Fri. July 22     Miles today: 23.7          Total so far: 1,288 miles    Washington Section J

It was still warm this morning at 5:00 am, but RAINING!  Very strange. Just before we crawled out of the net tent, the rain stopped, and we could see bits of blue sky. It was as if the weather was trying to decide what to do.  “Should I rain?”  “Should I be hot?”  But it was nice to be able to pack up without getting wet!  After our usual look-around-to-make-sure-we-didn’t-leave-something at the campsite, we strolled over to the Waptus River to get water and admire the trail bridge.  Bill was impressed with the construction–he said it could take some pretty rough treatment from the river if necessary.  We REALLY admire the folks who build trails and trail bridges!

Then it was time to begin the 3,500 foot, eleven mile long climb up to Cathedral Pass.  We stopped for breakfast by a patch of ripe huckleberries, and had some with our granola.  Yum!  Shortly after that, the rain began again, but it was a WARM rain.  I got out my umbrella and on we went, climbing higher and higher.  You can tell that the forest here normally expect lots of rain–it’s very mossy and ferny and pretty, but the rain clouds obscured our view, so we missed seeing the “grand views” promised in the guidebook.  Cathedral Peak, toward which we were climbing, was mostly hidden in mist and rain. 

 We reached the top of the pass by noon, and the rain was slackening.  A small grove of trees gave us a bit of shelter as we cooked and ate our dinner.  I did wish, though, that those trees were Douglas Fir–we’ve noticed that firs really shed rain well and stay dry underneath for a long time.   Suddenly, a bunch of hikers showed up, all headed in different directions.  One group was three young (13-14 year old) teenage boys, very wet but very cheery.  Then came another guy we’ve been “leapfrogging” with all day.  He looked a little grim.  I don’t think he liked hiking in the rain. 

Aftr lunch, it was 3 and a half miles to a very nasty creek crossing, so bad that horses cannot make it and have to use another trail.  It’s a snowmelt creek off Mt. Daniel’s main glacier, AND it had been raining–sometimes raining hard–all morning.  As we came down toward the “crossing zone”, it looked like a mess–big rocks, huge logs flung about like matchsticks, the river foaming and roaring and plunging down the mountainside.  But whew, hooray, the river was divided into several smaller channels, rather than one big nasty one!  I waded the first channel, rockhopped the second, and logwalked (with Bill’s help) the third.  Bill, who does not like to get wet, just logwalked all three.

Now we were headed for Deception Pass, fortunately nowhere as big or as tough a climb as Cathedral Pass this morning.  We had a nice view of the valley before starting up, and another nice thing, too–it finally stopped raining!  The afternoon became simply cloudy and suddenly quite cool, but at least I could put away the umbrella.  Not the raingear, though–I still needed it for pushing through all the plants overhanging the trail, which were dripping wet.  Lots of toadstools were pushing their way up from the dirt and also many weird little saphrophytic plants in a range of bright colors.  We reached Deception Pass, then pretty Deception Lake, where there were a LOT of backpackers camped.  They are brave–the mosquitoes there were TERRIBLE! 

Our last big goal of the day was Pieper Pass, and we reached it by 7:00 pm.  Finding no possible campsite on top, we mushed on down to near Glacier Lake.  The last part of that involved a LONG set of switchbacks down a very tough talus slope, where some of the rocks were as big as a car.  This was really hard for our already very tired feet.  Sigh.  But we found a very nice campsite at the bottom among some of the huge boulders.  It was a chilly evening, but lots of mossies were out ‘n about, so up went the net tent!  Dry “bedsox” and a warm sleeping bag felt very good!

Thurs. July 21      Miles today: 24.9     Total so far: 1,264.3     Washington Section J

Well, we had more excitement last night than we planned on!  We were all warm and comfortable and I was almost asleep when Bill sat up all freaked out.  “Monty, we’re WET!”  Apparently, some fog that we’d seen blow by for a few minutes through the Gap had “bedewed” us quite well.  So we got up in our longjohns and set up the tarp, a bit of a challenge in the wind which was blowing.  Back to bed we went, and I fell asleep again, but at 3:30 am I woke up to what seemed like daylight (other hikers I talked to later said they thought it was a spotlight shining on them!)–but it was the MOON!  I squiggled deep into my sleeping bag to avoid the glare, and as a result, missed the REAL daylight and we overslept a bit.  But the same wind that made it hard to rig the tarp had also dried out our sleeping bags, and there had been no nighttime marmot raids on our food, so we were in great shape.

