Today’s Miles: 22
Total miles: 92/2690
After being off trail for a full week, to allow for snowmelt and a heatwave to pass, I’m back on the PCT. I arrived back at Harts Pass Campground yesterday on June 30th at 6:30 P.M. Keeping my continuous footsteps from Canada to Mexico, I begin hiking south. I got 6 quick miles in yesterday evening, taking advantage of the daylight that lasts until nearly 10:00 P.M.
I wake up very early and I’m ready to hike. Hike, hike, hike. I’m as well rested as I’ll ever be and have had just a tease of the trail over these past two weeks. I think I’ll do 20 miles today. Plus, there are other external motivating factors. Mousetrap and Victor sent me a message from their satellite phone, saying they are going very slow in order to wait up for me. What a group of guys.
The mosquitos aren’t bad in the morning as long as I stay moving. And stay moving I do. I descend down Glacier Pass and am enveloped in a thick blanket of fog. I feel intermittent rain drops and everything is dewy and damp with the fog.
Around mid morning, I come around the corner and sitting on top of a bridge are Victor and Mousetrap! On snap! We share stories about where we have been and where other hikers are. Victor tells me they he spent so much time in Winthrop that the people at the coffee shop started to know his name and order. “Too long man, too long,” he says.
After catching up on all things trail related, we start hiking. It’s not long before we are starting to the ascent up Methow Pass. The Pass climbs something like 2,300 feet in the course of 4 miles. To use a sports analogy, this feels like where today will be either won or lost.
Headphones go in, trekking poles are in hand, and I begin to climb up. It’s not bad at all, just steady and not too many switchbacks. After an hour and a half or so, I’m at the top where the three of us break for lunch. I move over into the shade to grab a quick nap after food consumption.
As the day continues, so does the hiking. At some point in the late afternoon, I confer with Mousetrap and Victor and we agree to camp right before Rainy Pass. This is strategic as we all have resupply boxes waiting for us in the tiny town of Stehekin, 23 miles past Rainy Pass. The drama builds as today is Thursday and the Stehekin post office is closed on Sunday and Monday. And then open Saturday in the morning for two hours. To miss that Saturday window would require a stay in Stehekin all the way until Tuesday to retrieve the resupply box. I think we will make it there by Saturday morning but I’m definitely ramping up the miles fast with potentially two 20+ mile days in the steep state of Washington. Well, good thing I’ve had all this rest over the past two weeks.
2,300 feet in four miles!