Heat...cold & Huckleberry pie

Our first couple of days felt like some of the hottest since the desert.  Seriously...it was sweltering.  It had rained earlier that week.  The day we started hiking the temperature climbed into the 90s, effectively turning the forest into a sauna.

Our third afternoon, the clouds rolled in and, by morning, we were wearing every layer we had against th cold.

Trout lake was our next stop...one of the friendliest towns we have found on the trail, and they make Huckleberry​...well...everything.  We had Huckleberry lemon aid with our burgers the night we got in.  He next morning, it was huckleberry cinnimon rolls for breakfast...you get the idea.

The really special part about this place is the people.

We were given a ride into town by Doug, who went out of his way to make sure we had a room for he night and got dinner at the cafe.

Bev owns the town store, where hikers can rent a room for $25 a night including laundry. 

John was house sitting in Trout Lake and sat with us for breakfast.  Actually, he bought us breakfast and offered to give us a ride back to the trail the next morning.

We are in White Pass now eating and gearing up for the next 5 days.

Our next stop...Snoqualmie Pass.  Here are some more photos. 

Found a friend at Snowy Peak...Cedar

Shiny & 3-D on the "knife Edge"

Shiny helps 3-D with an epic Charlie-horse

Taking a selfie at Cispus Pass

Mt. Rainier from the Knife Edge

Magic

We arrived here with almost nothing in our packs.   

Snoqualmie Pass...almost exactly the half-way point on the trail in Washington.  260 miles to go...two more resupply stops and we are done.

Three days ago we were finishing up a 23 mile day.  A long-ish day for the Cascades, we were tired and foot sore.  This is the scene that greeted us at our end of the day camp spot...

...Trail Magic!  

A Trail Angel (Stumblin Norwegian ) and his friends were camping out waiting for hikers.  For dinner, it was stew, BBQ ribs, veggies, beer, soda and his trail-made Kalua. For breakfast the next morning they served French toast, bacon and coffee.

Then, the bonus.                 Stumblin Norwegian handed out bags for us to fill with the stuff in our packs.  He was going to drive all our stuff to Snoqualmie Pass so we could "slack-pack" the last 18 miles.  It was a glorious hike with virtually no weight...only snacks and some emergency supplies.

We head out today.  Our next stop is the Dinsmore's...trail angels that open their home to hikers every year.  4 days of hiking...hopefully not too much rain. 

Here are some more photos from the last section. 

Rain...

As I lay on the forest floor, the tangled web of primeval looking roots and branches, moss-covered and ladened with the days rain, dripped periodically onto my forehead.  

Everything was wet here.  Wet shoes, wet socks, wet backpacks, wet food bags...it all got wet eventually.  Every night we set up a wet tent and covered it with a sodden rain fly. 

At the moment though, I was in heaven...blissful even.   Shiny and I were soaking in a hot spring.  The forest around us was almost Jurassic, mossy, larger than life, enveloped in a cloud.  A river rushed passed our steaming pool, and cascaded down a steep, stoney cleft in the mountain side.   Everything around us was dripping and glistening.

This was Goldmeyer Hot springs.  An alternat route out of Snoqualmie Pass, this little detour afforded us this wonderful opportunity and cut off eleven miles of the PCT.  It was a warm beginning to a cold wet four days of hiking.

Somehow we managed to keep the inside floor of the tent, the sleeping bag and a few precious clothes dry enough to sleep in.  Even the rain fly, as soaked as it was, managed to keep the incessantly falling rain off of us as we slept.

All this stuff is dry now.  We have been in a motel room in Skykomish since last night​.  Tomorrow morning we will eat a hardy breakfast, I'll buy my customary beginning-of-trail-cappuccino and we will be off for another 5 days.

My next blog entry will be from Stehekin, WA.  We will be picking up our last resupply preparing for  our last 4 days of hiking to the border of Canada.  It's so close I can almost see the maple leaves!

Skykomish to Stehikin...SPECTACULAR

BACKSTORY PART 1, September 28 - October 3

Spectacularly miserable...

My feet had healed for the most part.  They had been covered in raw, open sores when we arrived in Skykomish.  This after four days of walking in soggy shoes & sox.  

Two nights in a dry hotel room, and a day of rest, and I was ready to hike out that morning on our five day stretch to Stehekin.

