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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PCT Day 108

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PCT Day 108, 28 August 2022 (Sunday)

"Canada, You're Early"

Start Location:	Holman Creek Trail Junction	Destination:	Northern Terminus At Canadian Border
PCT Miles Day 108:	17.0	Cum PCT Miles:	2,007.4
Non-PCT Miles Day 108:	17.6	Cum All Miles:	2139.0
PCT Miles Remaining:	645.4
Elevation Gain Day 108:	2,850	Cum Elevation Gain:	353,811

 

Note: Total miles today was 34, but only 17 count as official; also, total elevation gain was 6,446’, but only 2,850 was official.

Well, today was the day, I got to the Northern Terminus at the Canadian border.  Some think of it as reaching Canada, I think of it as getting to the end of Washington (and being done with Washington...almost).   It wasn’t when I was expecting to get there, or how I expected to get there, but I did get there.  And it’s nice to have finished Washington, and my first completed state.   Funny how Washington was supposed to be the last state completed, but now it’s the first.

 

I have a phantom feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment having reached Canada.  But that feeling is so fleeting, it's as if I didn't even experience it as I still have over 600 miles to complete the PCT.

It was cold again in the morning, but it did warm up and was a comfortable day.  It was a long day, though, with 34 miles of hiking, my most yet.  It was still smoky today, but that wasn’t a real problem.

With hikers tagging the border and then returning back down the trail, you really see just how many people are out here.   It actually took me longer to complete today’s hike because I kept running into people I’d met somewhere along the trail.  I didn’t really realize how many people I’d met out here since I’ll usually see someone for a few days and then don’t see them again.  But a lot of people are bunched up around the border right now.

My plan of keeping my tent set up at Holman Creek worked out great.  It was a very long day, as expected, but it was obviously doable.  It was also nice to not have to worry about finding a tentsite, and to get back and only have to eat dinner and then get inside my tent.

BTW, I also reached 2,000 miles hiked today.

Rock Pass


Hopkins Lake



The National Forest Service (NFS) seemingly reinforcing, in the last few miles of trail, that it is a terrible and negligent steward of the PCT



A line of cleared trees is the border between the U.S. and Canada



The trail into Canada from the Northern Terminus, if you could enter



Me at the Northern Terminus at the Canadian border



Full Northern Terminus Monument

 

 

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PCT Day 107

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PCT Day 107, 27 August 2022 (Saturday)

"On The Doorstep"

Start Location:	Methow River	Destination:	Holman Creek Trail Junction
PCT Miles Day 107:	29.0	Cum PCT Miles:	1,990.4
Non-PCT Miles Day 107:	0.6	Cum All Miles:	2104.4
PCT Miles Remaining:	662.4
Elevation Gain Day 107:	5,384	Cum Elevation Gain:	350,961

 

I was a little bit worried about the trail today.  The first two miles were back to the same old bushwhacking.  But then, the trail improved and got much faster.  My goal today was to get in as many miles as possible so that there would be little doubt of reaching the Canadian border tomorrow.  At the end of today, I am now 17 miles away.  So unless something weird happens, that should be no problem.

Although Washington has already used a lot of tools to slow hikers down, it still has some powerful tools in the toolbox.  Today, it tried using cold weather.  It was quite cold all day long.  But in the middle of the day it got very cold, to the point where I thought it might cause me to stop earlier than I wanted just so I could set up camp before it got too late in the day and even colder.  However, as the trail dropped in elevation and entered denser forest, it did actually get warmer.  So, the cold did not keep me from getting to my target stopping point.

There was also a lot of smoke in the sky today, though, visually, it was hard to distinguish from all the clouds.  However, there was a distinct smell of smoke most of the day.  There must be a fire somewhere in the area.  There have been afternoon thunderstorms for the last several days, so it wouldn’t be too surprising if there were some lightning-caused fires.

I actually came up with what I hope is one of my better ideas this hike.  I am camped 17 miles from the border.  So, what I am planning on doing is leaving my camp set up, hiking to the border, then hiking back to camp where I will spend another night.  This will mean a long 34 mile day tomorrow, but because I will not be carrying my sleeping gear and some other items, like extra food, my pack will be much lighter, and I should be able to travel much faster.  Also, because my camp will already be set up, I won’t care if I get back to camp in the evening.

Since Canada has not fully reopened its borders, PCT hikers are not allowed to enter Canada via the trail as they were in the past.   It would be easier to exit the trail by going through Canada, but now hikers have to have a different strategy.  There are various different options, but the most common one would have been to hike back to Harts Pass, which is only 30 miles from the border, and then get a ride into a town from there.  However, there was a large mudslide about a week ago which closed the road to Harts Pass.  Hikers can still walk an additional 10 miles down Harts Pass Road, and then try to catch a ride from there. Or they can continue back down the PCT to Rainy Pass, a popular trail head, and then try to catch a ride from there.

The problem with Harts Pass or Rainy Pass is that after you get a ride to a nearby small town, you still have to make your way to a larger town that has public transportation connections.  So, I am thinking about hiking all the way back to Stehekin, and then taking the ferry boat to the other side of the lake to the town of Chelan.  Chelan is a somewhat larger town, and getting from there to Seattle should be easier than some other options.  Then from Seattle, I’ll make my way to Portland, and then back to Cascade Locks.

For today, I’m just glad that I am now close to touching the Canadian border.

Scenery from the trail



Getting closer to Canada

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