PCT Day 114

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PCT Day 114, 03 September 2022 (Saturday)

"This Should've Been All Downhill"

 

Start Location:	Cascade Locks Via Portland, OR	Destination:	Wilderness Campsite
PCT Miles Day 114:	20.9	Cum PCT Miles:	2,028.3
Non-PCT Miles Day 114:	0.6	Cum All Miles:	2225.7
PCT Miles Remaining:	624.5
Elevation Gain Day 114:	5,791	Cum Elevation Gain:	359,602

As I did when I started hiking Washington, I took the Columbia Gorge Express bus from Portland out to Cascade Locks.  Again, I got a large soft-serve ice cream cone from Eastwind Drive-in.  Then, I went to the post office to pick up my resupply box.  As the postal clerk promised me yesterday, I knocked on the door and they, very nicely, retrieved my box for me.

Oregon is supposed to be the easiest state to hike on the PCT.  But stats wise, today was as difficult, or even more difficult, than most days in Washington.  The first 10 miles were very steep, and, thus, very hard.  But, this isn’t Washington, that’s just what happens when you start out at near sea level.  The trail today was much better than the vast majority of the trail in Washington.  So, even though it was hard, the miles went by faster.  Funny thing is, if I had been doing this part going northbound, as per my original plan, instead of southbound (SOBO), today would’ve been an easy downhill hike.

It was overcast and cool all day. It’s supposed to warm up tomorrow, I guess we’ll see.

A PCT monument and the Post Office in Cascade Locks



The Columbia River from the Oregon side of the PCT



Wahtum Lake



A nice view of Mt. Hood

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PCT Day 113

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PCT Day 113, 02 September 2022 (Friday)

"Portland"

 

Start Location:	Portland	Destination:	Portland
PCT Miles Day 113:	0	Cum PCT Miles:	2,007.4
Non-PCT Miles Day 113:	0	Cum All Miles:	2204.2
PCT Miles Remaining:	645.4
Elevation Gain Day 113:	0	Cum Elevation Gain:	353,811

 

Not much to say today.  I’m in Portland getting ready to go back out to Cascade Locks tomorrow to start hiking again.  I had a little drama today, though.  I thought I might have to go to Cascade Locks Post Office today to pick up my resupply box, because they are closed on Saturday.  I hadn’t noticed before that this particular location is closed on Saturday, most post offices are open for at least a few hours on Saturday.  Thinking that the Google Maps info might be incorrect, I called the post office, and they confirmed they are closed on Saturday.  However, they are there working in the back, and will retrieve hiker boxes, you just have to knock on their door.  Whew, that saved me an unwanted, extra trip.

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PCT Day 112

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PCT Day 112, 01 September 2022 (Thursday)

"Any Way West"

 

Start Location:	Wenatchee	Destination:	Portland Via Seattle
PCT Miles Day 112:	0	Cum PCT Miles:	2,007.4
Non-PCT Miles Day 112:	0	Cum All Miles:	2204.2
PCT Miles Remaining:	645.4
Elevation Gain Day 112:	0	Cum Elevation Gain:	353,811

 

So, this blog is supposed to be about a thru-hike of the PCT.  But here is a brief summary of the last couple of days:  Short hike to High Bridge, shuttle bus to Stehekin Pastry company, short walk to Stehekin Landing, express ferry to Chelan, regional bus to Wenatchee, Amtrak train to Seattle, then rental car to Portland.  The next couple of days will involve more buses and metro trains.

Taking the Amtrak from Wenatchee to Seattle

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PCT Day 111

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PCT Day 111, 31 August 2022 (Wednesday)

"The Completion Backward Principle"

(You probably have to be around my age to get this reference)

 

Start Location:	Bridge Creek Campground	Destination:	Wenatchee Via Stehekin and Chelan
PCT Miles Day 111:	0	Cum PCT Miles:	2,007.4
Non-PCT Miles Day 111:	6.4	Cum All Miles:	2204.2
PCT Miles Remaining:	645.4
Elevation Gain Day 111:	0	Cum Elevation Gain:	353,811

 

Note: Total miles today was 4.9 (plus 1.5 miles off the trail), but are not official PCT miles; also, total unofficial elevation gain was 718’.

