The “21.6 miles” we OFFICIALLY did does not reflect our actual mileage.  The newly constructed PCT trail we covered today was at least 3 miles (if not more) longer than what the guidebook says.  All the hikers we met today were grumping about it.   The new trail is very nice, but it is also way longer than the original PCT.   The new part is between Fire Creek Pass and Milk Creek.

We knew the trail today would be tough–the guidebook described long “killer uphills”, many creek crossings where bridges had been washed out and were (mostly) now rebuilt, etc.  So we got up very early, ate in the dark, broke camp while it was still pretty dark, and got ontrail when it was still a bit hard to see. 

And down, down, down we went into very dim,damp, green, mossy forest.  Mushrooms were popping up everywhere, in all colors and sizes, from tiny little white mushrooms to huge big ones, and there was a fair amount of what I call “land coral” , a very colorful fungi that looks like coral on a tropical reef.   The forest also did indeed contain many creeks, as the guidebook said.  Some had very nice new bridges, and there were some where we had to stand on the creekbank and figure out how to get across.   The first bridge we came to was a new one but we could see the tangled wreck of the old bridge just upstream.  At another of the new bridges, there were huge log jumbles lying upstream and downstream.  I guess before the bridge went in, each hiker could pick their favorite log to cross on?? Another bridge had its “back broken” so that it sagged down in the middle, but it was still usable, and we crossed with care.

On this whole stretch of the PCT, as you circle Glacier Peak, either you are in deep, dark forest with the mushrooms, or you are out in a boulder field, or you are negotiating a creek crossing.  The boulder fields were particularly impressive–they testify to the terrifying power of avalanches and floods coming down off of Glacier Peak.

The “big climb of the day” was up to Fire Creek Pass.  I wasted probably a mile of hiking at least, because I was not sure we were on the PCT after we crossed Pumice Creek, because I wasn’t sure it WAS actually Pumice Creek!   So after we’d hiked a little while, I got worried and turned back all the way to the creek, looking to see if we’d missed a turnoff and were on the wrong trail.  Nope.  We were on the PCT all the time.  Whew.  So back we went again.  The climb up to Fire Creek Pass was amazing, view-wise, once we got out of the forest and creek crossings.  It was such a relief to be back in open air with rugged snowy peaks in every direction.   For added fun, there was even a military jet, sort of messing around overhead–fun to watch and cheer!  The trail took us up close and personal with Glacier Peak itself–wow!  It is impressive and well-named, with huge glaciers on all sides. 

From the top of Fire Creek Pass, there are jagged snowy mountains all the way to the horizon, in every direction.  We joked about, “Can we see Canada yet?”  and took several pictures before starting on the many switchbacks heading down.  We passed magnificent Mica Lake, which is an extraordinary blue color (I’m guessing it must be very deep?) and even has a beautiful white sand beach.  Bill said it looked like the South Pacific!

As we got down deeper into the valley below, heading for Milk Creek, we encountered a lot of “trail under construction.”  We went happily down what was obviously NEW trail, and every now and then we could see some of the “old” switchbacks.   The new trail had very LOOOOONG, gentle switchbacks, which made us joke again, “This must be the PCT!  It goes UP in order to go DOWN!”   Some parts of the trail were “old” trail, and fairly narrow.  We were zipping right along–maybe too zippy, because Bill fell off the trail.  It was one of those things where he stepped on the outer edge and it gave way under his foot.  The mountainside was almost straight down and very muddy & slippery, so he started to slide and could not stop.  It was scary.  But finally a bush brought him to a halt and he was able with considerable effort to climb back up.   He said, “Man, I thought I was going all the way down to the next switchback!” 

It seemed like it took forever to reach the bridge over Milk Creek.  Not long after the bridge was a sign that said if you were going NORTH on the PCT, to keep on switchbacking DOWN till you reached the Milk Creek trail, and THEN the trail would start back up the other side of the canyon.

