PCT Day 96

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PCT Day 96, 16 August 2022 (Tuesday)

“Free Pass”

 

Start Location:	Snoqualmie Pass	Destination:	Snoqualmie Pass
PCT Miles Day 96:	0	Cum PCT Miles:	1,748.2
Non-PCT Miles Day 96:	0	Cum All Miles:	1852.6
PCT Miles Remaining:	904.6
Elevation Gain Day 96:	0	Cum Elevation Gain:	300,461

Today was basically a free day in Snoqualmie Pass as I did most of my town errands yesterday.  However, I still had a few small things to do, including using the clothes iron in the hotel room to heat seal the leaks in my air pad.  Hopefully, I won’t get any new leaks.

I also met for lunch with Angela F.  We used to work together in San Diego, and she moved up to Washington several years ago.  She was nice enough to pick up a few things for me at Trader Joe’s and drive them out to me at Snoqualmie Pass.  It was nice seeing an old friend from work and catching up.

Sometimes you don’t realize how hard it is to hike 20+ miles a day in difficult terrain, because it’s just something you do every day.  But on a day like today when you feel yourself resting and recovering, it makes it much more clear how physically hard it is to do a hike like this.  I’ll get one more night in a regular bed, and a climate controlled room, and then it’s back out to the trail tomorrow morning.

There is likely to be very limited, or even no, connectivity for the next couple of weeks.  After getting to the Canadian border, I’ll somehow work my way back to either Seattle or Portland, and then figure out what to do next based on current conditions and closures.

With Angela in Snoqualmie Pass

Me with the bag of food that Angela brought for me

 

 

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PCT Day 95

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PCT Day 95, 15 August 2022 (Monday)

“Record Shattered” 

Start Location:	Wilderness Campsite	Destination:	Snoqualmie Pass
PCT Miles Day 95:	16.4	Cum PCT Miles:	1,748.2
Non-PCT Miles Day 95:	0.2	Cum All Miles:	1852.6
PCT Miles Remaining:	904.6
Elevation Gain Day 95:	2,598	Cum Elevation Gain:	300,461

I don’t know why I thought this since I was in Washington, but I thought it might be a fairly easy 16 miles to get to Snoqualmie Pass today.  However, the trail was very tricky and difficult and made the going slower than hoped. But I did eventually get there.

Snoqualmie Pass Is a small ski resort in the approximate middle of Washington.  The main draw for hikers is several mini markets and the Summit Inn hotel, where a lot of hikers stay. Most hikers send a resupply box to Snoqualmie Pass, either to the Summit Inn or to the Chevron gas station market.  I am actually taking a zero day here tomorrow as it is a logical place to do so before completing the rest of Washington.  The pizzas at Lee’s Summit Market are extremely popular with the hikers; this is where I got my dinner.

Today I set a personal record for number of days, 11, without a shower.  However, I’m still not close to being in the “Dirty 30,” which is people that have gone 30 or more days without a shower.  I don’t know what’s dirtier right now, me or my clothes.  Well, at least they should both be clean by sometime tonight.

Looking down at Snoqualmie Pass from the trail

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PCT Day 94

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PCT Day 94, 14 August 2022 (Sunday)

“A Day That Will Be Hard To Remember”

Start Location:	Wilderness Campsite	Destination:	Wilderness Campsite
PCT Miles Day 94:	24.1	Cum PCT Miles:	1,731.8
Non-PCT Miles Day 94:	0	Cum All Miles:	1836.0
PCT Miles Remaining:	921.0
Elevation Gain Day 94:	4,784	Cum Elevation Gain:	297,863

It was just another hard day of hiking in WA.  There continued to be occasional nice views of Mt. Rainier, but nothing else very memorable.

I stopped a couple miles short of where I would have liked due to the difficulty of finding tent sites; I came across a pretty decent one, so I decided to just stop and take it.  It was cool to warm today, but not hot, so pretty pleasant weather.

