PCT Washington Day 12: Near Tacoma Pass to Mirror Lake

 I didn't sleep as well as I had been sleeping on the rest of the trip. I had a problem for the first time. My right foot was experiencing some numbness. It was making sleep very difficult. I actually was trying to sleep differently to help it out. It was hard to stay asleep without thinking about my foot. I still got enough sleep, but it wasn't as restful as the rest of the trip had been. The beginning of the hiking today was all downhill. It seemed like a funny concept to have to go downhill to get to a pass, but that was how it often was. I was going downhill to reach Tacoma Pass. When I got near there, there was a creek. Quite a few people were camping around the creek. One of them even told me how to get access to the creek, but since it had not been very warm, I was doing quite okay with water. 

I thanked them, but continued on my way. Once I got to Tacoma Pass, it was mostly uphill. I continued on spending today going back and forth between listening to Audible and listening to some music. It was a lot of forest time and while it was a beautiful day, the forest was my main friend. Sometimes I would pop out and get views of Mt. Rainier or the peaks around Snoqualmie Pass, but for the most part, I was in the forest. Around 10:30, I found a spring to get some water and I filled up. The trail went up and down quite a bit and there were some open sections with lots of sunshine. I continued to practice my strategy of taking the trail one hour at a time and it seemed to help. Luckily there were quite a few berries along the way.

I had to control myself because I would lose all forward momentum if I stopped to eat too often, but I also could not let the big, juicy huckleberries go by just walking past. I made some good progress and soon I was crossing Stampede Pass. I talked to another hiker around here who was sadly disappointed with the scenery as we crossed a large field under some large power lines. It made me hopeful for the way ahead because the scenery here was rather similar to the scenery I had been seeing for quite some time the last couple of days. Today, though, I seemed to have a goal. I was wanting to make it to Mirror Lake. It sounded great to have a bath in the lake and it sounded prettier than what I was currently looking at. So I continued. I had to work hard to get to Mirror Lake. At this point, my foot was not feeling that badly. I figured when I got to camp, though, it would because I am sure another 23 miles on it was going to wear me out a little bit. I kept pushing, though, and even though it was later than I was hoping to get there, I pulled in to Mirror Lake at 6:24 pm. There were a lot of campsites taken and I had to scour around to find a decent one. I was lucky to find one relatively close to another person who I never say emerge from there tent. I made sure to get all set up, but my first order of business was a dip in the lake. 

Even though the sun had passed behind the trees, this was still a worthwhile endeavor. It cooled me off quickly and cleaned me up a bit. I never stayed in long having accomplished my two goals rather quickly. I ate some dinner after that and frankly I was tired. My foot was feeling not so bad and I wondered if I had helped it out by loosening my shoe a little bit. It seemed like it was less sore, but it was still numb. I did my best to give it some rest as I made my best attempt at getting to sleep as soon as possible.

PCT Washington Day 11: Martinson Gap to near Tacoma Pass

It had been a cold night which meant that I slept great. There were times where I was close to being cold, but it was nice in the tent and the warm sleeping bag. Getting up and out of my bag was a little bit harder this morning. Once I made it out of the tent, I realized why it had been so cold. A misty fog had settled on to Martinson Gap and everything was shrouded in clouds. The people around me were very noisy and were talking loudly before I even got out of my tent. There were definitely more social people than me out there on the trail. I was content to pack up my stuff and head out though. It would be foggy and cold today. The forest was less than exciting because many sections of it were burned over. Still, the terrain would be rather easy and I knew I could make a lot of miles.

I actually still had quite a bit of water, too, so I was doing just fine. With the cool misty air, I was not losing much to sweat, so that made the hiking much easier. I ran into the same guy I seemed to run into often. This was the last time that I saw him. He had a crazy story about wandering around until 2 AM after he got lost looking for water. I talked to him for a little bit and said I was sure I would see him again, but I never did. Hopefully he made it because he was sure putting forth a lot of energy toward this trail. I went past Louisiana Saddle and Rod's Gap. I was listening to Silent Spring by Rachel Carson on Audible and I will have to say, that book was pretty depressing. There were also some moments when the clouds would pull away or the burnt forest would become more tree cover that made this day better, but for the most part I was just packing in the miles.

It was around 11 AM when I made it to Camp Mike Urich. This was an odd place along the PCT. It was a cabin in the woods that opened up to a large meadow. There was a creek running through with a bathroom that smelled strongly of the odor of needing a thorough cleaning. The bathroom reminded me that I was not supposed to drink the water here, so I was going to have to find the spring that would be the last reliable water source for quite some time. As I was leaving Camp Mike Urich, there were a group of people that came upon the cabin. They looked as if they had not hiked more than a mile in many years. Sure enough, when I came around the corner, there were a whole slew of jeeps parked there. 

It was a little bit of a culture shock and I thought of the masses going about their Sundays and enjoying the day to go home and sleep in their warm beds. Meanwhile, I was here putting in the miles hoping that I would get a good 25 miles further up the trail so that I could do the same thing again the next day. Leaving Camp Mike Urich, I ran into some south bound PCT hikers who were very friendly. That put me right back in the mood to be on the trail again. I was excited because it was Sunday and I was near enough to Seattle to hopefully pick up an FM radio station with the Mariners game on it. I listened to 97.3 which gave me a little news before finally giving me the Mariners game. Unfortunately, they were to lose the game, but it still provided a few hours of entertainment for me. 

