Once again, I have a good nights sleep except for hearing the cussing every once in awhile that the campsite is not available. In the morning I look around an notice how beautiful it is. I never notice at the end of the day. I am too tired to notice. In the morning, I am always amazed.
Morning Star over Surprise MountainI’m above the fray. Thunder Mountain out there
Already packed up but the picture below shows my campsite. Yes it is very rocky here BUT the rocks on the trail here at least do not move underneath your feet.
Campsite
About 9 I am looking down at Trap Lake. The PCT does not go down there but looks like a nice place to hang out for awhile.
Trap Lake
About 11 I am walking through a meadow. Been awhile since the hike was this easy.
A meadow??
I thought I might make it to Stevens Pass today. But, that was not going to happen. I am 5 miles away and just have to stop. I need water, I am tired, and I am by Lake Susan Jane. I find a campsite and go immediately to lake to slurp up some water with the lifestraw. I have about 5 miles tomorrow to get to Stevens Pass but there is a peak I have the climb along the way.
I mentioned my campsite looked like a disaster area. Below is a picture that just partially captures it. The trees were down everywhere. It was not even clear when the PCT trail was. There were 6 of us there that spent a fair amount of time locating where the trail continued.
A Disaster Area
I also mentioned it was a dry creek bed. It was dry but sometime in the middle of the night I started hearing water and in the morning I woke up to a full blown stream right by my tent. Snow melt and perhaps rain and bam, you have yourself a stream.
The stream that appeared overnight
I start the day about 6 and by 7 I am at the “Cascading Stream” I have been warned about almost every day. Everyone said they were able to cross is fairly easy and one said he did not even get his boots wet. When I get their, there is no way to cross this without getting wet. When I get their, I’m not even sure there is a way to cross it. All I know is that I will somehow cross it because I am not going back. Basically what is going on here is the PCT comes to this side of the canyon. Over on the other side of the canyon you can see where the trail continues. How to get from point A to point B is up to you.
They call it cascading stream.A Cascading Stream that must be crossed
I spend about an hour trying to get across this stream. I figured there is not way I cross up high. The stream is too fast. The stream empties into a valley that is quite close and I start bushwhacking my way down but looking ahead it appears to be a cliff that I can’t get down. So I turn around and go back up to a point that looks possible and I get about half way across but reach a point where the flow is too strong for me to continue. While standing there I look down and with a better view of the way down I figure I can get down the cliff to where I can cross the stream. So I go back and start going down again and indeed do find a way off the cliff and down to the valley. I cross the stream and then work my way back up on the other side and back onto the trail. Exhausting.
The valley the Cascading Stream empties into
I start walking along the trail and happen to look back to see the beautiful valley that “Cascading Stream” was flowing into.
2 hours later, I am captivated by the view and try to capture it in a panorama picture.
Just a view
An hour later I am at Deception Lake. Pretty area and the trail goes right along the lake and then heads up. Actually been heading up for about a mile at this point but will go up fairly steeply for another 3 miles to Piper Pass.
Deception LakeDeception Lake
After getting to Piper Pass you start going down towards Glacier Lake. About a 3 mile descent. About a mile into the descent there is a campsite and I grab it. During the day there were a number of PCT’ers and locals that hoped for that campsite. Even into the night I could hear people come up to the campsite and make an unpleasant noise that it was taken. Sometimes it can be difficult when there are a lot of people and not very many good, level campsites.
Feel pretty good after a good nights sleep and get started hiking about 5:30. At about 7 I come across some huckleberries on the side of the trail. It is the first time I have noticed any and I stop frequently and pick a handful to eat. Sadly they only last for about 1/2 mile and then disappear it. I keep looking and hoping but there are none to be found.
Finally a few huckleberries
At about 9:30 I come to Spinola Creek which seems to be an outlet from nearby Deep Lake. It is not very deep. I figure I have no chance of actually making it across without getting my feet wet but I do manage to walk across on those rocks.
Actually crossed without getting feet wet. Spinola Creek
At about 12 noon I can hear the results of melting snow again. 2 streams roaring down the mountain.
Two streams of snow melt
A little later I come to Peggys Pond. This is apparently a very popular site for PCT’ers and locals to spend some time. It does look very inviting.
Now that’s a pretty pond. Peggys Pond
At about 2pm I stop and take 3 pictures of the scenery around me. Just a little different view from the same spot. Around this time I meet a couple that is doing the PCT from north to south. The guy is named “Fly” and the girl is “Buffy the tick slayer”. The are fun to talk with and it turns out they have also done the AT. They also mention that the approach trail is very difficult.
Again I stop at around 3pm. Reasonable good campsite even though it is by a dry creek bed and a scene of utter destruction. It almost appears a landslide has occurred here. Perhaps an avalanche. Trees strewn all over the place. 10 mile day.
Awakened about 2am last night by thunder and lightning. Really quite a show. It rained a little but no much and then half of the day today it will be a slow drizzle but nothing serious. I did have to wear a rain jacket and covered by pack with a rain sack to keep everything dry. The cloud cover and little bit of rain is actually nice. Makes the hiking a little easier.
Campsite. Stopped by small Alpine PondGlad all the snow is over thereDittoLooked cool to me
Meet a PCT hiker by one of the streams I stopped at. Her trail name is OneStep. She is 75 years old and has Washington to do in order to complete the PCT. She has also done the Appalachian Trail, she mentioned how difficult the AT approach trail was from Amicalola Falls to Springer Mountain. She blew right by me.
The day clears up around noon and all the rain gear comes off.
