I heard Stormtrooper packing up at 4:30 AM and take off. I follow shortly behind him. The other guys and the mysterious tents next door are rustling when I leave. We are headed to Snoqualmie today, so my objective is to knock this out with as few breaks as possible. I’ve put the headphones on and I’m blasting my angry hard rock mix. Rage Against the Machine, LImp Bizkit, and the like. I need to Rage against the trail today!

Sky has finally cleared of smoke, so there are some better vistas. Mostly the same stuff. Oddly the most interesting segment for me was crossing the powerlines. Facinating seeing how much work must have gone into clearing hundreds of miles of forest to put these bad boys in. I’m suspect some nature-nazis see this as a scar…but I see synergy. The modern and the timeless. Even the zealots need their phones charged, heh.

For some reason, I liked this waterfall. Looking at the video, I’m not sure why.

Magical or Mundane ?

I’m running into more weekend backpackers. This guy has a good spot on the lake.

I’m skipping some seriously tasty looking Huckleberries on the way in. No long breaks for me, just miles. My feet are developing a bunch of hot spots and I’m getting concerned about new blisters. The foliage is wet so it nearly impossible to keep my feet dry. Around 3:00 I get some service and Stormtrooper texts me. He hit town a little after noon. I figure he did the 20 miles about 2 hours faster than me. I keep saying it, but that boy can hike.

I get into town at about 3:30 and look around. The restaurant is closed, the brewery is not serving food, so I go to this hokey grocery story-pizza-random cooked sandwich place. Stormy says the pizza’s suck, so I snage some old fried chicken sandwich sitting in the heated display case. The old gal (probably the owner) watches me pour mayo, mustard, relish all over it. I eat that, a large bag of chips, two passes at 32 ounce fountain drink, and finish off with a hostess cherry turnover.

Stormtrooper drops by and we are chatting about the getting ice cream. He refuses. He says there is not enough value in the little quart servings. He typically buys a half-gallon tub and downs it in one sitting. That’s hiker hunger for you.

We decide to bunk up at the Washington Alpine Club hostel. That one turns out to be a great decision. The place has 70 beds and there are only the two of us + another hiker and the volunteer host who makes us a huge spaghetti dinner. The place costs $30 a night for PCT’ers. The bunks are comfy. Outstanding place to bed down.

I pay for two nights and tell Stormy that I need an extra day off my feet. He is a little bummed. He has been turning over whether to hike with me for a while or take off and try to finish in 100 days. I already know what the final decision will be, but he is still working through that 🙂

20 miles, sore feet, and a full stomach today. 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

Stormtrooper has been talking me up that I can pull 30’s. After all, he says, I’ve already done an accidental 28 two days ago. He’s been monitoring my pace and figures I’m averaging close to 3 miles/hr. I’m not so sure, but I’m willing to give it a go. So today I agree to aim for 2374, which will be about 26 with 5.5k of climbing. That will be my hardest day yet. I take a quick picture of the bog next to the cabin and head off.

We leave together and have a good morning chat during the first climb. I’m watching his stride and decided to take a video. Stormy was born for this stuff.

The Stormy Shuffle

After that he falls behind, probably to take a break and let me get further ahead. Not much relaxing for me. My feet quickly get wet from all the morning dew today. Over time the next couple hours my feet stay wet while I’m hiking a hard 3 mile/hr pace.

Storm catches me on a break, then passes me. Dog Bite, who start 30 minutes behind me also passes me on a slope. That guys is 10 years older than me. Jeez. I’m slowing down and my right toes start bothering me. I stop to switch out my socks and discover a nasty blister between my pinky toe and the one next to it. I spend another 20 minutes patching that up, then it is slow, painful going. The wet feet and the pace is starting to take its toll.

