August 1, 2016

Bushcamp near spring (mile 2190.6) to Mosquito Creek (mile 2216.2)

Miles: 25.6

Our total miles: 1809.9

Our alarm went off at 5:20. Without opening her eyes Laurie groggily pawed around to find the watch and pushed a button to make it stop beeping. She immediately fell back asleep. With his earplugs in, Andy soundly slept through the whole thing.

We both woke up at 6:30.

 Man! 

We did it again. 

Getting to camp late lends itself to going to bed late which in turn makes it very hard to wake up early. Particularly with days longer than 22 miles, we depend on sleep to revitalize and rejuvinate our bodies. 

Six to seven hours of sleep isn’t sufficient. So, we sleep through our alarms 🙂

We were walking by 7:20. Not bad considering we woke up less than hour beforehand. 

Our forest walk continued this morning. The ground was soft and the air cool. Andy walked with his fleece on for the first 2 miles. We picked huckleberries as we walked. These were the sweetest we had encountered thus far!

We got water from a spring and continued to saunter along. Occasionally the trail wandered out of the forests and into meadows. The sun was intense and we appreciated the cool shade of the trees.

We hiked up along the spine of a ridge offering views of Mt Adams and Mt St. Helens.

The huckleberries along this ridge were AMAZING. They were dark purple, large and juicy. Andy was leading and often turned around to see Laurie at least 100 feet behind him, poles on the ground and both hands plucking at a bush. We were in heaven!

Around 12:30 we stopped for lunch at Blue Lake. We found a nice spot in the shade and immediately upon sitting the mosquitoes found us. 

After being bitten on the feet and ankles we put our shoes back on. It felt good to be off our feet but the break wasn’t very restful.

We hiked past Bear Lake and gazed down at the beautiful blue water and sandy beach. Laurie had forgone swimming at Blue Lake because of all the mosquitoes but this beach looked too good to pass up.

We took a side trail down about 200 feet and walked along the shore to a beach. Laurie stripped down and jumped in without hesitation. In these woods hesitation leads to more mosquitoe bites.

Andy got water while Laurie swam.

After Laurie’s swim we continued onwards. We walked in silence again, as we had most of the morning – both lost in own worlds.  

Laurie woke up feeling grouchy and critical. The mosquitoes at lunch made her even more uncomfotable. But this dip in refreshing clear water brought a deep smile back to her face.

As we climbed back up to the PCT Laurie found a pep in her step and Andy lost his umph. 

This seems to happen. Luckily usually we trade off feeling sluggish and are able to carry the other person along – whether by stories or shot blocks.

This afternoon Laurie took over leading. She set a good pace and we quickly covered miles. 

Andy’s stomach wasn’t happy and hiking wasn’t very pleasurable, but he kept moving. An hour or so later he felt much better. 

Around 5:30 we crossed a gravel road and encountered a SOBO (turned out to be a friend of Laurie’s friend) and a llama packer. We admired the llamas, talked with Brendan and shared tips about the towns and trail to come.

Laurie listened to podcasts for the last 2 hours to camp. We walked past many freshly cut trees and felt grateful that we didn’t have to crawl over them.

We crossed Mosquito Creek at 7 pm. We got water and Andy continued .1 miles to scope out a campsite. Laurie got distracted by larger and dark looking huckleberries. 

In her world there is no better way to celebrate the end of a day than eating huckleberries, well maybe that and cheese.

Two women were already at camp and we talked with them as we set up our tent. They were very friendly and good natured. 

Laurie had service and got distracted by emails and text messages while Andy boiled water for dinner. 

We ate, cleaned up and were ready to sleep before 10pm, a rarity for Andy. The clouds are nowhere to be found and the air is crisp. We wil sleep well tonight. 

Goodnight. 

Tonight we are grateful for trail crews and refreshing swims.

Jul 31, 2016

Rock Creek (Mile 2163.6) to bushcamp near spring (Mile 2190.6)

Miles: 27

Our total miles: 1784.3

Andy woke up at some point in the night to the sound of critters scurrying about and our Talentis falling over. 