I looked at our maps and said, “This is weird!  According to the map, the PCT goes right down to Milk Creek and then right on up the other side.  But we have been going WAY far away from what the map shows.  I guess it’s the new route–they did say the new bridge was in a totally different place.  No kidding!” 

It took us 2 hours to climb the 10 kazillion switchbacks up and out of the canyon.  Bill has been having more and more trouble with big climbs,  and I was worried because it was obvious there would be no flat places to camp till we got to the top.  So I took off and headed right on up with the idea of finding a campsite, so that when Bill got there, we wouldn’t be hunting desperately for something with the sun going down.   Sure enough, I found a really nice spot, and Bill finally arrived at 7:00, which gave us just enough daylight to get settled before dark.   Whew!  I had been getting worried.

When I calculated our “mileage” I was incredulous.  Twenty-one miles?  Impossible! We must have done more than that!  I knew we had been moving right along, and really going fast on the long downhills.   The only thing I could conclude was that the new trail must have been several MILES longer than the old PCT.  I did factor in that there were parts of the trail today which were very muddy (made for slower going) and though a good amount of  “brushing” had been done, there were still sections where we were pushing through plants and climbing over blowdowns (trees) and rolldowns (big rocks & boulders).  And I’d wasted some time dithering by Pumice Creek.   But still–we MUST have done more miles than just 21!

Our opinion so far of the official PCT vs the detour is that the detour is much easier, hiking-wise.  The official PCT is rather tough and strenous.  Scenery-wise, the detour is very pretty, but the official PCT is spectacular.   So our conclusion as to which one to take, well, I would say “It depends.”   If you are in a hurry to reach Canada, take the detour–it’s quicker and easier.  If you feel up to a tough, but magnificent hike, take the official PCT.

When the rain stopped last night, it really did stop!  We didn’t even have tree drip on our tarp this morning!  Again, because of the dark and cold, we ate breakfast “in bed,”  while Colter did the same.  He had asked somewhat anxiously last night about how early we usually got up and was relieved to hear 5:30 was our time.  Apparently that’s his “rise ‘n shine time”, too, and he was concerned about bothering us if we planned to get up later. 

To my delight, the sky showed mostly clear–the clouds were almost all gone.  We could see a real sunrise with pretty colors–not just grayness gradually getting lighter.  Eventually the sky cleared completely–for the first time since we went through Goat Rocks.  The PCT took us through a wide variety of scenery–meadows, forests, huge boulder fields and mountains.  The plants were all soaking wet, so we wore our raingear, but wow!  We loved taking Snickers breaks in the SUN at last!    All morning long we were leapfrogging with Happy Camper, Trashbucket and Colter.

A long steep climb that ended at 11:30 am landed us on top of a pass with lots of warm sun and DRY ground and DRY bushes!  Wahoo–garage sale time!  Soon we had all our stuff spread out everywhere, drying in the sun.  We also enjoyed a special treat of really good coffee that the Manns had given to us.  Butterflies were everywhere, landing on us and on our stuff.   But their favorite item was an orange-colored plastic bag that we keep our garbage in.   We wondered whether it was the orange color or the garbage that attracted their attention.

Just as we were packing up to leave, along came Colter, who was very happy to have such a perfect spot to stop and dry HIS gear!  And while we were still eating lunch, HC and TB had come along .  They stopped to ask a number of questions about Stehekin, because they were worried about getting there when the post office was open.  They were also very puzzled as to why the Stehekin bus takes a whole hour to go just 10 miles from the PCT to the town. We explained that it had several stops where the bus waits around for awhile before going on–especially at the famous Stehekin Bakery.

After lunch, the trail did various ups and downs and contours before landing us at the junction with the detour trail.  Happy Camper and Trashbucket were already there, enjoying one of their very healthy snacks (hummus and corn chips this time) so we joined them and ate our Snickers.   They are trying to make lots of miles, in an effort to reach Stehekin well before the weekend.   They took off, and eventually we followed them, now headed into what for us was a totally new part of the PCT.  (We followed the detour route in 2005). 

