Day 128: Trout Lake
Date: Thu 8/23
PCT Start Mile: 2197.8
PCT End Mile: 2228.9
PCT Mileage for Day: 31.1
Total PCT Mileage: 2228.9
The Highlights: 2200 miles, mellow hiking, Trout Lake
What a difference a day can make. Today’s terrain was easier, the weather was cooler, and we even had blue skies in the afternoon for the first time in I can’t even remember how long. Since somewhere back in the Mt Washington Wilderness in Oregon.
Hitting the trail around 6am, it was only a couple miles before we hit 2200 miles. Woot!!! Only 450 miles to go!
The morning started a bit cool, but actually grew cooler throughout the day and into the afternoon. After the past two hot days, we were pretty happy about this change in weather. This was more the Washington we’d expected.
Our hike started with a moderate climb in the morning, though the majority of the rest of the day was pretty mellow, the trail taking us through forests of pines and burn areas, as well as by several lakes, some misty in the cool weather.
We took our lunch break along a gravel road along with a few other hikers, including MacGyver (the guy one, there are also two girls with this name, and probably others) and Lucky Duck.
Lucky Duck shared a joint with an older couple that had pulled their battered pick-up to the side of the road. The woman had long black and gray streaked hair that ran all the way to her backside and, with her teeth out, I couldn’t understand a word she said. The man proudly displayed a homemade backpack frame he’d made from wood, explaining how it could also be used as the frame of a chair or tent. He had a big bushy beard and thick sweater for the cool weather.
He and the women were about to go huckleberry picking to make some pies. Their small dog, Wimpy, ran around, following the smells of hiker food, weed, and nature. Eventually, they waved us all goodbye, wishing us well on the rest of the trail, and headed down the road in their truck.
Shawn and I took short naps after eating and were back on the trail a bit before 1:30pm. The day continued to be mostly mellow except for one climb toward the end, about 2.5 miles, but even this wasn’t too bad, the steeper sections broken up by more gradual switchbacks and relatively flat sections. The day ended with 2.5 miles downhill to FS Road 23, from which we would access the town of Trout Lake.
We hadn’t originally planned on going into Trout Lake, thinking we had packed enough food to get us all the way to White Pass (the next stop up the trail); however, after reassessing food supplies Shawn realized he didn’t quite have enough. Even with an extra ramen I gave him. It didn’t really matter too much, going into Trout Lake wasn’t a big deal, and now we looked forward to the prospect of sodas and hot food.
We arrived at the road a little before 6:30pm. Two other hikers sat at the roadside, their report a bit grim: they had only seen two cars go by in the direction of Trout Lake in the last half hour.
At the very least, there was a note nailed to a post at the road that said they had started a shuttle service down to Trout Lake – literally today – and the next and last shuttle for the day would be arriving at 7:30pm. It was beginning to look like we’d probably be waiting for the 7:30 shuttle.
Just after we had arrived, another hiker had come down the trail, and shortly thereafter MacGyver arrived. And so, we waited with MacGyver and the three others – Buffalo, No-No, and Chef.
Buffalo eventually headed down the trail, not actually needing a hitch. She had mostly just stopped to chat with No-No. Then there were five. We chatted. No-No was from North Carolina and Chef from Seoul, South Korea. We told her how much we loved the food there.
And speaking of food… with another 45 minutes to go until 7:30, and it not being likely that we’d catch a hitch before this, we started breaking out our dinner stuffs. I was just eating lunch leftovers and other cold stuffs, so not hard to munch on while we waited. No-No busted out her cook stove and set to making ramen. If anything would bring a hitch, it would be the fact that we all inconveniently had cook and food stuffs out. And, sure enough, it wasn’t long before a white van pulled over. Yay! No “free candy” sign, so it was totally legit. Totally safe.
Our hero was Hal, a river guide, and his girlfriend. Calculating that they could probably make it work to cram all five of us into their van, his girlfriend hopped out and began rearranging everything in the back of the van to make us fit.
