The post PCT Day 148 – Completion appeared first on Yeti Hikes.
]]>Start: Grider Creek Campground
Finish: Seiad Valley, CA
Daily Mileage: 6.9
PCT Mile: 1657.5
So this is it, last day on the PCT to finish my solid footpath from Mexico to Canada. Honeybun and I got up as normal since we were so programmed for it by this point. Can’t sleep in because we have hit the trail at 6 for so long.
But we weren’t hitting trail today. The trail went down a gravel road that eventually turned paved for the remainder of connecting my footsteps. Just because a trail is road though doesn’t mean it is all bad. We saw wild turkeys and enjoyed some of the quirky remote houses on the hike down.
Then it was just another short quarter mile to the Wildwood RV Park where we ended our hitch when skipping from Etna to Seiad. Arriving meant that I completed my contiguous footpath from Mexico to Canada! We cracked our beers one last time and squatted on the front porch of the park stealing some wifi for the last time.
The end of these hikes can take a while to set in for me, and this was one of those occasions. After hiking for 5 months straight and becoming a way of life, it is hard to believe that I am finished. Almost every day I have gotten up and hiked, but now I won’t be doing that anymore. It will be an enormous change to go back home and have plumbing, a refrigerator, food and water on demand, a bed, climate control, unlimited power, and all of the other luxuries that most people consider mandatory as part of “normal” life, but I’m sure I will adjust quickly as always.
Well, that is the end of my hike. Honeybun and I drove back home along the Oregon coast, taking a little more time than our dash down to CA.
This will end my journal for the PCT, but I intend to keep writing on this site. I want to put out a lot more information on how to hike, gear choices, and the things that you don’t see on the internet when you are trying to figure out how a thru-hike works. Stay tuned to this site as I get settled in back home for much more information on thru-hiking.
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]]>The post PCT Day 147 – Marble Mountain appeared first on Yeti Hikes.
]]>Start: Shackleford Trail
Finish: Grider Creek Campground
Daily Mileage: 31.9
PCT Mile: 1650.6
We continued down the ridge as always through real forest. We could see Marble Mountain, the namesake of this wilderness area approaching with its completely bald white marble rock face which looked incredible. However, the trail stayed in the trees and didn’t give us a good view. Sometimes it just does that, requiring you to take a side trail or go off trail to see what you are hiking right next to. Frustrating, but we didn’t really have the time to go and explore just like most other hikers. We would have to settle for the partial views of the area.
We stayed in the forest past some lakes and an old cabin with a wood burning range still inside, but locked by the forest service. So many restrictions.
We continued skirting the ridge until the trail started to drop. This was a big drop though, and the final descent of the trail. It would drop 5,000 feet over the next 20 miles or so into the Seiad Valley.
Starting down we passed numerous campsites. Deer were hanging around all of them, and we were reminded of our days in California with the deer desperately seeking hiker pee for the salt content. These deer would even approach us when we were going to the bathroom. A bit too friendly, and it continued the entire way down with style curious and interested deer along the trail and near almost every camping area.
Nearing the bottom of the descent I saw something black dash through the forest and shoot up a tree right next to the trail. After we looked around we realized it was a black bear cub with a slightly larger bear standing off in the distance. The bigger bear still seemed small, but we guessed it might have been mama. I have heard way too many times in my life to stay away from bear cubs because of mama, but this time mama didn’t seem to care since the cub was safely up a tree, so we took our time taking pictures before moving on.
Since we have been largely targeting 30 miles days as a baseline as of late, we thought it would be a good idea to do one last 30 for old times sake before we lose our conditioning. Given that half the day was downhill, that didn’t seem too challenging, and we cruised our way right to it. We got to the Grinder Creek Trailhead and campground where we spent the night, a short 6 miles from completing the trail. It was our last opportunity to stop, and nowhere else would let us get our 30 miles in, so it worked out. It seemed a bit anticlimactic to have our final night on the PCT be at a car campground, but it was what it was, and that’s that. We left trail for the last time with the 6 remaining miles being on road.
There were a couple cars around but we only briefly saw other people while we enjoyed the luxury of a picnic table for dinner before retiring for the last time.
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]]>The post PCT Day 146 – Shelly Fire appeared first on Yeti Hikes.