Up ahead of us lay a whole bunch of snowy mountains, and the trail headed straight towards them, climbing gently at first, then more steeply as we got closer to Red Pass, contouring along very steep mountainsides along deep, deep valleys, wooded on the sides, but with a meadow and meandering little creek in each “bottom land.”   The PCT is up very high, mostly above the woods, on hillsides covered with green grass and various plants.  The plants are turning color–mostly yellow–so the overall effect is very pretty;  the mountainsides have a sort of glowing yellow-green effect.   The actual mountaintops were hidden in clouds, but the sun was still shining on the trail where we were hiking.  

Suppertime found us in nice warm sunshine on a hillside with an AWESOME view in all directions–snowcovered peaks and beautiful meadows.  We agreed that today has been absolutely delightful, even though it was hard work–those 25 miles we did were tough miles.   Not long after supper, we reached Red Pass.  The approach to the pass from our side was green and pretty, but the other side was like instantly being transported to another planet.  It was barren and rocky and had a fair amount of snow, some of which we had to cross in order to get down from the Pass.   At this point it was getting late in the day and we were anxious to get down as low as we could to find a campsite. 

Getting down was not easy.  The trail was muddy and rocky; water from snowmelt was running everywhere.  Every flat spot was a puddle!  I was seriously getting worried about where we could camp, but we made it down to treeline and found a wonderful campsite on a dry knoll.  We could hear a creek roaring in the distance, and in the sunset light, the moon was rising above the mountains, very ethereal and beautiful.   Clouds were moving in from the north, but the evening was warmer than it has been, which was very nice.   I thought about tomorrow’s “killer hiking day” coming up, and hoped for a good night’s sleep.

Since it wasn’t very far to Steven’s Pass, and we weren’t due to meet the Manns till later in the morning, we “lazed in bed” till 6:00 am before eating breakfast.  It was barely starting to get light, and we didn’t rush it munching our granola, and then took our time with packing up and heading out.  The trail continued to be very, very muddy, so just as yesterday, we spent a lot of time hiking the EDGES of the trail.  (Seemed like “on trail” hiking and “edge-hiking” were about equal in terms of how many miles of each!)  There were also several rocky stretches as we climbed up and up to the top of the ski chair lifts and through a powerline clearcut. 

It was a great relief to finally head downhill to Steven’s Pass ski area.  The resort looked very well-kept, and it had expanded quite a bit since we last saw it in 2005.  Then, hooray!  Down near the road, there was a hiker cache!  It was a cooler with Pepsi and big, juicy carrots.  Great snack!  We strolled over to where we were to meet the Manns, munching carrots and sipping Pepsi.   While we were waiting,  a couple of retired Navy guys came by and stopped for a chat.  They are exploring the USA via Amtrak and rented cars, and are having a great time!  They are planning to head for Canada next.   Hmmmm–so are we!   But most important, they filled us in on the situation in Skykomish, and it didn’t sound very good.   The whole town is a Superfund cleanup site, and everything is a mess right now.   The only place that’s open where you can eat is the tavern, and the deli and the convenience store.    Oh well–we will just have to make the best of it.

Shortly afterwards, the Manns arrived, with their adorable dachshunds and lots of fresh fruit, which we devoured during the ride down to Skykomish.  What was left of the town had a number of thruhikers hanging about.  They said there were a few rooms available at the Cascade Inn, but we wanted to get back to the trail.    It was a cloudy, chilly day, with rain threatening, so we really savored the platefuls of chili dogs ‘n all the fixings we got at the Whistlestop Tavern.  We also went to the gas station convenience store to get more food to add to our packs. I was very happy to find everything I needed, even in such a small store!   We loaded our packs (yum, bulging with good food!) filled our Platypuses at the deli, and the Manns took us back up to the PCT.  I was very encouraged by Lucy Mann’s comments about the Suiattle River crossing.  “It’s a good solid log there,” she said.  “My balance is terrible, so I crawled across, but I made it just fine.” 

