That's a Wrap - The End of the Trail for This Hiker

Trail mile: 2360.9 - 2375.5 = 14.6 miles

Elevation:  4665.7 - 4053.8

I wake up with a wet tent and everything damp, but there is a beautiful red sunrise and a clear blue sky. The fog and rain are gone.  I am very grateful for a beautiful day. 
  

Here comes the sun - finally!

A beautiful, sunny, clear day!

The day presents us with lots of steep up and down trail.  We stop at the top of a climb in a flat place to eat lunch and spread out all of our wet things to dry.  My calculation of the miles to Snoqualmie ends up being flawed.  When I catch up with Mama Bear for lunch, she is looking at her map and points out that it looks further to Snoqualmie than I had figured.  I see I made a calculation error and it will still take two days to get there, particularly since there is a great deal of climbing to do.

We drape tents, coats, sleeping bags etc on the bushes to dry in the midday sun while we eat lunch.

My left knee is more swollen when I get up this morning.  As the day goes on with all of this crazy steep up and down, the knee is killing me. I finally resort to taking an opioid pain pill I had left over from hand surgery earlier this spring.  I'm grateful to have these drugs, but wonder how I'll hike because I'm a lightweight when it comes to any sort of drug.  I only take a half tablet because I don't want to be too loopy and fall off a cliff.  The pill does make me loopy, but at least I could hike.  I start looking at my GPS for where the trail might cross forest service roads in case I have to have Marv come rescue me.  As I negotiate the trail between Tacoma Pass and Stampede Pass, I cross ten roads that are all too rough or overgrown for the truck to drive up. I finally get on a high ridge where I have cell service and I call Marv to tell him that I don't think I can hike another day on my knee.  It is getting worse and worse.  He sees a road ahead of me (National Forest Development Road 54, the road at Stampede Pass) that will work to come get me tomorrow.  We agree to meet at 9 AM tomorrow for a some time off the trail.  As I come to the road he described, I see that it is indeed a nice, wide gravel road.  I will hike back here in the morning.  I also hike under a couple of high voltage power lines, which gives me a little open area between the dense forest.

I am delighted to find some Trail Magic at this intersection.  A Trail Angel has left a bag of organic potatoes with aluminum foil to wrap them in to bake the spuds in the fire.  As good as this sounds, I don't take any.  It is too late in the day to bake a potato and I still have 2 miles to hike up a steep hill to meet Mama Bear where we agreed to camp.  I do take a handful of the animal cookies that are also there.  This is a good treat as I hike on.  At this time, Mama Bear doesn't know that my knee is worse and that Marv will pick me up in the morning.  I start the very steep climb on the other side of Stampede Pass, wondering if I'll be able to make it to the place we agreed to meet.  Or, if I'll then be able to hike back down that steep trail in the morning.  After 0.6 miles, I see one of Mama Bear's trekking poles beside a side trail, with an orange cloth tied to it.  I think this must be a water stop.  I pick up her pole and hike around the corner to see her tent set up for the night.  I am so relieved that I don't have to hike another mile and a half.  She tells me that the steep climb was too much for her this late in the day and that her feet were getting tired, so she decided to stop early.  She also didn't know if I'd be up to it with my sore knee.  I so appreciate her thoughtfulness!

I tell her about my worsening condition and the plan for Marv to pick me up.  She decides since we are almost to Snoqualmie Pass, she will get a ride to the Summit Inn with us to meet her friend, who will join her for part of the hike.  I will keep her informed as to whether I will be back to the trail after resting my knee.  Marv picks us up in the morning as planned.  The three of us have breakfast at the Summit Pancake House.  I give Mama Bear (Stefanie) a big hug and promise to look her up the next time we are in northern Idaho, if I don't see her back on the trail.