The scenery today was a lot of going in and out of new growth forests, crossing logging roads, and a little bit of distant views to get me excited for the future. There was a spring I could not miss, though, and I asked some people if it was easy to find. Sure enough, when I came upon it, there were many thirsty people gathered around the watering hole. I spoke very little because there was a guy there trying very hard to impress the girls that were there. I also realized just how smelly I was when I was around some others. I filled my water and I was off upon my way. I was starting to have some trouble with my foot. I changed my inserts in my shoes before I left for the PCT and finally on Day 11 it was starting to catch up with me. 

It was really just my right foot. Until now, it had been a little bit of numbness. Now, though, it was starting to feel swollen. It felt like there was a big lump in my foot that I had to walk over. It made walking uncomfortable. I tried to ease the stress on the foot by taking off my shoes during my hourly breaks and massaging it. I think it helped because I would feel better for a bit. The truth was that I needed to stop walking, but that was not going to happen. I continued through the forest and passed the many roads. At times, there were exciting views that gave me a preview of things to come. Most of the time, though it was me in the trees. I had my only significant uphill of the day after Green Pass and then I would look for a place to camp. 

As I got to the Saddle north of Blowout Mountain, I knew there was a campsite soon. When I got there, though, it seemed taken. I did not always feel comfortable about invading another person's camp spot, but I would if I had to. I did not have to, so I continued. It took me another couple of miles to finally find a camp site. It was at the end of a dirt road. It felt a little bit ominous there, but I was just happy to get the pack off. I got some dinner and was still able to get to bed early. The foot pain was an issue and it was going to affect my sleep. I tried sleeping differently to make it better on my foot. Either way, it was nice to not be walking for a while. 

PCT Washington Day 10: Two Lakes to Martinson Gap

Slept really well again. Really enjoying these many hours of sleep. If there is one thing that hiking all day does for your body, it makes you tired enough to get a lot of rest. I got up at 6 AM like usual and the other campers were already gone. The PCT takes quite a bit of dedication to get up that early and be moving before 6 AM. They were doing the whole thing, though, so those extra hours can add up. I got to push it up the hill to start the morning. So far my achilles tendon was doing well, but my right foot was starting to ache and experiencing some numbness. The hill was not easy, but then after that it was really fairly flat. There were some rolling hills and definitely some big views around corners, though. I enjoyed getting to see Mt. Rainier. 

It was shrouded in clouds most of the time, but there were some instances when it would peak its way out. Though less snow on the mountain then when I was a kid, it was still rather majestic and deserved respect. I would be on the border of being in and being out of Mt. Rainier National Park. It was like the Park Service could not decide if they wanted the PCT in the National Park, so they gave it the border. You can feel like you are in Mt. Rainier National Park, but you are not really sure whether you really are. I also got to see the largest animal on the PCT so far when I viewed a couple of elk in the morning. We had elk at our house often growing up, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but it is nice to know they are still out there. 

The trail was fairly quiet at first. I saw one backpacker before the American Ridge trail junction. He was in a great mood. Then before Anderson Lake, I saw a family that was out backpacking. After Anderson Lake, though, the multitudes started to appear. I remembered that it was a Saturday, so I would probably see a few more people out and about today. Once I got to Dewey Lake, a few was a complete understatement. Dewey Lake was packed with tents. It seemed like almost all available spots were taken up. While it was a very beautiful lake with blue water and big views to the surrounding peaks, it wasn't that remarkably different than other lakes I had seen. 

It was just close to Chinook Pass, so I prepared myself for the onslaught of people. Any preparation that I had was blown out of the water. As I approached Chinook Pass, it seemed like there was a group of people every 30 seconds. Me in my disheveled condition was not in the mood to see so many hikers. I knew I didn't smell that great which was confirmed when I heard another hiker say something about me being spicy to someone else. The funny thing to me is how different they smelled. With the freshly laundered clothes and their once in a blue moon hiking outfits, I could definitely tell the difference between the PCT hikers and the weekend warriors.

It really became slightly absurd how many people there were as I approached Chinook Pass. It was a bit overwhelming to me to be so many days into this thing and then have this flood of humanity. As I got closer to Chinook Pass, I could see why. There were cars parked everywhere along the road for what seemed to be miles. There were so many different places to hike. This trail being close to major population centers on both sides of the Cascades led to this flood of humanity. I kind of had the blinders on as I walked on down the line when I saw a van with a table set up. There was fruit, cookies, a charging station, some chairs. That is when I realized that this was trail magic! I asked and they said yes, but I felt sort of like an outsider because I was not doing the full trail. I definitely took advantage of it but I was not into trail culture. Most of what the conversation was about was all the long distance trails they had hiked, so on and so forth. I don't know if I can get into the whole I am better PCT hiker than you competition. For me, I just want to do it for myself and I could care less if I impress anyone. I stayed for as long as I could handle the scene and then I went on my way a little fuller in the belly with my electronics a little bit more juiced.