Our spirits were high as we set out.  It was a beautiful Sunday morning...sunny skies, warm sun & chilly autumn air.  We were now headed into the heart of the North Cascades.  The weather forecast said that Sunday would be sunny, Monday would be partly cloudy until mid-day, then we would see light sprinkles that evening.  We new we were to expect a day or a day and a half of light rain on this section.  

Here is how the next 5 and a half days actually played out.

Sunday, September 28

As I said...beautiful.

Monday, September 29

Beautiful, dry morning with warm sun and crisp air.

High clouds by late morning.

As we were finishing our lunch by Lake Sally Ann, the air temperature began to plummet and a wave of dark clouds (think Indiana Jones and opening of the Ark at the end of the movie) began to pour menacingly over the ridge line behind us...time to pack it up and start walking. 

Our plan today was to try to do 22 miles.  This would take us over two major elevations. The first would be climb of about 1300 ft over 3 miles.  The second, would take us up to 6500 feet...a climb of 1500 feet over about 6 miles.  By the time we cleared the first climb, we were under our umbrellas & in full rain gear, hiking in what amounted to a cloud.  

The rain was falling in earnest now, and visibility was about 50 yards..."light sprinkle" my @ss!  

500 feet down from the last elevation, we pitched our tent in the rain at about 6000 feet.

Tuesday, September 30

Snowing!  It was F...ing snowing!  This was not good.  We were already wet.

By the time we packed up and started hiking again, the flakes were coming hard and fast, the size of quarters.  The only choice...keep moving...get down to lower elevation.

11am:  We sloshed across a bridge over a large creek at the bottom of the canyon.  Our shoes were swimming pools by now, and water was beginning to seep through our rain gear.  

Standing in a dripping abandoned camp site, we took a break and ate a cold cheerless snack.

To make our goal that day, we would have hike another 16 miles, and climb back up to over 6000 feet in elevation...there would certainly be more snow.  Shiny was shivering, and we were both exhausted after only 5 miles of hiking...down hill.  Cold felt like it was soaking into my bones.

This's was really, really not good.  This was dangerous.  This was a formula that was quickly adding up to hypothermia.  

Shiny called it.  "Let's pitch the tent...let's stop".

She was right...we did.

Wednesday, October 1

I awoke often that night, listening to the rain outside alternate between the soft patter of sprinkling rain and the heavier plop, plop if the trees dripping on our rain fly.  I watched hopelessly as, with every "plop", the rain fly bounced like a drum head and loosed a sprinkle from the condensation gathering on the inside.

The weather reports said it was supposed to clear up today.   My hope, at this point, dangled precariously from this fragile thought.  With every "plop" that hope seemed to become more and more brittle.  Dispare was creeping into my psyche at the thought of having to put on wet clothes in a few hours and start hiking again.

We were half way...47 miles from Skykomish and 57 miles from Stehekin. The rain wasn't letting up.  This was miserable.  

I winced as I pulled on my cold squishy sox.  Then came the damp rain pants...and finally my sodden shoes.  This process was occurring only by sheer force of will. We had to hike...had to cover at least 21 miles today.  We had to make it over the snow and back down to a lower elevation to camp. 

This now officially made the list.  Gregg's top 5 most miserable hiking experiences...ever. 

Whether Shiny and I were overly motivated be the need of the moment, or because we were just hiking hard to keep warm, we climbed our first elevation in record time.  By now the clouds were showing signs of breaking up a bit.

We stopped.  We actually stopped, despite the cold, to gape at what the clouds were revealing.  Our view had been nothing but fog and wet trees for almost two days now.  Neither of had any idea of what the landscape looked like beyond 30 or 40 feet.​

The heavy, tempestuous, clouds​ were pealing back to reveal craggy rock faces and soaring peaks dusted with snow..think Eiger and Matterhorn...jaw dropping.  spectacularly miserable was turning to...well...simply spectacular.

The window closed.  We kept hiking.​

Up, up, up... Sprinkling...not sprinkling...snowing...not snowing...cold...wet... 

Now hiking over our second climb of the day, I found myself listening to the bizarre sounds my feet were making. It was kind of a squishing, sloshing noise, followed be the familiar "crunch" the rubber sole packing 2 inches of snow under my, now meager, body weight.   

Then, each foot slid backwards an inch or two.

By the time we​ cleared our third and final elevation for the day, the clouds were lifting and beginning to scatter...more "spectacular".  We were now walking a ridge line at about 7000 feet, with a breathtaking view of Glacier Peak Wilderness laid out before us.  I couldn't take my eyes off of the view.  This was as jaw-dropping as anything in the Sierras, and somehow more wild...more raw.  Misery or no, I will be back here some day.