Epilogue:  My knee continues to get worse, even off the trail.  For several days, not only my knee is swollen and sore, my entire leg is swollen.  Both of my ankles and feet are also swollen.  I am faced with the fact that my hike is over.  I don't want to do permanent damage to the joint.  I've had a great adventure, but I'm also terribly disappointed. I was not able to hike every mile of the trail as I wanted to.  In fact, due to flipping back and forth and taking days off the trail for blisters and back spasms, I ended up hiking just under 1500 miles of the 2650 planned.  If I had been able to start a couple of months earlier, I could have taken my time and been in better (cooler) hiking weather for the desert, and gotten to Oregon and Washington before the fire season started.  I learned a great deal about the trail, its beauty and challenges.  I feel thankful that at age 66, I'm still capable of challenging physical endeavors.  I met incredible people who share a love of the outdoors.  The trail restored my faith in the younger generation, meeting many 20 and 30 somethings who are compassionate, smart, and thoughtful, with balance in their lives between work and play.  They were willing to share food, supplies and companionship.  I always felt welcome and included, despite the age difference.  I hope they all fulfill their goal of completing the trail.  Hike on and HYOK!

Warm Fire, Hiker Hugs and Huckleberries

Trail mile:  2344.4 - 2360.9 = 16.5 trail miles hiked today

Elevation:   4812 - 4665.7

It was a very wet, rainy, cold night, but I did stay warm.  I love my little tent and warm sleeping bag! I made a short morning video to greet the day (see below). I stayed in my warm bag later than usual because I had to talk myself into walking in the rain. I finally donned my bright pink rain jacket and pants to hike.  

As I start out, I pass a hiker going south who tells me that there are people at the cabin with a warm fire going in the wood stove.  That is enough to quicken my pace in anticipation of a place to dry out.  I had packed a wet rain fly and all my stuff is damp.  When I get to the cabin, I find it is a large, nicely built cabin with a huge supply of fire wood for hikers to use.  Cans, Boombox and Mama Bear are still there with the wood stove going. Nice and warm!  I was so glad to see them again. They greet me with big hugs, saying they were worried about me. They were hoping I hadn't had to stay in the burn area.  One thing I've loved about this hike is that people on trail look out for each other. We ate breakfast, talked, got water from creek and took selfies. 

The trail was wet and slippery.

Fog over the meadow, looking out from the porch of the cabin.

Camp Mike Urich.  Such a welcome site!

We hang up wet gear to dry in front of the fire.

 

Boombox, Cans, Mama Bear, and me.

Mama Bear, Boombox and Cans

Breakfast: Cans and me with Boombox in the background. Pic taken by Mama Bear.

I check out that all is left right in the cabin before I hit the trail.

I discover fields and fields of huckleberries, a favorite of mine.

All the low bushes in this old burn area are huckleberry bushes.

The other hikers leave me at the cabin because I have to let my rain fly dry.  I later meet up with Mama Bear down the trail as she had walked a quarter mile in the wrong direction and had to come back. We hiked together off and on and agreed to camp together that night. It was a cold wet day until near the end. At first the trail is fairly level, but eventually I break out of the forest and start climbing over Sheets Pass, followed by another 400 feet up and down over another saddle.  The bonus was that I came across acres of huckleberries, which I love. I snacked on them for about 3 hours of my hike. Probably ate close to a quart of berries. Good energy food and it was wonderful to eat something fresh, rather than freeze dried or dehydrated. Although it is still foggy and cold, it is not raining. Mama Bear waits for me at the place we agreed to camp.  However, we have to hike 1.5 miles further than planned as the place we were going to camp was taken by other hikers. This is the first time that has happened to me on the trail.  But, it turned out to be a good thing because this extra mileage brought us down lower in elevation.  Therefore, where we stayed was much drier and warmer than our original destination.  We camped in the open, hoping that we would not get wet from dripping trees.  We made a nice warm fire and enjoyed dinner and conversation as we warmed up inside and out.

Yummy Huckleberries!