]]>Start: Etna Summit
Finish: Shackleford Trail
Daily Mileage: 17.9
PCT Mile: 1618.7
Though we got in late, we were awake early since our bodies were so used to it for the past few months, and Vicki also cooked us breakfast before we hit the long road to Etna. Though we were covering only 56 miles of trail, it was at least a couple hours to get from Seiad Valley to Etna Summit since there were big mountains in the way. We had been prepared to hitch, but it was amazing that Vicki volunteered to drive us the entire way, and it made it so easy since we were already dealing with challenging logistics to complete this section.
We arrived at the trailhead and said our goodbyes. A mule team was just preparing to set out on the trail, so we hurried onto the trail to avoid disrupt them passing later on. I did my habitual taps on my pack to make sure my hipbelt pockets were zipped and water bottles present, and for the first time in forever, my water bottles were not there!
Vicki had already taken off, but we went back to check that they didn’t happen to somehow be in the parking lot. They were not, and I must have left them at Vicki’s place after filling them. First time of the trip, and at a time when we were hiking a high ridge where I didn’t want to drink any of the few water sources due to the recent use of fire retardants to help control the Shelly Fire.
There was a hiker at the trailhead waiting for a ride into town, so I asked if she had any leftover water which she gave me. It was a liter and a half and I had been planning to carry more to clear the burn area, but it was what was available, so I just had to make due.
We took off for the second time down well cleared trail that probably had a lot of recent traffic from fighting the fire. This was the start of the original fire closure, but we hiked for a surprisingly long time through good forest.
The trail definitely has a different feel to it, we were back to the big, prominent California ridges that had more of a desert feel to it than the Oregon and Washington trail we had been traveling more recently. True to form though, the trail stuck to the high ridge, just touching numerous saddles along the way, not climbing or descending more than necessary, as the PCT always does.
We passed the mule team and grabbed lunch on the ridge, hoping that my 2 day old grocery store turkey sandwich was still good. So many preservatives that it was probably fine.
After way more forest than I was expecting, we got to the edge of the Shelly Fire burn area. There were some leftover firefighting supplies and burned trees and strips of red fire retardant that had been laid down by airplanes. Though I would have rather been passing through forest, to was quite interesting to see the fresh burn. Some areas were scorched earth with powdered soil free of any nutrients, part was just quickly burned with brown needles on the trees and the skeletons of bushes on the ground, and parts the fire had just completely skipped over for no apparent reason. The entire area wasn’t burned like the maps would suggest.
However, the most amazing thing I saw was some fresh regrowth in the lesser burned areas. It is currently the dry season with very little rain, but in the areas that weren’t scorched earth, some of the bushes had already sprouted new growth from their existing rootstock that hadn’t been killed. Some was a few inches tall already, and I was not at all expecting to see something like that when this area was literally burning less than a month ago. Nature really has a way of persevering!
The trail through the burn area was completely cleared with fresh cuts on newly fallen trees. A work party had apparently just gone through after the fire and already cleaned things up to reopen the trail for the hikers, amazing! I had wondered if this section of trail would still be something no one is doing, but there was normal SOBO traffic through it, and it was quite refreshing to see the trail rebound so quickly.
I was not drinking as much water as I would have liked due to my diminished supply with my forgotten water bottles. I had considered getting water from a stream in the middle of the burn area after we hadn’t seen the fire retardant for a while, but Honeybun gave me some extra water he was carrying instead. We didn’t want to get any water that could have touched the fire retardant upstream since some formulations of that stuff has forever chemicals and can be cancer causing. No need to risk that if it can be avoided.
The burn area passed much more quickly than I was expecting, and soon we were back on the partially forested ridge again. We got to some water that seemed clear enough of the burn area with no signs of fire retardants in the area for a while, so we filled up and I was finally able to drink my fill. It was a cooler day so I didn’t need as much water, but I don’t like to feel limited on what I can drink, and I know I was still getting a little dehydrated. However, I knew I could make it work had not die, so that’s all that matters.
Then it was just a hop, skip, and jump until where we camped. We crossed another pass and stayed mostly above treeline which was nice on the ridge. Passed the beautiful but curiously named Man Eaten Lake. Some last minute climbing, and we grabbed the first acceptable dry camp on a saddle. We reached out goal for the day.
We set out to eat dinner together as normal, but clouds quickly rolled in, and soon they were blowing directly past us with a chill in the air. We escaped to our tents to avoid the damp and cold since we could, assuming it would be a wet night.
