Wed. August 3         Transition back to California

I woke up at 5:30 am, VERY hungry, so I took a shower and headed for the Super 8 free breakfast.  It was great, AND the coffee was really good.  They had a machine that grinds the coffee for your cup and then brews it, all while you watch.  Bill finally got up and joined me a bit later.  I’m afraid I have a strong “Hobbit streak”–I rarely sleep in, because I am so HUNGRY that I have to get up and eat! 

We had some shopping to do before heading to the USA, and there was a handy WalMart, so we got more Motrin for Bill (he is still having problems with his feet), new camera batteries for me, and a wristwatch to replace the one I lost back in Oregon when I was rushing to beat the mosquitoes.  Next, right across from WalMart, there was a hiking/camping store called Valhalla Pure, where Bill got new, tougher shoes, plus special shoe inserts to help his feet.  I fervently hoped they would help–Bill is distinctly limping when he walks.  I got some new socks (After 1500 miles, mine are wearing out!) and new platypus hoses.  Valhalla was a great store, and the staff were really helpful.

Now it was time to pick up our packs and start walking south to the USA border.  It was a 3 mile roadwalk along a very busy but wide-shouldered, interesting highway.  We had great views of the Cascades, especially Mt. Baker.  One of the farms we passed had set up a large sign near the road that said, “Choose Life”, and I cheered “Yes!” because I used to be a crisis pregnancy center counselor, and we always prayed that our clients would choose life rather than a brutal death for their unborn child.  The next sign, though, was something fun–a “Corn Drive Thru”.  I stopped and talked to the lady inside, and sure enough, you could drive in, buy a bag of fresh sweet corn, and drive on out!  There were lots of berry farms along the way, too, and it was blueberry season.  What amazed me was that they had figured out how to cover ACRES of berry bushes with bird net!  Wow!

There were so many interesting things to look at that the 3 miles just flew by, and we were almost at the border.  At the last street crossing before we reached it, a couple of Canadians in a pickup truck stopped to let us cross the street, and asked us about our hike.  We had a nice chat with them before following the signs to the complex of buildings at the border itself.  We wondered what they’d do with us WALKING across, but lo and behold, there was a way all laid out for  “pedestrians.”  That was definitely us!

We followed the “pedestrian” signs into one of the US border buildings.  We had our passports and papers at the ready, and a very nice US border offical checked us out and asked a number of “casual” but pointed questions about what we were doing.  Apparently we passed the test!  We were able to ask him for directions to the bus–“No problem, it stops right in front of the bank just down the street.”  So we walked happily off into downtown Sumas, USA!  First, we located the bus stop, and yee-hah, there was a bus in only an hour.  Then across the street we went to Sumas City Hall to get bus maps and fare information.  Ouch, so expensive–25 cents for Bill (a senior) and 50 cents for me (an adult).  Outrageous!  And the friendly city hall lady showed us where to tranfer to ultimately reach the Amtrak station in Belingham, Washington.

Next, we made a quick run for a to-go lunch rm the Mexican restaurant, which we gobbled down at the bus stop.  Then an amazing thing–the bus came,and it turned out ALL rides were FREE today because they just revamped the whole system and wanted people to try it out.  The various buses we rode took us through countryside, towns, shopping malls, colleges, and finally to the waterfront “Fairhaven” area of Bellingham, where the Amtrak station is.  Our request to go to Bakersfield, CA, really kept the ticket agent busy for awhile–we ended up with 3 different trains, plus a bus!  We requested a sleeper car oom for the overnight part of the trip, so that we could rest AND eat like crazy.  (Foot is included in the sleepercar price).

Now we had 3 hours to kill, so we went to the farmer’s market and got big juicy ripe peaches and boysenberries and ate them all, along with some freshbaked sourdough bread.  A short walk later, and a young gal came up to us, looking eager.  “Are you doing the PCT?” she asked.  Well, it turned out her boyfriend is, too.  He’d just called her from the halfway point at Chester, CA.  He did go straight through the High Sierra, but said it was unbelievably tough.  We had a nice talk with her, then it was the Fairhaven Library, where Bill got on the Internet to check email and I went to the Seattle town guides to find us a place to stay tonight.

The guides made it clear that there’s really nothing near Amtrak, except a Best Western (8 blocks away) or the Green Tortoise Hostel (12 blocks away, but MUCH cheaper!).  We decided to go for the Green Tortoise, I phoned them, and was lucky to get about the last 2 slots available for tonight.  Next on our agenda was EAT MORE!  We went to the Fairhaven Market for juice, salad, and that wonderful, decadent Washington delicacy called “Nanaimo Bars.”  Wow!  One of our daughters got the recipe for them a number of years ago, and another of our daughters made a batch, entered them in the local county fair, and won “Best of Show.”  Yum!  We waddled back to the Amtrak station, and waited for the train, which was late because US border officials ware spending more and more time checking on passengers. 

Once the train was underway, the views of the Sound were awesome.  There was a gorgeous sunset to watch, and the train made up its lost time going to Seattle, so we arrived almost on time, just after 10:00 pm.  But here Bill and I got all mixed up on our directions.  We assumed (wrongly) that our SOUTHBOUND train had come into the station from the north, and headed in a southerly direction.  We had no map of downtown Seattle.  The address of the Green Tortoise was “1525 2nd Avenue”, so we walked the half block to 2nd Avenue and walked along, watching to see which way the numbers went.  Ooops–they were going DOWN, not up.  So we figured we must be going the wrong way.  And then we two hikers, who’d managed to find our way all through Oregon and Washinton, found ourselves wandering around in downtown Seattle in the middle of the night with drunks, bums and people weaving frm nightclub to nightclub.  We finally gave up and called th hostel, which gave us directions, and around midnight, we finally got there.  It had been a hot day, was a very warm night, and the hostel has no air conditioning, so we ended up sharing an 83 degree dorm room with 4 other people.  Oh well, at least we made it, unhurt, even through some pretty bad neighborhoods.  Thankyou, Lord!

