It rained last night, and also snowed! There was a light dusting of it around us on the ground, and it was 38 degrees.  We decided to eat breakfast in bed again, so weren’t actually on the trail and hiking till 7:00.  I decided to keep my silk undershirt on (normally I only wear it to sleep in) and I am glad I did.  It was COLD!  We were in the clouds a lot, so couldn’t see much, but the fall colours are beginning to show in many of the plants, and walking through a forest that’s in cloud is very mysterious and beautiful in its own way.  We caught up with Happy Camper and Trashbucket again at a creek, and stopped to talk a bit–the topic was snow camping.  Wonder if we’ll end up having to do that before we reach Canada??

As we got closer to Government Meadow, the trail got increasingly muddy and the tree drip was so heavy that it was like walking in the rain even though it wasn’t raining.  At 11:15, even though it was early to stop for lunch, we decided to head for the Mike Urich cabin, with the idea of airing and drying gear inside. Well, what we found was a wonderful guy named Trail Magic, giving out all-you-can-eat donuts and hot coffee to PCT thruhikers! We stuffed ourselves with our own hot lunch plus his goodies while he told us about his adventures doing “mobile trail magic.”  Turns out his daughter did the AT and attempted the PCT but was not able to finish.  So he knew how helpful it is to hikers to have trail angel help, and on his days off (he works in Seattle) he goes up to the PCT with lots of coffee and donuts.  We ended up spending such a long time there with him that we didn’t get as many miles today as we normally would have, but who cares!  We were putting off having to head back into the cold, wet forest.

Trail Magic told us this chilly, rainy weather is strange, and the temperatures are running 10-15 degrees cooler than average— normally it is really nice this time of year. He also explained why we aren’t finding any huckleberries–apparently the berries are ripe in August, and people swarm in to pick them till they’re all gone.

We finally dragged ourselves away and soon found ourselves in a “fire zone” from a 1988 forest fire.  The heat was so fierce that not much has regrown–except a few huckleberry plants, where hurray, we FINALLY got some berries!  By suppertime we were up high on a rocky ridge, and enjoyed a great valley view for awhile as we were eating.  But a great wall of clouds came rolling in and soon our view was gone.  No worries–we also had lots of birds to watch.  They were flitting around all over the place and sitting on the rocks around us.  Were they migrating?  Not sure.

We hiked on down back into dripping wet forest with puddles everywhere, and I was starting to think, “Hmmm, where can we find a dry campsite?”  We did find one–the trail went briefly along a gravel road, and at the end of the road, where the trail turned back into the forest, there was a flat place that was dry.  We were starting to set up our tarp, when along came another PCT hiker who also cheered at the sight of a good place to camp.    As soon as we were under our tarp, rain began again.   I am so glad it did NOT rain during the day today.  Sure, there were thick clouds and tree drip, but there was also the beauty of the forest and occasional cloud-free views of deep valleys.  And the donuts were wonderful!

Walk with Aragorn to Minas Tirith: They arrive in Lebennin to find the area destroyed.

Well, that weather report for “nice” turned out to be wrong.  Good thing we rigged the tarp last night hoping it would help me be warmer, because it began to rain!  (Note: I was indeed much warmer–putting the pack liner inside my sleeping bag to keep my feet warm did the trick!)  It was so cold (38 degrees) at get-up time that we decided to eat breakfast in bed!  When I sat up and started pulling the food bag next to me, out popped a mouse!   Fortunately it didn’t get much–just nibbled a corner of a Snickers bar.  The rain continued off and on all morning as we did a big climb (pushing through wet plants) up from Bumping River. We could not see anything except near the trail. But in some places, that meant fabulous wildflowers, especially on the hill above Dewey Lake.

There were a lot of dayhikers at the lake, despite the wet, cold weather. These Washington people are tough!  The clouds were so thick that we couldn’t even see the other side of the lake.  We did stop there in a dry area under some trees and cooked a hot dinner.  While we were busy with this, along came a family who stopped to talk–they were fascinated by our tiny “kitchen”.