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]]>The post PCT Day 145 – Back to California appeared first on Yeti Hikes.
]]>Start: Seattle
Finish: Seiad Valley
Daily Mileage: 0
PCT Mile: ????
Today was a “zero day”, and in typical fashion the day was incredibly busy. Kate lives a ways from me, so we got up early and she drove us to my place to get my car for our dash down to NorCal. I had left it on jackstands with the wheels off, the battery on a trickle charger, and stabilizer in the fuel tank.
Kate dropped us and had to run for commitments she had. I managed to get the car started after cleaning corrosion off the battery terminals, we got the car back on the ground, and after letting it run for a few minutes after its 5 months layup, we left straight away on a Google suggested 9 hour drive down I-5 to get back to California.
These past few days in particular have been very busy with long hours of hiking and not enough sleep, so I was already running on fumes, but I wanted to finish and this stretch of trail was the only thing standing in my way.
The drive was long and had traffic and construction, but we made it down and trail angel Vicki had graciously volunteered to host us for the night in her off-grid log cabin, feed us dinner, and drive us from Seiad Valley to Etna the next day. She and her husband Andy were absolutely fantastic and I would have loved to spend more time at their place, but time was short. We arrived tired at 9:30 and had Vicki’s delicious dinner of curry stew over rice, cornbread, quiche, and home grown tomatoes before crashing well after hiker midnight, primed for hiking again tomorrow.
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]]>The post PCT Day 144 – CANADA appeared first on Yeti Hikes.
]]>Start: Hopkins Lake
Finish: CANADA!
Daily Mileage: 14.1
PCT Mile: 2655.2
I had a bad last night on the trail. My sleeping bag was wet through, and though it wasn’t cold, every time I did the rotisserie through the night, I got new wet areas of the bag on my skin which was a horrible feeling. It took me a long time to get to sleep. By the morning, the top part of my bag had dried out mostly from my body heat, but I had spent the night curled up as small as possible to keep my feet out of the wet end of the bag. You just have to make it work as a thru-hiker, and your decisions are what you have to live with without having the luxuries of town available, so I will own my mistake.
We got on the trail as normal for our last 6 miles to Canada. The trail was literally all downhill to the border, so it was a quick and easy cruise in. The trail we mostly below the trees with little to see, and wet vegetation lined the trail from the rain yesterday, but nothing could slow us down from reaching our destination.
We booked it in, and soon we saw the perfectly straight line cut through the forest designating the border! A couple more quick switchbacks down and we arrived at the famous monument I had seen so many times in pictures marking the finish to the trail. There were a few other hikers there already to welcome us in, including Zephyr and Polyphony who I had bumped into and camped with a few times along the trail.
Honeybun and I reached the monument together. We generally hike together, but after traveling together for so long, I would want to reach the destination with my hiking partner. Zephyr took our pictures and we signed the register marking the end of the trail. However, it seemed a bit anti-climactic. We were at the terminus to the trail, but we still had 8 miles to get out to a road, and then I had decided to go back to complete the one section of trail that I did not maintain a continuous footpath through since the Shelly Fire was not extinguished and the trail was reopened. Were we done, or not? We weren’t really sure. We were not done hiking, and though we had reached the terminus, I don’t think that it really had the impact it could have since we had unfinished business.
We hung out for a few minutes, but with what we had left to do, we wanted to finish out this section of trail and prepare for the next, almost like a resupply and town stop before continuing down the trail.
We walked across the border straight into Canada. There is obviously no checkpoint or customs way out here, but Honeybun and I had applied for and been approved by the Canadian Government to do a remote border crossing as it was the quickest and easiest way to finish out the trail without backtracking 30 miles with a longer drive back to Seattle at that. I also liked the novelty of passing through countries on foot in the wilderness on an otherwise tightly controlled international border. How often do you get to do that legally?
We headed into Canada and the quality of the trail immediately declined. It was narrower and there was more wet vegetation hanging over it, but we were only 8 miles from the road. We started up the last climb of the trail which was at least graded like the normal PCT, though with more blowdowns and blocked trail. Nothing could stop us though. We bashed and crawled our way through, and even had to take off our packs at one point to squeeze through some downed trees for the first time on this trail.