Meanwhile we quickly packed up any food stuffs we had out and shortly all five of us were squeezed into a space that was about a quarter of the back of the van. Hikers will contort themselves in any way necessary to get a hitch. Crammed in the van and headed down the road, Hal’s girlfriend (never got her name) asked us if her open window was bothering us in the back. “No,” we answered. “Trust us, you do not want to close that.” They laughed. Don’t worry, they said, there is no one stinkier than river guides. Don’t be so sure.
In Trout Lake, they dropped us in the parking lot near the cafe and we thanked them heartily for the lift before heading down the block to the General Store, where all the other hikers were congregated.
Here, we got the low down from one of the clerks. Their camping space behind the General Store was full up, so those of us that had just come in would need to go up the street and around the corner a block to the First Presbyterian Church, where we could camp on the grass behind the church. She also noted that the back door of the Sunday School building was open, and there was a bathroom inside with toilet and sink that we could use.
She gave us a few other tidbits of info and then left us to our shopping. Shawn and I collected the extra food stuffs we needed for the hike to White Pass, along with a few snacks and drinks for the evening, and headed up the road to the church to set up our tent.
Trout Lake wasn’t so much a town as a… hamlet. Very tiny. The church was only a couple of blocks away. There was plenty of space behind the church and we had our choice of spots in the dried out lawn. It was actually a great gig over here. There were only a few of us, lots of space, a covered picnic table area with lights and outlets, and it would be nice and quiet. The General Store lawn was absolutely packed with hikers.
The only thing we couldn’t figure out was the bathroom situation she had mentioned to us. All of the Sunday School doors were locked. All of the church doors were open, though both No-No and I checked and there was no bathroom in the church. It was a very small old church which basically had a main chapel and a small back room. Nothing else. Curious, but we are hikers. If we needed to #1, we could hide behind a tree, and for anything else we could just go back down to the General Store to use a porta-potty.
While we were sitting at a picnic table, a car drove up. A lady got out and waved at us and then went into the Sunday School. As long as she had been friendly and waved, I decided to go in and ask her about the bathroom we were told we could use over here. Her name was Judy, and she was very happy to have us at the church. I asked about the bathroom and she was surprised that the back door was locked.
While I was chatting with her, a hiker I hadn’t seen at the church came out of a bathroom in the corner, walked across the main room, and through a door at the rear of the building. At first I thought maybe this was the back door that was supposed to be unlocked. Hmmm… maybe we were mistaken. Maybe it was unlocked and we just hadn’t pulled or pushed hard enough? Judy and I went toward the back, talking about making sure the back door was unlocked for us.
Entering the door the hiker had just went through, it turned out there was a small room at the rear of the building, and he had his sleeping mat and sleeping bag set out and was set up to sleep back there. Ummm…weird. So, I asked Judy again if the rear door was the one that should be kept unlocked. The hiker was suddenly very vocal. “No. This door cannot be unlocked. I am sleeping back here. If it is unlocked, people will walk in and out all night long.” He reiterated again that the back door had to be locked. I’m thinking, ummmm… so what? Why are you even sleeping in here? Who said you could do that? And because you are, the door needs to be locked? I didn’t say any of this, but probably rolled my eyes at him.
While he’s talking to Judy, I’m putting two and two together. The back door had been unlocked for hikers to use the bathroom, and then this jackoff came in, decided he was going to sleep in here, and locked it so no one could come through and disturb him. He had even heard several of us trying to get in earlier. Judy was beyond nice and said that she would leave the main door unlocked so that the hikers were able to access the bathroom, and this way sleeping beauty would also be undisturbed. She was too nice. The guy sleeping in his own little private room, which he decided he could just commander – total tool bag. What a piece of work.
Other than this little bathroom incident, staying in the church lot was perfect. Quiet and peaceful, and we could hear a small river running nearby. It’s cold out tonight and I’m snuggled deep in my sleeping bag. Going to be a great night of sleep.
