Category: PCT Thru Hike

1. At mile 2464.2. Hiked 10.3 miles today.

Today I hiked into Stevens Pass and hitched a ride for the 14 miles to Skykomish where I stayed at Cascadia Inn. 

With a morning start at 5:20 am the air was not moving and the mosquitoes were harassing me the whole way. I hiked past several lakes and a long way through the ski area at Stevens Pass. The bartender in Skykomish later told me that Vail Resorts had just bought the ski resort and were closing the deal in a month. 

While in town there was a lot of discussion about how to get around the trail closure for the Lake Bannock Fire. My choice is shuttle from Holden Village to Lady of the Lakes Ferry up to Stehekin. There are at least 2 other choices and actually many more when using combinatorial mathematics and taking into account various possibilities of  trails, shuttles , and ferries. Some are more purist for PCT hiking than others. Everyone has their own idea on what it means to hike the PCT.

Planning is a little difficult since I have no definite info on the shuttle. I need to make sure Inhave enough food in case I get “stuck”.

Skykomish is a cute tiny town. Nice place to visit and stay the night.

 

At mile 2455.9. Hiked 21 miles today.

Today I visited many lakes. I woke up and broke camp at Deep Lake. I ate lunch and soaked my feet in Deception Lake. I swam in Glacier Lake and tonight I am camping at Mig Lake. 

Here is Deep Lake from my campsite.

Here is Deep Lake view after having climbed toward Cathedral Peak.

After the morning climb, I could see Cathedral Peak up close.

I climbed Again to Piper Pass and came down through this rock field.

From Piper Pass I could see Glacier Lake below.

I was soon at Glacier lake where I cooked off with a short swim. Here is where I took a dip.

After yet another climb I could see Trap Lake with water so clear, I could see boulders on the bottom.

With tent set up at Mig Lake, I began cooking Chicken and Dumplings dinner when I was surprised to see Nuts and Two Meals come hiking by. Nuts plans to be in Canada on the 14th. I think I may be there on the 17th or even 18th.

Here is Mig Lake view from my campsite.

At mile 2434.9. Hiked 25.7 miles today.

There was a lot more smoke today so I wondered whether the lightening yesterday afternoon had caused some fires. 

Early in the day I passed this waterfall from the outlet  of Spectacle Lake.

This was a day of descents and climbs. After the first climb, I could view the range I had been on earlier in the day. I ate lunch at this beautiful spot.

The climb had made me hot so that when I came across this lake I filled my water bottles and jumped in. Cold!

 

This is the campsite where our group camped in 2015. It is close to the Waptus River. We had a very short day so I relaxed here listening to a recorded book. That was 2015. No relaxing in 2018. Over the same ground, I hiked further today than it took us 2 days to cover in 2015.

I camped on the shore of Deep Lake. Southbound hikers advised that this was the best spot to camp to avoid mosquitoes. They were right! This was the only small mosquito-free zone in this major mosquito area. It pays to get info from SOBO’s.

Here is the Yellow Cedar tree. Yay! I learned a tree. I love the drooping branches. This tree has a unique vertical bark pattern.

At mile 2409.2. Hiked 16.1 miles today.

I took my time at the Summit Inn organizing and running errands and eating another meal at the Summit Pancake House. With late breakfast, I didn’t feel that I needed to pack a lunch for today. I sorted through my resupply and took out some food items to lower the weight. I snared a dark chocolate bar and small tuna from the hiker box. I donated a large tuna, oatmeal, tortillas, etc to the hiker box. After reviewing everything, I felt that I had the right amount of food. My hiking goal today was to go a few miles more than 12. A 12-mile day would leave me 20 per day for the next 3 days to Stevens Pass. By hiking a little more than 12 today and a little more than 20 each of the next 2 days, I could hike a short day into Skykomish where I would enjoy the lodging and town food.