As we gained elevation, the trail became easier and we soon crested our last rise and started our last descent. To me, every milestone was the last one we would encounter in the trail, momentarily ignoring the fact we were bouncing back down to California shortly.
The trail got better and better as we descended, and we soon finished the last descent and started the last flat along a river out to the trailhead. My girlfriend Kate was picking us up, and I was coordinating with her over my inReach to make sure we were going to meet. We both want to meet on the trail, though for different reasons.
Kate and I have been dating for more than 3 years, and this is also my third long distance hike in that time. She has supported me on all these hikes sending packages and coordinating anything I needed back home, and has been a fantastic partner that it has seemed at times I was undeserving of spending so much time away. I tend to pick up and carry rocks as mementos of the trail. I didn’t do that too much on this trail since there wasn’t too much rock that was unique. However, as only Cookie Monster and Honeybun knew, I carried a special rock the entire way from Mexico this trip so it would have a bit of me in it.
When I met Kate on the trail, I asked her to marry me, and she said yes!
However, as I mentioned, our journey wasn’t over. We planned to finish my only skipped section of trail from Etna Summit to Seiad Valley in northern California. That trail was completely closed due to the Shelly Fire when we passed through. We had a plan to walk around the fire, but the entire region was under evacuation orders by the time we walked into Etna, so we quickly bussed and hitched around the area.
Honeybun was flying home in a few days, and we wanted to quickly hit that section of trail so he could join and we could be through it with our thru-hiker fitness.
On the way back into the USA, we grabbed new tabs for my car since my plates had expired. We got back to Kate’s and we did our normal pack explosions and get maintenance, including drying all of our wet stuff from the storm. It was later in the day, so Kate’s mom and grandma made us dinner to celebrate and help with our short schedule. Then it was off to bed for the whirlwind of the next few days.
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]]>The post PCT Day 143 – Devils Ridge appeared first on Yeti Hikes.
]]>Start: McMillan Park
Finish: Hopkins Lake
Daily Mileage: 28.7
PCT Mile: 2648.9
I awoke still tired. We have been doing a lot of miles even if they were a bit easier for a couple days on the road. We are in something of a race to the finish to get done with the trail when my girlfriend is free to pick us up without waiting 4 more day somewhere until she is next available. Honeybun and I were also ready to finish the trail and move on. We’ve been on it for 5 months, and the scenery just isn’t getting new enough to continue spending much more time out here. I would rather come back at some point when I can appreciate it more.
We had 18 more miles to reach the PCT and complete our 117 mile fire bypass. However, I knew this trail would be far more challenging than the PCT since it is lesser used and steeper. On the PCT 18 miles could be done by noon or so, but who knows what these miles of trail would have in store for us.
We set out on a morning of damp, with the vegetation closely bounding and overlapping the trail heavy with condensation, immediately soaking our legs and shoes. We were enveloped in the clouds and couldn’t see much, but it was a pleasant landscape with the eerie views disappearing into the mist.
The trail did a series of steep ups and downs following along the Jackita Ridge, and we soon arrived at the old shelter at Devil’s Park, mired in the thick clouds. Probably a nice open landscape but I couldn’t tell this time.
The ridge we were traversing was also beautiful with much bare rock at and above treeline. All of this made the steeper hiking on the less used and maintained trail well worthwhile, though slower. After booking it down a well maintained and easily graded trail like the PCT for so long, it can be mentally challenging to go at a slower pace than you are used to and see the miles not ticking right by. It is best to know that is going to happen so you are not disappointed that you aren’t making the progress you once were.
The trail kept on steep but beautiful until we reached Devil’s Pass where we took first lunch and then turned off the Devil’s Dome Loop. We rejoined the Pacific Northwest Trail on the Devil’s Ridge Trail for our last 8 miles back to the PCT. However, the landscape was changing. We were in more forest with fewer clear views. The forest appeared sick though. The trees around us were brown and dead at their tips; it was every single tree, not just something isolated. You could look out across the valley below us and see a see of brown tinged trees. I hadn’t seen something like this before, and it was upsetting that it was so widely prevalent as far as the eye could see across this wilderness area. I took pictures and figured I would report it to the forest service in case they weren’t already aware.
