Current stop: White Pass, Washington
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| Reunion with the whole crew at Trail Days: Phil’s Crew |
Today (Day 123) marks four months since first stepping foot on the PCT. On the one hand, it feels like just the other day that I was at the Mexican Border setting off into the unknown. On the other, the recent freezing weather reminds me that the desert heat was a distant memory.
Day 114 involved (somewhat reluctantly) leaving the AirBnB in Bend and heading in the car for the three hour journey back to where we left four days prior: Olallie Lake. Sprouts’ partner (Eric) would be hiking with us for the next two days. Following our arrival just before midday, we hiked about 20 miles to camp, which was surprisingly busy (lots of weekend warriors and SOBOers) and finding a site was difficult (this is pretty unusual on trail and I can’t remember the last time it was a bit of a struggle!).
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| Smokey the Bear: only I can prevent wildfires, apparently |
The following morning we hiked with Eric for six more miles before he had to make his way back to Portland. Day 115 felt like a bit of a slog - three zero days off trail was taking its toll. Highlights from the day included the short side trail to Mini Crater Lake and making our way up to Timberline Lodge at the foot of Mount Hood. The ascent was extremely chilly (it definitely felt like we were at 6,000 feet again) but we were quickly warmed up by a beer in the bar (bonus points for it being free as the credit card machine wasn’t working!).
Timberline Lodge is famous as serving as the exterior of the Overlook Hotel from Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film: The Shining. Interestingly, Timberline Lodge was just used for establishing shots in the film with the actual substantive scenes filmed at a studio just outside of London - the more you know! Mt Hood is also the only all-year ski resort in the States.
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| Mini Crater Lake - extremely cold! |
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| The approach to Mt Hood |
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| BB outside the Overlook Hotel, I mean, the Timberline Lodge |
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| Timberline Lodge - much less spooky in real life |
After breakfast at Timberline the following morning, we set off again on trail ready for our final two days in Oregon.
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| Views on the descent down from Mt Hood were spectacular |
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| Ramona Falls |
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| Mt Hood in the background |
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| Getting further away |
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| Mt Adams (Washington) in the background |
Day 117 involved a long descent down through Eagle Creek down to Cascade Locks. On the descent, the trail passed by Tunnel Falls - an awesome waterfall with a tunnel (surprise!) behind.
Cascade Locks marks the official end of Oregon and we had timed our arrival to coincide with the annual PCT Days event (an opportunity to catch up with others during the trail, test out new hiking gear, and hear from the PCTA). After several hours catching up with friends from earlier on during the PCT (and some sad goodbyes), we set off again crossing the Bridge of the Gods over the Columbia River and into the state of Washington.
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| Finally, a decent size ice cream |
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| Crossing the Bridge of the Gods into Washington |
In true Pacific Northwest fashion, almost as soon the border was crossed, the weather turned with thunder and lightning welcoming us to our third (and final) state on trail. After several miles of making sure that every piece of gear and article of clothing was thoroughly saturated, camp was set up.
The rain lasted well into the morning on Day 118. The forests and climate in Washington feels similar to New Zealand (although much more pine-y) and very different from California and Oregon. Luckily, there was some respite from the rain at the top of the climb and several hours were needed drying and airing out all of my earthly possessions.
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| The view for the next few days |
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| Having a yard sale and drying everything I own |
My day was vastly improved with trail magic in the form of Dr Pepper on the trail. It’s crazy how a stupid (free) can of soft drink can improve your mood so rapidly.
An immediate 4,000 foot climb marked the beginning of Day 119 - the relatively flat terrain of Oregon was over for sure. The trail had been quite quiet the past few days; many people had decided to skip ahead from Cascade Locks to White Pass to avoid having to hike a detour around the Mt Adams Wildfire closure. You can probably tell by now that if there’s a possible detour, you bet I’m taking it to avoid having to skip miles. Given this, it was a nice surprise running into some familiar faces on the trail. We discussed our plans for our alternate route around the fire closure area and decided that the five of us would hike it together.
The morning of Day 120 was incredibly cold - what has happened to our warm summer weather? After running into a Forestry Ranger (and discussing our plan for the alternate) we jumped on Forest Service Road 88 and started on the detour.
The detour was great - there were only several miles on paved roads and the rest of the detour followed (open) trails in the area.
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| The small section of paved road on the detour |
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| Twin Falls Campground - camp for the night |
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| I also discovered that my phone has a slow shutter speed setting |
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| Great huckleberries on the detour |
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| Just before the detour rejoined the open section of the PCT |
After reaching back to the PCT, we hiked for another seven miles, before setting up camp overlooking Mt Adams.
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| Entering Goat Rocks Wilderness - I have been looking forward to this section for a long time! |
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| View of Mt Adams from camp |
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| View from camp - Part II |
Waking up on the morning of Day 122 I immediately regretted my decision to send back most of my warm gear in Lake Tahoe. The temperature was 2°C (so much for summer) which made getting out of my tent especially difficult. However, knowing that we had more of Goat Rocks Wilderness ahead definitely helped and gave my the strength to deflate my air mattress (which has now developed another hole).
Goat Rocks was incredible and this section has been one of the highlights on trail. Although I was initially a bit disappointed with the cloud cover, a local told me that today had been the first day in a while that clouds weren’t covering everything - this quickly changed my perspective! Just look at this scenery:
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| Can you tell that this is the longest I’ve gone without a shower or laundry? |
Just as our tents were set up (on a ridge with a view of the mountains behind) the rain set in, shortly followed by thunder and lightning. Laying in my tent counting the seconds between the lightning and the thunder (which were far too close together for comfort), I began to regret the choice of campsite.
After a rather sleepless night, I made my way the eight miles down to White Pass. The Kracker Barrel General Store was about the only thing there but was super welcoming to hikers, allowing us to stay warm inside (after buying a $5 bottomless mug), and allowed us to break our no-shower and no-laundry record. Deciding it was too cold and too wet to head back to trail (Washington has made me weak), I booked a room in the nearby lodge for a proper bed and proper night’s sleep.
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| Definitely overstaying our welcome at the Kracker Barrel at White Pass |
The next section of the PCT until Stevens Pass is currently open (there are no fire closures - yet). After Stevens Pass (mile 2,466.9) the journey gets tricky with four separate closures. I am hopeful that the recent cool and wet weather may re-open the PCT, however, even if not, there looks like several reroutes may be available and the journey northward to Canada remains a possibility.
At this stage, it looks like my end date (perhaps phrasing it as my ‘arrival into Canada’ may sound less ominous) will be around the 6 - 10 September. It doesn’t seem real that I have less than three weeks on trail and that this beautiful, crazy dream is quickly coming to an end.