Seeing some of the first burned areas up here. It is interesting that the burns here tend to be much more contained. I suspect that the forest is so wet most of the time, it just follows a path up hill then burns out or is contained

Ran into Stormy at the next water stop. It is a small stream in a sloped meadow. Wildflowers all over the place. Stormtrooper is sitting on a log filtering water and eating. There is a cloud of mosquitoes around him which he ignores. He likes to duck hunt. So I’m asking him about Wisconsin mosquitoes compared to here. He says something like “Yeah they get pretty bad” which is Stormtrooper talk for Hell on Earth.

I’m beginning to understand the benefits and limits of Deet. I used to spray it indiscrimately. Now I’m realizing that it is better to put it in a few places and rub it around and apply it a couple times a day max. It doesn’t always stop the bugs but over time they give up. I rarely have a Stormtrooper sized the cloud he has around me. I suppose that is the best outcome I can hope for.

We pack up and hike together for a while. Someone needs to marry this boy. He is such a good guy. I’m asking him about it and he says “Well it is hard to find a girl that likes to duck hunt.” Yeah, that might restrict the candidate pool substantially.

Duck hunting. He has a ton of stories. He has a black lab that he has trained to retrieve the ducks. They train them to respond to a whistle. So after blasting the birds, the dog hops in the water and swims out. Using the whistle, you get the dog’s attention and can then direct him toward the birds you want to retrieve first.
Stormtrooper says his dog is getting older, 8 years I think, and is beginning to have a mind of his own. He tells me sometimes he will ignore direction and get the birds in the order he wants. Stormy doesn’t mind. He says the dog has earned the freedom….he always gets all the ducks anyway. He told me recently sometimes the dog will bring back the last duck and not drop it. Instead the dog takes it over to the side and sits down to gently licking the feathers. It cracks me up.

Somewhere along the way I’m alone again walking. Feet keep bugging me. The terrain is getting rockier and together with the moisture, I’m getting some bad rubs. Another thing that affects my pace are these little gems

Around 3, I run into Storm and Dog Bite near a final water stop.

I get to know Dog Bite a little more. He is a sailor, had a 27 foot sailboat at Puget sound. Thinking about buying a bigger one someday and doing some long distance sailing. He has plenty of sailing/fishing stories, but it seems that most of his stories keep coming back principle-of-the-school stories. Stormy seems very interested in how he dealt with rebellious teenagers. Heh.

I ate some late lunch. Dog Bite is headed for 2374 to camp with us and he heads out while I’m packing up. Don’t need the water I’m using so little in these cool temperatures. As I’m leaving, Hefe shows up. He sits downs and smokes a joint while regaling Stormy with his old-guy hiker stories. I hang a little longer, tell him we are headed to 2374, then take off.

StormTrooper catched me just before the campsite and is like “hey man, you have told all these folks where we are going…but it says there are only 2 tent sites there”. Oops. Well we get there and Dog Bite is setting up. There are two other tents at the other site. The folks in those tents are already asleep. I squeeze into Dog Bite’s spot, Storm takes a small flat spot a few yards away. Hefe shows up after 8 all exhausted. Dog Bite moves around and we squish Hefe in with us. He is super appreciative. So that’s how you fit 6 tents in a 2 tent site 🙂

I crash to the combined snores of Hefe and Dog Bite.

It rained on us for a bit last night. Nothing big, just a few showers. Stormtrooper likes to get moving early. He takes off around 6 while I’m packing, then I’m off to the trail.

I’m climbing up the next hill and look back to take a picture of the mountains in mist.

I’m thinking how interesting the mountains look in that context and was thinking about writing a long missive about it. A little later I run into a gal Northbounding named Megaphone. We are talking about the mist when she says it looks like smoke. Oh. As the day wears on it gets thicker and smells like smoke. Gone are my thoughts of romantic misty mountains.

Stormtrooper left me a Salty shout-out in the dirt. That brightens the mood a bit.

Took a few photos near the top of the next hill. Misty mountains (not!). Other hikers are telling me I should be seeing spectacular views of Mount Rainier. Instead I get this brown-orangy view of the last hill I hiked. Sucks.