Our first long traverse over to Chikamin Pass gave us some great views of what we called “The Twin Towers.”  We stopped for breakfast at a pretty lake view, partway to the Pass.  The mosquitoes were determined to have breakfast, too–annoying!  A bit later, and we’d reached the top of Chikamin Pass and now it was time for a 6 mile, multi-thousand foot descent into Delate Meadows Valley.  The trail did get rough and rocky, but we were well-compensated by the GREAT views!  We stopped at Delate Creek to get water, rest our sore feet, and splash ourselves well with cold creek water–it was a hot day!

At lunchtime, we stopped to cook at Lemah Creek, and were busy eating and slapping at the many flies, when along came four section hikers, who sat down to talk awhile. They had spent several summers doing the PCT a bit at a time, and had only 350 miles to go before they finished the whole trail!  And all of them were aged 55 and up.  Go, geezers!  Finally they headed off, southbound, and we headed north to begin the 2,200 foot climb out of the valley.  Across the way, we could see roaring cascades of melted snow water coming down the mountainsides.  You could hear the roar for a couple of miles.  We could have used some of that cold water!  The PCT guidebook for this section advised hikers NOT to do what we were doing–climb Escondido Ridge on a hot afternoon, but as thru-hikers, we had no choice.  Up we climbed, in temperatures that included 80 degrees in the shade.  Climbing in heat is really tough on me, but the many wildflowers along the trail cheered us on!

Near the top of the climb there was a small lake, and I said to Bill, “Hey, let’s stop a second and splash ourselves and get a drink.”  Bill agreed, so we set down our packs and I headed straight for the lakeshore, where I splashed my face and myself.  It felt so good!  When I turned to pick up my pack and get going again, though, I was horrified.  Bill had opened up his pack, got out his bathing suit, and was putting it on, to go swimming.  “Bill, we don’t have time to stop and swim!” I protested, but he just growled at me and dived in and started swimming around.  So I sat down and slapped at mosquitoes and waited and waited and fumed.  I was worried about how long it was taking us to do the PCT, and getting mileage-obsessed.   I have learned since then (and so has Bill) that on a hot day, there is no need to open your pack and rummage out a bathing suit.  Just take off your watch and shoes & socks, and jump in for a swim, clothes and all.  It only takes a minute, and nylon hiking clothes dry very fast on a warm day.  But we didn’t know that, and when Bill finally finished his swim, he got out, dried himself, and got dressed again. 

It didn’t take long after that to reach the top, and just as we did, a jet went roaring overhead.  We’ve been hearing and sometimes seeing these military jets several times a day.  I always cheer for them.  As the saying goes, “We are the land of the free because of the brave.”  From the top, we could see our next hiking “project”–several miles of wandering around up high, followed by a 4.8 mile, 2,200 foot descent into the Waptus Lake Valley.  But the trail was so overgrown with bracken and thimbleberries, we could not see our feet as we pushed ahead, and several times I tripped and almost fell over rocks I could not see underfoot.  The grade of the trail was so gentle that it took FOREVER to switchback down into the valley.  Bill and I both agreed that it reminded us of the seemingly endless descent of the PCT at San Gorgonio Pass in southern California.  And we tried not to be grumpy, which was hard because it was growing late and we were really tired from the heat and the climbing. 

Finally we got to the bottom and camped at Dutch Miller trail junction. We were out of water, very thirsty and very hot, and even though it was 8:30 pm and the sun was almost down, it was still 80 degrees.  Fortunately, there is a river not far from the junction, so Bill set up camp while I took the Platypuses and ran off to get water.  After a good drink, we just plain collapsed into our sleeping bags, totally tired out.   Again, had I known then what I know now, I would have done a bit of a “swim” before bed, knowing that my clothes would be dry before morning.