Before we went to sleep last night the cloud deck lowered and we were in fog as well as rain all night. Those northwest evergreens love to collect the moisture from the fog and drip large drops below, and our tents were pounded on as a result. Smartly I had studied my site which was on the trail itself, and I had dug out two water breaks to divert running water down the mountainside before reaching my tent. Every piece of gear and clothing and sleeping bag inside was at least damp from the pervasive onslaught of moisture. I packed all gear inside my tent, saving the tent itself for last, and packed it quickly at the top of my pack.
Tabasco’s single wall Black Diamond tent fared much worse than my tent. When he lifted the free standing tent to shake the debris out of it, a huge puddle of water drained out as well. He was grumpy and mad that his tent failed to keep his sleeping bag dry, and when we began hiking at 8:05am, he set out on a blistering pace. (no pun intended!) Even on flat and descending trail I was losing ground, when normally I can stay with him. The rain was relentless and when Tabasco waited for me a couple times, we talked about the possibility of doing big miles to get to White Pass, but it seemed highly unlikely, given the number of miles and the type of terrain and the horrible weather conditions.
A little over five miles into the hike we reached Chinook Pass and Highway 410, a two lane mountain road with a parking area and enclosed bathrooms. We stopped to use the bathroom and to escape the rain for a few minutes. While there we met up with “Little” Tom, a NOBO friend of Tabasco’s, who hiked with Tabasco quite a bit down south. The normal trail talk ensued and I listened patiently to the exchange in pouring rain, but got cold standing still those long minutes. From that point on my hands stayed cold and were blood filled from having no hiking poles, causing total uselessness for anything other than being attached to the rest of my body.
We kept hiking in relentless rain and the temperature dropped as the day progressed. At noon we were going to take a quick lunch break, but the trail junction at a gap didn’t suit me, with wind blowing through, so we kept hiking. All afternoon I was concerned that if we stopped I would become quickly hypothermic. We did stop at mile 18 and we both struggled to eat something quickly. It took me 15 minutes just to open a foil package of tuna, and that normally easy task took both hands, plus my teeth. I didn’t even bother to try opening condiments to make tuna salad, my hands simply had no capability to function.
It kept raining and the trail, all day, was filled with puddles and in many places had several inches of water collected. We side stepped on the trail to avoid sloshing in deep water, and we also bushwhacked through shrubbery next to the trail to avoid excessive water in our shoes. Late in the afternoon we reached the 25 mile mark. We had passed a lone hunter scouting for elk as tomorrow is the first day of hunting season for elk in Washington. He told us the weather forecast is for rain through Monday, and that a cold night was expected tonight, with snow levels lowering to 5000 feet. We were at about 5000 feet and climbing, at 25 miles, so we had to make a decision (now 4:30pm). We could stop, set up camp in the rain, and hope that snow and ice on tents and cold temps didn’t put us in danger, or we could hike all the way to White Pass and get a motel room.
Tabasco and I were in agreement that we could survive the night camping, but we also acknowledged some degree of risk with his wet down bag and my very damp down bag. We decided to keep hiking and calculated that we could get all but three miles hiked before dark. We maintained a great pace, despite a now very muddy trail where we often sunk down or slid backward on steps on ascending trail. It was very difficult to hike at all, but we never stopped moving our feet. Darkness fell about 6:45pm and thankfully, Tabasco’s hands, though cold and wet, were functioning enough to get my headlamp out for me.
The final 2.5 miles were especially difficult, mostly down, dark, wet, slippery, fog reducing visibility to just a couple feet. We finally reached Highway 12, then had to figure out which way to hike the .7 miles to White Pass and the Village Inn. That last .7 highway walk I was so cold, and when cars whizzed by at 55mph, the wind the cars generated made me shiver.
Thankfully there was a vacancy and we trudged into the motel office at 8:15. I’ve never been so happy to have a dry, warm place and a hot shower. Fortunately the room included a stove and kitchenette, so after our shower we cooked our well deserved trail dinners. Gear was spread all over the tiny room. We rented a movie, Clint Eastwood’s “High Plains Drifter” and watched from our beds. Today beat me up; my feet did well, but the wet shorts gave me raw chafing on my inner thighs, making walking very painful.
Tabasco and I both had very painful ankles on both feet from all the sidestepping of standing water on trail all day. Still, we were both so excited to have a warm, dry bed for the night! And this was our biggest mile day ever, quite an accomplishment and we’re sure glad we did it. Today’s weather. RAIN, ALL Day. Low 42, high 48. Today’s miles: 35.0 plus .7 highway miles. Cumulative miles: 1675.2.