We soon bumped into a backcountry ranger on patrol, actually the first we had seen for the entire hike and we were on our last full day before reaching Canada. She gave us her standard speech on burying waste and protecting food from bears, but we also discussed the trees. She had noticed the dead tips and had messaged her boss about it. Their preliminary thought was some sort of moth attack, but she encouraged me to take pictures and submit my observations so they would have more information. This ranger had patrolled this trail in July and hadn’t noticed this then, so it is something that she thought had come on relatively quickly.
We continued on the less maintained but relatively clear trail, climbing up to Sky Pilot Pass where we had second lunch. This was only 5 miles from first lunch, but with the slower going it was still the right time for us to take lunch. I had wanted to get back to the PCT for lunch as a goal, but it just wasn’t going to work. At least we were able to dry our tents of condensation from the night before. The ranger said there could be rain this afternoon, so you have to take any opportunity you can to care for your gear.
Downhill and just a few more miles until we reached Holman Pass where we happily rejoined the PCT once again, with a clear path ahead to get to Canada, where nothing else should stand in our way! It was a great motivating event to get back to the trail after the days of detour around fires. We even saw our first PCT thru-hiker in 6 days since leaving Stevens Pass coming back from reaching the border.
It was amazing being back on the PCT. The treadway was easy and we could resume our normal pace, flying along at 3mph or greater. This was our normal, and after doing if for so many months it is challenging to do anything else.
We cruised up the next climb to Rock Pass. The PCT was so familiar that you could just look out over the mountains and know where the trail would head since it was in our blood now. It also stayed high as the trail does, affording its typical views over the mountain landscapes from around the ever lowering treeline. We had some great views over some of the last great mountains on the trail.
Crossing Rock Pass, the clouds were beginning to thicken and darken. Maybe what the ranger had said about rain and storms was coming to fruition. There was nothing we could do but continue on hiking. We wanted to get as close to Canada as we could to finish earlier tomorrow and allow enough time to drive home.
We climbed the barren Woody Pass where several thru-hikers were camped. It was about 6pm, but we were still going strong, motivated by our proximity to Canada. We were hearing thunder in the distance, and soon it started to sprinkle on us. We got out our rain gear since we only had one small, shallow climb left before Canada. Since my pack is made out of Ultra which is supposed to be water resistant, I made the decision to not bag my gear and let my pack do the work for the rain I expected to be short lived.
The rain picked up and we were in light to moderate rain for the next hour, though I stayed dry in my minimal rain gear. Thunderstorm cells passed around us. There was much thunder which I am now almost traumatized by since it always leads to more fires out here. However, nothing was going to stop us from reaching Canada now. I don’t care what we had to dash through or around, we were going to make it.
Most of the thunder was a distance away, but we had one strong bolt of lightning followed less than a second later by its thunder. That was pretty close for comfort, but we were in and out of trees half way up a ridge. Not the best or worst place for us to be. Perhaps we should have stopped for a bit, but we were motivated on to get to camp so we hurried forward.
Luckily, that was the only close lightning of the storm, and after an hour the rain started to taper off. We crested our last rise of the trail before Canada and started a descent to Hopkins Lake where we had decided to camp for the night. We had thought about pushing further to the last pass, but this was good enough, and seemed fitting to camp next to an alpine lake in a bowl for our last night before Canada.
We got to camp late again, but it allowed time for the rain to stop so we wouldn’t have to set up in it. There were several other hikers set up already, and it took some wandering before we found a couple sheltered spots in the trees to set up in.
When I opened my pack, I found everything soaked. Though the rain wasn’t even hard or persistent enough to wet under pine trees, it somehow worked its way through the waterproof Ultra pack material and into my gear in the short time. My down sleeping bag was more wet than I have ever had on trail for my entire 12,000 miles of backpacking. However, it was due to the decision I made to not bag my gear in the nyloflume sack I had stuffed in the bottom of my pack. I haven’t been using it on this trail due to the rarity of rain, and didn’t want to deal with it daily, wearing it out. I paid for my decision though, but there was nothing to do but deal with it.
It was getting dark and we had dinner from our tents. My bag was wet through, and cold and clammy on the inside. What a way to spend my last night on trail. But it is the last night, and I can put it in a dryer tomorrow. It was not too cold, and I can survive until morning, so there is nothing to do but try to go to bed and deal with the consequences of my decision.
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]]>The post PCT Day 142 – Diablo Lake appeared first on Yeti Hikes.