One more great view of Mount Rainier with the moon in the upper right

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PCT Day 93

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PCT Day 93, 13 August 2022 (Saturday)

“30 Something”

Start Location:	Wilderness Campsite South of Chinook Pass	Destination:	Wilderness Campsite
PCT Miles Day 93:	30.3	Cum PCT Miles:	1,707.7
Non-PCT Miles Day 93:	0.5	Cum All Miles:	1811.9
PCT Miles Remaining:	945.1
Elevation Gain Day 93:	4,160	Cum Elevation Gain:	293,079

 
With how difficult Washington is, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do a 30 mile day here. But I did today. However, I would have preferred to do a bit less than 30 and find a good tent site earlier.  So, obviously, finding a tentsite was hard; this is getting beyond ridiculous.  I, and at least a half a dozen other hikers, ended up camping just off a four-wheel-drive road.  It’s not ideal when you set up your tent next to empty bullet shells and broken glass.

So far, there have been three types of weather in Washington: cold and damp, warm and damp, and hot and damp.  I don’t think I, my equipment, or my clothes have been completely dry the entire time in Washington.   It was the first day in a long time that it never really even got warm.

Part of the day was spent walking through a fairly large burn area.  But this one didn’t seem quite as severe as the burn areas in California.  Probably that was because this fire took place, I believe, at least a couple decades ago.

It’s hard to say the day was easy when there was over 4K feet of elevation gain, but by PCT in Washington standards, it was a cruisy day.  Another reason why 30 something miles was possible today.

A very interesting view of Mt. Rainier as the heavy morning fog burns off 

Something happened to my cell phone camera and it won’t stop taking pictures of Mt. Rainier

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PCT Day 92

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PCT Day 92, 12 August 2022 (Friday)

“Nothing Is Free”

Start Location:	Sand Lake, North of White Pass	Destination:	Wilderness Campsite South of Chinook Pass
PCT Miles Day 92:	24.9	Cum PCT Miles:	1,677.4
Non-PCT Miles Day 92:	0.3	Cum All Miles:	1781.1
PCT Miles Remaining:	975.4
Elevation Gain Day 92:	3,912	Cum Elevation Gain:	288,919

I woke up to everything being very damp, even more so than usual for Washington.  Today was also a very cool day, so I did not get a chance to dry things out during the middle of the day.  Like many of the days in Washington, there’s not a lot to write about.  A lot of the day was just spent walking in green tunnels.  But today, there were periodically spectacular views of Mount Rainier.

One good thing, is that the mosquitoes were not too bad during the day.  I decided to stop a bit earlier than usual today to ensure I would get a good tentsite and have a little bit of time to try to dry things out somewhat before going to bed for the night.  I did end up with another good, scenic tent site. However, Washington doesn’t give you anything for free; the campsite was swarming with mosquitoes.

Finally, my back seems back to normal.  Today is the first day in a while that I didn’t even think about my back because I didn’t feel anything in my back.  Also, my feet are doing as well as can be expected.  So, stopping in Trout Lake and adding some padding to the bottom of my insoles was a good move.

Bumping River log crossing, trickier than it looks

 

Entering Mt. Rainier National Park

Getting closer to Mt. Rainier

Large Dewey Lake

Right Outside My Tentsite

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PCT Day 91

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PCT Day 91, 11 August 2022 (Thursday)

“Get Ready To Be Blown Away”

Start Location:	Wilderness Campsite	Destination:	Sand Lake, North of White Pass
PCT Miles Day 91:	18.2	Cum PCT Miles:	1,652.5
Non-PCT Miles Day 91:	0.1	Cum All Miles:	1755.9
PCT Miles Remaining:	1,000.3
Elevation Gain Day 91:	3,202	Cum Elevation Gain:	285,007

It was very windy last night, and my tent was not in the right spot to handle it.  I almost had my tent, and everything inside, blow away when I left the tent to restake it after the wind caused all the stakes to pull out of the ground (the ground was not firm enough for the stakes to get a good hold).  I spent at least a half-hour walking around in the dark trying to find rocks heavy enough to hold down the stakes.  Since this is a volcanic area, a lot of the rocks are lighter in weight than they look.

I completed the Goat Rocks section later in the morning.  Next up is White Pass, a small ski area.  About a half mile walk down Hwy 12 from the trail is the Kracker Barrel Store (not to be confused with the Kracker Barrel restaurant).  This place is very hiker friendly, and very well liked by hikers.

I was originally going to spend the night in White Pass, but all the lodging was full, and there were just too many hikers in town.  So, I thought it would be better to go back to the trail and get a few miles in before the end of the day.  This was a good move as I ended up with a good, scenic tentsite, and I got in a few bonus miles.

Leaving Goat Rocks

A great view of Mt. Rainier

Tentsite at Sand Lake

 

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