Thursday, October 2

We awoke to a dry camp...a gloriously dry, non dripping camp under clear skies.

We would need to cover about 23 miles today to set us up for a "short" nine mile hike into Stehekin tomorrow.   Somehow, this seemed like the easiest thing we  had to do in days.  It turned out to be a beautiful day of hiking under partly cloudy (but dry) skies.

It was about 6pm when we stopped for dinner.  The plan was to eat, then keep hiking into he evening in order to make our 23 miles. 

Shiny fell...hard...right in front of me...face first into a pile of rocks. 

I was bracing my psyche to see a face full of blood and missing teeth.   Not so...but she wasn't getting up quickly either, and she was holding her knee.  I pulled up her pant leg to reveal a bruised looking crease across her knee cap where it had struck the granit...the whole knee was beginning to swell.

Again...not good.  We had another three miles to go that night, and nine in the morning to get to Stehekin.

Friday, October 3

We awoke to clear skies again.  Shiny's knee was stiff and sore but she could hike.  9 miles to go...we headed for Stehekin.

Six miles out from town her knee was getting stiff again.  Five miles out, she was slowing down.  Three miles...limping perceptibly.  Two miles...limping badly.  The last mile was agony. 

She collapsed onto a picnic table bench to wait for the shuttle into Stehekin. 

Heartbroken, she said "I think I'm done.  I can hardly walk. This might be our last stop." 

Stehekin to Canada

BACKSTORY - Part 2, The last push

No rooms...none.  I actually drooped over, and put my head on the counter as disappointment washed over me.  It couldn't be possible...after the rain, the snow, the knee...I have never wanted a hotel room so bad in my life. The clerk said "nope" and cheerfully went on to the next customer.

We had, once again, managed to arrive at a "town stop" on the busiest tourist day of the year.   We were in Stehekin and everything was booked for the next 2 days...everything but a few tent sites in he town's campgrounds.  Still, the weather was beautiful.  So, we pitched our tent and begun our usual routine...find the post office, do laundry, sort the resupply box, etc.

Routine it was.  We had done this many times by now, it was how we prepared for the next part of the journey.  "The next part"...what would the next part be this time.  At this point we had no idea if any of our preparations would matter... if Shiny's knee didn't improve...well, it might be the end of our hike.

We sat on a park bench, on the shore of Lake Chelan.  A light breeze ruffled the waters surface.  My mood was now much improved with a little time, a good weather report, and a few pastries from the Stehekin Pastry Company.  We sat, staring out at the lake and mountains beyond, munching quietly our cinnamon twists.  It was time to make a plan.

There were two things...two big "ifs" that had to be considered.  Shiny's knee and the weather.

The biggest problem with the knee seemed to be the swelling.  If we could get that to go down, we might have a better idea of whether she could hike another 88 miles.  Sigh...that's all it was...80 miles to the border, and another 8 to Manning Park Lodge...4 days of hiking...so close.

The weather...neither one of us relished the idea of dealing with more rain and snow.   The first report we saw at he post office looked promising...partly cloudy with only 10 to 20% chance of precipitation predicted for the next 5-7 days.  I was still skeptical.

So, the plan.  It was Friday afternoon.  We decided that we would stay in Stehekin through Sunday night...two and a half days.  In that time, we would monitor the knee and keep checking the weather. Monday we would make the call...hike out...or not.

Shiny spent the next two days eating Ibuprophen like a chipmunk and icing her knee.  Almost everyone knew us and our story by now...hikers, locals and tourists.  Many stopped to talk, ask questions and offer encouragement.  One woman gave Shiny her knee brace.  

The EMT at the ranger station looked at the knee, gave her some advice and a bandage for compression. 

Saturday:  We had breakfast at the resort coffee shop, a quarter mile from our tent.  "Hey", Shiny said, "my knee didn't ache from the walk."  It was an improvement from yesterday, but still badly swollen.

We ventured out to the bakery for lunch.  There was a shuttle.  

Pig Pen, Paul Bunion, Kentucky and Sanford bid us farewell and boarded the shuttle back to the trailhead.  Karma was the only one of our friends left in town now.

Sunday:  Shiny's knee was still improving.

