PCT Days 140 to 149 - The Trail Takes Its Toll

Day 140

Overnight, the mist rolled in and the temperature plummeted so that I was actually a bit chilly in my 30 degree quilt. The outside of our tent was soaked, and the inside walls had a healthy dose of condensation. Because of the cold and misty drizzle, we slept in a bit and hit the trail around 6:30am. Immediately, we had a 600ft climb that took us to the border of Mt. Rainier National Park, the 6th national park of the trail so far. At the top of the climb, we were above the cold, misty cloud and greeted with sunny views of the nearby stratovolcano. The first few miles were a lot of up and down over loose rock, so we took our time being careful not to slip or roll an ankle. Around 10 miles in, we arrived at Dewey Lake near mile 2324, where Anna and I had camped last fall after a weekend out at Mt. Rainier. Even though it was Saturday morning, the lake was surprisingly crowded with day hikers everywhere. After we climbed up the 700ft climb to the Naches Peak Loop, we ran into hordes of people! Having to navigate past and around them unfortunately killed our pace, and we quickly became annoyed largely due to people not giving right of way to uphill traffic, littering, and bluetooth speakers… Just a bit before noon, we arrived at the Chinook Pass trailhead and took advantage of a shaded curb to have lunch and make tea/coffee. While we were hanging out, a friendly couple came out of their camper truck and chatted with us about trail life and nomadic life in general. While chatting, we traded information on our favorite trail spots for their favorite overlanding spots. Lunch done, we packed up, said goodbye, and headed up the busy trail towards Sourdough Gap, our largest climb of the day, which was about 1000ft.

On the climb up, we stopped to filter water at Sheep Lake, where we were pestered by some adorable Grey Jays that were interested in stealing Anna’s granola bar. From there, we hoofed it up the hill, often having to deal with opposing downhill traffic that wouldn’t yield. At the top, we talked with some nice older women who saw our PCT hang tags and were curious about the trail. After having them take a picture of Anna and me with Mt. Adams and The Goatrocks in the background, we said goodbye and finally started making miles again, now with no other traffic. The next 10 miles flew by quickly as we walked along the sides and tops of ridges overlooking Crystal Mountain ski resort. At one point, we crested a ridge and came upon a massive burn scar that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see. Because we had lost time with our late start, long lunch, and the crowds, we ended up hiking until 6:20pm, much later than our normal 4:30pm stopping time. Still, we were able to knock out nearly 26 miles of hiking, 5000ft up and 4200ft down. Not bad! With the shift in weather, the late afternoons have been perfect hiking weather, so maybe we’ll start to shift towards later hiking as the days grow cooler and shorter.

Day 141

Another cool and misty night, but due to the breeze, our tent stayed nice and dry this time. Since we immediately had another climb, we woke up early to take advantage of the cooler weather. The 600ft climb was nice and easy, and then we had nearly 10 miles of gradual downhill to enjoy. Unfortunately, the majority of this section was a burn scar, but the blowdowns were largely nonexistent. At the bottom, we checked out the Mike Urich Cabin, but we were careful not to touch anything and then to wash our hands after, since it’s apparently a norovirus hotspot (if the FarOut comments can be believed). From there, we had an ORV road crossing where we met some guys in their kitted out classic jeeps. We continued to push on until we reached the spring at mile 2354.9, which was the only water source for miles. As a result, everyone stopped in for lunch, so we hung out with some SOBOs, BedHead, who we had been around since Ashland, and another NOBO. As we were sitting there shooting the breeze, The Jeffer showed up out of nowhere! We hadn’t seen him since just outside of South Lake Tahoe, meaning he had caught up to us! With him there, we took a longer lunch before pushing on.