Waptus LakeWaptus River
I stop at about 3pm. Pretty early but I need the rest even though just 10 mile day.
Being probably as tired as I have ever been, I had a good nights sleep. Felt much better in the morning than I had the night before and decided against breaking my arm for an emergency evacuation. As you can see in the pictures below the view from my camp was pretty good.
View from campsite in the morningSpectacle Lake
A half hour of hiking and I still have a good view of Spectacle Lake.
Little Further on looking down an Spectacle Lake
At about 8, I make it to Delate Creek and falls. Stop here for a snack and some water. While I am resting a couple comes in and stops to rest as well. They are going the same direction as I am and are just doing the hike from Snoqualmie to Stevens Pass. Turns out a lot of people just do this hike because the spectacular scenery. The guy tells me that according to his guide book we are mostly finished with the loose rocks. That is very good to hear.
Delate Creek. Cold and clear water
Another 1.5 hours on I get to Lehman Creek. It is fairly large and usually has a bridge but the bridge has been washed out. It is flowing pretty fast but really no danger carefully walking across which is what I do.
Lemah Creek. Feet got a bit wet crossing this one. Bridge out
About an hour later I come across this sign to validate I am still on the PCT and to let me know the bridge is out. Of course that is good information for people going south which I guess is the direction most stock travels??
Right. Thanks. Already know the bridge is out
Around 11 the noise from the stream is really quite impressive. Snow is melting pretty fast these days with the heat and rain.
Rushing water from snow melt. Noise level was impressive
Around 3pm I notice the clouds trying to come on over the mountains. There always seems to be thunder in this area. I’m always thinking it is going to rain but so far nothing to speak of has happened.
I had a good nights sleep and wake up at the usual time. I starting getting out of night clothes and into hiking cloths, and getting everything done inside the tent that I can do and am about ready to get outside and finish the packing when suddenly rain starts hitting the tent. Rain was not expected today, it was in the forecast for tomorrow. Now, I have heard to can’t wait out the rain in Washington unless you want to wait for a couple days! BUT, I decide to give it a few minutes and I just lie back down with my head on my pack. Turns out this time, waiting worked. After about 10 minutes the rain stopped and the only thing that got wet was the rain cover for my tent. I started out having no clue how far I was going to get. As far as I could was my only thought.
Turns out my day would consist of going up and over and down 3 peaks. The average grade of 11%. With long sections of 14 to 16%. Also this was going to be done on flat rocks that move under your feet. For me, every step up or down was an adventure and a slow one. I end up hiking for 9 miles and taking 10 hours. At the end of the day I texted Lenora and Martha indicating the day was ridiculously difficult. I was really, really down at how slow I was. After 2 days, I had done 17 miles. I needed to do 57 more miles to get to Stevens Pass. Certainly my goal of 5 days would not be met. BUT, I knew that I was not going to turn around. I was never going to do the 9 miles I did today again. Going forward was the only option. Well, not the only option. I thought about deliberately breaking my arm and then calling for an emergency evacuation. A helicopter could definitely get to my location.
It was a hard hike. But it was beautiful and while I was stopped and gasping for air I took a couple pictures and videos.
Joe Lake and Huckleberry MountainLooking around from Alaska MountainLooking out at Four Brothers Mountains
A rare moment when the trail was not rock and the Sooty Grouse was taking advantage of it.
I disturbed a Sooty Grouse. She had a little one
I stop at a small pond near the top of an ascent. It has some decent camp sites and the small pond has good water.
So we made it from Tucson to Phoenix to Seattle. Saw a couple baseball games and now it is time to do the Snoqualmie to Stevens Pass section. As you can see from picture bellow it is 74 miles and there really is no option for pickup. Truly a wilderness journey. I was thinking it would take me 5 days but I took supplies for 7 days to be safe. Good thing I did. It ends up taking me 8 days.
Heading out from Snoqualmie
The actual trailhead is about .2 of a mile up the trail and they have a sign about Avalanche awareness and preparation. I can answer all their questions with a NO but I’m also not concerned about an avalanche. There is not a large amount of snow this time of year.
Starting at Snoqualmie Washington. Answers to above questions: No, No, No, No. I’m off
About 10 minutes into the hike I get to my first stream. I am hoping for many more. Nice to be out of the desert and not have to worry about carrying pounds of water.
Hoping for many more. I want lots of water. LOTS OF WATER
Met a local along the way and I told him I was trying to get to Ridge Lake today and he indicated there were 3 parts to that journey. The first part was the the nice forest path we were currently on, the second part was the very rocky and very difficult glissades and he pointed up the mountain, the third part was the less steep but no less rocky trail to Ridge Lake.
Such a nice forest trail just a little while ago. Starting to get rocky
President Ford signed the Alpine Lakes Area Management Act into law on the afternoon of July 12, 1976, reportedly saying “anywhere so beautiful should be preserved.”
National Forest and WildernessLooking forward at Red MountainLooking to the side at Guye Peak
These darn rocks move. They don’t just sit there and look pretty. You step on them, they wiggle, they slide.
Well, I was told this section would be rocky
About 5:30 pm I get to the Kendall Catwalk. It is a pretty short walk where some people want to cling to the mountain for fear of falling off. Actually the trail right here is wider than most of the other trail but the sheer fall on one side and the sheer mountain on the other can make it look intimidating. At least the path was not all that rocky here. Now you add those slippery moving rocks to the trail here and you might have something.
Starting Kendall KatwalkLooking back on Katwalk
At about 6 o’clock at night I get to Ridge Lake and set up camp. 7 miles in 6 hours. Most of it was ascending and I actually suck at ascending.