]]>Start: Bacon Creek Road
Finish: McMillan Park
Daily Mileage: 35.3
PCT Mile: off trail 2505.2
A quiet night despite our proximity to the road. Little traffic overnight, and we were up early as usual to get some miles in and through the last bit of road walk in case traffic picked up later in the day.
A quick, easy, and uneventful 10 miles into Newhalem which appeared to be a campground, cabins, and facilities for the nearby dams run by Seattle Public Light. However, all of the facilities appeared taken over by firefighters to support the nearby Ruby and Easy Fires. There were many firefighter tents and all of the temporary facilities to support these heroes. We walked quietly by to stay out of their way and let them get any sleep they could in case some were back shift.
Though most of the area was closed, a visitor center and general store were open so we could get some more “real” food instead of eating our tired hiking food. Though it meant carrying some of our food unnecessarily, it was still worth it to me to have some better tasting and different food. A firefighter even offered us his food which was too “healthy” for his liking.
Water has been a bit challenging on this road walk with sources large and coming in at low elevation from civilized areas; typically not what I like to get water from. However, these couple stores we have gone by allowed us to refill our bottles without risking collecting it ourselves.
Then we only had another 5 miles to polish off our road walking and get back on actual trail which I was looking forward to. However, at the visitor’s center, I had noticed a couple tunnels indicated for the road ahead which weren’t shown on my map. Not knowing how those would go, we booked it on to get through them while the traffic was still light.
The road got a little tighter in places and I had to step off the road a couple times to maintain safe clearance to passing traffic, but overall traffic remained light and I did not feel in danger at any time.
We reached the first tunnel which had a push button for bikers to activate flashing lights warning of their presence. We activated those, but didn’t quite clear the tunnel before they turned off at our walking pace. However, there were no vehicles as we passed through the tunnel. In hindsight we should have had our headlamps on because it got a bit dark in the tunnel.
The second tunnel was very brief and no big deal.
We reached Diablo Street where we had planned to turn off WA-20 to get on a couple smaller roads to lead us to trail. However, the road was marked closed though there was some firefighter traffic on it. Since it was clearly marked closed, we didn’t want to risk anything and continued on WA-20, hoping that we could still cut over to the trail over Diablo Dam which was our last opportunity before the road took a big swing towards the Ruby Fire. We could have kept walking 20 since it was open, but we wanted to stay well clear of the fire, smoke, and out of the way of the firefighters to keep on their good side. With us doing this detour, I do not want to foster any ill will with them since they are doing an incredibly challenging job and I don’t want to make it any more difficult. I also don’t want them to see us as entitled or annoying for those that may follow this route after us.
Thankfully, the road over Diablo Dam was open and we were able to cross the dam which is always an impressive experience for me as an engineer. To see this massive concrete structure holding back the huge lake of water behind it as it has been for many years is just incredible.
Shortly after crossing the dam we reached trail, and I was happy to disappear back into the wilderness away from civilization, and also glad that there hadn’t been some last minute trail closures posted to foil out plans. I figured from this point we would be in the clear to successfully pass the quickly growing Ruby Fire. That was a great feeling to have. After a couple days walking roads it would have been incredibly disheartening to be redirected just when we got back to trail. We had talked about maybe catching a boat across the lake if the trail didn’t go, but we really wanted to maintain our footpath.
It was great to get back into trail as it climbed up and around Diablo Lake. The trail wasn’t all that scenic, but my mood just changed with the much more pleasant scenery of forest and the narrow ribbon of treadway I am so used to following.
We walked the gravel service road for the dam through a tunnel and to gain enough height to rise to the level of the dam where we picked up the Happy Panther Trail. This trail was marked as part of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail which I hope to hike someday, but I hadn’t even realized that when looking at this route.
The trail was beautiful as it circled above Ross Lake. We could barely make out the lake below through the trees, but the trail was on the north side of a slope and the whole area had a lush carpet of moss and greenery that was bright even for Washington. It was an incredibly beautiful section of trail, and different from what we had been hiking at higher elevation on the PCT. A great change in pace and the natural scenery well made up for the road this morning.
We did meet some PNT hikers who gave us some info on the trail ahead since we still couldn’t use our hiking app for info without purchasing the PNT which seemed unnecessary given our brief jaunt back to the PCT. It was refreshing to see some backpackers again since it had been two days since seeing any, and even longer since seeing any long distance backpackers.
