PCT Day 22: To the Cabin! (7/15)

Today’s miles: 26

PCT Miles Hiked: 306/2660

I hear the splattering of water as I awake. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and not seeing stars. Must have been covered by rain clouds.

I leave morning camp with my rain jacket on. Last night, I mentioned to Max Heap that it’d be cool to try to spend the night tonight at at a cabin that serves as a shelter for hikers. It’s very rare to have any shelters on the PCT, but at mile 305 there is a cabin that is maintained by a snowmobile club and open to the public.

I hike eight miles with my rain jacket on and it does not rain. I’m hot, but want to make it to the water source before stopping and taking my pack off. This upcoming water source is the last one for a 12 mile stretch. This is the first stretch in Washington without water and it’s hard to believe. Everything has been so lush and water so abundant.

I make it to the water source and shortly after Max Heap joins me. It’s a beauty of a water source, strong flow that is shaded and bug free. We confirm plans to try to make it to the cabin and Max Heap heads out. I lay down on my pack and close my eyes. I open them and find I’ve been here for 45 minutes. It’s only getting hotter and there’s hiking that needs to be done.

I fill up about 2L of water and head out for this stretch. I hike pretty much continuously for the next 5 hours, not stopping for longer than 10 minutes at a time. Water is everything I realize. It doesn’t even occur to me to stop for anything longer than a 10 minute break when making it through this waterless stretch. The trail climbs but is constantly shaded and smooth with packed dirt. It’s steady hiking, the kind you feel you can do for an eternity. I eat mostly on the go, finishing a whole squeeze tub of peanut butter. I read the nutrition facts on the back and see I have consumed 900 calories of peanut butter today.

I finish the waterless stretch at 4:30, arriving to a beautiful cold flowing spring. It’s the best water I’ve had on trail and I don’t filter it as it is coming directly from a spring. Lightweight hiking be damned, I pack out 3L of water from the spring. The water is just too good.

It’s right at 6:30 when I see a sign that says “Mike Urich Cabin Ahead.” It reads that the cabin is open to the public but please, please pack out your trash or burn it in the wood burning stove. Don’t leave it in the cabin. The cabin comes into sight and it’s glorious, right on the edge of this wonderful meadow. There is firewood stacked and chopped to the side of the cabin and I can see windows.

I step inside the empty cabin and my eyes adjust to the dimness. I make out the wood burning stove and other various items in the structure. Someone has hung a hammock for sleeping purposes and there is a wooden table and a chair left behind. I see a cooler that reads “Trail Magic!” but when I open it, I’m disappointed to see only an empty water bottle someone left behind.

Max Heap arrives a bit later and takes a look around. He asks me what I was hoping would be in the cooler.

“In a perfect world? A beer. Or some type of sparkling cold drink.”

He responds by pulling a can of Heineken and an orange sports drink out of his pack. “Picked these up half an hour ago. Came out on a dirt road and a guy found out I was thru-hiking. He offered me the beer, but I told him I was with another hiker, and he produced the sports drink also.”

Max Heap graciously insists that I take my pick between the two drinks and I grab the Heineken. It’s ice cold and is absolutely, 100% the best beer I have ever had. I drink it as I eat dinner with Max Heap on the porch of the cabin, looking out on the meadow.

It’s fun and games tonight as after dinner Max Heap pulls out this lightweight puck that serves as a type of ultra small frisbee. We toss it around in the meadow for 10 minutes and then proceed to get in a quick game of chess. As we are playing chess, a herd of elk come within a few hundred yards of us. Max Heap tells me you can recognize elk by their white asses, and we hear them letting out intermittent calls. After our chess game, Max Heap announces he’s ready for bed. He’s taking the loft and I’m going to try out the hammock nailed into two beams, right in the middle of the cabin. Because why not.