He didn’t worry. He never worries. He figured all of our food was safely hanging in the Ursacks in a nearby tree. So he went back to sleep.

Laurie heard nothing. She slept soundly through the night.

Washington has a reputation of having steep ups and downs. Only one day in and we can feel the difference!

Immediately out of camp we started to climb. Clouds hung in the sky and neither of us wore our sunglasses or hat. 

We climbed up 2600 feet, trying to avoid stepping on the many slugs that moved across the trail. Even Andy, who normally looks up or straight ahead, resorted to staring at the ground to avoid squishing them.

Once at the top of the climb we immediately started to descend. This seismic topography is hard for Laurie’s knees. 

Andy offered to take her food bag, which significantly lightened her pack in hopes of preventing further inflammation.

“We are a team. I want to finish this trail with you. Me taking your food doesn’t make you a weak hiker” Andy reassured Laurie. 

We walked down through the temperate rainforest, past large ferns and mushrooms down to Trout Creek.

We took a 20 minute shoes off break before continuing on. One thing that Washington does offer is dirt free toes and for that we are grateful.

The trail mellowed out and we cherished the moments of flat ground. We reminisced about the level terrain in Oregon. 

We crossed over the bridge at Wind River and Laurie looked longingly at the river. We had talked about minimizing our breaks today so we didn’t get into camp too late, but the clear water was too tempting.

Fool, a thru hiker who is out to complete his 2011 hike, was down at the river also. We chatted a bit, soaked our feet and quickly began to sweat as the sun roasted us as we put on our shoes.

We hiked through the shade of the forest another 2.5 miles to Panther River – our last water for 10 miles. We were planning on dry camping at the top of the climb so carried extra water to cook.

From here we went up 4000 feet over 9.3 miles. The first mile was comprised of steep switchbacks, so steep that our quads burned!

A mile and a half into the climb Andy spotted a snake spread across the trail. Initially we thought it was a big slug. Andy moved the grass out of the way with his poles for a closer look. The snake didn’t move an inch.

Andy stepped over the snake and continued on. Just as Laurie stepped over it turned around and slithered down the hillside. Laurie squealed and jumped.

She ran toward Andy, “Why do they hate me? Why do they chase me?”

“It wasn’t chasing you. It turned around and went down the hill, that’s all” Andy mumbled as he laughed uncontrollably. 

We climbed on, luckily in the shade of the tall trees. It was hot! Up and up we went,  hour after hour. 

Laurie turned to her audiobook for entertainment while Andy was content with his thoughts. We climbed in silence, each in our own worlds.

Within 1 mile of the top we stopped to refill our platypus bladders with the bottles of water we were carrying. 

The forest was silent. We noted that we hadn’t seen many section hikers and wondered if less people section hike Washington compared to Oregon.

Three tenths of a mile from camp we saw a red pack bobbing along the trail ahead of us. We joked that we should speed up in case we are both headed for the same campsite. 

Our pace didn’t change and as we got within a tenth of a mile of the campsite the woman wearing the red pack started running. Laurie and I were talking and she could probably hear us approaching.

This ignited a competitive fire within Laurie – but it was too late.

She got to the spot 5 seconds before we did and dropped her pack.

“Camping here tonight?” Asked Andy. 

She was.

There was room for only one tent and it was hers. “Have a great night” Andy said without slowing down, as if we didn’t mean to stop there anyway.

But we were bummed. 

Our feet hurt, we had climbed over 7000 feet and descended over 4000 feet and we were ready to call it a day. 

More than anything we were disappointed to miss out on watching the alpine glow over Mt Adams from our tent.

Oh well, this happens we suppose, but it was the first time it has happened to us on this hike. And it was more frustrating because we had been so close.

But down the trail we went, thinking negative thoughts about the person who got there first. And then the ‘if only’ thoughts creeped in.