Foggy, damp hike today

Tents up, fire made and dinner cooking

Bear vault does double duty as a camp stool by the warm fire.

 I was not supposed to get to Snoqualmie pass for two more days, but since I was forced to hike further than my schedule yesterday and today, I figure I only have 17.6 miles left. Mama Bear is meeting a friend at the pass who is joining her for a few day of the hike.  She suggests we try to get to Snoqualmie Pass tomorrow.  Depending on the weather and the difficulty of the hike, we’ll see if we can make that happen.  I'm hoping for a good nights sleep. My left knee is acting up off and on since that long descent out of the Sierras. It is very minor, just a twinge.  Hopefully, with some good stretching and anti-inflammatory drugs, it will settle down and I'll have a good hiking day tomorrow. 
By the way, the plan to stay dry did not work.  As soon as the sun starting going down, my rain fly was soaked and everything again felt damp, even inside the tent. I really don't care for humidity!

A Cold Wet Night

Trail mile 2325.7 - 2344.4 = 18.7 trail miles 

Elevation 5755- 4812

I am greeted by a buck deer as I crawled out of my tent this morning. He doesn't move away as I crossed his small meadow to retrieve my bear vault. He must be used to campers in the area.  Hikers this far north must be getting weary or lazy. I sleep in and don't leave camp until after 7am, but I am still one of the first ones on the trail. Some were just crawling out of their tents as I hit the trail, and I wave as I hike past. The morning started with a steep climb up to the ridge from the lake. It was about 48 degrees, perfect for climbing without over heating. It was a beautiful morning with great views of Mt Rainier.  Later, I will have a long downhill section, ending up the day at a lower elevation than where I started.

Fog settled on Sheep Lake as I hike out in the morning.

Good morning as the sun comes up.

Wildflowers along the trail.

I'm actually looking down on the clouds as I hike up.

At the top of one pass near Crystal Ski Resort, I had cell service, so I gave Marv a call. 

Looking back at the trail I just climbed up.

I turned around to see Mt. Rainier behind me again.

I feel like I'm on top of the world.

Getting even higher.

Looking down at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort

I stop in a shady area for lunch.  A few minutes later, a hiker I met yesterday, "Mama Bear" plots down to join me.  She tells me she is from a very small town in northern Idaho near Lewiston.  As an Idaho native, it is nice to meet another Idahoan.  Shortly after, another hiker, "Boombox" joins us.  He owns a construction company and is from Mount Lake Terrace, a Seattle suburb next to the one we lived in before heading out in our RV.  He is hiking with his younger brother, "Cans". We discuss all the elk tracks on the trail, plus there was fresh urine you could smell long before you got to it. Mama Bear asks if I had run into some hunters earlier, who were doing research for hunting season.  They have a scope and had seen some bull elk earlier that morning. With all the signs that were in the area, I was hoping for a sighting, but I didn’t see any. We headed out together, but as usually happens, we get spread out according to our different hiking paces (I get passed and take up the rear position, as usual).  We then meet up again at a spring as we all filled up with water. I plan to go to a tent site area near a spring 16.9 miles from where I camped last night. As we swap trail information with several hikers going south, they tell us that the place were Mama Bear and I planned to camp was in a bad burn area. I figured I would have to camp before or after the burn. Turns out that I hiked through burn area all afternoon. It was spooky and depressing, not to mention that the trail was black burned ash and sand.  With every step the black powder puffed up, covering my shoes.  I had to crawl over, or hike around fallen trees that were black. I passed the tenting area where I had planned to stay the night. I didn’t want to put down my pack or pitch my tent on the black soot. The fog was so bad that I couldn't see more than 5-10 feet in front of me most of the time.

Saw several old burn areas during the day, where new growth was coming back.

My favorite meal - crackers and tuna or salmon.  On the left are my solar panels getting full sun while I eat.

Downhill hike after lunch, ahead of me are Mama Bear, Boombox and further down
the trail (at the far right of this pic) is Cans.