Tues. August 2    Miles today: 17.5          Total so far: 1,491        Manning Park, Canada

Brrr!  It was 31 degrees this morning, with frost thick on the meadow where we were camped, and our tarp was totally covered with ice.  I did NOT want to get out of the warm sleeping bag, but Canada was calling!  Our platypus drinking tubes were frozen, my shoes were frozen, and the camera refused to work.  I just stuck my feet into the stiff, cold shoes, figured the “platy tube” would thaw eventually (it did), and put the camera inside my shirt next to my skin,  hoping that would thaw it out.  (It did, too!)  We packed up quickly (shiver, shiver) and Bill stuffed the stiff, frozen tarp into the big net pocket on the outside of his pack.

The early morning light was beautiful on all the frost, and the trail was pretty much downhill into Castle Creek Valley, but the air stayed cold for a long time.  At 9:00 am, I was still wearing my fleece jacket, hat and gloves, and the plants bordering the trail were still silver with frost.  What a switch from just two days ago!  I guess that Washington was trying to give us a tast of ALL of its weather!

Around 9:30ish, things finally began to warm up, but that meant the FROSTY plants along the trail were now the WET plants, which meant we were soon very wet, too, as we pushed past them!  The mountains around us were not as “dramatic” as others we’ve seen here in Washington, but they were still interesting.  When we stopped for our midmorning break, Bill pulled out the tarp and shook all the ice off it onto the ground–looked like snow! 

A little while later, we finally reached the USA/Canada border!  Talk about two excited hikers!  Bill carefully took the top off the monument so we could sign the register in the base.  It was fun to read other people’s notes!  Cat’s Pa had written something like, “Hey, I made it!  Where’s the brass band?”  There was also a very kind note from a couple of Manning Park trail angels, offering hikers a place to stay.

Since nobody was around to take our picture, we balanced the camera on a rock, set the delay function, and got a couple of shots of us at the monument.  What’s interesting about THIS border as opposed to the Mexican border is that there is no fence.  The “line” is marked simply by a narrow clearcut running straight east and straight west.  AND, there is a great big “Welcome to Canada!” sign.  Yahoo!

The PCT began its journey into Canada with a nice wide, comfortable trail into the woods, and a little while later a plank bridge across Castle Creek. But I was puzzled to see how many trees looked dead.  They were all reddish brown–sometimes whole hillsides of them.  I wasn’t sure if they were actually dead, or if they were some sort of deciduous conifer.  In any case, I would hate to see a fire get loose here.

Then the trail got moody.  Instead of wide and comfortable, it turned into a long, hot, rocky, overgrown path up to Windy Joe mountain.  I had to resort to my “just hike to the next tree” mode to help myself keep going in the heat.  (Seems amazing that just a few hours ago, we were freezing!)  Finally we reached a very nice, large backpacker camp, and shortly after that, the top, where the PCT joins the Windy Joe Trail, a closed gravel road.  Now it was DOWNhill for several miles, then follow a creek for a mile or so.  We stopped for a rest and Snickers by the creek in the hot afternoon.  And then at last, the very, absolute END of the PCT at a road.  There is no special sign, no special monument–just the end of the trail.  We hugged each other, cheered, thanked God for all His help, then headed for Manning Park. 

Along the way, we passed a very nice horse stable with a tepee out front.  Looked like a fun place!  Then at last it was Manning Park, with lots of people, cars, green lawns, and the Canadian flag flying to let us know, “Yes, you really are here!”  We two sweaty, dirty PCT hikers strolled up to Manning Park Lodge, where I doffed my pack and went in to ask about the bus to Abbotsford.  Turned out there was one headed west in only an hour!  Talk about timing!   We had just enough time to clean up a bit, put on our “town shirts”, get ice cream, and then head for….California!  (That’s how we were thinking of it, anyway!)   

Soon we were back in front of the Lodge, waiting for the bus (it was late) and being entertained by people-watching (many different countries) and the antics of a score of prairie dogs.  Those little furry rascals were running everywhere and popping out of their holes in the Lodge’s nice green lawn!  Finally the bus came–ahh, soft seats and a chance to just SIT and watch the scenery go by.  The bus stopped at the town of Hope, where we paid for our ride, then it was on into the wide, beautiful Fraser River Valley.  Wow!  Lots of very neat, prosperous family farms, surrounded by rugged Cascade Mountains.  It was truly beautiful.  And the city of Abbotsford turned out to be a great place! The bus station was only a couple of blocks from the road to the USA border.  We walked to the nearby Super 8 motel, booked a room, took showers, and then went looking for FOOD! It was after 9:00 pm now, so most of the restaurants were closed.  Of the few we found open, all of them featured “low fat, low calorie cuisine”, which was NOT what we were looking for!  Finally we spotted a Burger King and ate as much as we could hold (which is getting to be a lot, even though we are both much thinner than we were at Campo!).  Back at the Super 8, I can literally say that the moment I laid my head on the pillow, I was “out like a light”.   What a relief to have “made it” and what a joy to be going back to finish up the California PCT!