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.

Tags: Government Meadow, Mike Urich cabin, snow, Trail Magic