It was 40 degrees, with some wind, and we were in thick clouds as we climbed up from the lake to the road.  When we got there, we were shocked.  The footbridge over the road, with its “Rainier National Park” sign was all smashed .  Did some big RV crash into it?  We headed up past Sheep Lake, where a little bit of sun finally broke through–enough for us to see that the clouds were just “locals.”  We kept on meeting lots of dayhikers and backpackers.  At Sheep Lake, there were a lot of people just lounging around as if it were a warm summer day.  Like I said, these Washington people are TOUGH!  We also met another PCT SOBO–he said that Billy Goat and WS Monty had advised him to flip up to Canada and hike south to finish the PCT.   Considering that it’s September now, that was very good advice.  (Though the only real sign of fall at this point is that a few plants are turning yellow, and we found a few ripe huckleberries!)

The PCT takes you from the highway at Chinook Pass up to Sourdough Pass, which is one of my favourite places on the trail. It’s like a very narrow, rocky gap with two different “worlds”, one on each side. Very dramatic and very beautiful!  After that, the trail is basically a crest walk, with the trail flipping back and forth from one side of the crest to the other.  Love the views–but brrr! We didn’t linger long in the wind and cold (the high today was 42 degrees) before heading down to Little Crow Basin where we camped in a grove of trees.  We were warm in our sleeping bags when Happy Camper and Trashbucket passed by, hiking by headlamp at 8:30 pm.   They had said something back at White Pass about needing to finish up soon, so I guess they are on a roll.

Walk with Aragorn to Minas Tirith: On the road near the River Serni.

Last night was cold and windy, so since we were just cowboy camped with no tarp, I got awfully cold! Brr! Since it wasn’t far to White Pass  (Food! Clean clothes!) we didn’t get up till 6:00 am.  Then we hurried along the PCT through the forest, past very pretty Ginnette Lake.  After the lake, the trail began to switchback down, down, down to the road.  Suddenly a big elk cut across the trail in front of us, and we could see him sort of crashing through the trees till he was out of sight.  But in what had been a clear early morning sky there were now dark, fast-moving and ominous clouds.  I thought, “Sure hope we make it to the Kracker Barrel before the storm hits.”  Turned out I need not have worried–the clouds looked nasty and impressive, but they blew right by and left the sky clear again by noon.

The weather stayed cold (in the 50’s) and windy all day, so we were VERY glad to get into the warm and welcoming Kracker Barrel store/restaurant.  We were eating breakfast (a real thruhiker breakfast–egg and sausage sandwiches, breakfast burritos, big cinnamon rolls, bananas, oj, and mochas!) while fisherfolk came in complaining that it was so windy they couldn’t get out on the lake–it was covered with whitecaps.  Once we were well-stuffed, it was laundry time and resupply box time.  The Kracker Barrel is awesome–they have everything that hikers need–including socks!  I bought a new pair to replace a pair that I accidentally left hanging on a tree to dry.  And we called the trail angel couple who were planning to meet us at Snoqualmie Pass to give them an updated ETA.  We enjoyed talking to a young couple–Happy Camper and Trashbucket, who are hiking the PCT for their honeymoon.  We read the PCT trail register, too–it spoke of hikers staying at the KB all day to wait out a rainstorm.  Glad that wasn’t us!

As we were walking back along the road back to the PCT, we met about 7 hikers coming in along the highway. Whew–we timed it right–the Kracker Barrel was full of people already, and 7 more, all PCT hikers, would really make it crowded, plus a line to do laundry (there’s only one washing machine & dryer).  Beyond White Pass, the trail spends a lot of time in meadowlands surrounded by forests.  We met a group of Boy Scouts, who were very interested in our PCT adventures–hope some of them get to thru hike someday!

A lot of families were out hiking and riding, even though it was a very cold, windy day.  One family in particular was so cute–mom and dad on horses and two little kids riding ponies, all of them grinning and happy despite the cold and wind.  The PCT north of White Pass is well-built and easy to hike, and it gradually climbs up until you are in an area with many very pretty lakes that had clean, blue water and sandy beaches!  Nice!  Not a good day for swimming, though.