After lunch, Anna and I road walked on Forest Road 195 for several miles to get around a large burn scar and to stay in the shade. We were rewarded with copious huckleberries and some entertaining locals out for the weekend, including two guys who were concerningly firing rounds off in the opposite direction… Back on trail, we knocked out a 1200ft climb and started the steep downhill towards our water and campsite at mile 2366.7. The water was ice cold, but when we arrived, all of the tent sites were filled up by weekenders. Dang! We were worried that we’d have to hike another 4 miles to the next spot, but when we hit the road at mile 2367.3, we found loads of excellent, secluded spots! We had hiked 4000ft up, 6300ft down, and a little over 27 miles. As we were having dinner, The Jeffers rolled up, followed by a crew of young Europeans he had picked up. What followed was a multi-hour chat about American healthcare, gun culture, lobbying, and voting rights. We went to bed fairly late, but it was nice to have a group of people to chat with!

Day 142

Today was pretty rough. After going to bed quite late, around 9:30pm, I suddenly woke up at 1am with violent nausea. Because the tents were so tightly packed together to fit everyone, I had to carefully but quickly exit the tent, get my shoes on, and then swiftly hoof it down the road and find a secluded spot. I ended up being quite sick for a few hours, which meant digging many, many holes. Nothing is worse than being sick to your stomach while on trail. When the worst of it had finally passed, I sat on the side of the road for another hour, drifting in and out of it. Once I felt good enough to move, I carefully made my way back to our tent, now shivering quite profusely from the cold and illness. I tried to lie down, but the nausea came back immediately, so I stayed sitting up. Around 4am, I finally started to feel better and fell asleep right as I saw The Jeffer waking up. Anna must have guessed that something was up as she let me sleep in until I woke up around 6am. By the time I was up, everyone else had left, so I relayed what had gone on overnight. When I was done rehydrating, we packed up and started a forest road walk that would re-intersect with the trail at Stampede Pass in around 10 miles. Eight or so miles in, I was still feeling terrible, and I could hardly keep any food down, so when a van passed by us, we threw our thumbs out and hitched into town. The driver was an Australian who had previously hiked the PCT, but he was now following and supporting his wife as she hiked the trail SOBO. We had met his wife the previous night when she provided our little gang with trail magic at the road.

Once we arrived at the Summit Inn in Snoqualmie Pass at mile 2396.3, I grabbed a room with early check-in, showered, and then promptly slept for half the day. Anna took care of me and made sure I put down a steady stream of fluids and electrolytes. When I began to feel a bit better, she had the local pizza joint bake me a plain flatbread since none of the businesses nearby sold bread or plain crackers. I finally started to feel more like myself in the evening, so we watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind and then went to bed early. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to hike out tomorrow and at least do a half day, but if I still feel bad, we’ll stay in town and not chance it.

Day 143

Well, I ended up sleeping well for about 10 hours, but woke up still feeling drained. We slept in a bit and packed up, while I tentatively ate a 450 calorie Lenny and Larry cookie to see how it sat. With no ill effects, we checked out around 10am, grabbed a can of fuel, and swung through the bakery. Unfortunately, the bakery was completely sold out of baked goods when we arrived, so we left to start the 2600ft climb up and out of Snoqualmie Pass. Since I had slept the day away yesterday, I called my Mom to catch up while hiking until I lost service. At some point, I had lost Anna, so I pressed on to catch up until I inadvertently became quite nauseous again and had to stop for a bit. I still wasn’t fully recovered, and it was a pretty hot day in the upper 80s. When I felt a bit better, I pressed on more slowly until I made it to Ridge Lake at the top of the climb. Since this was the first water source, I pulled over to look for Anna, but could not find her. After 20 minutes or so, I started asking around if anyone had seen her, and a few people thought they had seen her hike on. Since I was feeling dehydrated, I borrowed a filter from a nice local and chatted with her and her daughter while I waited, since I was sure Anna would not have passed up the only source. Sure enough, a little while later, she rolled in, relieved to see that I was there. We assume that one of us inadvertently took a social trail and either added mileage or cut some, and that in the process, I had gotten ahead of her. By the time she arrived, it was around 2:30pm, and according to FarOut, there was no more reliable camping for the next 7.5 miles, which meant another grueling climb in the sun. I truly wasn’t well, and the lake was gorgeous, so we decided to set up in the shade and take it easy at mile 2403.5. I ended up going for a dip, reading, catching up on journaling, and just relaxing. This section is gorgeous, but I think that the massive climbs combined with the heat are going to make it pretty rough.