We set off under a very gray sky, and enjoyed the mostly level walk where the trail follows an old road.  Pretty soon it was back to uphill, but an uphill that went through forests with huge mossy rocks and occasional meadows. No views, though–the clouds were low, and then it started to rain.  We caught up with Colter, then with Happy Camper & Trashbucket when they stopped for a break, and we met a number of dayhikers scurrying back to their cars because of the rain.  

HC and TB told us about a thruhiker couple who had walked all the way from Campo, then quit at Snoqualmie Pass because the night before they reached the Pass, they’d camped in what they thought was a nice protected spot, and woke up in the night to find themselves in the middle of a large puddle.  All their gear got soaked.  Apparently that “was it”.  They decided they couldn’t take it anymore and were making arrangements to go home.  HC and TB said they tried to persuade them to go on, but the couple would not even discuss it.  “We’ve had enough of cold and rain,” they said.  “We’ll come back next summer and finish.”

HC, TB, Bill and I all agreed that day after day of cold and rain is NOT fun, and we are all counting down the days to when we reach Canada.  Having bad weather for so long is really wearing on our ability to be cheerful and enjoy the hike, but we are trying!  Mostly, though, it’s become an endurance slog and a determination challenge.  BUT–the weather forecast is for slowly improving conditions, and both the Manns and the Dinsmores (who are trail angels near Skykomish) say things always get drier and sunnier as the trail gets nearer to Stehekin, since that’s on the east side of the Cascades, rather than the wet west side.   So maybe things will get better.

Not too far along from there, we had an “Awwwwww!” moment.  A little flock of very wet, bedraggled grouse were huddled in the middle of the trail.  It looked like a mama and three almost-grown chicks.  Instead of the usual protocol of diving into the bushes,  the grouse family began to run down the trail ahead of us.  We kept hiking, and they kept running ahead of us, never veering off the trail, for quite awhile.  I felt sorry for them–it was raining and cold and they looked so miserable and so freaked out by us being there.  Finally they turned off and disappeared into the mists and cloud that surrounded us.

From hiking here in 2005, I knew that the views from the trail were spectacular, but  all we could see was the dead remains of wildflower plants (a few still with flowers, but obviously just about “done”) and the bushes/trees were just beginning to show some fall color.  The trail itself was very wet, but hooray–no deep mud like we had to deal with yesterday!  We also agreed that we are very glad it is not snowing. 

However, given the weather conditions (cold, rainy and windy), and the fact that the trail was continually either contouring on a steep mountainside OR else the only flat spots were mini-lakes in very alpine areas,  we decided to start seriously looking for a campsite at the early hour of 6:30 pm.  I did not want to run the risk of having to frantically hunt for a place with the sun going down.   6:30 came and went, and it was another half hour of hiking before we finally spotted a little flat spot under some trees–and it was already occupied by Colter, setting up his tent.  However, he very hospitably agreed to let us squeeze our tarp in next to him.  “I think we can manage if we’re careful not to trip over each other’s tent cords,” was his comment.  And best of all, there was a little place right by one of the tree trunks where the ground was actually DRY!  We all stowed our packs there.

After we’d gotten set for the night, the rain stopped.  But we are IN the clouds and it was still very wet.  I think we are about a half mile from Grizzly Peak, but I am not sure.    It was nice to have Colter’s company, and tomorrow’s weather report says the rain may stop for a couple of days.  Hope so!

We were at about 5,500 feet elevation in our camp last night, which is high for around here. It was a COLD night! Normally I would be very snug and warm anyway, with my down sleeping bag, but this time, the GROUND itself was very cold. My Ridgerest could not completely insulate me from it. When we go snow camping, we have at least two insulating pads under us so that we don’t feel the cold of the snow–and the ground up here is so cold that it felt like snow under me. Result: I had a hard time getting any sleep, which was a bummer, because we did a lot of tough miles yesterday, didn’t camp till late, and I was very tired. Oh well–we’re closing in on the finish line now!