We finished our the Happy Panther Trail and got off the PNT by heading counterclockwise around the Devil’s Dome loop instead of clockwise on the PNT. This got us out of area requiring permits sooner, and early enough for us to camp tonight. It also avoided the massive 5,000 foot climb up Devil’s Dome from Ross Lake. I had done the Devil’s Dome loop previously in our direction, and it was very long even doing that 5,000 foot descent, not even climbing it.
We soon cleared the last of the restricted areas and reentered wilderness at the Pasayten Wilderness. We were also now definitely in the clear from the Ruby and Easy Fires since we left the last trailhead where there could have been a sign closing the trails. One last confidence booster.
Leaving the last trailhead we had already put in more than 30 miles for the day and we had a steep 3,000 foot climb over a short 2 miles. That is a very impressive grade of 1,500 feet per mile whereas the PCT tries to limit its gain to a mere 500 feet per mile. However, even after doing 30 miles we flew right up the climb, covering the last 7 miles of trail for the day in a mere 3 hours with the climb. I love the fitness we develop as thru-hikers, and it is quite a shame that it goes away so quickly at the end of a hike.
As we got to the top of the climb, the only decent camping area was already taken by weekenders, and I’m sure they thought we were nuts tearing up this mountain at 8:30pm, but it’s what we needed to do to finish out the PCT when we could get a ride home. We hiked on and set up at the first flatish spots we could find in the open McMillin Park. It was getting dark as we rolled in, so no pictures, unfortunately. It was a late night and we quickly setup camp and ate dinner before diving into our tents to go to bed.
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]]>The post PCT Day 141 – Marblemount Roadwalk appeared first on Yeti Hikes.
]]>Start: Darrington, WA
Finish: Bacon Creek Road
Daily Mileage: 32.7
PCT Mile: off trail 2505.2
As typical, we got a slower start out of town even though we needed to put in some good miles today. It is easiest and quickest to pack up in town since most of your gear isn’t set up, but it is a different environment with gear scattered around the room and the luxuries of town with cell signal, a bed, and a roof over your head.
We set out for an aggressive day of road walking to attempt to get to the edge of North Cascades National Park, so we could pass through the park without needing a permit tomorrow. The end of the trail is also drawing quite near and we had a target finish date we just pulled up 4 days since this alternate was going to take less time and our ride was available then.
We hopped onto WA-530 which was a paved road with a good shoulder. On the edge of town we passed a lumber mill with logging trucks flying in and out of it as typical. It is definitely the industry of the area.
The road was flat and had a good shoulder most of the way, but there were long straight sections where boredom quickly set in. We had an option early on to take a small road and some forest track as an alternate to the paved road, but land ownership was unclear and we would have to walk down a road for a bit before seeing if the forest road was viable, so there was risk of wasting steps and time and having to turn around. Since 530 wasn’t busy and was easy walking, we decided to stay on it. If I had more time to research this alternate, maybe the other route would have been fine, but I’ve had minimal time to study this whole reroute and there was very little information from the few hikers who did something similar ahead of us.
We crossed the Sauk River and continued along it through forest on more straight, flat road. Road can actually be more tiring and hard on the feet than even dynamic up and down trail, so we took our first break a little earlier than usual on the bank of the river. I’ve found in the past that even short breaks can help kill the monotony of road walking and also greatly help you feet recover from the pounding on hard pavement.
We reached another potential shortcut which would allow us to skip a long corner in the road and save about a mile while also getting off the pavement. It was gated land but allowed foot access. However, Honeybun noticed a leaf taped to the gate which another hiker had written on that the route wasn’t viable and continuing on the road was the way. We were impressed at the ingenuity of the hiker to use a leaf as paper and the smallest strip of tape to get their message across, and that they actually carried a pen. In a route without Farout, the hiker app, there are not many ways to pass along information to those behind you.
The road became more civilized with houses popping up alongside it. I was looking over to the side of the road when I noticed some movement in a pool in a stream. A beaver was paddling around. I had seen them from a great distance before in the wild, but this was actually the closest I had been to one. We watched for a few minutes before it dove beneath the water. Though road walks can get boring, you do see a different type of country and have different experiences than sticking to the mountain ridges all the time, so they can turn out interesting.
We ground it out for another 10 miles or so to reach the town of Marblemount. The hiking was still incredibly easy, but the road pretty straight and it takes forever to get to and see what is around the next bend.