Day 144

Despite the copious amount of locals out camping around Ridge Lake, it was nice and quiet last night, so we both slept exceptionally well. We were worried about the heat, sun exposure, and climbs today, so we made sure to hit the trail just before 6am. The first 8 miles were a series of 4 climbs, which had a total of 2500ft of gain and 2400ft of loss. As the sun rose over the mountains, we had incredible sweeping views in the golden light, including our first view of Glacier Peak! We didn’t see another person until we started the long 2200ft downhill from mile 8.5, when Two Socks passed us. At the top of the downhill, we also had an amazing view of Spectacle Lake, which we were sorely tempted to side quest over to and hop in, since it was already quite warm. As we wound our way down the hill, we passed loads of section hikers headed the other way. At mile 2414.3, we stopped off at Delate Waterfall to collect water and have an early lunch in the shade. While stopped, I downed nearly 2 liters, which is wild considering I usually only go through 4-5 a day! Since it was a nice spot, we took a longer lunch, made tea, and I rinsed my head off under the falls. While we were hanging out, The Jeffers caught up and joined us.

Once we were adequately refreshed, we packed up and continued on down the hill. We immediately came into a burn scar and got cooked alive by the blazing sun. In the valley, we somehow managed to lose the PCT and randomly end up on the Lemah Meadow trail, which paralleled the PCT. We didn’t even notice until we hit a river crossing that had no bridge… Since the river was fairly mellow, I took my shoes off and waded across. Anna once again filled up our water, and then we headed up the 2500ft climb. The climb was long and only partially shaded, meaning we were once again blasted by the sun. We were both drenched with sweat by the time we reached the pond at the top, just before 5pm. We ended up taking a little break there to collect more water and to down some snacks before we pushed on another 2.7 miles to a dry campsite off the trail at mile 2425.7. By the end of the day, we hiked around 12 hours and only managed 22.2 miles due to the rough terrain, intense heat, and grueling average grade of 500ft per mile. We’re expecting bad weather on Friday, so we’re hopeful that we can keep pushing through this section to make it into town before it hits.

Day 145

I woke up dead tired this morning because, apparently, my sleeping pad has sprung a leak. Last night I inflated my pad, slid it into the tent, and then sat on a rock for dinner. Once I finished eating, I noticed it looked a bit flat, so I gave it some more air, thinking that it had deflated from the drop in temperature. An hour or so after I went to sleep, I woke up on the ground and realized that it definitely had a leak… For context, this is the new pad I picked up in Redding in Norcal, so it really isn’t old. Regardless, I ended up getting maybe 3 hours of sleep since I kept waking up every hour as my hips would land on the rock beneath us. So when the alarm went off at 5am, I was dead. Once I came to, I was surprised and alarmed to realize that it reeked of smoke outside. After we packed up and started hiking, we were shocked to see how hazy the sky had become. We have no service whatsoever, and we did not see any spotter aircraft, so we weren’t too concerned. We started the day on a 2200ft steep downhill, and I could feel my legs burning from yesterday's rough grade. Unlike yesterday, though, we made fine time getting to the base. As we descended into the valley, the early morning humidity hit us like a wall, and we were instantly drenched in sweat. So much for that cool off in the forecast.