Eventually we passed a horsepacker camp.  There were horses grazing all over a big meadow, and the camp was amazing.  They had big tents, camp chairs, and big coolers, etc.  It looked like a car camp, but it was 10 miles from the road.  The horse folks were all sitting around a roaring campfire talking and laughing.  Fun!  We stopped a little while later along the trail to eat some supper, and  while we were eating, along came a backpacker who told us a good place to cross (instead of ford) the Bumping River up ahead. He was right— a jumble of broken logs upstream— and it worked even for me, the log-crossing wussie.  I was feeling particularly wussied, because a couple of days ago, I had a bad fall on the trail, where I tripped over a root and went down really hard.  My hands and knees are still a bit sore from that.  But the log jumble crossing today went just fine.  Further up the trail on the other side, we met a SOBO who will finish the PCT when he reaches Old Station.  We wished him well, and thought, “He’s got a ways to go yet–we have only 350 more miles.  Two more weeks, and we are done.”

So we walked on to where the PCT headed straight up a hill, and found a campsite.  It was 7 pm, 50 degrees and a stiff wind blowing.  BRRRR!  We rigged the tarp to block the wind as much as possible, and  I crawled into my sleeping bag wearing pretty much all my clothes plus I slid my plastic pack liner bag into the sleeping bag and put my feet inside that.  The pack liner inside the sleeping bag trick was Bill’s suggestion–he said it worked for him during cold nights on the John Muir Trail.   The weather report for tomorrow sounds good.  I read the Bible for awhile and thought about how I need to stop worrying about the weather every time I see a cloud.  Trusting God to be with us is a lot better.

Walk with Aragorn to Minas Tirith: Battle with the Corsairs in Lamedon.

Wowee! Goat Rocks today! (Probably one of the most spectacular parts of the PCT.) We started off early, still in semi-darkness, determined to have breakfast at Cispus River, 3.5 miles away. But the PCT  going over Cispus Pass turned out to be a tough uphill with lots of rocks, so we only made it to the top of the pass before we decided, “Food now!” After enjoying breakfast with a view, we headed on down to the Cispus River, then on through steep green meadows, wildflowers, cascades, and alpine gorgeousness, before beginning the big long uphill to Old Snowy Mountain.

It was slow going for us because of the rough trail. Our 70 and 62-year-old feet don’t have much “fat padding” on them anymore! I soon gave up any hope of reaching Highway 12 today and decided to just enjoy the awesomeness around us.

At our midmorning Snickers break, we saw three very large marmot-looking critters on the hillside across the way from us.  It was fun watching them.  Still no luck spotting any mountain GOATS, though, even though we were getting close to Goat Rocks.  We got to our first snowfields on the trail–no problem getting across, even though they were hard and icy.   When we got to the Packwood Glacier,  it was 10:00 am, and Bill as usual, just zipped across.  I followed a lot more cautiously, and at first it was OK–the snow had softened enough to provide decent footing.  But halfway across, it turned to icy, hard and slippery, on a sidehill with a long runout to rocks at the bottom.  I sent my ice axe and Microspikes home long ago, so all I had were my trek poles.  Ack!  Bill was waiting on the other side and when he saw how slowly I was going, trying to chip out steps with the tip of my trek pole, he found a rock with a sharp edge and started using it to chop some steps for me.  Once I reached him, I was able to zip the rest of the way across.  Thank you, Bill!   And even though it was tough going, wow, the views up there were gloriously glorious.  We could even see Mt. St. Helens on the horizon–the side that was blown out by the eruption.  It was very gray and dour-looking.

Just before the famous “Knife Edge”, we discovered that the quick ‘n easy horse trail was completely impassable due to snow, so we had to take the longer, tougher hiker route.  It’s basically a lot of switchbacks up through rough lava boulders and rocks till you get to the top of the ridge.  At the top, we found a couple resting and talked to them for a little while, while trading  off taking pictures of each other.  Turned out they were just doing a short backpacking trip, “During the week,” they said.  “We hate the crowds here on weekends.”  They had stopped for a break because their feet were blistered and their knees were sore (common problems for folks who only backpack occasionally).

