PCT-11

Friday August 24

Mile SOBO 260

We gave ourselves 6 days to fully appreciate the 70 miles PCT section going South from Stevens Pass to Snoqualmie, having been joined by our friends April, Stephen (for the first day only due to work duties 😞) and adorable Lola their labradoodle dog.

We left Stevens Pass on Saturday morning after having had a wonderful time at the Mountaineer Lodge. April and Stephen experienced a slice of the great PCT hiker community there. 3 young women (one German and 2 Australian) were on their last stretch to complete the PCT journey and shared their stories, which much impressed our friends. Cute Lola quickly became the mascot.

The situation with the forest fires and the smoke was far from improving though. The sky was still very hazy, almost as bad as we had had it in Stehekin.

And the news had just come that the National Forest Service was closing the last PCT section, from Harts Pass to the Canadian border due to a multitude of fires, a huge disappointment for the many northbound hikers on their way there. We were lucky with the timing of our flip flop!

We outfitted Lola with her equipment: protective boots and bags carrying her own food for 6 days. She was very funny when she started walking with the boots, lifting her paws high like  an Arabian show horse. 🤣🤣🤣

And here we all go, climbing the first mountain slope of course with heavy bags...but the smoke was thick and irritating. The views were totally hazed out. So disappointing after such effort!

Our first camp by a little flowing creek. The mosquitoes were quite annoying there so we shielded behind  layers. We had a little incident with Lola who was very excited with the adventure and running around everywhere. She rolled in poop and we had to give her a bath in the cold creek! 😖😵 That calmed her down!

The second day Steven turned back to Stevens Pass while Joao, Muriel, April, Jeremy and Lola kept going towards Snoqualmie Pass. The smoke was still filling the air.

Great view hidden by smoke!☹️

Lola kept hiking enthusiastically with us, 11 to 14 miles a day.

We puts her boots on sometimes, to keep her paws from bleeding on the most rocky sections of the trail. She was so patient with us!

We had long stretches of uphill switchbacks on treacherous scree, tough for our feet and Lola's.

We took resting breaks by beautiful lakes. This section offered many such heavens.

But the haze, the constant irritating haze from smoke was spoiling our views, giving us headaches, fatigue, and Joao's sinuses started to suffer again.

The third day Josh and Justine caught up with us. It was a great surprise! We had made the big flip flop jump ahead together from Chico, California to Salem, Oregon several weeks before, and they had stayed at Josh's Aunt in Salem while we had jumped to the Canadian border. They finally decided to jump to Canada too and kept hiking faster than us.

Jeremy had very much enjoyed hiking with them back in California. So he decided to go with them, ahead of us. We would get back together in Snoqualmie. Once again our independent pro-hiker teen took off on his own!

We kept going at our pace. Both April and Lola were troopers, they jumped into the PCT life with great enthusiasm!

At last the fourth day the skies got clearer, there was still some haze but we could see the gorgeous scenery around us.

And we kept pushing ahead even though the smoke kept lingering around.

Jeremy, Josh and Justine kept hiking much longer days and went thru some great sunset scenery! Look at this crazy shot of Jeremy taken by Josh (he's a photographer):

Meanwhile, our party of 4 (dog included) went thru some interesting events: a raging river crossing right next to a scary big yellow jacket wasp nest, with Joao carrying Lola….

… Lola getting more tired everyday to the point where she wouldn't even stand up to eat….

...a long (8 miles) grueling but majestic ridge crossing over scree and steep intimidating slopes, with no water sources to stench our thirst….

….and several funny end of day-hike cleaning sessions in creeks, culminating by a lake swim for both April and Muriel the last evening at Ridge Lake.

So by the 6th day we only had 7 miles to hike to arrive at Snoqualmie pass.

This “short” final hike took us through the famous “Catwalk”.

And there we were, arrived in Snoqualmie. We easily found Jeremy at a hiker-friendly food truck where he had worked a bit to earn his breakfast 🤑 He had arrived the day before and camped at the trailhead by himself.