We cruised along the first valley for 3 miles or so and passed loads of section hikers who had camped down at Waptus Lake, making us thankful that we had decided to dry camp on the ridge last night. Along the way, we also encountered an adorable mother deer along with her spotted fawn. They kept leading us down the trail for a bit until the doe dove into the bushes, leaving the fawn on the trail ahead of us. He kept staying a few paces ahead of us and glancing back until, after a mile or so, he took the hint and dashed off into the woods. At that point, I saw the doe fly across the trail behind me to chase after. After that little encounter, we had a monster 2600ft climb up to Cathedral Pass. Halfway up, we passed Deep Lake, which strongly tempted me to go for a swim on this hot, muggy day. We settled for lunch and tea along the lake’s pretty outlet stream instead. At the top of the climb, we had stopped briefly to check for service, but we had no luck. Like the rest of this section, instead of enjoying the ridge we had worked so hard for, we immediately went 1800ft down the other side until we had to rock hop across the thundering glacial stream at the base near mile 2444.3. By this point, we were pretty cooked from the heat, smoke, and days of relentless marathon climbs, so we decided to call it a day at some lovely tent sites near mile 2445.8. We were just sitting down for dinner when Felix appeared out of nowhere! We hadn’t seen him since Paradise Valley Cafe after spending a cold, windy night in Mike B’s trailer together! So we all had dinner together and caught up, but while we were having dinner, a large doe came to check us out. It’s cool that so many people we connected with early in the trail are reappearing now that we are near the end. Likewise, it’s so nice to finally see some more wildlife! I just wish my bed wasn’t busted, as I’m not excited to spend another night sleeping on the ground, nor am I looking forward to now having to hitch way off trail to get a new bed for the remaining 200 miles.

Day 146

Predictably, I hardly slept due to my pad constantly deflating. At some point, I just gave up because I was worried that I was keeping Anna up all night. The deer that was hanging around us during dinner last night ended up coming back in the middle of the night and had to be shooed off when it started investigating Anna’s trekking poles (deer are notorious for chewing off the handles). Needless to say, we were on trail fairly early, but we were both quite groggy. We only followed the PCT for a quarter of a mile before detouring off on the Deception Creek Trail. We were tired of the crowds, and I wasn’t going to enjoy the section sleep-deprived, so we opted to explore this rarely used side trail. Almost immediately, we lost the trail, funny enough, because of how overgrown it was, but with a little patience, we quickly picked it back up. The next few miles were absolutely gorgeous as we descended into a dense jungle of mushrooms, massive trees, river crossings, amphibians, and reptiles. We were comfortably cruising along, about 5 miles in, when the side of the trail collapsed under my foot. I fell awkwardly onto it, heard a loud pop, and went down hard. The pain was excruciating, and at first, I could not bear to put any weight on my ankle whatsoever. Anna sat with me while I clenched my teeth and worked through the initial waves of sharp pain. After some time, it subsided enough that I gently tried to probe and test my ankle. It was already swelling up, my range of motion was severely impacted, and I could not put weight on the outside of my foot or the heel whatsoever. I managed to take some ibuprofen, despite my nausea, and then gently had Anna help me up onto my good foot. I very gingerly tried to put weight on my foot and immediately had a stab of pain. But, using my trekking poles to bear the brunt of my weight, I was able to carefully and slowly walk if I was careful about how I stepped. Agonizingly slow, we made forward progress, but little by little the pain subsided, and we were able to slightly increase our pace. I had to stop to take frequent breaks, but we were gradually whittling down the remaining 6 miles to the road. A few miles in, we came across a tricky stretch of trail where the hill had recently given way, leading to a mass debris field of soft dirt, boulders, and fallen trees. This took some time for Anna and me to traverse, but I was happy to be able to shift some of my weight to my arms and off of my bad ankle. Once we were on the other side, we ran into a trail of gentlemen who stopped to chat with us. They were a volunteer crew from the BCCC heading out the assess the damage of the landslide we had just climbed over, caused by the bomb cyclone last fall. They gave us great info on the status of trail maintenance for the remainder of the trail, and recommended a few side trails to check out. We also got their contact info so that we could volunteer with them in the future!