We left the couple still resting and headed down more steep, unbelievably rough ‘n rocky switchbacks to the “start” of the Knife Edge.  Actually, it was a relief to be back on dirt trail, even if it was only a few feet wide, with multi-thousand foot drop-offs on both sides, and to add to the fun, a strong, gusty wind blowing. I stood there facing what in 2005 was 1.5 miles of sheer terror for me, since I am/was afraid of heights. Not this time; last summer I went up Mt. Whitney, where there are also big scary drop-offs right by the trail.  Up on Whitney, at first I forced myself through those spots, scared stiff and miserable, but determined to make it through.  (For those of you who could care less about heights, this probably sounds silly, but if you are like me, you understand!)  Coming back down Whitney, I asked God to help me be braver and wow, what a difference!  I still don’t like big drop-offs right next to me, but I am no longer totally terrified.

So this time, I ENJOYED the Knife Edge trail–the views of steep, spectacular snowy mountains, the blue lakes way down below, the green meadows and forests–all there to enjoy, and the blustery wind adding to the experience.   We had a great time up there, and I almost felt regret when we finally were back down  on flatter ground.  Some stunted trees gave us a bit of a break from the wind as we cooked up a lunch made up of odds ‘n ends from our almost empty food bags.  It was a sort of mishmash of  noodles, salami, bacon bits & cheese, very tasty. The noodle cooking water became hot chocolate.  Then it was back to the trail, (dirt, not rocks, hooray!) till at about 3:15 we got to a junction that had us wrassling with map and compass, trying to figure out “Which way for the PCT?”

Finally got it figured out, and from there till about 6:45, it was uphill, sometimes fairly steep, as we climbed to the top of a long ridge, then contoured along its side.  Supper was “Eat everything we have left”.  Finally we reached the top of Hogback Mountain and stopped to soak up the incredible views of Goat Rocks, Mt. Rainier, and the mountains to the north.  Wow!  We decided to go on till 7:15ish so that we’d only have a few miles to go in the morning to reach the highway.  The views on the trail down continued to be lovely–evening light on alpine lakes below us–can’t get much better than that!

At 7:10, we found a really nice campsite in a nook beside the trail, in a grove of trees.  The wind was blowing hard, but we were protected enough that we said, “Cowboy camp tonight– breakfast at the Kracker Barrel tomorrow!

Walk with Aragorn to Minas Tirith: In coastal lowlands near the Gilrain estuary

A very cold 38 degree morning, but clear skies! It was “walk through the huckleberry bushes day” all day— tall ones, short ones, green ones, turning-red ones and still NO berries! First thing in the morning, we had a couple of river crossings of glacier melt off Mt. Adams. One was an easy rockhop, but the Adams River was trickier and I got one foot wet in the icy water. Ow! The poor foot (which had already been stuck into cold wet socks and shoes earlier in the morning) was not happy!

But at breakfast we found a big glacier-polished rock in full sun with an awesome view of Mt. Adams, and all of me (including the foot) felt much better! Down from Mt. Adams we went, enjoying views of Mt. Rainier as well (a special privilege–Rainier is so often shrouded in clouds).  But we had to keep moving–it was still cold, and in the shade the ground was frozen, with frost still white on the plants and ice crystals in every puddle.  It was so cold that when we reached the famous Lava Spring, we didn’t stop for a drink as we did in 2005–it was just too cold to be drinking icy spring water.  Brrrr!

We finally got to a road, and I admit to fervently hoping there might be a trail angel food cache there, because we are on short rations right now.  In an effort to save on pack weight for this long stretch, I cut our food to a minimum– but then we didn’t make as many miles as we’d planned on.  Now we are definitely running low!  But bummer–no cache!   Oh well.  We hurried through a “lake district” full of pretty little ponds and lakes, but well-populated with mosquitoes, before beginning a long climb up to the top of a ridge where the PCT then circumnavigates a huge valley. Much of this part of the trail involved pushing through knee and thigh-high huckleberry bushes hanging over the trail.  And some of it was down IN the valley, which was very boggy and mosquitoe-y.  We turned on the afterburners to get out of there as fast as we could.

But we still had nice views of Mt. Adams, and across the valley, we could see the mountains of Goat Rocks!  The afternoon turned out very warm (Ahhh! It sure felt good!) and we made it all the way to Walupt Creek and found a nice campsite on a knoll. The wind was picking up and clouds were rolling in, so we set up the tarp carefully.  Looks like it will be another cold night, but Goat Rocks tomorrow!

Walk with Aragorn to Minas Tirith: In a valley near the Anduin and Gilrain rivers