April’s daughter picked us up and took 5 filthy stinky tired hikers (dog included) back to the comfort and luxury of our friends’ beautiful home in Seattle/Bellevue.

We treated ourselves to a spa with full body massages as a reward for all our efforts 😁😊.

Epilogue

The smoke from the millions of acres of burning forests all along the West Coast of Canada and the US has been wreaking havoc on our PCT pursuit. Joao is suffering from sinusitis again, Jeremy from bouts of asthma, Muriel from anemia and headaches. And we've been very frustrated for the past 3 weeks to have seen very little of the majestic scenery the Cascade Mountain Range offers. Multiple trail closures are in effect and more are pending. We've seen forest parched and dry that are normally soggy and dripping with moisture. They're ready to catch fire with any hint of a spark.

With very broken hearts we had to make the tough decision to stop our PCT adventure. We've hiked close to 1500 miles, three quarters of California and half of Washington State, plus extras for resupplies and detours, we've climbed the highest peak in the US Lower 48 and the equivalent of 10 Mount Everests up and down from sea level. We've been living on the trail in nature for more than 4 months. The decision to stop was very tough but we cannot control the smoke and we're not doing this to hurt our health!

So we're heading back home.

But we will be back to finish the PCT, next year in the spring most likely, before the fire season.

PCT-10

Saturday August 4 - 4pm

6 miles from the Canadian border

It's raining! Even hailing! We barely escaped the thunderstorm. As luck would have it, we made it early enough to our campsite to tuck ourselves comfortably in our tents while the sky unloaded its fury. And our tents are holding well in the storm. Only Jeremy's having a few leaks but he is learning a lesson, that he should make the effort of pitching it tight with the stakes, not just slapping it on the ground sloppily!

Earlier in the morning we had left our tents set up on the shore of Hopkins Lake (6 miles south of the Canadian border) with all the gear inside to make the border trip with light backpacks. Smart! 😉

And we had a good weather day actually, hiking through dense fir forests and humid overgrown meadows to the border and back to our “base camp” at Hopkins Lake.

We took the famous PCT finish line “Monument 78” picture (because it is 78 miles as the crow flies from the Pacific sea).

And just as we were making it back to camp, the sky grew dark grey, thunder blasted around and the downpour started. We spent the rest of the day cozying in our tents! - lucky!

But let's go back to this new PCT beginning.

2 days ago, on Thursday August 2nd, our friend April drove us to Hart's pass, the closest USA (dirt)road access to the PCT North start.

It's 30 miles to the Canadian border from Hart's Pass, so our plan was to hike 30 miles north to the border and then start hiking the PCT Southbound (SOBO) all the way to our California PCT exit where we jumped North to the Washington States’ Cascades mountain range! Basically we added 30 extra miles, a drop in the overall PCT length….

April drove us 4 ½ hours from Seattle by the way! 9 hours total! We owe her big time!! And she's now officially a “Premier Trail Angel” 👍

The next morning, the Cascades were wet! What a change from northern California! Our first day hiking in drizzle with rain jackets! We LOVED it! The only downside was that clouds mostly hid the spectacular scenery but the rainforest was so charming wrapped in fresh fog...

Thankfully by the end of that first day, at Hopkins Lake, the sky cleared and we could enjoy the views. We set up our Basecamp and went to the border the next day. You already know the rest!

Tuesday August 7

Mile SOBO 60

(Total PCT miles: 1280 + 60 = 1340)

We made very good progress since our rainy evening at Hopkins Lake.

We hiked back to Hart's Pass, and kept going South Bound.

Here our worst enemies the mosquitoes are just a tad less bad than they were in the High Sierras. In addition we now have  biting flies that have joined the fray.