Not long after we had left them, Felix caught up with us, and the three of us slowly made our way down to Highway 2 (mile 2467.3). There was absolutely no one at the trailhead except for a railroad crew out repairing a bridge. On the highway, we had to spend some time trying to get a hitch, but eventually, we had someone stop. He was a former thru-hiker, and while he wasn’t headed all the way to Leavenworth, he was happy to pop in to Stevens Pass so that we could get our resupply boxes and then drop us off much closer to town. After the first hitch, we stood around at Coles Corner for quite a while, but eventually we got another hitch with a firefighter headed home to Leavenworth! We ended up getting stuck in traffic, so it gave us time to share wild hitchhiking stories and to pick his brain about the town before getting dropped off. Felix and I lay out in the grass lawn in the middle of town to sort out lodging while Anna went to grab us lunch. By this point, my ankle was swollen to the size of a softball and had a dull ache to it. I managed to find us a room at the FairBridge Inn with a PCT hiker special, and we all moved into our room and got cleaned up. It was a challenge finding lodging because Leavenworth was packed to the gills with tourists despite it being the middle of the week. Once we were cleaned up, I started looking into seeing a doctor, and learned that I had been mistakenly dropped from Medicaid because my change of address had been processed as if I had existing Medicare. I’m only 29, so clearly I’m not on Medicare… Still, I was able to get re-enrolled, but I was not able to get any of my insurance information to see a provider. That will be a problem for tomorrow since I’m already burned out trying to figure all of this out. The three of us went out for bratwurst and beers, and then tucked in for the night to ride out tomorrow's weather. Hopefully I can get in to see a doctor as I’m quite worried about my ankle.

Day 147

All three of us slept in pretty late by thru-hiker standards, so when we made it into the breakfast room, it was already packed. This hotel has to have the best breakfast spread I’ve seen in ages. They had an assortment of fruit, real eggs (not the powdered nonsense), kielbasa, the classic Belgian waffle iron, cereal, biscuits & gravy, and much more! We set up shop and gorged ourselves like we were at an all-you-can-eat buffet with the other hikers staying there. As we were wrapping up breakfast, I went down to extend our room and was told that they were booked out. Crap. Since it was already nearing 11am, we hurriedly checked out of our room, said goodbye to Felix, and then headed down the street to the post office to make some calls to find lodging and to mail off some gear we didn’t need. On a whim, I called the FairBridge Inn again, explained who I was, and the manager remembered me. He ended up cutting us a deal on one of their suite rooms, knowing that I was injured! We grabbed a few snacks and then went back to check in early to our new room. It was incredibly cozy, with a fireplace, couch, and everything! I then spent the remainder of the day trying to sort out insurance while another atmospheric river arrived and caused debris flows a little ways south of us. Unfortunately, it was now the weekend, so I could not get a hold of my Medicaid administrator to get my insurance information. I was able to get some info from the state Medicaid office, though, and I made an appointment first thing tomorrow morning. Since the weather sucks outside, Anna and I took the rest of the day really easy. I wrapped my foot in a compression brace and continued to ice it while we kept binging Avatar The Last Airbender. In the evening, we went out for ice cream and sandwiches before retreating into the warm comfort of our room. My foot and ankle are now purple and green with bruising, still heavily swollen, and walking is still a chore. I’m hopeful that there is nothing too serious going on since it seems like the range of motion has improved, but I’m still concerned about it.