Next comes a long decent toward a major highway which is the main entrance into Mt Rainier park. I finally break out of bug hell. It is Sunday, so I’m running into group after group of fresh smelling day hikers. One asks me how bad the bugs are….I just kind of chuckle and suggest covering up. There are some folks getting their wedding picture by the lake. They look all happy and bug free.

There is a parking lot next to the highway. Sunday, major road crossing the PCT. Often this is a good hunting ground for some trail magic. I diverted down and walked around and chat with a group of folks there waiting for the offer of something good. I get nothing. Damnit. The only trail magic I have received so far is a bag of Cheetos. Others are getting burritos, beer, and soda. Getting a little jealous. On the bright side, there is a nice pit toilet here saving me a squat in the woods.

Washington is getting much harder now. Gone are the easy days of 3k of easy climbing. Now it is 4.5k for this hike. Up/down/up/down. It will continue to get harder as we push North. I took some photos along the way. Visibility is like 5 to 10 miles, so they are kind of meh.

I hooked up with Stormtrooper on the last climb and we passed the time chatting about all sorts of stuff.  We continue the debate about where this smoke is coming from.  I continue whining about having zero tral magic.  

Roll into our destination of Mike Urich Cabin around 7.

I drop my pack at the front of the cabin and start chatting with a South African hiker who has a nice cold mountain dew and 3 bags of empty chips piled up next to him. I’m all hot mopping up sweat with a nasty paper towel I’ve been carrying all day. What’s up with that Dew man? He says there is a bunch of magic in the cooler inside. I cut off our conversation, throw open the door, and there it is !

I yank out a Mountain Dew. It is COLD. I pop the top and drain it in two long gulps. My head starts swimming from the sudden sugar rush. Ahhh Trail Magic. I grab some chips and a cold beer, snap a quick photo of the interior, and head out to the porch to repair my relationship with Mr South African hiker dude. The evening is looking up.

I make some dinner on the porch while talking to few other hikers that are already setup. Dog Bite and Hefe are two older guys on the Northbound route. I focus a bit more on that conversation given that I’ll likely see them again. Always the opportunist.
It is funny. The first thing Dog Bite says to me is “Today I’m officially on Medicare ! ” Now that might seem strange to you young people, but I know exactly why he is so happy. No more $2,000 health insurance.

Apparently this cabin is sponsored by a snowmobile club in the area. They have built it up over the years into a nice base camp. During the summer folks do off-road rides out of here. Wish California had more of these.

Around 8:30, I collapse into my tent feeling very satisfied.

Stormtrooper and I get up before the rest of the crew and pack up. We head out around 6:30. He and I hike together for most of the day trading stories and talking about the folks we met at the beginning of the hike during that Campo to Idylwild stretch that we did together. Gourmet has been busy partying and chasing tail for most of the hike. He is still back in Northern California. His town days are a bit long.

Storm tells me about a group of 20-30 hikers who stick together. They call themselves the “hord”. They try to camp together but since most of the time there isn’t room for tents, they just all cowboy camp all squished together. They call it the “Cuddle Puddle”. Funny Kids.

The mosquitoes are really bad on this stretch. I turn the corner and see this group lounging around in mosquito hell.

They are walking a part of the trail with llamas. I didn’t stop due to the bugs. Would have liked to talk to them. Around that time I also run into Patches. He got his new mobile phone and is back in comission. We talk for a bit then his voice kind of drifts off behind me. I’m keeping a fast pace due to the bugs. Wish I was more tolerent. I HATE this f#$%ing things.

Then I take a wrong turn. I’m pushing my pace and not keeping my head up. I walk almost a mile the wrong way until the trail starts going to hell. It gets narrower, more overgrown, and finally I check my location on the gps. Yup, lost.