“If only we didn’t take as long of a break at the creek. If only we hiked just a bit faster…”

Eventually we got it out of our system and accepted that camping on that saddle tonight wasn’t meant to be.

We descended 1.5 miles to a spring and some campsites. We chatted with some nice SOBOs near the side trail to the spring before scoping out potential flat spots. 

Laurie got grumpy as Andy searched around for flat spots. She felt like the first one we saw was good enough and she was ready to get inside and get cozy. 

After walking around for 5 minutes to ensure that ours was the flattest around, we set up the tent. We took off our clothes and turned them inside out before crawling in the tent. 

This is our method for preventing potential poison oak oils from coming in contact with our sleeping pads, sleeping bags and sleeping clothes.

So far so good in terms of not getting poison a oak rash.

Around 8:30 Andy started cooking and Laurie inflated the sleeping pads and unpacked the backpacks.

Finally around 9 pm we ate. The smile returned to Laurie’s face with a cup full of hot chocolate before dinner.

As we settled in after brushing our teeth we saw a headlight. Andy said hello and a familiar voice responded. It was Coke! 

We pointed him in the direction of water and said goodnight.

Tonight we are grateful for shady climbs and branches to hang our Ursacks at night. 

July 30, 2016

Bridge of the Gods (mile 2144.4) to Rock Creek (mile 2163.6)

Miles: 19.2

Our total miles: 1757.3

It was hot in Portland. We both slept poorly, waking up periodically to pry ourselves from the sticky and sweaty sheets.

Diana dropped us off on the Washington side of the Bridge of the Gods, the same spot she had picked us up 2 days prior. 

Already it was cooler, actually almost cold. We called family before turning our phones into airplane mode and walking across the highway.

But we didn’t make it very far.

We walked past blackberry bushes teeming with ripe and super sweet blackberries.

“These are the best blackberries I have ever had” remarked Andy through purple lips and a full mouth.

We picked initially with our backpacks on, gingerly stepping to avoid getting pricked by the thorny bushes. 

The berries were so good we quickly abandoned our packs to go all in. We picked with both hands and filled our 3 Talentis and our stomachs.

Around 8 am, a full hour after getting dropped off, we finally headed up the trail. 

Our smiles quickly turned to frowns as we encountered poison oak alongside the trail. We had heard differing accounts about poison oak in this section and had considered a road walk to avoid it. In the end we figured we would try our luck and unfortunately we struck out. 

The poison oak accompanied us for the first 5-6 miles. In some places it was thick but mostly avoidable with attentive foot placement.

The trail meandered through the forest, up and down many small bumps. After we passed Gillete Lake we continued to climb up towards the cut off for Table Mountain.

We ate lunch at the junction and watched as day hikers approached, took one look at the steep trail, took a deep breath, put their heads down and started the stair stepping climb up Heartbreak Ridge.

We were thankful the PCT was less steep.

We hiked on through miles and miles of forest. Occasionally the trail would emerge from the green tunnel and we would walk across fields of scree or under power lines, but for most of the day, we walked without hats or sunglasses as we climbed in the shade of the old growth trees.

We stopped for a break around 4 o’clock. Both of us were exhausted. The lack of sleep was compounded by the usual town day stress and now a 5000 foot climb accompanied by poison oak. 

Or maybe it was all the ice cream and pie we ingested in 24 hours. It couldn’t be, right? 

Our introduction to Washington wasn’t wonderful.

We sat in a small area of shade and psyched each other up for the last 4.3 miles to camp. We dropped down 2000 feet to the beautifully clear Rock Creek.

We were ready to be done.

We set up our home then went down to the river to wash our faces and hands. 

We ate dinner and then took an accidental nap. Andy enjoyed blackberries with Nuttzo for dessert. Yum!

It was only 8:30pm and we were ready for bed. We admired the bats as we brushed our teeth. No blogging tonight. We’ll do that another day. 

Tonight we are grateful for single tent sites near water and mosquito eating bats.