Day 148

In our cozy room, Anna and I once again slept in later than usual, and as a result, we had to deal with the hordes of people at breakfast. Once again, though, the breakfast was incredible, and the staff did a wonderful job making sure that nothing ran out. Once breakfast was over, I renewed our room for another night and then headed over to the clinic in town. I had spoken with some of the staff the day before, and they were going to try and help me figure out my insurance conundrum. Once I arrived, they helped me call specific offices and numbers with my provider to try and get my member number and information since I had not been assigned one yet. Unfortunately, this went nowhere. Once that seemed like a dead end, we tried just figuring out if I had been assigned a primary care provider or not. If I had not, then my care would be covered at the clinic, and if so, I would need prior authorization for care or risk a hefty bill. Once again, my provider had no information, but said that I “should already have a PCP assigned.” Since the clinic didn’t want me to chance incurring a hefty bill, they recommended trying to run it through the emergency room as emergency care, since that “should” be unilaterally covered. However, if insurance were to determine it was not a “qualifying emergency,” I could once again end up footing the bill. I asked for itemized billing information if I were to pay out of pocket for both the normal clinic and the ER. After 2 hours of screwing around and a lot of careful consideration, I decided that it wasn’t worth potentially accruing thousands of dollars of debt at this time. Especially since my ankle was now back to being load-bearing, although it still is quite sore and swollen. Dejectedly, I slowly made my way back to our room and shot my PT friends, Slinky and DJ Scratchums (from the AT) a text summarizing my debacle. I also shot a text to another friend who is a PA at a sports med clinic in Texas for advice. Along the way, I picked up some giant dark chocolate peanut butter cups for Anna and myself to try and improve my mood. I absolutely hate the American healthcare system, if you can even call it “healthcare.” Back in the room, Anna and I relaxed the rest of the day, enjoying our favorite treats and our long rest. My friends ended up getting back to me and asked a variety of questions. Essentially, the general advice was that it didn’t seem like there was any major damage, but that I definitely shouldn’t walk on it and that I should get it checked out in person. With this advice, I was a bit anxious for tomorrow, as I do not want to end my hike, nor do I want to sit in Leavenworth forever burning money. In the evening, Anna and I ended up going out to dinner at Ducks and Drakes, a small, basement hole-in-the-wall sort of bar. It was nice to get out of the room, go on a dinner date with Anna, and enjoy the beautiful evening with the mountains surrounding us. I think I’m going to give it a go tomorrow with the brace on, take anti-inflammatories as needed, and if it hurts, I’ll just turn around. I truly hate this feeling, but I’m not sure what else to do.

Day 149

Burnt out and cozy in our suite room, Anna and I again slept in until a bit past 7am. Once we were both up, I turned on the fireplace and headed to the lobby to grab Anna some coffee. When we were fully awake and dressed, we went to the breakfast room, which was once again teeming with people. It really does seem like this place is booked out nightly! Unlike our previous mornings, there didn’t appear to be any other hikers around to sit with, which was a shame. Once we had both stuffed ourselves on the excellent buffet, we headed back to the room to pack up, and I grabbed a last minute shower. We still had a little over an hour before check out, so we watched 2 more episodes of Avatar The Last Airbender before heading out. It was honestly quite hard to leave the room as we were both so happy to just sit and be cozy there. We then headed across the street and stuck out our thumbs. We stood around for a little over an hour, and hundreds of people passed us on their way back to Seattle before Jay, a local who was a former raft guide, told us to hop in. On the ride back up to Stevens Pass, we chatted about how heavily gentrified Leavenworth had become, and Jay lamented about how, as a Washingtonian, he had noticed people become more cliquish and standoffish in Bellingham and Seattle as more and more locals were displaced by wealthy tech workers. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common trend in nearly every cool mountain town we’ve been to. Back at the pass, he dropped us off, and suddenly we were back in the thick of it.

Right off the bat, Anna was really not feeling it, despite the nice weather and trail conditions. We still have like 200 miles to go, which feels both like quite a lot and not much at the same time. Amazingly, we passed loads of day hikers, and the first 3 miles were nice and flat. We then had a cushy 1100ft climb where it seemed like everyone out hiking had a husky! At the top of the climb, we were rewarded with incredible views of Lake Valhalla. As we rounded a bend, we came across someone dropping trou and squatting maybe 5ft off trail… We were both a bit shocked, but I’m honestly more surprised it took this long on the trail before we ran into such behavior. Leave no trace, y’all! We then had a nice little downhill to Lake Janus, where we filled up on water for the night and chatted with Werebear, another nobo whom we had never encountered. He regaled us with tales of how horrible it was to hike through the recent rainstorm, and we were once again thankful that we had popped into town. From there, we climbed another 1000ft uphill and stopped to camp at mile 2478.7. Despite our late departure from town, we had still managed a sweet 12 miles and 3100ft of climbing. I’m hopeful that the longer we’re out here, the easier the hiking will become again. Likewise, I think, for me at least, it will become easier the closer we get to the border.