PCT Day 31: Blackberries and Raspberries (7/24)

Today’s miles: 26

PCT Miles Hiked: 502/2660

Max-Heap and I only have 30 more miles left in Washington, and then it’s onto Oregon. Washington isn’t letting us off easy, as we have two big climbs today. The first climb I breeze through, as it’s first thing in the morning. I’m fueled by a great night of sleep, the cool morning air, and caffeine. I repeatedly find that it’s often much easier to climb in the morning as opposed to the late afternoon.

As I finish this first ascent, I run into a hiker named Happy Hour. He’s living up to his trail name, as he has a fifth of plastic whiskey in front of him at 9 in the morning. Additionally, he tells me to help myself to a big spread of blackberries laid out in front of him. He tells me he picked them 10 miles back or so and to keep my eye out.

I take a fantastic break at Rock Creek, where the trail flattens for half a mile before going into the second and final climb of the day. There’s some swimming holes at the creek and I dip into one. An hour later and it’s 11:30 am and time to start hiking again.

Something of a mental game plays out and I set a timer on my watch, giving myself a drink once every 30 minutes. The thirst is compounded by the fact much of my food is high in salt.

The next water source is another 11 miles and I pack out 1L of water from Rock Creek. As I begin hiking, I realize I’m rapidly losing more fluids than I’m taking in. The heat from the day and the climb up has me sweating profusely. With only 1L of water though, I need to be really careful with how much and often I’m drinking. I’m learning a lesson- not all miles are created equal.

The sun feels like it is approaching its highest point for the day, when I walk out into an exposed area with dry grass and thorny bushes. Something colorful catches my eyes on these bushes and I take a second look. Could it be? Yes, there are handfuls and handfuls of blackberries and raspberries! They are perfectly ripe and I take 20 minutes gorging myself on this delicious and flavorful treat. Max-Heap comes upon me and joins me in the feast. The juice from the fruit helps quench the thirst and rejuvenates our steps as we head toward the water source.

We arrive at the spring which marks the end of both the dry stretch and the ascent. Meaning we have finished our last climb in Washington! For these last 10 miles of Washington, we will be descending down to the presumptuously named Bridge of the Gods. This bridge is the divider of Washington and Oregon. Once we walk across the bridge, we will be in the town of Cascade Locks, located in Oregon.

Max-Heap and I decide to camp at a lake called Gillette Lake, 3.5 miles outside of Bridge of the Gods. I sit down for dinner and demolish my normal backpackers meal and a protein cookie dessert, for a total of approximately 1,000 calories. But it barely moves the needle on my hunger. I fish around my food bag and find myself pulling out a S’mores flavored protein bar I snagged from the hiker box at White Pass. I smother it with two nut butter packets and eat the rich goodness. I think hiker hunger has hit.

I lay in my tent, which feels too warm to fall asleep right away. I do a little reflecting on the journey thus far, and realize that Max-Heap and I passed the 500 mile marker today. 500 miles and a state down calls for reason to celebrate tomorrow.