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White Pass to Snoqualamie Pass
Saturday, September 2: Two Lakes -- 20.5 +.75 (2318.5)
We woke to grey skies, but no rain. We got some coffee and muffins at the little store for breakfast and met a couple more thruhikers, Angela and Duffy. They came over Goat Rocks the day after we did, and said the weather was much worse — wet and cold. I had corresponded with Angela before the trail, briefly. The PCT really is a small world. Sly is going to hike with us for a while, I think. He’s a good trail companion.
It’s Labor Day weekend so there are lots of people and horses out here. Several were leaving as we entered the wilderness, probably unprepared for the weather. There are a lot of lakes in the William O. Douglas Wilderness, so it is popular. Final total: 27 people, 9 horses and one dog.
The walking has been really nice, despite the cold and grey skies. We had rain and sunshine alternating all afternoon, with serious rain only after we set up camp. The long climb felt really good. It was one of those days when I really remembered why I love to hike. We got into the rhythm and just hiked up and up, smoothly and easily. There were few views, except of rocks above us, a few lakes below, and clouds all around. Still no Rainier. Every time the guidebook says we’ll get a good view of Mount Rainier, it rains or is completely overcast. The curse of the mountain? We saw one deer, one tiny frog and one dead (and very smelly) mountain goat. I think the ridge top is probably quite beautiful, in good weather. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
Jim’s foot is giving him a lot of trouble. He seems to have developed a Morton’s Neuroma (a pinched nerve on the bottom of his left foot.) Between that, blisters, and the broken toe on his right foot, he has been in pain for most of the trip. As usual, as I was happily climbing, he was feeling miserable. We have a hard time getting it together sometimes. Maybe that’s best. On my bad days, he cheers me up, and on his bad days, I can share a smile and a hug. The camera broke this afternoon. Kind of a frustrating day. I enjoyed it though. I always enjoy starting a new section. There is a feeling of endless possibilities. Each section is unique, one way or another.
Sunday, Sept. 3: Martinson Gap -- 22.6 miles (2341.1)
We woke to blue skies and sunshine, but by 10:00 the clouds were back and by noon it was raining and hailing on us. It rained and sleeted off and on all day, with only occasional moments of sunshine. The views were spectacular, when we had them. We finally got a glimpse of Mt. Rainier this morning, wreathed in clouds. We walked on or near ridgeline for a large part of the afternoon. There were several nice lakes and views down to them. The clouds created their own beauty, especially the big black menacing thunderheads to the south. We saw one elk and four deer. It was interesting walking, but we ended up pushing until almost dark because we couldn’t find a campsite. Our first choice was occupied, another was soaked and not very flat, the next we missed somehow, and then we had miles of sidehill trail, with no flat spots. Finally we passed through a flat gap and found a place to set up. It rained again soon after. The night was very cold, especially in our damp tent and sleeping bags.
We met up with Cheryl briefly at Chinook Pass in Mt. Rainier National Park. There were a lot of dayhikers there, despite the rain. Sly picked up some food for the next few days. Having Cheryl’s support means he can carry a much lighter pack. Since our current partnership is pretty loose, we haven’t really taken advantage of her frequent visits to the trail to lighten our loads. We never talked about it, we just hike together. If Sly decides he wants to go faster or slower on any day, we’ll separate, then meet up again farther up the trail. It’s not really a partnership, we’re just travelling companions. He’s good company, very laid back and easy to get along with. It’s odd, we’ve met so many other thruhikers out here—at least 50 or 60—but the only hikers we’ve hiked with for any extended period of time were people we knew before we came out here. Of course, a lot of the early hikers we met are off the trail: Doug and Christa, John, Emily, Pete, Garey, Ryan, Jonathan, Marc, Kathy, Brad, etc. Most of the others we passed, we don’t know where they are. Occasionally we’ll ask one of the fast hikers, and they’ll tell us that Sundance and Drew are still on the trail and some of the others. As for the ones that passed us, we rarely saw any of them again. Steve is the only one we really played leapfrog with. We know how far ahead some of them are from the occasional registers in Post Offices, but that’s the only contact we have with them once they pass. A lot of hikers were either faster or in more of a hurry than we are. Oh well. There isn’t as much of a sense of community out here as on the AT. I miss it sometimes. Without the shelters to concentrate the hikers, we can be hiking within a few miles of another thruhiker for days, and not see him/her until we get to town, and often not even then.
