.  Our packs are uncomfortably heavy so we've chosen a shorter first couple of days out especially in light of the fact that we climb almost up to 7,000 ft elevation from Stehekin which is at 1587 ft.  12 miles puts us inside North Cascades Nat'l Park so we have to camp in designated spots and use precautions for habituated bears. (Hmmm, now why did I bring quiche with bacon and cheese in it?)
Once we located the trail north we started climbing out of the valley, feet protesting, and made our way upward past a Coon Lake.
In about 2 miles we met and stopped to talk to a young 30s hiker named Cricket, that was her real name! A real sweet girl, she was so encouraged that we were doing all the state in one hike, she couldn't get over it! 
We chatted for a long while and when I found out she wasn't going into Stehekin because of cash issues I gave her 1/2 my quiche so she could at least taste the great bakery specials. We all sat in the trail and enjoyed ourselves. 
Something in the woods was crashing around just out of sight so I got up to shoo it away.  I'm sure it was a deer but it was unnerving anyway.
After we left Cricket we met a large family group hiking out with a ranger in the rear watching over the young mom who had gone for the camp trip but had forgotten her medications for heart problems and diabetes. She was struggling and had dropped her pack a mile back but a medic was meeting the ranger at the trailhead to help her. Her husband was carrying their infant daughter maybe 6 mo. old. 
Lots of people are on the trail this close to the town, horses and riders, hikers and casual campers.
At the first designated campsite, Bridge Creek, we had our lunch from Stehekin and felt the first raindrops. Hiking once more we came to some really pretty rivers. Casual hikers have fallen away and now it's just us out here.
There's a bridge to the right where the trail goes.
This river has a bridge over it that Peggy took, I hopped over on rocks and we stopped for filtering water.
Here's Peggy on the swinging bridge.
We met a group of 3 young people collecting seeds for Forest Service reforestation projects. They had collected snow berries (not edible) and Saskatoon berries (edible). They skipped across the rocks like only the young can do, sigh.
We had 4 more miles to our camp that ended up being some forest with brushy hillsides around and down to the camp. It was 1/8th mile down a steep track to the copse of trees and river.  The ranger had warned us of possible bear activity in these designated areas so we were to use the wire to hang our food and scented items. 
My tent is set up here and you may be able to see the food hung on the bear wire beyond my tent. 
As soon as we got the tents up it started raining. There was a small spot under a tree by my tent that didn't get rain so we staged our food for dinner there  then went to bed after hanging our food bags. 
We've decided if we wake tomorrow and it's raining we'll wait to see if it stops and then get up. 
Also of concern is a washout toward the end of this next section that has an alternate trail posted.  We can take the alternate or we can talk to other hikers we meet,  pump them for info then make our own decision.
It's raining now.



A Zero Day in Stehekin

8/26/13
PCT mile - Stehekin - no hiking!

I forgot to mention that last night for dinner we were joined by Pigpen, who I mentioned earlier, and another thru hiker named Tare Bare who we would see later in Manning Park Canada. Both professional men and good conversationalists although we all looked ragged and homeless, Peggy and I are showered and laundered and feel so much better! 
I slept until 9 am, Peggy had been up, eaten her pastry and checked at the post office for our packages.  I got up, hobbling on feet that felt beaten, snarked down my cinnamon roll and got dressed. There were chores to do!  First was drying out my tent & both our ground sheets in an out of the way place. When I got back the Post had opened and Peggy had our resupply boxes.  We repacked our food, noted what we needed to buy and went to the store for supplies. Not much was there but I bought some things that would supplement the food I'd already packed. Made reservations for dinner again, got a permit to camp in the North Cascades Park the night we leave here, found the computer that is available to guests and contacted family via email since there is no cell service here. 
You get the picture, chores and eating were primary concerns and took a lot of our time.  When on the bus to dinner we had great conversations with guests, people who were interesting to talk to and many interested in our adventure. We were set to leave on the 8 am bus tomorrow to High Bridge Ranger Station where the trail headed north.

Sorry no photos, my phone was requiring me to delete programs in order to have  enough room for photos for the last 7 day section.

A Race To Stehekin For The 3:00 Bus

8/25/13
PCT mile 2564-2580 (Stehekin) -16 miles
 
It was cold last night! When I woke in the night and looked outside there were stars all over the sky with a bright half moon.  I didn't think it would rain. 
The tent had condensation inside and out that I had to deal with plus I forgot to set my alarm.  We'd wanted to get an early start, we needed to catch the 3:00 bus into Stehekin this afternoon. RATS!
We were hiking at 7:10 after scrambling to get up and out.
Our first sight after getting off the mountainside was a small bridge that was pretty useless but I thought it made a vivid picture of how hard winter is on the trail itself.  Keeping the PCT in good shape takes effort from many volunteers.
 
The morning light washed out the photo but this is a log bridge that worked perfectly. The part in the foreground are the tree roots and way at the end in the blue is Peggy having crossed safely.

