I thought a lot about finishing the hike during the last few days before Canada. I expected to miss the fresh air, the tranquility and the exercise. I expected to miss the regular interactions with other hikers and the unwavering company of my closest trail friends. Add to this the fact that being out on the trail teaches a certain…
Tag: PCT2015
Day 150: Journey’s End
Only 11 miles to the border this morning. I spent a good amount of time during those miles imagining various injury scenarios. I’ve heard of someone falling and breaking their ankle 6 miles from the border. Perhaps I could still hike with injured arms or a broken face? Or maybe crawl along with injured feet? Other hikers will help, surely?…
Day 149: Almost There
Almost immediately out of the campsite the trail narrowed back to a ribbon along the steep side of the mountain. We met a deer eager to avoid the rocks and gradient and using the trail to find breakfast. He was entirely unfazed by hikers, continuing to munch on the trees as we approached. It took a few yards of following…
Day 148: Old Friends
It was cold this morning! Good job we had stayed at the trailhead where there was an outhouse to provide some shelter. Good job too that we were only part way up the hill and had a good climb first thing. As the trail emerged from the woods, frost and ice became visible on the plants and the grit. Nevertheless…
Day 147: North Cascades to Rainy Pass
We got a relatively early start when Bethany shuttled us to High Bridge along with Gypsy. The trail was well-trodden through the forest first thing, and made its way gradually uphill all the way to Rainy Pass almost 20 miles away. It was a good way for Chug to get back into hiking after a week – a fairly gentle…
Day 146: Hanging Out at the Ranch
Today was a zero day for me – I’d arrived at High Bridge more than a day earlier than I’d expected and Chug wasn’t arriving on the ferry from Chelan until around lunchtime today. I made the most of the great food at the ranch, and hung around in the upstairs common room doing a jigsaw puzzle and reading some…
Day 145: A Scamper to High Bridge
I awoke to rain and delayed getting out of the tent as long as possible. I knew I had only 9.4 miles to get to the High Bridge ranger station where I could take a bus into Stehekin and wasn’t in any particular rush to get hiking in the rain. However it wasn’t letting up and I packed up and…
Day 144: Suiattle River and Cloudy Pass
I was sitting with my coffee looking out at the sunrise over the distant mountains when I heard NightShip shouting at the top of his lungs the words “I’m shouting at the top of my lungs”. Question being, why on earth?? It’s 7:30am and you’re destroying the serenity of the wilderness already. Gah. Rebo’s group is bugging me. The trail…
Day 143: Up and Down!
Woah, some big climbs today. Over 8,500ft of climbing, plus the descents in between of over 6,000ft. I’m so tired! Unfortunately I ran into a hiker going by the name of Rebo who immediately irked me. He was hollering every half mile or so to let his group know he was nearby. Unfortunately we were climbing up a big hill…
Day 142: I See You!
Today was beautiful but hard and long. But I saw a marmot so everything was ok! I couldn’t manage to get a picture of it before it hid under a rock, so I snapped a couple of a curious pika instead. I left camp fairly late, as there was no real rush and it was cold out. Hiking in the…