The first 7 miles of trail north of Snoqualmie was overrun by trail runners and day hikers walking to Kendall’s Catwalk. The Catwalk is a portion of the trail cut into a cliff and I suppose that it isn’t for people that don’t like walking on precipices. It really isn’t a sheer drop off at the edge and the trail is wide. The edge of the Grand Canyon is scarier. Another thing that invokes more fear is rounding a bend on the ascent only to be surprised by a runner hurtling downhill. I had to do a quick step or two to avoid collisions.

A view on the long climb toward Kendall’s Catwalk.

Straight ahead and around the corner is Kendall’s Catwalk.

A view looking back (south) at the Catwalk.

Ridge Lake. Dan and Kathy Bowden and I and about 7 others spent a rainy night here on the last night of our week-long hike in July 2015. My tent leaked that night and I was sleeping in a puddle of water. I threw the tent in the next trash bin. I have no patience for leaky tents.

Back to the present. I refilled my water bottle here with a dead fish nearby. Yum! Extra chlorine for that bottle.

The way forward. Nothing boring today. Only the spectacular!

Another lake.

Daily trail photo.

Part of a long traverse below Chikapin Peak. Probably the most spectacular long traverse on the PCT.

View looking back on Chikapin traverse. Catanka caught up with me near the beginning of this traverse and we hiked it together. I last saw Catanka at Rock Creek before Trout Lake. He has been hiking the PCT along while adding many side trips. The only reason I was ahead of him at this point was that he had taken time off to hike around Mt Ranier on the Wonderland Trail. It amazed me that he could complete the Wonderland Trail while hiking the PCT and already caught back up with me. Most people take a week to hike Wonderland. Catanka plans to hike the PNT (Pacific Northwest Trail) as soon as he reaches Canada. As I stumbled uphill on loose rock, Catanka led the way while talking nonstop about his planned side trips. He kept moving along briskly without seeming to feel the need to breathe. This dude is one super-excited and energized Hiker.

Over the crest of the traverse and on a new view and new traverse.

New views over the top are always exciting. What’s on the other side? That is what keeps me hiking.

Clouds building.

I heard a lot of thunder and started hiking faster. Every tent site I passed was taken. That was okay with me because more miles today meant fewer miles on my last day into town.

 

 

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At mile 2393.1 (Snoqualamie Pass). Hiked 11.1 miles today.

It rained last night and I slept well to the sound of rain. Awake in the predawn, I crawled out of the tent into the rain and headed toward the cathole I had dug the night before. It was around the end of a large fallen tree. As I rounded the tree, I tripped over the broken off end of the tree and landed flat on my face right into the wet ground directly in front of the cat hole. Not a good start to the day.

The last 6 miles of the trail into Snoqualamie was torture to walk. It was full of rocks and roots and very inconsistent which made it hard to get a rythme. It was a trail that you had to think about as you walked it. I could hear the Interstate Highway below for several miles. The rain didn’t help. After what seemed like a long time, I looked down a ski slope to the Summit Inn where I had booked a room for the night. Room for the night! Summit Pancake House! Yep, this is good. I had returned to Snoqualamie after 3 years. The weather had been the same on my visit in 2015 … low clouds hanging around the surrounding mountains.

This is Mirror Lake. I had considered this spot for camping last night, but it would have made a 34 mile hike yesterday which was doable, but I thought it wiser to limit my day to 30 miles.

This is the detour for the Bannock Lake  fire. The PCT is closed for 20 miles from Suiattle Pass to High Bridge. The reroute is 28 miles. 

The 2nd fire I may need to deal with, the Cutthroat Fire, with a detour at Rainy Pass has been contained and will be re-evaluated for trail opening this weekend.

At mile 2382. Hiked 30.3 miles today.

The cloudy day made it cooler which made it easier to hike. The clouds grew heavier late in the day and between walking in woods and cloud obscured views, there weren’t spectacular vistas to photograph. Nevertheless, dripping woods and blowing clouds were beautiful.

Here is another view of Mt Ranier as I leave it behind.

Here is the trail.