Day 129: Blue Sky Day

Date: Fri 8/24

PCT Start Mile: 2228.9

PCT End Mile: 2255.7

PCT Mileage for Day: 26.8

Total PCT Mileage: 2255.7

The Highlights: blue skies, beautiful views, Mt Adams, less than 400 miles to go!

Last night I slept awesome. It was just what I needed. And, we were able to sleep in a bit, since the first shuttle back to the trail wasn’t leaving until 8am.

We were up, packed, and sitting out front of the General Store when they opened at 7am. The woman working the register unlocked the door, “Coffee’s ready!” she called. We had thought there would be tons of hikers at the door to the store when it opened, but there were only three of us.

Shawn and I bought frozen breakfast burritos, a fresh made ham and cheese sandwich, and coffees. We warmed the food in the microwave and then made our way back out to the front porch to eat. Breakfast of champions. It was awesome to have something hot for breakfast, even if it was microwaved.

It was pretty cold out and sitting on the porch, I was dressed in my normal hiking attire – shorts, yellow sleeveless shirt and blue long sleeve, along with my puffy, rain pants, rain coat, and gloves, with the hoods of both my jackets pulled snugly over my head. I held my hot coffee in my hands for extra warmth. Meanwhile, Mowgli (or Mougs, as he goes by more often), walks by in shorts and bare feet. WTF. I need the inner furnace that allows this.

A little before 8am, Gary came by to load up the first round of hikers heading back to the trail. We had met him at the store last night. This morning he was dressed in jeans and a bright yellow t-shirt, his rotund belly providing all the warmth he needed. I don’t know how else you could be in a t-shirt out here.

The shuttle back to the trail was a pick-up with a couch in the back. Stylin’. Shawn and Mitty grabbed the couch and three others sat in the truck bed, while I hopped up front in the cab with Gary and two other hikers. The couch was cool, but it was also very cool (cold) outside, and I was riding inside. Shawn and Mitty pulled a blanket over them. Adorable.

On the ride to the trail, we had great views of Mt Adams, which we would continue to have for the rest of the day. Gary told us that Trout Lake had about 1200 people between the town itself and the valley and the school had about 120 kids, K-12. “Good student to teacher ratio,” he said. I’d say so.

He had been retired for about 10 years, but used to work as a firefighter for the forest service, so he knew a thing or two about the forest fires currently burning in Washington. “I don’t miss it,” he said of his job. He said that over the past ten years, he’d watched as the fires had become more “catastrophic”. Coincidently enough, one of the theories for this is that the forest service actually used to be too good at their job, putting out wildfires the second they cropped up, rather than letting some run their course a bit more. Because of this, understory brush became thick, providing more fuel for the more recent fires to become catastrophic.

Hiker pick-up/drop-off at the trail with Gary in his bright yellow shirt at left.

Back at the trail, we thanked Gary for the ride, and started hiking right away, too cold to stand around very long. The entire day remained fairly chilly, with a cold wind that kept me in my rain gear most of the day for warmth. Black rain pants, black rain coat, black gloves. I look a bit like the grim reaper all decked out in my rain stuffs.

While chilly, the skies were clear and we had stunning views of Mt Adams from nearly every angle. The minute I thought I’d seen the best view of the mountain, we’d round a corner or enter another meadow and there would be an even more stunning view. I have a lot of pictures of Mt Adams.

Lunchtime view of Mt Adams.

We also felt a bit like we were back in the Sierras, with river crossings that required rock hops and log balancing. I tend to look like a little old lady when I cross a river on logs.

Grim Reaper Grandma crosses the milky river of glacial silt.

Our camp site tonight is FULL of hikers. We had guessed a couple could be there when we arrived, but there were at least eight other tents, along with a few hikers who hadn’t yet set up their tents, and we were lucky we could find a bit of flat space in the middle of the action to squeeze our tent in.

Despite the full lot, the site is already quiet and it’s time for the Zzzzzz’s.