On our way south, we keep coming across Northbound PCT hikers, racing to the finish line. Those are the first wave, the performance hikers, those that have ultralight backpacks and hike from dusk to dawn 30 miles per day if not more. They don't stop to chat. We've heard from some (when they exceptionally slow down a bit to utter a word) that they're “here to do miles, not to watch the scenery”!!!! One of them told us in passing that he had just completed the PCT NOBO (north bound) and was now doing it SOBO: 2 x 2650 miles in 6 months!!!! He was so skinny you wondered how he made it! This is definitely NOT our PCT style! We don't want to “race the trail"; we want to enjoy the beauty of every ridge, valley, creek and mountain peak, and stop early enough to relax at camp at the end of each day.

Jeremy is mostly hiking with us now, there's no other SOBO hikers, save for one funny Irish guy who kept us company at a couple of campsites before picking up pace beyond ours.

We knew about a few fires in Washington State around our  area but we were hoping that the more humid climate would keep  things in check. Indeed we had a bit of haze from smoke for 2 days but not near as bad as in California so we continued to press on.

After the first drizzle day, the Cascades mostly blessed us with clear blue skies. And we could fully enjoy the majestic scenery.

Spectacular view from Cutthroat pass looking towards Methow Pass.

But the fires are never far away. Within a few minutes we witnessed what we learned later was the merging of two major fires in the Twisp area. It looked to us like a volcano explosion!

This one was burning not too far from us.

Saturday August 11

Mile SOBO 100-2

(Total PCT miles: 1280 + 100 = 1380)

Well, the day after we saw that big cloud of smoke we got... smoked! We could see the smoke and smell the burnt wood in the morning and it got worse as we reached Rainy Pass.

To make things even worse the temperature got higher and higher, into the upper 90F!

We enjoyed the refreshing creeks as much as possible.

But by the time we arrived at Bridge Creek campground it was over 100F and Jeremy had his first severe asthma attack on the PCT. The combined heavy smoke and oven heat were too much for his lungs. The usual medicine took longer to kick in but eventually he got better. We all got scared though!

With Jeremy resting in his tent, we found some fresh relief in the raging cold waters of Bridge creek, spoilt by spectacular colors!

We also got an offer at the campground from 2 hikers, Bonnie and Liz, to ride with them to Stehekin so Jeremy would hike less with his asthma.

So the next morning we hiked 3 miles and then jumped on the back of a pickup truck to Stehekin, on lake Chelan.

Yeppie!

Stehekin was even hotter (105F!) and smokier though. We could barely see the other side of the lake (55 miles long but barely a mile wide though!). We collected our resupply boxes at the post office, ate at the local restaurant, use the public showers and laundry provided to hikers and started to make plans with the poor wifi connection.

A heavy smoke covered Stehekin. The news we got from our connected phones weren't good. Pretty much the whole West coast was burning, from South California to British Columbia! Some of our former hiking buddies had given up...

Muriel was quite close to give up also. Jeremy was obviously not happy with the smoke and ready to stop this adventure too. Only Joao was still keeping some optimism. The weather forecast was pretty good for the next week, we just had to be patient and wait for this hot spell and smoke to be pushed away by a cold front forecasted to arrive soon.

So the next day we left Stehekin (still heavily smoked!) by ferry to go to the small dock of Lucerne further on the lake to then catch a 10 mile bus ride to the old copper mining town of Holden. The PCT is actually  being rerouted currently this way to avoid a fire just west of Stehekin.

Holden was exactly the place we needed. It's an old mining town 2000ft above lake Chelan that the Lutheran Church bought for $1 many years ago to make it a retreat They kept the quaint old swiss-style chalets buildings and offer now very eco friendly accommodations (off the grid hydro power, recycling everywhere, etc) along with Bible studies, prayer times, etc. Deers roam peacefully around.

As we arrived the skies got much clearer, which helped Jeremy's breathing immediately, and we were delighted by the welcoming spirit of this Lutheran retreat in the woods. We got a room, dinner, a candle praying session, ice cream thereafter and some fun with ping pong, fuzz ball and an old jukebox!

Next morning the weather changed for better as forecasted!

