Going Wherever It Leads

Exploring motherhood and Mother Nature

Category Archives: Washington


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We made it! PCT complete


On Day 158 of our journey we crossed the border into Canada, completing the 2659 mile Pacific Crest Trail. Jason hiked almost every mile and I clocked in at about 2100, none of which I could have done without Not-A-Bear.

I’d say what a feeling, but honestly it hasn’t sunk in yet.


We are currently riding on a bus, away from the trail, to Vancouver where we’ll catch another bus to Bellingham to visit friends for the weekend. Then we’ll take another series of buses back to Eugene. What took us six weeks to walk will take three days to travel by bus, less if we wanted.

There will be more blog posts to come as I catch up on sleep and process the last five months. For now, I’m happy not to be walking any more, especially since today is cold and rainy.

We timed our last few days on the trail perfectly, sunny the whole way, and walking into Manning Park, BC was one of those perfect warm fall days you revel in.

The monument (Officially called Monument 78 for some reason) is right at the border, stateside, just in the middle of the woods. We got there around 6 p.m. On Wednesday, hung out with a few other hikers, took pictures.


We had to fill out and mail in a permit for Canada entry, that was approved and mailed back to us months ago. Other than that, crossing the border here is pretty unceremonious. You just continue down the trail, no one checking passports or permits. We camped at a campsite just up the trail, then had 8.5 Canadian miles to hike to the official end of the trail in Manning Park, BC.


Thanks for following along!

The journey’s not over,

Catie


  


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Leisurely Making Our Way to the Border + An Interesting Bear Story

So we have decided to enjoy the last days of the trip – no rain/snow for us, no sleeping at high elevation if we can help it, no big miles. But still, only four more days!

We are in the very tiny town of Mazama today, taking our last zero to wait out some weather, then the forecast is clear skies till the end of trail!

The day before yesterday we were in Stehekin, where we picked up our last mail drop. The very friendly post master, an old man with a big beard and a patch over his eye, looking more like a sea captain, said he’d been waiting for us after we gave our last name. He even remembered my first name and that it had an unusual spelling. He said we won the prize this year for most mail!

our loot , at the dock on Lake Chelan

We also won the prize for the only re

supply
box that rats got into, he very apologetically told us ,
and said we could fill out a claim. I didn’t think a bag of cheezits was worth the paperwork, which was luckily the only thing they got into.

 

Rats!

Thank you so much to everyone who sent us something! It was like Christmas! Thank you to my aunts Tammy and Dody for the inspirational cards, to my friend and former neighbor Joyce for the creative and inspiring cards, to Kate for the yummy treats and batch of beautiful cards from her summer, Liz and Becca for the candy and card, my mom for supplying us and our hiker friends with whoopie pies throughout our journey, Jason’s parents for his birthday gift. As well as previous mail drops, Veronica for the Probars, and Dan for introducing me to the wonderful world of Starbucks drink mixes, and anyone I missed, it was all greatly appreciated. (Also, Dan another thank you, it was you who first introduced me to the trail, telling me about your hike on a carpool to an eval.)

We know we couldn’t have done this trail alone. While I’m on a thank you kick, I might as well continue…all the kind people that gave us rides, and trail magic, most recently the lovely cup of hot tea and other treats back in the beginning of Washington when the weather was at its most miserable.

Also, as another hiker put it, friends and family are the best trail angels. I deeply thank those friends and family who have supported us on and off the trail by giving us places to stay, bringing us food, or just offering words of encouragement  and support when I most needed it.

And thank you Kim for the kick-ass training program you created for me prehike. I’ve been wanting to thank you since the Sierras –all those stream crossings were made much easier with all the balancing exercises you had me doing! Even before that, thanks to Allied PT and my talented knee surgeon. My knee was maybe the one part of my body that never gave me any grief!

And the last group I must thank is all of the other thru hikers on this trail, that have made me laugh when I wanted to cry, see the joy and beauty in the trail when I no longer could, or just commiserate in our shared misery. (Thank you Pretzel for finally saying it out loud, sometimes we all just hate hiking.). What a wonderful and wacko group you are!

Washington has been kicking our hiker butts! The last few sections have easily been the toughest on the trail, elevation gains  certainly comparable to the Seirras but with the added bonus of poorly maintained trails and shitty weather.

 

trail or obstacle course?

But we’re making it! The sun did peek out here and there. Stehekin was a lovely place to visit, right on beautiful Lake Chelan, with an amazing bakery. Mazama is another cute little far-off-the-beaten-path town. We’re tired but in good spirits, as are the few other hikers around us, and we’re ready to tackle those last 70 miles! 

  

made me want to paint this scene

 

my “really, Washington?” faced selfie in the freshly fallen snow

 

Glacier Peak Wilderness

 

winter and fall in same shot

 

just a gorgeous day in the Cascades

 

 Ok, now for the part you really want to read – the bear story (I hope you didn’t just skip to this part of the post;)

Yesterday, we hiked out with a group of other hikers. We’re hiking along and hear a whistle sound. Now, a few days ago we’d identified a bird that makes a sound just like a whistle, so I thought that’s what this was. But this one was incessant. We come upon the couple ahead of us and she tells us there is a bear near the trail, while he is blowing his whistle and shouting, trying to scare it away.

