Days 82-89

Day 89, August 28, mile 2368.7-2394.2, 25.5mi
Woke up to sun and a clear day!! Not a cloud in the sky. I woke up just before the sun popped over the horizon and had a gorgeous view east with some tall jagged peaks sticking out. As I hiked along I also had some good views of Rainier, at last!! Last night I had noticed some orange flagging on the trail and today I discovered why, there was a 100mi race taking place today. I hit an aid station in the morning and they were setting up but gave me a banana and cookies, woohoo!! Maybe 15mi later I perfectly timed another aid station. The last runners were coming through and they were cleaning up so let me gorge on smoothies, candy, cookies, and PB&J’s! I hiked on, seeing lots of day hikers not too much further around a beautiful lake. I had a good day and enjoyed the sun being out. I took a shortcut down to Snoqualmie Pass on the ski slopes and I’m splitting a hotel room with Balloons, who I camped with last night.

Day 88, August 27, mile 2334.1-2368.7, 34.6mi
Woke up to rain, wind, and mist so I spent some of the morning in my tent eating breakfast and hanging out. I wasn’t on trail until 8am. The whole day was misty and cloudy though it didn’t rain too much overall but a constant drizzle of mist. Some highlights include: coming upon a cabin with a fire going inside, meeting littlefoot a 5 year old hiking the trail (she seemed happy, maybe a bit tired), and seeing a badger or weasel squeaking high in a tree but curious about me. I spoke to only a few other southbound hikers today and it was kinda lonely and cold. I think this stretch would have had excellent views if I could have seen them but it was all clouds. I had maybe 7min of sunshine. Camping where views would be great and had good dinner conversation with Balloons, another hiker I just met.

Day 87, August 26, mile 2298.1- 2334.1, 36mi
What a day! I woke up not too cold and had a pleasurable stroll through some placid lakes during a foggy morning. I chatted with another hiker and while we didn’t solve the world’s problems we did acknowledge a number of them! My foot has been bothering me a bit and today I thought I may need to take an ibuprofen for the first time on the whole trail. I pushed on a bit further and the pain eased up before I could pop an Ibuprofen, phew! If I were to need to take Ibu daily to finish the trail I think I would at this point. I’ll address any outstanding injuries when I get off. I casually hit 10mi by 10am without trying to make it happen. Around there I crossed a nice creek with an American Dipper bopping around. There were two great meadows as well! I then began a gradual and not too long climb up to enter Rainier NP. I had excellent views on the way up with clouds drifting in and out of the peaks. From the the trail seemed to zig and zag along a ridge going up and down. I saw the smoke plume from the Schneider Springs fire not too far from me but the cool humid air kept the smoke from bothering me. I finished Big Sur by Kerauoc. What a depressing book and a sad guy after he wrote On the Road and Dharma Bums. I crossed Chinook Pass and hiked up and on into the clouds. It started to sprinkle around 6pm and I kept going. It never fully rained but did cool down a bit. The last stretch I hiked through an old burn area with fog while along a ridge. Kind of eerie but I saw a few hikers the last couple hours before camp. I pitched my tarp for I think the 8th time all trip. 36miles today felt pretty casual. Woohoo!

Day 86, August 25, mile 2277.3- 2298.1, 21.8mi
Man, I was cold again last night though I had one of the best campsites of all trail. I could see Adams and Rainier and some basins in the goat rocks. I woke up and was on trail by 7am freezing my way uphill. I took a PCT alternate up towards Old Snowy Peak then across an awesome ridge. From there I could see the backside of the Goat Rocks and the glaciers on the North side. This is the view of the Goat Rocks everyone loves. Super cool ridge walking. Maybe the best mile of PCT so far. All morning I had excellent views in all directions though some smoke covered Rainier. The trail descended gradually back into the forest leaving the high alpine of the Goat Rocks. A couple more climbs with good views and some descending lead me to white pass where I went in to resupply at the general store. I saw a few hours I knew and was offered a shower. I was show to leave, doing 2 miles out to a camp by a lake.

