It was a short night. The campsite was the most quiet I have experienced so far. Early camped close by. Her light extinguished by 9 pm, leaving me to toil away slowly in the dark, pecking out each word of yesterday’s blog post, my face illuminated by my phone.
My alarm goes off at 4:45 am. Early is up by 5:30. She makes coffee and puts her trail magic on her picnic table. I saunter over and chat a few minutes as I accept and consume a marionberry muffin and a Doctor Pepper. She will stay at the table until 1 pm waiting for thru-hikers to come by. Then she will hike a little herself.
The work day commences
Today is the last full day before I go into Trout Lake to resupply for the three-day trip to White Pass. I will try to do my third 20+ mile day in a row.
The trail in the morning looks exactly like it has looked for the last three days with the addition of two things: the beargrass super-bloom is here and the lakes from Oregon have migrated to Washington. The lakes have brought with them the Oregon mosquitoes.
At the chapel
The beargrass super-bloom means that white microphone-like flowers are everywhere. I enter an unusual meadow, manicured like a lawn.
It bends into the trees, and suddenly I am a bride entering the church on her wedding day. As the doors to the sanctuary open, all heads turn to watch me walk up the aisle. The day waits for me at the altar.
The beargrass fairly ignites in the morning sun. The small green shrubs beside the trail try their best to shine, too.
Speed
The mosquitoes intensify. They are joined by some housefly-sized biting flies. These twin terrors have me focused on hiking fast. It is both good and bad. It is good because hiking this fast is exhilarating. Although I occasionally stumble, my feet seem to know the way. I used to have to really study the trail in front of me to go this fast. Now I barely think about it. This skill comes and goes during the day. But for now, I own it.
I have also learned how to hike faster going downhill. I used to sort of lean back, putting my weight on my back foot. This takes the weight off the front foot, so that it sort of slides into position. You are shuffling down the trail and gradually shifting your weight to the front foot as your body moves over it. This is too slow.
A faster way is to lean forward as you hike downhill, placing your leading foot more squarely under you. In this way, you are sort of falling down the slope as your feet try to catch up. The advantage with the second way is that your leading foot slips less because you are committing to that step with all your weight. The key is confidence. You can’t be tentative.
Others
It is Saturday, and there are many day-hikers on the trail. I do not have the luxury of talking to everyone. Furthermore, the Southbounders (Sobos) that started near Canada have reached us. I question them about the trail conditions up north and the preferred alternates to the trail. I feel slightly guilty about this because I treat them as information sources rather than as people.
I do chat with a few. This is Grace. She must actually be pretty fast to be out in front of so many Sobos. I hope to see her on the trail again in the Sierras. By then maybe she will have her trail name.
The trail has been hiding the mountains from me all day. Once in a while, I catch a glimpse of Adams or St. Helens, but never a clear view. It’s kind of annoying that I have to focus all day on the minutiae. But let me offer you a teaser. Goat Rocks. I will be there in three days. They are the most astounding section of this whole trail. And we will see them together soon.
In the mean time, stay with me. I promise you it will be better soon.
Close quarters
At the end of the day, I find the perfect camp site. It is close to water and only 10 miles from the road to town. Another hiker soon joins me. His name is Tim. He is from Germany, and he says he loves snow. I do not ask him about snow on the trail because he will downplay its severity. I like you anyway, Tim.
More people pile into camp. Sobos, nobos and even, you guessed it, the Wander Women! By the time the dust settles there are 11 people with their tents in camp.
I hope to be out of camp by 5:30 tomorrow so I can be at the road to Trout Lake by 10 am. I am not sure what will happen in town or when I will get out of there. I am just going to wing it. I do know that all beds are full there, so camping is my only option. I am hiker trash. I will settle where I land.
- July 24
- Starting mile: 2198
- Ending mile: 2219
- Daily PCT miles: 21
- Total PCT miles: 847