It was right on the trail when they came upon it, and it moved a little further up the bushes, munching on them and not giving a hoot about the noisy hikers below. It wouldn’t budge. This went on for maybe 20 minutes, with Jason adding to the shouts, and me staying at a greater distance with the wife, who was quite beside herself over the predicament.

Eventually one of the other hikers came up and bravely, yet gingerly walked below the bear (about 30 feet from the trail). By this time, the bear had stopped eating and lay itself down on a big rock, belly-down, paws hanging over the sides, chin also resting on rock. It did pick its head up to watch the hiker, Sunshine, pass by, but didn’t lift another muscle.

We weren’t quite as brave, but we did realize we couldn’t just live on this spot of trail, we did still have to get to Canada. We tried climbing down the ravine to go around the trail, but it was too steep. So we figured if we all went as a group, the bear would probably leave us alone.

Just then, yet another hiker, Catwater, from Alaska, came along and confirmed our plan was a good one, having had more experience with lazy bears than any of us. So we marched in a tight row, hiking poles in the air to make us look bigger, clacking them together and singing “When the Saints Go Marching In” right past the bear, who again only lifted its head to watch us pass, Catwater stopping to take a picture.

That was definitely the best view I’ve ever gotten of a bear. It was a black bear, but its color a rich brown and bigger than any one I’d seen in Maine. And we have a good story to tell now when people ask us to tell them a story from the trail, as they often do.

Onward to the border!

Comet/Catie


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Marathoning through Washington + Encounters with Wildlife

On this stretch our daily mileages were 26, 26, 27, 19; motivated by warmth and shelter. We knew if we did two marathon-length days out of White Pass, on the second night we could stay in a cabin, maintained by a local snowmobile club. It was warm, with a wood stove, wonderful after most of the day in cold, clouds, and wind. Sharing the loft with a bunch of other hikers lined up in our sleeping bags wasn’t the best night’s sleep, with all the sleeping pad noises, farts, and snores, but it was warm.

Then the next day, we pushed to do 27, because some southbounders had told us about an abandoned weather station, with electricity, lights, place to charge phones. (Though we didn’t end up staying inside since there were no trespass signs and it was a little creepy and smelly. The weather wasn’t too bad that night.)

Then that only left us with 19 miles into Snoqualmie Pass today. At which point we have completed 90 percent of the trail, mileage-wise, and we will complete the last 10 percent  in the next two weeks!

Two more weeks! It feels like I have been waiting forever to say that! We are at the point now where we just want to be done. It’s already been a long journey.

They were all long hard days partially because of the terrain, a lot more up and down than we’d gotten used to in Oregon, but mostly because of the weather, which ranged from cold and cloudy, to misting, to pouring rain, to snow and hail. But, my feet didn’t hurt (well, just in the typical walking all day way, not the awful screaming at me way they had been). And that I am so grateful for, it makes a huge difference. Unfortunately, Jason’s are starting to bother him a little more though.


  
Washington has been a little coy with us thus far, only revealing parts of itself. The corridor within the fog we have gotten to see has been quite beautiful, but I know there is even more beauty hidden beyond those clouds. We went through Mt. Rainier National Park a few days ago without seeing even a glimpse of Mt. Rainier. The week before, it was Mt. St. Helen that slipped from our sight (although, we did see it from a distance one day in Oregon).

the clouds parted just enough to let on a snow cap, at one point I saw more snow behind it, perhaps Rainier?

 

fall colors brighten up a burn area a bit

Encounters with Wildlife

So, we have not had any encounters with the archetypical scary wild animals yet this trip (though we did possibly see a mountain lion on the trail from a distance back in Northern California, but we didn’t bother it and it didn’t bother us). We have however encountered archetypical cute animals acting not so cute. You’ll recall our deer story from earlier in the trip, now we have birds to add to it. There is a certain kind of bird (points if you can identify it for us) that likes to swoop down and visit during lunch and dinner breaks, getting aggressively close to us and our food bags. The other night, one swooped out of nowhere and landed on Jason’s hand holding his last bite of peanut butter and cheese tortilla. The bird didn’t get it, but after bird claws land on your dinner you don’t really want to eat it any more.

Here’s a picture of the same type of bird in Oregon hauling off a brownie someone had dropped. Do you know what kind?


Moral of the story: don’t feed the animals!

But do feed the thru hikers. The other day we were enjoying our second lunch by a cooler of trail magic. A father and son pull up on the dirt road near the trail. They approach us slowly and quietly, as if we are the wildlife. The father asks us the usual slew of questions, then they take off back to their truck.

We continue sipping our orange sodas and eating our cheezits, and a few minutes later they both return, the son shyly hiding behind his father, and the man gives us a couple fruit roll ups that he explains his son wanted to give us, very sweet.

Being a thru hiker gives you this new weird status. Sometimes you are treated like a wild animal, like walking down the road today, a car visibly slowed to stare at us. While others think you are doing something so wonderful (which I don’t really feel like we are), and they stop to tell you. It’s probably the closest I’ll get to feeling like a celebrity.