Day 85, August 24, mile 2242.5-2277.3, 34.8mi
Cold night last night. Pulled all the stops and was still chilly. Good campsite location helped me though. In the morning there was frost on the ground and ice on some rocks near the river. Wore a lot of clothes for a couple hours in the morning. Walking around Mt Adams was awesome this morning, aglow in orange with big glaciers on the side. Some beautiful meadows and flowers around it too. About 8mi in, a thru hiker was taking a break from hiking and making pancakes from a van. Sweet trail magic!! There was also a very cute lovable puppy there named Olive. I love Olive. Met a couple hikers and one I recognized from earlier in the trail. He put it together and I met him way back at Kennedy Meadows resort, around mile 1000. We hiked a bit and chatted. I found myself slowing down in the afternoon and took a break to dry my sleeping bag. Tons of berry bushes today. I then climbed up to Cispus Pass and had great views of the goat rocks. Super cool section with views of Adams, the rocks, and later Rainer. Awesome sunset and lighting of the rocks. I Hiked about 4.5mi beyond the pass and I’m camping exposed. Calm night but I think it’s going to get cold again. Chatted with a weekend hiker named Josha for an hour and a half. Cool guy!

Day 84, August 23, mile 2209.9-2242.5, 32.6mi
I was cold last night and wearing all my clothes. I think it was a combination of factors. My sleeping bag was a little damp from dew the previous two nights and the wet ground seemed to pull more heat away from me than normal dry ground. I neglected to be use my backpack as a ground insulator for my legs so that probably didn’t help. Tonight I will. I got a late start again, not on trail until 8:15 but it was nice sleeping in a bit. I think I’m in a sleep deficit from the travel, Osterling party, and the trail days event. Hopefully I’m caught up by now. The sun was out today, thank goodness! But I found myself wearing a few layers for quite a while still, not quite able to warm myself up. I took an alternate 3mi in that added some miles and vert to try and get a view of Mt Adams. I got a couple glimpses but unfortunately as soon as I started climbing some clouds rolled in. The rest of the day passed relatively uneventful with some walking in the forest and some berry gathering. I met a SOBO section hiker who grew up in San Diego and went to Grossmont! I dried my stuff out 18mi in in a big meadow, which should help me sleep warm tonight. I opted out of Trout Lake today and I’m pushing on to White Pass. I climbed the western flanks of Mt Adams and found myself dragging and distracted by the berry bushes. I had excellent views of the alpenglow on Adams, cloaked in orange and now I’m falling asleep tucked away on a knoll. Off in the way distance I can hear some rockfall.

Day 83, August 22, mile 2177.6-2209.9, 32.3mi
I slept okay last night even though it was hard and gravelly. I guess the best mattress is exhaustion! Slow start for the day since we were so tired, leaving camp at 730. It was overcast all day with some light drizzle but I never got rained on. About 6mi into the day, we were able to ditch our trash and fill up water before a big climb out. We also met a couple other cool hikers and I was able to pass some trail magic onto one of them. The climb felt good. Rugrat and I were crushing it on the up until I somehow lost her. She never caught up even though I waited a couple times for a bit. It got cold in the afternoon and evening but it doesn’t seem as cold in camp. Camping alone tonight a little off trail at Indian Heaven Lake. I saw a chestnut-backed chickadee today and I believe I heard one when I woke up in the morning. I’ve seen a number of chickadees now! How fun!


Day 82, August 21, mile 2148.1-2177.6, 29.5mi
First day back on trail after my family reunion when I took 10 days off. I hung around the PCT days Thursday night to Saturday morning. This morning I headed out around 10am with Rugrat and Ebay after a good breakfast at the bridgeside in Cascade Locks. It was hard to get going from the comfort of the indoors. We crossed the bridge of the gods and got some trail magic from a car driving across. Welcome to the evergreen state!! After a few photos we started walking. We kept a decent pace but Rugrat and I ended up leaving ebay early on. Sorry! We chatted most of the day. We crossed a few open logged areas which was pretty cool with good views. It felt good to be back on trail and right away everything was so green, tons of ferns! The weather was overcast all day but it never rained on us. Cool temps kept us walking but towards the end it was getting me a bit down. We got benighted pushing the last few miles, finishing with headlamps around 9pm. We are sleeping on a flat spot next to a car where some nice folks are camping in a camper. They offered us hotdogs but we didn’t need em. They let us use their camp chairs which is a real luxury. It’s good to be back on trail but I certainly felt today’s miles more than I thought I would. I’m tired!!