Start: Mackinaw Camp
Finish: Darrington, WA
Daily Mileage: 28.2
PCT Mile: off trail 2505.2
It was a dark night. We were in thick forest that was probably dark with the sun right above. Leaving at our normal time, it was almost still dark enough for headlamps.
We had 5 miles of trail to hike out to the nearest trailhead. The forest was second growth, but it appeared that there were many huge trees left behind when it was originally logged, especially some great old cedars surrounded by carpets of moss. Nice forest to see. Much of what we have been passing through on the PCT is either high elevation or previously logged, so there hasn’t been as much big old growth as I had been expecting.
It was a nice quick hike out to the North Fork Sauk Trailhead where we joined the road out and started a stretch of mostly road walking as the only feasible way around the Miner’s Complex, Pioneer, Easy, and Flat Creek Fires which joined forces to make an impenetrable wall of closures across the PCT. We are on our own with no guide and little information on what the roads are like, but that is part of the adventure.
Hiking out, we were just passing through the forest on a single land gravel road. Pleasant enough with almost no traffic, but it soon got boring as road walking can since the miles seem to stretch on with the mostly flat and straight road we were traveling.
The road ground on for a while until we came to a few miles of trail that paralleled the road through some great mossy forest next to the Sauk River. The trail was slightly longer, but I was glad we turned down it as it was a welcome relief to the relentless pavement and very pleasant to hike through the bright green forest with everything growing and thriving.
Soon after the side trail, we arrived in the town of Darrington. We found a room at a good price at the only motel in town, and got to do laundry as well.
The town stop was good and helpful since we used the extra time at the end of the day to continue researching our new route and checking road and fire statuses to make sure it was still a legal route. We are also getting very near the end of the PCT with less than 100 miles to the border, so we have end of trail logistics to plan out as well. A very busy night and didn’t get to sleep until well after hiker midnight at 11.
