Another cold, but clear morning greeted us, after a great nights sleep. Neither Tabasco or I wanted to get out of the sleeping bag, but our mission to do 25 miles the next two days prevented us from sleeping in. My tent fly was covered with a thin layer of ice as I packed it up. We left camp around 7:25am and began the hike, thankfully with a 1000 foot climb, to Pieper Pass, to warm us up a little. Even with gloves, my hands stayed frozen all morning and as luck would have it, the first several miles side slabbed a west facing slope, so we were in the shade for most of the morning.
Mid-morning we passed two NOBO’s, Rob and Kathryn, otherwise known as The Goat People, because for a good bit of their thru-hike, they hiked with their pet pygmy goat. We talked for a bit before continuing south. Reaching a sunny drainage of Mt. Daniel around 11am, the trail became confusing at this rocky river crossing and we spent 10-15 minutes trying to figure out where the trail went next. We were thinking down, but it went up and we finally figured it out.
A quarter mile later we passed Solid and Stripe, who I hiked with very briefly around Glen Pass, in the High Sierra. After exchanging trail info and chatting a bit, I got a pic with Solid and Stripe, then we were treated to a famous yodel before we moved on. Another half mile up hill was a dry stream bed on a southeast slope, a perfect spot to dry out gear and eat lunch. I sunned myself, enjoying warm sun rays, while our gear dried. Our break was less than an hour with many more miles to cover.
Thankfully, after the post lunch climb to Cathedral Pass, we had a long descent, which ended at the Waptus River. We had planned during the afternoon hike to cook dinner at the river, then continue to get our miles done. We got to the nice bridge crossing at 5pm, quickly dropped our packs and cooked dinner, getting back on trail at 5:45. From the river it was all up, though nicely graded, and cold temperatures returned quickly as the sun disappeared behind high peaks to our west.
We were on long switchbacks and finally found a flat spot just after 7pm, midway through the 2500 foot climb. Quickly we set up tents to get out of the cold. I have been in the tent for an hour, after luckily getting a cell phone signal and having a chance for both Tabasco and me to make a couple short calls. It is difficult writing and journaling with such cold temps, so journals going forward may be less detailed. I forgot to mention two other thru-hikers in town at Skykomish; Alden and Pedestrian. I also forgot to mention that my good friend Intruder and I missed each other while he was hiking north on the detour while we were hiking south on the original PCT. I also missed seeing Mountain Goat as apparently he was on his way up to Stevens Pass on the highway as we were heading from the pass down to Skykomish.
Have I mentioned that since being on the trail in Washington we have passed approximately one billion blueberries? They are prolific, literally everywhere along the trail, and some have been as large as grapes, the biggest blueberries I have ever seen. We ate our fill from Canada to Stevens Pass. We haven’t eaten as many yesterday and today. The scenery isn’t as spectacular now, but nevertheless, it is still very beautiful. We are so thankful for the period of dry and sunny, but cold weather; nights and morning are difficult for me with perpetually cold fingers and hands, but the hiking during the day sure makes up for it. My heels still hurt some, but more gentle climbs in this section yesterday and today seem to be helping.
I can’t wait to get to Snoqualmie Pass Sunday so we can see Tabasco’s friends from Seattle and Debi and will take a great zero mile day off on Monday. Thought for the day…150PCT thru-hikers this year, at most, out of 270 million Americans…we must be just a little bit weird. O.K., today’s weather: sunny, low 28, high 56. Today’s miles: 26.1; cumulative 1542.4.