Burn area before the fog rolled in.

I hiked an additional 2 miles more than planned to get out of the burn area and camped in an undesignated area. I knew several hikers were hiking to a cabin used by snowmobile riders in the winter. However, it was 2.6 miles further and I was getting cold and rained on. I decided it would be better to stop for the night and get in my tent to warm up. Now I remember why we moved out of Washington.  It is a damp, cold state.

Storm clouds gathering.

Getting very foggy, cold and damp.

Foggier still.  I didn't get pictures in the real black burn area. Too busy hiking fast to get out of there.

Made my own camp spot by clearing sticks and stones before I got completely drenched.  This was taken in the morning before I broke camp, right after I retrieved my food from 200 feet away.  Everything is soak n' wet!

Let's Do Some Climbing Today!

Trail mile:  2310.9 - 2325.7.  
Trail miles traveled today: 14.8 miles
GPS miles traveled today:  15.5 miles

Elevation:  4819 - 5755

Laid in bed until 5:30. I was so comfy, I didn’t want to get up. I know the first couple of miles are climbing up to enter Mt Rainier NP. As I start walking the temp is a perfect 48 degrees. I hike (climb) comfortably without a jacket. I am glad to see birds this morning, although still more quiet than most trails. I see many animal tracks on the trail. There are lots of little critter tracks, but also elk prints and one black bear print. I was glad to see that the bear was going the other way. 

As I climb up a steep trail, I pass into Mt Rainier NP. About an hour later I look to my left and there is Mt Rainier, so close it looks as though I can reach out and touch it. Over the next couple of hours I see it from different vantage points. My phone camera is acting up so I have to take a panoramic view and other pics on portrait setting. I later turn my phone off and then back on and that resolves the issue. Wish I would have thought about it earlier. 

Syringa - the Idaho State Flower, spills over into Washington

Hello Mr Toad on the Trail

The little blue bubble is me.  I'm nearing the top of this climb.

As I round a corner, there is Mt Rainier in all her glory!

Getting closer

Closer still!  I feel I can almost reach our and touch her.

I see more hikers today, and talk to several. I eat lunch at a lake and visit with a couple of hikers as we all filter water. I didn't get their names.  I also meet the inquisitor. It is not difficult to see how he got his name as he asks me a million questions. He’s having foot problems, so I give him some leukotape and make a few other suggestions based on my past blister history. 

Beautiful Snow Lake

Lots of wild flowers.

Lovely lake.  What you can't see are the hordes of mosquitoes!

More wild flowers.

I cross a bridge over Hwy 12 and stop at a parking area for several trailheads. The parking area is just below the PCT, and I can get rid of my garbage. I also chat with many day-hikers and families hiking up to lakes to camp and fish. I eat dinner in the parking lot as I visit with people.  Back on the trail, two small boys about ages 4 and 6 regale me with their fish stories. What fun!  I finally decide that although I’ve decided to be more leisurely in WA, I better get hiking and quit visiting so much or I won't make my camp before dark. I make Sheep Lake, my planned destination with plenty of time to filter more water and set up camp well before dark. There are lots of campers here, so I walk back from the lake just a little and I have a little area all to myself. Everyone wants to be close to the lake. Today was lots more climbing than yesterday and my feet are feeling tight and tired. I think I’m due for my 4th pair of shoes. 

Foot bridge over Hwy 12.

A look at the bridge after I cross and head for the parking area.  This is the entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park.

Pit toilets and garbage cans so that I get rid of the garbage I'm carrying.

I camp at Sheep Lake.

