Day 140: Workin for the Views
Date: Tues 9/4
PCT Start Mile: 2489.2
PCT End Mile: 2515.7
PCT Mileage for Day: 26.5
Total PCT Mileage: 2515.7
The Highlights: 2500 miles, 6600 ft climbing, exhausted legs, epic views
Last night we both slept soundly, no rodents visiting us in our tent. Woohoo for that!
This morning we smelled something we hadn’t smelled in awhile: smoke. There are several wildfires burning in Washington, but for the most part we’ve been fortunate to avoid the constant smoke haze that we had throughout Oregon. The morning brought some hazy skies, but luckily it cleared up early and most of the day was bright and blue.
I hit a low point fairly early in the day. The day started with a long climb and I was so tired of climbing. Washington has been relentless. Hikers have been dropping like flies recently, tossing in the towel and heading home, even with as little as a week or two to left to the border.
Our good friend Medhi, whom we’d leapfrogged with all throughout Washington, ended his journey at Stevens Pass. He had acquired a girlfriend early on along the trail and they’d hiked together through Ashland, where she was finally forced to quit due to aggravatingly unshakable Plantar fasciitis. Medhi had continued on alone and visited her before the last stretch into Washington, her home state. While he had originally said she was going to visit him for a couple days at Stevens Pass, apparently plans changed and he decided he was finished with the trail. She picked him up and they were heading to Canada (by car) to begin a month long road trip.
This was crazy to us. Medhi was such a fast hiker, he could be done in less than a week if he wanted! Another hiker named Shy Bear, whom we had only met recently, dropped out at Snoqualmie Pass, planning to finish it up next year. There have been others to end their journey in Washington, as well. While money can be an issue for some, many abandon the journey because they’ve just had enough. When the grind of hiking long miles every day becomes so overwhelming that the journey is no longer fun, some call it quits even remarkably close to the end.
For us, we knew that the trail would be a challenge in many ways. We enjoy hiking, but there is a difference between day hikes or even two to three week hikes, and a thru hike. A thru hike is a totally different beast. It requires a different kind of mental stamina. No matter how amazing the scenery, the hiking friends, and the trail towns, eventually the wear of the trail takes its toll. We are certainly ready to be finished, but we’ve come so far, we’re determined to make it to the border. We are within the single digits of days now. All this said, during this low moment I had, slogging up this climb, I could fully understand why hikers called it quits, even within seemingly spitting distance of the border. This was hard, and sometimes you are just done.
Coming to the top of the climb, the sun was shining and despite a light haze in the sky, the trail was beautiful. The sun splashed across the wildflowers and plants along the trail, casting their colors in a beautiful light in the morning mountain shade, and I thought, this is amazing. I took a deep breath. I got this. We are almost to the end. We can do this.
By mid-morning we passed the 2500 mile mark!! Two thousand five hundred f*ing miles! I wouldn’t believe I’d walked that far if my legs didn’t remind me of it constantly!
Stopping to take a few pictures, I also took the opportunity to pick some wild blueberries from the side of the trail. These last few days have included miles and miles of blueberry bushes along the trail. It’s been pretty great! They are so sweet and tart – absolutely perfect. I also see squashed blueberry smears on rocks along the trail as we hike. I wonder how many have ended up on the bottom of my shoes…
My little pace bird for a small section of trail.
The trail today was brutal… don’t get me wrong, amazing views as always, but boy did we work for them, with over 6600 feet of climbing over our 26.5 mile day. The morning took us through Glacier Peak Wilderness, a peak that we began seeing yesterday.
After a morning full of climbing, we took our lunch break at the top of a climb around 12:30pm. Another woman also sat for a break at the top, she was just doing a short section through Washington. She had hiked all of the PCT (except this section) from Burney Falls (CA) to the Canada border. After she hiked on and I’d finished my ramen bomb lunch, I took a short catnap in the sun before we hiked on ourselves.
Terrible lunch views…
The afternoon gave us some reprieve, starting with a seven mile downhill. This eventually led us to what seemed like jungle. Much of the trail was flooded, covered by streams and mud, and there was a seemingly unending obstacle course of downed trees, tangles of roots, and overgrown brush to navigate. The obstacles continued even as we began climbing again, with trees to go over, under, and around and thick brush to push out of our faces. It’s safe to say that this section of trail could use some TLC. We also had some fun river crossings.
Bridge may fail inspection, but still works!
By the end of the day, my legs were toasted. The day ended with a 3.2 mile climb of over 2000 feet elevation gain, which I slowly trudged my way through, trying not to trip on every root and rock.
The silver lining of all the hard climbing for the day – and ending the day with a stout climb on tired legs – was a kick ass campsite. We are set up on bluff and had an amazing view of sunset. Sweet rewards.
