Day 139: Steep but Spectacular

Date: Mon 9/3

PCT Start Mile: 2464.2

PCT End Mile: 2489.2

PCT Mileage for Day: 25

Total PCT Mileage: 2589.3

The Highlights: day hikers, Glacier Peak, and more spectacular views.

Dear Washington,

Does every climb need to be so steep? Your scenery is amazing, but my legs are so tired. Let’s tone it down a little.

Sincerely,

Every PCT Hiker. Ever.

Today we got to sleep in a bit, since breakfast wasn’t until 7am. Everyone was still up and moving by 6am, but at least it was a little bit of extra sleep. Everyone in our bunk room – which included two other couples – packed their bags to head out after breakfast.

While we’d hoped to be on the trail by 8am after breakfast, things were running a bit behind in the kitchen and breakfast wasn’t ready until closer to 7:40ish. There was a nice spread of eggs, bacon and ham, toast, pancakes, oatmeal, and even grits! I hadn’t seen grits in awhile.

After breakfast, we thanked the hostel hosts and said goodbye to others we’d met, including a couple from Bend, OR thru hiking in their retirement – Walk and Talk, so named because he liked to walk and she liked to talk. They had been junior high sweethearts and now had been married for 41 years.

*Stevens Pass Resort from the trail above.*

Back at the trail, Shawn waited while I did a short section of the trail that I’d missed yesterday. Dirty Money and I had come down a trail that led straight to the lodge, while the actual PCT went a bit further, looping back up to the lodge through a parking lot before crossing a pedestrian bridge over the highway. I met him here.

*Trail oddity: flat terrain in Washington.*

Back on the actual trail, the PCT did something that we haven’t seen in Washington. It was flat. Like pretty truly flat for a little over a mile. What a treat.

As you can tell from my little letter above, the trail definitely didn’t stay this way. The day included long and short climbs – all with a significant amount of steep trail. Why, Washington?

After the first couple miles, we began running into a lot of day hikers, out enjoying their Labor Day holiday. There was a side trail several miles up the PCT that they were hiking in from, most hiking a route for some beautiful lake views.

A group of six or seven teenage-aged youths came by, asking my favorite (eye roll) question. They wanted to know how far to such-and-such lake. We never know the answer to these questions and rarely know what lake people are asking about.

They noticed our packs and asked where we were headed, assuming we were just out for an overnight, like most weekend campers. We told them Canada. Basically, I thought, I’m going to follow this trail until it ends. They were very impressed and wanted to know when and where we’d started. Upon telling them April 18th, one of the girls remarked to another, “no wonder why she’s so skinny”. LOL. I didn’t actually hear this but Shawn told me later. We chatted with them for another minute before continuing our hike.

After we’d gotten through the popular day hiking section, we didn’t see that many other people on the trail the rest of the day other than a few PCT hikers we leapfrogged with through the day.

The day climbed up and down, offering spectacular views as usual. The temps were cool, but sunny, and it was a great day for hiking.

Tonight we are camped in a large tent site area with several flat spaces for tents. We are just a bit away from an area where four or so other hikers are set up.

We were a bit skeptical of the site because comments from previous years about this site noted rodent issues. As in, mice will chew through your tent and bag to get to your food. Unfortunately it was getting late in the day, and we didn’t have many options, so we camped here anyway. We ate away from our tent and hung our food bags from a tree when we were finished. Hopefully this will be good enough to keep any rodents away from our tent. Time will tell. I’ll update this situation tomorrow…

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