The resort owner informed us that there would be a room for us tonight.  She gave Shiny some Epsom salts from her own supply.

It was back to the bakery again today for lunch.  Karma was there. We ate together and bought him a pastry for he trail.  He was leaving today...he would be the last.

About Karma...  We awoke this morning to the sound of his flute wafting up through the trees from the lakeside.  We had heard that flute many times on the trail.  It always lifted our hearts and freed our minds.  As we sat at lunch, he was wearing his well-known cap of feathers.  Shiny had always admired his collection and, had been trying to find a Blue Jay feather to replace the one she lost back in California.  He knew this, and had been trying to find one for her ever since.  

Leaving on the Stehekin shuttle

Monday:  We would hike out today.  The weather report showed a solid 5 days without rain.

Shiny's knee looked almost normal now.  She had spent most of yesterday in the hotel room resting and icing after her Epsom salt bath.

Stehekin was closing up for the winter.  Shuttle service was down to once-a-day, the tourists were all gone and the resort staff were finishing out their last few days of work.

We ate our last breakfast in the coffee shop and boarded the shuttle.  We were the only ones on it.  45 minutes later we were on the trail.

Our plan was to hike 16 miles the first day, about that the second day, and as far as Shiny's knee would allow after that.  We packed enough food for six days, in case we had to take it slow.

She continued to improve.  We ended up hiking 17 miles the first two days and 23 the next two.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect.  It was partly cloudy, warm sun, crisp autumn air and the occasional mountain breeze.  

We were now regularly walking through brilliant fall color...blueberry bushes of every hue and Larch trees. The latter were a new experience for us...deciduous pine trees, wow.

PB napping in the warm autumn sun

On day 2 we caught up to Pigpen, Sanford, Kentucky and Paul Bunion, napping on a hilltop. They were taking it slow, savoring the last few days of he journey.

About Paul Bunion... We had only crossed paths with PB, and never really hiked with him.  Our first encounter was way back in California, somewhere around Lake Isabella.  For whatever reasons, we had never quite connected with him,  never really tried...our loss.

Five days ago, as Shiny sat on a picnic bench in despair, knee aching, waiting for the shuttle into Stehekin, it was PB who sat with her...listened...encouraged her..."don't give up, you can still make it."  Thank you PB...She didn't give up. We made it

Wednesday:  We would finish tomorrow...wow...tomorrow!

We were hiking alone again now.  We wanted it that way, wanted to experience the last of our journey...just the two of us.

About an hour before we reached our last campsite of the trip, a day hiker passed us going the other way.

"Is one of you Shiny"?  He asked

"Um...yes."

"Cool, you have trail-mail up ahead...about a half an hour"

"Wow, ok, cool".  This was new.  

We hadn't had "trail-mail" yet.  This was when someone you knew left a note under a rock in the middle of the trail.  It was from Karma...remember the feathers? It was for Shiny.  It was a blue feather in a zip-lock bag.

Last day...23 miles. We new we were close.  We rounded the corner of the last switchback and Shiny stopped.  She was crying.  She was staring at the monument...the end of the trail.

Another third of a mile...a huge camp fire.  There was Paul Bunion, PigPen, Kentucky and Sanford...clapping...cheering.  

We were done.  We had made it.

SHINY & HALF-DOUBLE SIGNING OFF...

WE MADE IT ... CANADA!

October 9, 5:36pm, we completed our journey.  

Stay tuned...I'll be filling in the back story with a few more postings once we get to Seattle. 

Cheers

Half-Double & Shiny

Filling in the blanks

October 18, 2014

On the ferry home

Actually, at the moment, I am sitting in a comfy chair at our cousin's house in Seattle.  I still limp when getting out of bed in the morning and Shiny is recovering from a virus of some sort.  

We are finished.  We have completed what we set out to accomplish, and now it is time to rest, eat and heal.  It occurred to me that this would be a good time to fill in a few blank spots in the blog.  

Most of you probably noticed a couple of weeks of "dead air" in our communications.  After my last post from Skykomish, we pretty much lost any form of modern communication capability whatsoever.  Cell service...nope.  Internet...somebody spilled coffee on the router in Stehekin.

So, in my next couple of posts, I will attempt to paint a picture of our last two weeks on the trail.

Here are some words that just begin to tell the story.

Delight & Anxiety

Despair & Hope

Pain & Healing

Isolation & Friends

Choices & Answers

Resolve & Triumph

Faith & Gifts