Flip Again - Washington - White Pass

Mile 2294.9 - 2310.9. 
Trail Miles hiked today = 16  
GPS miles traveled = 18.4

Elevation. 4410 - 4819

Previously, I've not covered every mile traveled on my blog, but I will do a day by day for the rest of my journey.  The reason will become apparent later. My last post indicated that I was done with California, so the next question is "where is Oregon?"  I was only in Oregon for a short time, as nearly all of the Oregon PCT is either on fire or has thick smoke warnings.  There are only bits of the trail here and there that can be hiked.  There are some detours around fire areas, but other areas are an up and back thing.  There was also a lightening fire in southern Washington, just south of White Pass.  The decision is made to flip again and start hiking north from White Pass for now and complete Oregon after the fire situation improves.  This is a bummer, as I was to hike part of Oregon with my daughter in the next week or so and I was really looking forward to the companionship. 

After difficulty finding a campground that our RV will fit into, we spend the night. In the morning, Marv drops me off at White Pass and I start hiking about 7:30. As I get out of the truck, my prescription sunglasses break in half at the bridge.  Great! I borrow Marv’s sunglasses that have readers that are not the correct strength, but better than nothing.

At trailhead, it directs each PCTer to fill out a wilderness permit and write down every place I intend to camp each night. Luckily, I had typed an itinerary for all of WA.  I've decided to slow down a bit and hike less miles per day.  I want to take more time to take pictures and enjoy my days.  I have fairly easy hiking today. A little up and down, but nothing extreme. Lots of pretty meadows and lakes. After hiking awhile, I notice that this forest is dead quiet. It spooks me a little. Who ever heard of a forest with no birds chirping? It isn’t until afternoon the I hear a woodpecker and see a couple of other birds. It is very strange. I pass several ponds, Cortright Creek, then Buesch Lake and Pope Lake. I eat an MRE beef stew lunch (which was yummy) and got water at beautiful Snow Lake. I chat for a few minutes with a hiker named "Nuts," named because he is always munching on nuts.  We exchange fire information, and he looks up at the sky and says a storm is coming.  I look up and see nothing but blue sky and a few white wispy clouds.  I've been so lucky with weather and I voice that I hope he is wrong.  I wish it weren't so early, as I'd love to camp here.  It is glorious!  I could take a swim and relax in the sun.

Starting at White Pass in WA

Dense forests and nice trail

I pass several beautiful meadows

Several clear lakes.  Water is warm.

Yep!  Still on the right trail.

Later, I had to cross Bumping River. It is wide and the water is deep and fast. There are some rocks that could serve as stepping stones, but they look too far apart and slippery.  I could change into my water shoes and walk across, but it looks scary, so I look for another way.  I see a huge tree fallen over the entire river so I hike upstream to see if I can use that to cross. I see a path and pole marks on the log showing that others have done just that. The log is fairly big and it would be no problem without a 30 pound pack to balance, plus it is at least 10 feet down if I were to fall. I take tiny calculated steps making sure I have good footing and balance before shifting weight onto the forward foot. I make it across, but the old heart is going pretty fast from nerves by the time I get across.  I lean into a tree, take deep breaths and steady my nerves before hiking on.  

It doesn't look like it, but the river was deep raging and about 30 feet across and the log at least 10 feet above the water.

Another gorgeous meadow with wandering stream.

OK, here we go again.  Up, up, up!

WOW! Peaceful Buck Lake.  I'll camp above the left side of this lake tonight.

Mosquitoes were bad all morning.  I had to hike with a bug net over my head until noon. When I stop for the night, there are a few mosquitoes at camp because I’m right above Buck Lake.  I find the perfect spot for my small tent, and crawl in away from the little vampires!  I camp alone tonight.  I had 1 nobo pass me midday and about 4 sobos. That’s it. I thought I’d see a lot more people. I will enter Mt Rainier National Park in the morning. 

I eat a ranch flavored tuna packet with crackers for dinner. Dessert was a squeeze tube of peanut butter on the rest of my crackers. These are some of my favorite things, the food I’m not tired of yet.

Tucked back from the trail.

The bear vault sits in front (jar with black lid).  You can see how big it is.  Takes up most of the room in my pack.