It rained yesterday evening, it rained all night long, it is raining right now. Actually, it is not rain most of the time. It is just this falling mist. So I’m kind of charged up this morning. My inner tent, backpack, and stuff is still dry. It should work out.

I put together my plan and got every broken down to minimize exposure. Tied the rain fly outside my pack, put on my pack cover and rain jacket. The Salty hat works perfectly keep the rain out of my eyes and off my open collar. Big shout out to Steph for the Patagonia rain jacket she gifted me a few Christmas’ ago. That thing is an awesome piece of gear.

So, in summary, I was ready for action.

My feet are getting wet, my shorts slowly get soaked, and my phone touch screen becomes impossible to use. But there’s a bright side. The forest looks different and the mist around the mountains is kind of cool. Nobody I run into really wants to talk, so the mind starts to wander.

The movie Braveheart. Where the Scotsmen are running up and down mountains in the cold rain wearing just dead animal skin and a kilt. Wet shoes? What shoes? These guys were always running somewhere through shitty weather. In times of peace, they’d probably run 20 miles and 5k of elevation gain just to deliver a sack of flour.

So what do I have to complain about?

Around this point there is a break in the drizzle long enough to take a hero shot.

The trail has become more interesting. I’m walking through several narrow valleys at the base of a lot of steep rocky inclines. Started seeing a few of these.

Then I arrived in the next valley and saw this. It was amazing. The whole area smelled like a lumberyard. Truly. Notice how all these trees are sheared off at the same height. Was talking to another hiker about this and he figured the snow had frozen hard around that level. Then an avalanche rolled through and sheared them off. Whatever happend, it looks like a giant lawnmower rolled through.

Well the next highlight is my personal favorite. Yee ol river crossing of death. Let’s blend in a bunch of slick, random logs somebody threw across the gap. Some ultra runner gal scoots past me and goes over, almost losing her balance. I shot this vid just after she crossed.

Well it ended well. Crossed that and the other minor falls with no incident. Don’t remember Mel Gibson doing that.

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I prefer all my water crossings to look like this

Well all that excitement got me hungry. The rain stopped for a while and I found a nice flat spot to dry out my rainfly. Made some Chili Mac, oatmeal, coffe, and had a candy bar. I don’t know, like maybe 900-1000 calories. Still hungry.

Chatted with a lady on her lunch break going Southbound. Her daughter is a triple crowner and is still thru-hiking the more obscure long distance trails. That is another level of hiking. Stormtrooper was telling me about the Wisconsin “Ice Age Trail” that he did. Something like 1,200 miles of poorly maintained to non-existant trail. Drinking out of muddy livestock ponds. Ugh. That is another level of thru-hiking that I never want to experience.

I pack up and run into Workhorse and Chai taking their own break. They passed me while I was eating lunch. We caught up for a bit, had a few chuckles. They are aiming for Waptus Lake which would only be a 16 mile day for me. I tell them I’m going a little further.

Of course, it starts drizzling again and this time it seems to be getting stronger. The drizzle changes to rain more and more often. Wind is coming up. Yeah this is starting to suck.
My inner Scotsman is challenging me with the idea of just night hiking through this shit and get to Steven’s pass. I have been battling with him all day on the topic. I could probably pull off a 30 today and do it.

Well I pass the lake and the creek feeding it and start another big climb. I figure I’ll make my decision pretty soon.

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At the top of the ridge was my first campsite option. It was 7PM by now and I just made another 2k climb for a respectable 22 miles for the day. I had been checking the wind direction with a compass and it had really good cover. The ground looked like it would shed the water ok. So this was home for the night.
Got a small break in the weather to slap my tent up and get my stuff inside. Had to take a couple more trips outside to trench around the tent and reposition some stakes as the rain really picked up. Finally inside I felt pretty secure. Made dinner and went to sleep.

The wind picked up to 15 / 20 mile gusts and the rain got really heavy all night long, but everything held together. No leaks or failures, but everything I have basically went from dry to either damp or muddy and soaked. Over night the temp kept dropping to the point where I had to wear my puffy with my sleeping bag. Slept surprisingly well.

The host warned me that another guy was going to take over tomorrow morning. He said that guy would have all sorts of tasks for me to do….so I better get an early start. I’m up and packed before the others and skip breakfast. 7am and time to get to work.  Work on hiking, that is.

Clouds are coming in and the wind is getting gusty. There’s supposed to be a storm coming. I suppose it is time for me to sample this Washington drizzle that I’ve been hearing about all these years. Fortunately there is no rain today.

Coming out of these towns is typically rough on the first day and this one is no different. I’ve almost a 3k climb while getting passed by a bunch of trail runners doing their thing. Getting above the tree line the scenery becomes beautiful.

I took a bunch of pics and short videos. I’ll let them tell the story. Ran into lots of backpackers out here doing week long hikes. Seems every bunch has a dog or two. This must be a popular spot.

