This morning was cold, but there were few clouds in the sky when Tabasco woke me to come out of my tent to see sunrise from our high perch next to the lake with valley below. I moved slowly after a cold night in the sleeping bag; seems it’s too efficient and I sweat inside, getting the bag wet, then I get cold. We were on trail at 7:30am and climbed to a crest, then down to Cady Pass.
We met three northbounders early; Mortal Dave, Kellie, then Super Dave right behind them. They gave us the scoop on Skykomish and we gave them the details on our adventure on the closed section of PCT. After Cady Pass we had another significant climb, then a slight descent to Pear Lake’s Cirque. The NOBO’s had told us that Paula (Dr. Paula, trail name) was only a mile ahead. We had heard before Stehekin that another flipflopper was ahead and when we left Stehekin, she was a day and a half ahead. We caught up to her this morning on the next descent to Wenatchee Pass; talked, then agreed we would eat lunch together at the pass.
With partly cloudy skies, more sun than we’ve seen since starting south from Canada, we were able to spread out our gear to dry while eating lunch. Paula shared some extra food with us; sour skittles, which I hadn’t carried in the pack since the Sierra and some cashews. Since we are all heading to Skykomish/The Dinsmores tomorrow, Paula said that a friend was going to have a car at the Stevens Pass Highway crossing, so we shouldn’t have to hitch tomorrow morning into town.
After lunch Dr. Paula left camp first, but we soon passed her on another significant climb. At the top of Grizzly Peak, there was an open flat meadow with stellar views of the Cascades. Tabasco and I dropped the packs and enjoyed the sunshine and lay in the meadow until Dr. Paula caught up. Then the sun disappeared behind a cloud, leaving us cold and we quickly resumed hiking. All day it was cold in the forest shadows, and when the sun was behind a cloud, mostly in the 40s. But in the sun on south facing slopes it was warm. So we played stop and dress or undress a layer frequently as the day progressed.
Tabasco and I stopped for dinner by a cascading creek and cooked. Dr. Paula caught up again, visited for awhile, then passed us. We saw NOBO’s Johnabee and Anna, who saw me last at VVR when I was so sick. As we were making our final climb of the day, we passed the three Connecticut Boys, the final NOBO’s seen today. Paula said the only hikers not going north, that she passed on the detour, were Business, Gabe, Cypress, and Freight Train who we saw at REI in Seattle. Glad we didn’t miss anyone else other than Remy and Heather.
We made it to a high forested saddle, just as it was almost too dark to hike farther without a flashlight and quickly set up our tents right on the trail, the only flat ground available, not littered with tons of downed trees and branches. Tomorrow morning we’ll catch up with Dr. Paula and her friend, John, for a ride to town. This has been a beautiful, but very demanding section. Today was a total roller coaster of up’s and down’s, a lot of them steeper than most of the other PCT. My heels continue to hurt with bruises and blisters. Pain Is Every Step is my mantra, though the book Peace Is Every Step, by Thich Nhat Hanh, was in my backpack for awhile and I use his breathing technique to help me push out the pain and stay in the present moment. I almost crossed 1500 miles today, considering losing half of summer, I’m pleased with that. Today was last day of summer, snow should enter our hiking world soon. Today’s weather: partly cloudy, low 32, high 49. Today’s miles: 20.8’ cumulative 1494.4.