Coming down off the mountains we ran into brush as high as our heads, some wet with dew. 
For much of the morning we hiked beside the beautiful, aqua colored Agnes River that eventually enters a gorge then runs parallel to the Stehekin River before joining it. 
We raced today, only stopping for quick breaks but we never seemed to make better than 2 mi/hr. Argh!
 We passed the 2 older guys and only saw them in Stehekin later that evening as they were eating dinner getting ready to leave on the boat and sail down Lake Chelan to the real world.  Their hike was finished. 
We knew we were nearing the end when we began the switchbacks down to the forest floor and came out on the bridge over the Agnes River.
The post says North Cascades National Park which is where we'll be hiking after this. 
This little plant is all over the forest in many of our different sections. We've missed the small white flower stage but kept seeing the bright blue pearl on a long stem.  It's called Queen's Cup or Clintonia Uniflora part of the lily family that produces this  lustrous, deep blue fruit. I loved seeing them and snapped the photo in the mad rush to get to Stehekin.
This is the Stehekin River that we had to cross on a bridge to get to the High Bridge Ranger Station. We waited at a picnic table for the 3:00 bus which arrived on the dot.  We boarded for a $6 fee/person and rode through the Stehekin community which stretches out along the river to Lake Chelan.   One arrives at Stehekin by boat at a landing where you can stay in a small hotel, at a cabin, or in your tent  to enjoy hiking, dining, fishing, bike rides, camping,  a superb bakery and much more.    I, unfortunately, didn't take photos of Stehekin but can tell you I want to go back and spend time in that most unique place. I really enjoyed the beauty, right on Lake Chelan and the idea of being free to fish or raft the river, take SHORT hikes :-)
and visit their huge garden or bee keeping and cheese making enterprises (and more) is compelling. If you're looking for a great get away Stehekin may be something to research for yourself.

We were able to locate a room in their hotel for 2 nights, make a dinner reservation, shower and do laundry (Thanks to Peggy!) before dinner at 7. At 8pm we attended a ranger talk about native Americans and their use of local plants which Peggy and I both enjoyed. 
Then it was clean sheets and the promise of a bakery cinnamon roll for breakfast (we'd purchased pastries on our drive to The Landing!!) that lulled us to sleep. 


A Look At Our Future

8/24/13
PCT mile 2550 - 2564   - 14 miles

One more overnight and a day of hiking will bring us to our resupply town unreachable except by foot or by boat. We are so ready to rest, I'm needing more food than I had planned, we are tired girls. 
My feet were wet all day yesterday and disintegrated any tape I put on wear spots so this morning I've decided to leave the tape off and see how I do.
Last night Peggy took glacial water out and let it sit all night to settle the silt. She then poured off what looked ok to drink and treated that with her Aqua Mira tablets. We both have 1/2 liter for the morning until we reach a good water source. I can't use my filter on this water.
The noise of the water made us miss our alarm so Peggy woke me this morning at 6, we were hiking by 7:15. 
We took one last look at the Suiattle River.
See the high banks of ash and some devastation from past floods that necessitated the new bridge being built.

It seemed to take forever to get past the river today and we took a wrong turn for 1/4 mi.  It just didn't feel right so when I checked my GPS and found we were off trail we traipsed back and made the correction.
Climbing slowly from the low elevation of the river through lovely forest with the occasional big Douglas Fir, we caught a last glimpse of Glacier Peak.

  After awhile we rounded a corner in the forest, double checking our GPS for the exact spot in the first 5 miles of hiking today to celebrate our 400 mile mark!
Hooray!
We took a break, laid out wet socks to dry and snacked. 
Along came a distance hiker named Pigpen who had started near Ashland, Oregon and was going to the Canada border. I suspect he hadn't spoken to anyone for awhile but once he stumbled around for his first words he had lots to say. A real interesting man who'd been an electrical engineer but was now a confirmed wanderer with no home address. He's been wandering the world's hiking trails for 9 years. 
Then came the 2 older men we've been leapfrogging with for days who stopped to chat, they told us they admired us for undertaking Washington.
We continued up the trail with the sky looking like it might rain. Stopping at a river for water the 2 men passed us again.  It was really looking like rain so we pushed on.  
Peggy has been taking photos of mushrooms along the way, some are really bizarre looking   We saw probably one of the weirdest on this trail, a white round growth close to the ground with red syrupy-looking drops coming out of the top like blood droplets! I didn't take a photo but Peggy did, we later looked it up in a book and found it was poisonous (of course) and was called Strawberries and Cream!
We crossed lots of streams today of varying width, here's one bridge over water that we used.
We are pushing to get to Suiattle Pass but there are blueberries and huckleberries clustered along the edges of the trail as it climbs higher and higher.
We picked handfuls, eating as many as we could then putting some into a big leaf in the middle of the trail to encourage the 2 older guys that are struggling behind us to make it up the hill.  There was a young hiker coming south, we asked him not to step on the berries when he came to them.  We found out later that the young guy met the 2 men & told them we'd left them a present, we got a thank you from them days later in Stehekin!
Rounding an uphill part of the trail we saw an amazing view of surrounding peaks that surprised and encouraged us.
I couldn't wait to see more!
Reaching the pass it was time to take stock of what was before us, big clouds and blue patches of sky and a valley that stretched before us ending in Stehekin down there somewhere... our last resupply town!
Hiking down from the pass we came upon a boulder field and wanted to rest and enjoy the view.  A voice said "Sit, there's lots of room."  There were 2 40 something men out weekend hiking, really excited to be in this beautiful place too.  They were fun to talk to and completely wowed that we were hiking all of Washington at one time. We enjoyed listening to these men talk about their trip and what fun they were having out here.
Moving on downhill we ended up going over and around mountainsides into new valleys.
Going deeper into this boulder field I found a huge rock to have fun with.
I'm pushing it apart with all the bicep strength I've built up on this hike!
More huge boulders that amazed me with their size. The trail goes through these two.
More views at where we're going tomorrow, it looks rugged.  Yikes!
Pasqueflowers are in all the high alpine mountains.
We climbed another mountain and dropped into the area we'd planned to camp. It's in a tiny meadow below the trail just under the tall peaks and snowfield of this mountain. It's sure to be a cold, damp place to camp but the only camp marked on the maps for 2 tents -so we're stopping. 

Looking up to the peak from our tents; the peaks and snowfield.

There was a small, little stream where I filtered water for us.  
The sky was clear and stars bright in one part of the sky, the other had a dark cloud looking heavy with rain.  It's a toss up whether or not it will rain tonight.