We ate breakfast at 5:30, in the dark and cold and wind. Our camp was IN the clouds, but fortunately not superwet clouds. When it was barely light, we headed off downhill above Hope Lake, toward the “dangerous” crossing of Spade Creek, which the guidebook describes as “impassable to stock animals.” We’d heard from other hikers that they did have a tough time finding a way to get across this year. In 2005, the crossing was a big mess, but do-able. It was only 2 miles to the creek, but it seemed like forever because of some very rocky, rough trail across talus slopes. The clouds still hid the mountaintops, but we were low enough now that we could see the lake and scenery below us.

We reached Spade Creek, and it was just as I remembered–the “creek” comes steeply down a narrow canyon from Mt. Daniel, then spreads out and divides into 3 smaller creeks. Someone had made log bridges out of scraps for the first two crossings–the third one was a boulder hop. Bill gave me a hand at one of the log crossings. I think the “dangerous” crossing was relatively easy overall because it was so early in the morning, and it didn’t rain much yesterday.

Then we pushed on up and over Deception Pass–not a bad climb, and in forest. The next “project” was the highest pass of the day–Pieper Pass (almost 6,000 feet). The trail was a steady but not steep climb up the mountainside, with nice views, since the clouds were lifting and we even had some brief flashes of sun. Partway up, we heard a loud roaring sound coming from below and behind us, and TWO  jets went tearing by, down BELOW us, twisting and turning their way up the canyon.  Wahoo!  At the top there was a stunning view, with two big lakes down below on the other side of the pass.

Many, many switchbacks took us down, at first on nice dirt trail through the forest, then the last half was all in a huge talus field. I was reduced to hiking at a crawl because of the rocks and by the time we got to the meadows at the bottom of the descent, my feet were very painful. Bill and I were both limping. That’s one of the bummers of being older–we have very little “fat padding” left on the bottoms of our feet. We were very glad it was lunchtime so we could take a break!

Lunch was a freezedried lamb fettucine from Australia!–a gift from our daughter who was there last year. Very tasty! Not only that, but the sun came out for a little while and we were able to get our gear aired and dried. “Now for Trap Pass!” we said, and on rested feet we began the sometimes steep climb diagonally up the mountain. Eventually the diagonal turned into switchbacks to the top of the pass, then more switchbacks down. A long and very comfortable contour followed, heading north (the direction we wanted to go!). The wildflowers along the trail, even the fall asters, are really fading, but other plants are showing fall color, so we still had pretty plants to look at. Mushrooms are popping out of the ground, too, in all colors, including a bright golden yellow!

We climbed up and over another “pass”, and followed the PCT past some smaller pretty lakes (with backpackers at each one) before doing a VERY steep, stiff climb up to a ridge above Josephine Lake. Whew! It was some ascent, and to add to the “fun”, the trail is now extremely MUDDY (from previous rains) and we mostly walked/teetered on the SIDES of the trail rather than in the deep mud of the trail itself. Slooooow going!

However, even with the slow trail, we were still farther ahead than we thought we’d be, and wished we had some way to phone the Manns and let them know we’d be at Steven’s Pass sooner than we’d thought. Late in the afternoon, we started meeting a lot of people headed into the mountains, loaded down with big heavy packs. I stopped a group of girls and asked if I could use their cellphone. They were very happy to oblige, but neither of the two cellphones in the group had coverage. Oh well. I was very grateful for their generosity in letting us at least TRY to call. So we decided to “take it easy” for the rest of the day and camped a bit early at Lake Susan Jane. When I calculated our mileage, I was disappointed, though. We worked so hard and tried our best to go as quickly as possible, but still we only made 21.5 miles. I guess all the rocks and mud and long steep climbs really slowed us down. But at least our AVERAGE mileage is still OK, and we are in no danger of running out of food. This afternoon, I had the crazy idea that we could make it all the way to Steven’s Pass TODAY, and hitch a ride down to the Dinsmore’s. No way. I had to give up on that one at around 4 pm.