We crossed the Skagit River and got to Marblemount which had a decent convenience store which had some “sandwiches” made with meat product and imitation “cheese” containing water, oil, and dry milk as ingredients. I would normally be appalled by something like this, but compared to the processed bars I have been eating for months straight, these sandwiches were like a juicy steak and I tore into two of them along with an adult beverage. One perk of road walking.
We had reached WA-20 which is a 2 lane road crossing through North Cascades National Park and Rainy Pass. We weren’t sure what traffic would be like on this busier road, but the road is closed near the pass due to the Easy Fire with no way for traffic to get through, so the road had few vehicles on it. The shoulder was slightly narrower at times, but there was still plenty of room, especially given the lack of traffic.
We went a few miles down the road to the very edge of North Cascades National Park and looked around for a place to camp just outside it. There was an abandoned parking lot next to Bacon Creek but it was paved which didn’t work for our non-freestanding tents. There was a great sandy flat spot below the road bridge with even a few fire rings. We almost set up there but there were an extreme amount of mouse or rat droppings around the rocks next to the bridge, so we opted to not deal with potential overnight visitors. After poking around on Bacon Creek Road, we found a couple spots that were passable and still just outside the park. Sometimes campsites will just do instead of being nice spots, but it comes with the territory.
Today was mostly a grind but we did make a ton of progress and got through most of the remaining road walking. There were some perks with the change in scenery, river walk, beaver sighting, and accessibility of food that you don’t get much on the trail, so I’ll take it along with the forward progress made.
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]]>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.
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]]>Start: Grizzly Peak
Finish: Mackinaw Camp
Daily Mileage: 29.1
PCT Mile: off trail 2505.2
Honeybun and I awoke in the clouds. There was no sign of them when we went to bed, but they were swirling around our tents when we got up.
Climbing away from camp, we were in and out of the clouds, being near the top of the cloud bank such that we were going above and below it as we went up and down slightly. The mountains in the distance were peaking above the clouds like islands in a sea of white. It’s a view that I love that doesn’t happen much in the summer here.
The clouds also made all the vegetation wet, so it was a good wakeup to get wet pants and shoes. However, this minor inconvenience has rarely happened on this trail due to the climate. It is much more common on other trails, so we are lucky we don’t have to deal with it more.
We quickly reached the summit of Grizzly Peak where we intended to camp last night. Our camp was probably better so it was no big loss. As always, the trail almost reached the summit but veered off, vying to never summit a mountain from Mexico to Canada. We took the few steps to the actual summit for the third time this trip.
The trail bobbled along a ridge for a while with small ups an downs. The trail was rocky, and I just couldn’t get my stride for the entire morning. It felt like it was so much effort to make little progress. Perhaps it is the weight of our packs loaded with food, low energy, or just wear and tear on my body taking its toll. I do have a couple toes that have been bothering me for a while, and I just haven’t given them enough of a break to do whatever healing they need. Perhaps it is the same with the rest of my body.
Though my perception of progress was slow, the mountains we were rolling through were fantastic, especially in the clouds. A few times cloud banks were pouring over mountain gaps like streams and it was just amazing.
At one point Honeybun spotted a new wildfire. We got the coordinates and sent a satellite message back home to Kate who checked and saw the fire was already identified. A little later on a spotter plane was circling it. We saw the fire for a few hours, and even in that short time it visibly grew from some small puffs of smoke to billowing smoke. The fire will probably be left to burn for the time being since it is in a wilderness area and firefighters are busy all over the state with this bad fire season which is a shame, but it is better than people’s houses.
The later part of the day was on ridge mostly above treeline affording inifinite views of the mountains, glaciers, forests, and meadows around us. Spectacular views that I love Washington for. The marmot were also out in force with one every 100 yards or so, bravely foraging until they lost their nerve at the last minute as we passed. I was really picked up at the end of the day with the great hiking.
However, all good things must come to an end, and we bade farewell to the PCT at the North Fork Sauk River Trail. There are 3 wildfires ahead, and their combined effect is to completely block our route with no alternatives as I mentioned yesterday. We turned off the PCT for I don’t know how many miles, hopeful that we can get back to it before yet another fire gets too big and cuts off our new path.
The trail went down steeply to the Sauk River where we camped in thick old growth forest. Just a little more trail tomorrow before we’re road walking for a while. It’s all part of the adventure though.
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