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The sky begins to let loose some dirzzle. Not bad, but more is coming. I pulled down a forecast from my sat tracker and it looks grim. According to the guthook comments, there is a big river crossing coming up and the bridge is out. I want to cover that before the rain swells the river.

I get there around 7, make the crossing on a log and find a decent spot next to the river to setup camp. I’m glad I’m not going over that log in the rain. It had no bark and was slick….rain would make it much worse. Wish I’d taken a pic of that crossing. Anyway, as I’m setting up my tent the rain starts falling.

 

I jump, make some dinner and relax. 21 mile day and about 6k of ascent. That’s a big day, especially given how rocky and sketchy some of the trail was.

Which reminds me. Back at Kracker Barrel, this Southbounder had told us how nervous they were on some bits of this. Stormy likes to collect these anectdotes for later laughs and reflection. I suppose I do as well.

So this guy is saying “if you take the wrong step, you could slide/fall” kind of thing. Followed by an example of a slip or wrong step. Looking at it from the eyes of person who has only done a few hundred miles so far I can see their point of view. From Stormtrooper, me, and others who have done this kind of mileage…it just the way it is.

Wondering about that. I’ve had plenty of falls, slips, failed poll plans, bad steps, and the rest. They are generally recoverable. Also I start to build in a natural redundency. In the back of my mind I am already planning for something to fail and have layers and layers of fall back options. It is like learning to ride a motorcycle. The kids my age learned was how to crash well. Meaning, how to know the crash is coming and mitigate the damage. I wonder if other hikers feel the same way.

While there are a few isolated instances of fear for me. The only place I consistently feel exposed is a sketchy river crossing over a long log, hopping rocks, or fording above the thighs. There are no fallback options. Either it works out or I get pounded. It is there that I truly have to manage my fear.

So, in conclusion, I’ll let Stormtrooper speak to that Southbounder’s fear: “Man, I think that guy was full of shit.”

 

So today, normally, I’d be updating this blog. I write a few things, but the internet here sucks and frankly I’m more interested in chatting with people. Our host makes us an excellent breakfast of pancakes and huge ham slices. That gets devoured. He leave a few ham slices and pancakes laying out that I turn into sandwiches and eat a little later.

Stormy and I our lounging in the common area chatting. He’s checking in on all the folks we got to know on the first couple weeks of the trail. Most of them are all clumped together in Northern California around Chester. Apparently the fires are really bad down there. The trail is closed North of them and they either do some convoluted road walk or get a ride to the California-Oregon border. Meanwhile they are partying. Gourmet finally got his wish.

I chat with Alice in the morning and she is like “You have to let Stormtrooper go free! “. We are laughing about it. It is nice to take some time and just talk about whatever. I miss her so much. I am ready for this hike to be over.

Well the day wears on and Stormtrooper is getting all fidgety. He packs his stuff and we get a couple pictures together. Then he takes off around noon. Kevlar, the other hiker, finally gets his stuff squared away and takes off Southbound. The host takes off and leaves me in (sort of) charge. Just like that I’m alone.

 

Well the first thing I do is take a video of the place. It is really a neat setup. This place was built in the ’30’s, then added on to several times. The organization owns a bunch of land around the facility. The host told me that for a $150 / year fee, folks can use it as much as they want to hike / ski / snowshoe the area. I’m checking out the modernization work that was done and I’m super impressed. Folks are spending a lot of money on this place and the work (electrical, foundation, sprinkler system, heating, etc is all top notch. No way this is done on that membership fee. There must be some huge endowment backing this place.

WAC Tour

Well sitting there all alone is not for me, so I head to the restaurant and find some hikers there. Workhorse and Chai met again and have a long chat. He has Parkisons, just turned 60, and is realizing his dream of hiking the trail before he can’t. I give that guy a lot of credit. They’ve jumped around a bit doing something like 1500 miles of the trail and will finish up in Washington.

While I’m eating my burger, Patches turns up and we chat while I consume massive quantities of draft beer. Beer. I love Beer. The nectar of the Gods. Anyway, Patches is from Northern Cal and recently retired. He now lives in the Ozarks. He is sectioning part of Oregon and Washington to finish. Ex-welder. Tough guy and fun to talk to. He’s slightly below my pace but I’m sure we will meet again. I find out from him that Papa and John rolled into town last night and are already back on the trail. He’s taking off a day after me.

I stumble back to the hostel in the evening and chat with our host for a bit. No dinner for me. I sort out my resupply and hit the sack early. Our host downed some wine and somehow got inspired to put on a performance outside my window.   

Rocking The Woods

I was getting some Deliverance vibs.  Is this the song before he cooks me or something?   After a while he moved off to a trail and did his thing in the distance and I chilled out.   Seriously, I’m happy for him.   He’s doing his thing and relaxing in the isolation.  As long as he keeps his clothes on, haha.

A couple hikers roll in while I’m laying there and they crash after taking a shower. Amathis and McGriddle, I think were their names. They are Northbounding, but they both look pretty fast. Doubt if we will be seeing much of each other.

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.