I have to double-time it back to the PCT. By now Storm is far in front of me and probably wondering what’s going on. Through my satellite messanger, I ask Alice to text him to let him know what’s up. I pass Patches (again) and pick up another hiker named Nico while for the afternoon. We hike together until I find Stormy sitting on top of a pass eating lunch sitting in a swarm of mosquitoes. I mean, seriously there are a hundred bugs flying around him which he ignores. He tells me they are even worse in Wisconsin somedays. Ugh.

I wolf down a bagel and spray deet all over me between bites. I don’t think I’ll ever adapt to the bug menance.

I’m picking up my pace now that I’m with Stormtrooper. That boy can really hike. His “easy” pace is 3 mile/hr uphill, downhill doesn’t matter. I’ll have to take a video of him sometime.

We make it to a primo tent site on Dewey Lake at 2321. Beautiful spot with a somewhat sandy shore. Stormtrooper walks out into the lake and washes off. He looks pretty cold to me. Did about 25 today + a 2 mile detour. Feeling pretty good.

This morning I checked out of my room, but still needed to upload this journal which seems to take forever. The wordpress setup I have on my site does not work very well with my half-baked Kindle / keyboard setup. So I end up spending hours squinting at some tiny text box where I insert my posts and pictures.

I skulked around the Packwood Inn jumping from picnic table to table leaching on their WIFI while trying to find some shade.
Finished up around 1 and had some pizza from next door. Ordered a large 3 topping. Ate that whole thing. Then headed to the grocery store next that place. That’s Packwood. IGA, Packwood Inn, Pizza place, Saloon across the street, gas station.
I need to get from Packwood back up to Kracker Barrel general store next to the trail. About a 20 minute ride on the highway.

Until today, I’ve been lucky getting rides. Not so today. I dropped my pack in front of IGA on the highway through town and started thumbing. Dozens and dozens of cars and trucks go by. Some wave at me. Why do they wave? Give me a ride asshole !

I’m joined by another hiker named Scavenger. We smile and wave in the hot sun. He’s 31 from NYC and moved to Arizona recently. Did the AT a few years ago. He’s also into bikepacking. When not backpacking he does web customization work on wordpress sites. He is a nice guy, but a little odd. He’s getting frustrated with the hitching situation and starts chatting up people unloading their shopping carts from IGA. “Hey you heading toward White Pass when your done?” Fail.

Eventually some gal pulls up in a little car and asks where we are going. She is in the area to do a few days of backpacking and didn’t think she was going that far. Drives away….then comes back and picks us up ! It took over an hour to get a hitch. Hopefully anyone reading this will think twice when they see a smelly hiker on the road. Give them a ride !

So I make it up to the General Store and reunite with Stormtrooper ! Bunch of other hikers milling around eating and drinking. The store owner ropes Scavenger and me into a little project to put together some shelves. While we are working on that Scavenger is flirting with the checker.

Storm and I decide to camp out back of the store and hit the trail tomorrow. We meet a couple of retired Marine officers and have some long chats about Afghanistan (Attrition and Prichard). Attrition’s specialty was IED discovery and disposal. He telling us all sorts of stories you don’t hear in the news. LIke the ding-dong Afghani army guys he is training. He tells me they Afghani’s get $30 for each IED they find and disarm. Well each time they bring these guys to a training range, they find out someone has planted a bunch of new IED’s around that need to be disarmed. When these guys turn in the evidence and it is scanned for biometric data, it is traced to the same students.

Some of his stories are pretty dark. Like men taking boys as their sex toys who fill that role until released. Some of these boys are trained from an early age to carry explosive vests. How the graft and corruption is so pervasive that soldiers go without pay because others above them have skimmed so much of the money the US and our allies pay to the government to fund their army. God what a mess.

While we are chatting, Scavenger comes over and sets up his tent. The store is about to close. He talks to us for a minute then disappears. We never see him come back…..he got hooked up with the cashier. Must have stayed the night at her place, heh.
Good to be hanging with Stormy again. He is full of trail stories. Love that guy.

Here is a picture of the store when we were leaving in the morning. Those picnic tables were full of hikers the day before and probably every day thereafter during the season.