Blue skies! Yes!!!

So back to hiking we went!

Our next resupply will be at Stevens Pass, 100 miles south, where we'll meet April and Stephen and hike South to Snoqualmie Pass; if all goes well!

Tuesday August 14

Mile SOBO 147

From Holden we only hiked 8 or so miles to Lyman Lake.

Rain was on the way over the we'll named “Cloudy Pass” so we got the tents set up early!

The next morning we had 3 more miles to get back to the PCT over Cloudy Pass still wrapped in clouds and finish our way around the fire closure. It was drizzling and we got quite wet with all the tall bushes. Joao called this “being car washed"!

The skies stayed overcast all day.

The next day the heavy smoke was backfilling the air though. No escape! Thankfully Jeremy's asthma did not come back. We had no choice but to hike forward hoping we'd not be overly intoxicated

These old cedars got lucky: never cut down or burnt!

The well-named Cascades with many waterfalls. We collect our drinking water directly from creeks and springs along the trail and only filter the water we collect from lakes. This creek had stunning milky water and smoky skies in the background.

On our way, we take time to spoil ourselves with blueberries, thimbleberries and raspberries. They cover entire mountain slopes and they are a delicious addition to our frustrated hiker diet.

It was a grueling 20 mile / 5000ft up day hike to get to Mica Lake but it was worth it! Muriel bathed in the glacial waters with both Jeremy and Joao watching her in awe while they were shivering in their down jackets.

We woke up with smoke again and the spirits weren't very high this morning: tired and frustrated by the pervasive smoke spoiling the landscape, hiding all the spectacular mountain scenery we could barely guess at behind the grey veil.

A few pretty creeks helped change the mood at first, but we discovered little by little we were on one of the worst sections of the PCT: many trees fallen on the trail, many bushes overgrown, badly eroded trail, crumbling bridges... Joao hit his head on a fallen tree he didn't see (blindsided), and to finish a creek totally swamping the trail at some point!

It was an exhausting obstacle course!

We ended by only hiking 15 miles. The next day we actually met a National Forest service team blasting a better access on the trail with explosives in order to allow a mule pack to pass through for maintenance of that nasty section.

Nevertheless there are always many beautiful Cascades!

Thursday August 16

Mile SOBO 183

Smoke didn't quit for the past 2 days. Sloan mountain, Glacier peak, we saw them all but veiled by a thick haze.

We're just 5 miles from Stevens Pass and we're pretty tired after another 20 miles and 5000ft elevation changes day. Our feet are throbbing and our legs are stiff with pain. But we passed several beautiful lakes and the dense humid forests of majestic fir and cedar trees never cease to reward our senses.

Little do people know that there's actually more elevation change here in the Cascades than in the iconic California High Sierras!! No wonder we're exhausted!

For the past 3 days, Jeremy has been hiking with a young SOBO section hiker, Nathan, a college student in architecture, faster than us, and we haven't seen him much since. He said he'd be waiting for us at Steven’s Pass. He was worried our flip flop to SOBO would deprive him of the social interactions he enjoyed so much on the PCT so far. So he jumped at the opportunity offered by meeting Nathan. Hiking with a variety of people from all walks of life, country origin and ages has been the best educational program we could have dreamed of for our teen. The wonderful community of PCT hikers has greatly contributed to some encouraging shift in behavior and maturity growth. He continues to much enjoy the PCT. So far, so good!

Friday August 17

Mile SOBO 189

We're in Stevens pass, at the Mountaineer's Lodge by the ski resort. Showers and laundry, the old way by hand. See Joao in action below working his arms after exhausting his legs on the trail 🤣 (yes, Muriel did her own laundry, and Jeremy, well he said he prefers to do it in lakes on the trail….🤣🤣🤣)

Our friends from Seattle April and Stephen (and their adorable dog Lola) are on their way to join us here and hike the next section, about 70 miles, to Snoqualmie Pass with us. It will be FUN!