It was a pretty short hike this morning to get from Bridge Creek Campground to High Bridge.  This completed my mini yo-yo hike.  High Bridge is where you catch the shuttle down to Stehekin.  I was a little, but not a lot, surprised that, even though I got there early, there were already about 20 other thru-hikers waiting for the bus.  By the time the main shuttle bus came, there were probably close to 50 people waiting.  Luckily, the main bus is an old school bus that was large enough to get everyone on board.  At $10 a pop, the bus made about $500 for the nine mile drive down the road.  Not bad.

I got off the bus at the Stehekin Pastry Company and got plenty of goodies to eat, including some morning ice cream.  Then I walked about 1.5 miles down the road to get to Stehekin Landing.  I had good timing as I bought a ticket for the express ferry, and only had to wait about an hour for it to depart.  It was important to catch this ferry as it is approximately two hours to get across the long Lake Chelan vs. four hours for the normal ferry, which didn’t depart until later in the day.  If I had to take the normal ferry, I would not have gotten to the town of Chelan early enough to catch the regional bus to Wenatchee, WA.  As it was, my timing was good again, as after getting off the ferry, I only had to wait about 30 minutes to catch the free bus to Wenatchee.

Wenatchee, is a larger town (small city?) and has an Amtrak station.  I am spending the night in Wenatchee and will catch the train to Seattle in the morning.  There is an A&W Root Beer close to my hotel, and it is one where they still make the root beer at the restaurant vs. just using syrup.  So, of course, I had to get a large root beer float.

Howard Lake



Stehekin Landing from ferry boat

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PCT Day 110

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PCT Day 110, 30 August 2022 (Tuesday)

"Unofficial"

 

Start Location:	Golden Creek	Destination:	Bridge Creek Campground
PCT Miles Day 110:	0	Cum PCT Miles:	2,007.4
Non-PCT Miles Day 110:	29.1	Cum All Miles:	2197.8
PCT Miles Remaining:	645.4
Elevation Gain Day 110:	0	Cum Elevation Gain:	353,811

 

Note: Total miles today was 29.1, but are not official PCT miles; also, total unofficial elevation gain was 3,721’.

Once again, even though it was a long day of hiking, everything I did today was unofficial as I’m just returning back down a section of trail I’ve already hiked.  It was a fairly nice day on trail with warm temps and no smoke today.  There was also some mini trail magic.   Someone left some cold cokes at Rainy Pass, and there was a family nearby that offered me some fresh vegetables and homemade chocolate chip cookies, I couldn’t pass that up.

Finding a tentsite would’ve been an issue again, except that Bridge Creek Campground is large enough for a lot of people.   It’s a good thing it’s a large campground as there were a lot of people camped there tonight.  Washington needs more campgrounds like this.  I only have a few more miles of hiking left in Washington and then should be off the trail and on the road sometime tomorrow.

Scenery from the trail

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PCT Day 109

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PCT Day 109, 29 August 2022 (Monday)

"Mini Yo-yo"

 

Start Location:	Holman Creek Trail Junction	Destination:	Golden Creek
PCT Miles Day 109:	0	Cum PCT Miles:	2,007.4
Non-PCT Miles Day 109:	29.7	Cum All Miles:	2168.7
PCT Miles Remaining:	645.4
Elevation Gain Day 109:	0	Cum Elevation Gain:	353,811

 

Note: Total miles today was 29.7, but are not official PCT miles; also, total unofficial elevation gain was 4,603’.

Now that I’ve completed the Washington section of the PCT, I need to leave Washington and get back to Cascade Locks where I plan to start hiking southbound through Oregon.  There are multiple options for how to leave Washington, none of them easy or simple.  I decided that my path to exit Washington is to return to Stehekin by hiking south on the PCT—in hiking terminology, going out and back on a trail is also called a yo-yo—take a ferry across Lake Chelan, which goes to the town of Chelan, which is a slightly larger town than some others in this area, then find transportation to Seattle, and then to Portland.  Choosing this exit option involves a bit more hiking than other options, but transportation to Seattle will be easier and more certain than other options.

Weather took a big swing on the pendulum today, it was much warmer, almost hot.  In a way this was a good thing as I had to hike into the night to find an acceptable tentsite, so it was still comfortable when I was setting up my tent in the dark.

With so many people either approaching the Canadian border, or returning from it the last couple days, I continued to run into quite a few people that I met at some point along the trail.  This slowed me up a little, but kept the day interesting.

Crater Mt. and Jack Mt.



Snowfield Peak

 

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