This whole section is so beautiful and majestic, Bill and I agreed that if it had as much easy road access as Yosemite, there would be tourists here in droves. It is too bad that only a few hardy backpackers ever get to see such beauty–high, dramatic granite cliffs and mountains, meadowed valleys, many lovely lakes…wow!

It was really getting cold as we made camp, and I put on almost all my layers before crawling into the sleeping bag. Actually, in spite of all the uphills, I was wearing a lot of layers during the DAY today, as well. Each night seems colder than the last, and the ground itself is very cold–and often wet or damp, too. But it’s only 9 more days to Canada!

It rained lightly all night, but stopped just before we sat up to eat breakfast. It is still so dark in the early morning that it is really helping give us more hiking time if we eat in the dark, rather than waiting for it to be light enough to hike, then stopping just after sunrise, as was our plan before. And it was certainly nice to be able to pack up with nothing more than tree drip coming down this morning!

Once we started hiking, we noticed that the clouds looked a bit “looser”–not so dense and dark. We even saw a glimpse of blue sky for a tiny short while. And best of all, the clouds were much higher up, so we could actually see the nearby mountains–wow! They were rugged, granitic, very Sierra-ish, with lots of glaciers. Ribbons of white were running down every mountainside, and sometimes we could hear their faint roar. I speculated mentally as to whether that would add up to “fun” river crossings up ahead.

The trail itself had obviously been recently worked on, and still had ribbon tags that said things like, “Begin retread” or “End brushing.” And soon we did have to ford Lemah Creek. It wasn’t deep–only midcalf–but quite wide and very cold. I didn’t mind–my socks got rinsed as I walked across, and they needed it!

We soon began a climb that took till 10 am to finish, to the top of Escondido Ridge, where we did catch a few mountain views through gaps in the clouds. The nice thing about the climb was that it didn’t rain! But it was cold–50 degrees. On an uphill, that’s no problem, but then came the long downhill to the Waptus River. It’s harder to stay warm on a downhill. We stopped for lunch partway down, and oh joy, there were rocks that were DRY, with a BREEZE blowing (cold, yes, but a breeze!) so while we ate lunch, we could spread out our damp tarp, sleeping bags, etc. so that they dried off nicely. The clouds overhead were very loose and often would break up, leaving holes of blue sky. We could even see sunpatches across the valley from us.

Then came the climb up Cathedral Pass on reasonable trail–not as rough as the downhill had been. And the plants by the trail were nice and dry from the breeze, so we could hike along, pushing through overgrowth, without getting wet. We paused for a moment at beautiful Deep Lake. What a place! It has flat, beautiful meadows there, but we needed more miles, so after a couple of pictures, we climbed on up past Cathedral Peak, a well-named rocky sentinel. We did reach the top of the pass and headed down, now looking for a campsite (it was late!) The map showed a possible flat place not too far down, but when we got there, yikes! It was cramjammed full of backpacker tents! Now way could we have shoehorned ourselves in.

So now, really a bit worried (it was after 7 pm, and the sun had gone down), we hurried on through a very wet (due to low clouds) alpine environment. Every flat place we could see was sodden and exposed, but we finally found a spot in a tree grove that we could JUST barely squeeze into. We were up very high, it was very cold, and we were actually IN the clouds. Brrr!

But on the “way cool” side, the alpine scene here is awesome and unique, and we were were SO glad of very little actual rain today. We even had a a “sun moment’ at around 4 pm, when for an hour we were able to wear just “plain old hiking clothes” instead of layers and layers, trying to stay warm.