And one last thought of the day before I go to bed: Smells. It’s not true what they say, that you stop smelling yourself after a while. I think my sense of smell has actually heightened somehow. True, I don’t smell me all the time, but I know I stink, especially when our feet and our clothes and gear are  wet; we smell even worse.

But also the wonderful fall smells are in the air now, really my favorite time of year to hike, as long as the weather is being kind. So many different types of plants, all smelling differently–sweet firs, crisp drying leaves, plants that smell like herbs I can’t name.

And other hikers. There is a huge difference between a thru hiker and day hiker. I can smell the day hiker. I smell their laundry detergent, their soap, their shampoo, their lotion, women and men.  It’s really quite amazing, I never noticed how many different smells are on us.

So, now it is time for bed. We heard through the PCT rumor mill (yes, it’s as big as any small town’s) that the large section of trail that was closed due to fire has reopened, for better or for worse. We’ll confirm it tomorrow after the holiday on the PCTA’s web site. But we only have 268 miles left! Compared to the 2,390 we’ve done that doesn’t sound too bad! And the weather forecast has sun in it for the next ten days!

 

Washington sun finally showong itself today, headed into Snowqualmie, you can barely make out the chair lifts to the left

Keep on trekking,

Comet/Catie


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Wet Wet Washington

Written 9/1/15: 

Impressions of Washington: The forest, where we spend most of our time, is deep, even thicker than Oregon’s. It seems more green, more lush, more damp. We’ve certainly had our share of rainy and overcast days, which become even darker in the thick of the tree cover and hanging lichen.

 

Washington forest

Sometimes majestic, sometimes just eerie. Tonight we ate our dinner on a log, watching the clouds slowly envelop us from either side. In our tent now, happy to hear voices of other hikers stopped to camp next door. It’s nice to have neighbors on such a lonely feeling night, waiting for the rain to start.

 

deep in the woods

Yesterday we warmed up and dried off in the sweet little town of Trout Lake, our new favorite trail town. Everyone was so friendly. You enter it on a not very busy paved forest service road, so we’d called ahead to one of the local trail angels that morning when we had some cell reception on a ridge and scheduled a ride for that afternoon.

 

Trout Lake (though there is actually no longer a lake there, just a wetland)

We checked into the very lovely Trout Lake Valley Inn and soon another hiker couple was offering to drive us to dinner and the general store with a car they’d borrowed from the owner of the general store for the day (yes, people are just that nice!). I had my first huckleberries in the form of a milkshake, delicious! They’re basically like blueberries. Then it was hot tub and laundry time.

The next morning we’d prearranged a ride with another trail angel to drive us around the fire closure. The trail was closed right at the road we came in on and for the next 24 miles, which we already knew about and were planning to skip around. Some people are actually walking the road as a detour, but after being driven on the series of winding no shoulder paved roads and maze-like dirt logging roads, we knew we’d made the right decision and were lucky to have a driver who knew where he was going!

 

part of the fire closure detour

 

one of our few views of Mt. Adams, with fresh snow

Written on 9/3/15:

More rain, cold and wetness = an unplanned night in town after 3 days on the trail. Actually, not even a town. We’d hiked the 5 miles into White Pass to pick up our food resupply box and better rain gear (along with some birthday surprises for Jason, thank you!), and while hanging out with hot tea and coffee in our hands, trying to warm up, we decided as the hours wore on, hiking out was looking less and less appealing, especially with the forecasted evening rain. Right next door is a big ski lodge, open for the off season, and where we decided to check in for the night.

Yesterday was a long tough 21 miles on what I’m sure is a beautiful stretch of trail, we just couldn’t see most of it for the rain clouds. Although I do have to admit that the day was beautiful in it’s own way, I just couldn’t help thinking about what was behind all those clouds.

 

trailside waterfall

 

Goat Rock Wilderness in the clouds

 

glacier patch

We boulder-hopped (although in my case it looked more like boulder butt-scooting) a section to avoid a patch of snow. Then the trail gets very narrow as you climb up, down, around, and up, and down again on a stretch of trail known as the knife’s edge, passing by glaciers and steep drop offs. Again, I’m sure also gorgeous vistas on either side that we could not see. It was also sleeting with very strong winds, a pretty crazy walk. As I was doing it, it felt pretty exhilarating and cool at first, but that wore off and ended in exhaustion, with still ten more miles to slog through. Which we did, with a few breaks in the clouds.

clouds attempting to crest the peak looked like an errupting volcano

 

Goat Rock Wilderness

Then set up our tent and shivered in our sleeping bags, listening to the wind whip and watching it bend our tent poles towards us. Another reason we are in a bed tonight– for a good night’s sleep. When we got up this morning, there was ice on our tent and my shoe laces (we keep our shoes just outside the tent, under the rain fly) were so frozen I couldn’t tighten them.

In a few short days, really as soon as we crossed the border into Washington, it went from summer to fall (late fall temps).

 

little reminders fall is coming

  
Oh well, only another 366 miles to go! And tomorrow is Not-a-Bear’s birthday!

Currently warm and dry,

Comet/Catie