Monday, September 4: Beyond Blowout Mountain -- 22.1 miles (2363.2)
We woke to blue skies, ice in the tent, and frost on the ground. The sun on the frozen ground created a dense fog, so we couldn’t see much except the great white sheet. Lunch was at the Ulrich Shelter in Government Meadows. It was a really nice cabin that would be a good place to stay, though we just used it to dry out the tent a bit since we were so early. It’s too close to a road though. There were some people there when we arrived: a family out bow-hunting and two men hunting mushrooms. The only others we saw were two day hikers munching berries and two backpackers at the end of the day, looking for a campsite in an area with no water. We all ended up stealth camping in the forest. We went too far again, passing a nice site, then finding nothing for the next two miles. It started to rain, so we finally cleared a couple of spots on a small hill above the trail. It’s a bit lumpy, but it will do. We have carried water from a small spring seven miles back. An old fire zone provided a bit of excitement in the form of downed trees that were quite a chore to go over and under and around. We got a few nice views in the afternoon, but mostly we just had views of clear-cuts. We will go though a lot of them over the next few days. A big thunderstorm to the south provided some visual excitement and our first rainbow on the PCT.
Tuesday, September 5: Cle Elum -- 15.2 miles (2378.4)
Another cold grey day. This is getting depressing. The fog was so thick we could see nothing. The hike was through alternating clear-cuts and dense forest. The contrast is interesting, but it is still sad to see the huge stumps where trees used to be. There were lots of fat berries in the clear-cuts, but are they ugly!
Jim has some sort of stomach upset with diarrhea. About 3:00 Cheryl came to meet us near Stampede Pass. She said she had a room in a nearby (30 miles or so) town, were we interested? We looked at the drizzle falling around us, thought about setting up and cooking dinner in the rain again, and answered “yes!” So we ended up in town a day early. We have our own room this time, as the motel is not very expensive. Cle Elum is next to the town of Roslyn, where they filmed Northern Exposure a few years ago. We stopped by to see the Brick and the Café, looking much as they did in the TV series.
A hot shower eased a lot of the pain. Even when it wasn’t raining, everything was damp and chilly. Between that, the grey skies and clouds that blocked all hope of a view, and the devastated forest, we were not very enthusiastic about the trail today. Last year we didn’t want the trek to end. This year, I think we’ll be ready.
Wednesday, September 6: Cle Elum/Snoqualamie -- 18.2 miles (2396.6)
Cheryl drove us back to the trail after breakfast. It was drizzly, but not really raining for the most part. Everything was soaked though. We got drenched just walking through the overgrown brush along the trail. We hiked packless, but it wasn’t as fast and easy as we had hoped. Parts of the trail were pretty rough, rocky, wet, overgrown, and steep, so although we pushed as hard as we could, the hike took longer than expected. I hate pushing for speed. It makes the end more important than the journey. Not that the journey was very exciting. There were more clear-cuts and lots of clouds, I-90 far below and a couple of small lakes. One, Mirror Lake, was a beautiful sapphire color. The others were just mucky ponds. We saw Alan and a fisherman carrying a blown-up U-Boat on his back and a couple of dayhikers collecting blueberries, but the weather and terrain kept most people home. We reached the ski resort at Snoqualamie around 5:00, picked up some of our mail at the small store, said hello to Weathercarrot at the motel, went to Roslyn for pizza, then happily returned to our room to shower and rest. We’re tired.
Both Jim and I got really depressed today. When Alan told us that, according to someone at the NOAA Weather Station near the trail, the forecast is for at least ten more days of rain, we both wondered whether it was worth continuing a hike in which we see nothing but clouds, and where we push so hard for so little reward. If we weren’t so close to the end, I’m not sure what we would do. With only 14 hiking days left, I know we’ll continue, but I’m not sure how much fun it will be, dealing with grey skies, constant drizzle, wet gear and no views. Why are we out here again? It’s not the best way to end our trek, but it’s probably appropriate. Much of this journey has been more about endurance than enjoyment. We knew Washington could be wet, but we hoped for a dry September. Some years, September is great for hiking. Just not this year.
Thursday, September 7: Day off in Cle Elum
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