The trail sort of hugged the road for a while and there were still a lot of people. When I go running in a busy place, often the runners acknowledge other runners and not the walkers and the bikers. It is sort of like that with PCT hikers. I still greeted the other hikers, but in this section I only had conversations with other PCT hikers. The topic would definitely be the trail magic as it was nice to give some other hikers something to look forward to. The trail turned toward Sheep Lake. This was probably my fourth Sheep Lake so far, but it was by far the busiest. There were people all around. I was glad I did not need water, because I am sure there was a bit of bacteria in that water. 

After Sheep Lake, the trail climbed quite steeply and it was becoming a rather warm afternoon. It was a little bit disconcerting to have other hikers passing me by while I took a break to fuel up in the shade. I felt a bit like an outsider here with all of the day hikers. Still, people were friendly and I talked to quite a few people. As I approached Sourdough Gap, I was happy to see the trails diverting. The way that everyone was going was more uphill and my way went downhill to a more open section. After this junction, the trail became much more quiet. There were still PCT hikers, but the day hikers were all heading over Sourdough Gap to Crystal Lake. 

The trail eventually became a little bit more exposed. It was a narrow trail, very exposed both to the heat of the day and to the potential for long uncomfortable falls for missteps. Most of the time the PCT was smooth sailing, but this was definitely a section that I needed to watch my step. What was nice is that during this section, I actually had some phone service, so when I took a break under a shady tree, I gave my wife a call. She was just getting out of the shower, so really just starting her day when I was getting near the finish of mine. The trail continued its hot, exposed course as views down into the Crystal Mountain Ski Resort entered my view. 

Personally, I had never been skiing there, but plenty of people did. Judging by the parking lot that I saw below, there were plenty of people there today for whatever summer activities were offered. It was about this time that I ran into the same guy that had camped near me by White Pass. He was asking another group for water. They were so kind to him and were offering him even more than he was taking. I try hard to not be judgmental, but I was really afraid this guy was not going to make it. Asking for water is a red flag because it means that you are not prepared. I think rule one of backpacking is to take care of yourself. I still chatted with him, but luckily I was not asked to give up any of my water. 

It was a bit of a walk before the next water was on the map. It was also very exposed and somewhat warm. I was in pretty good shape, though. About this time, though, the topography changed just a little bit and the trail seemed to go in and out of a burned zone. This added to the difficulty and decreased from the scenic beauty. Still, it did not last the whole time and there were definitely plenty of wildflowers. I made it to the water spot and this one was really nice because it was coming right out of the side of the mountain. I was able to pull it right out of there without treating. That meant I saved 5 minutes and was able to keep moving. I was heading toward Martinson Gap. This was going to be about 22.5 miles on the day.

Not sure there was anything special about Martinson Gap. There was no water there and there was just camping on the map. I was ready to camp on this night and I put the spot into my GPS. I used my watch a little more than normal and soon I could see the area full of unburned trees ahead was my spot to camp. I had a small uphill to get there. When I arrived, some of the choicest campsites were taken. I am a strange one on the PCT, because I would rather camp near people, but not in there business. So I found a nice site about 100 feet away from the main area. It was right under some trees and was just flat enough for my small tent. I went through the typical motions of the nightly camp. This night there was no refilling the water bottles, so I made dinner, ate it, brushed my teeth, got in the tent, read for a little bit, and take some notes on the day. I was able to get to bed early which is just so important. There was another day tomorrow where I had to do it all again. 

PCT Washington Day 9: White Pass to Two Lakes

 I woke up at 6 AM like usual in a nice warm cozy bed. I was all packed up, so after breakfast, we were in the car. Mom and Carl drove me back to the White Pass trailhead. They dropped me off across the street at the trailhead and soon I was back on the trail. It was a late start of 9:15 AM, but I was not too concerned. I had a full pack and the trail was not going to be too difficult today. It was uphill through the forest at first, but there was only about 1000 feet to climb. There were many lakes around also which meant that there were also a lot of mosquitoes. I stopped at one to put on some bug spray and talked to a northbound hiker passing me by. When a northbound hiker passed me, I knew I would never see them again because they were probably moving too quickly. 

For the most part, though, the trail was fairly quiet. There were many times that I had to turn on the GPS on my watch because there were very few PCT signs and the trail just seemed extraordinarily quiet. I was moving pretty well despite the 7 days of food in the pack as the trail was fairly easy to follow. I knew I had a ford to cross on the Bumping River. I was sort of excited to cross it because as kids we went to Bumping Lake so often. I also think that I crossed the Bumping River on a previous backpack and I was imagining this extensively large, deep river. Instead, it was pretty mild and there was even an easy log crossing right near the trail. After the ford, the trail began to climb again. 

Here I would have to climb almost 2000 feet in elevation over a little more than 4 miles. This still was not too bad and there were some beautiful lakes and meadows. I had intended to stay at Crag Lake, but when I was near there, I still felt pretty strong. I got water at the Crag Lake outlet and ran into some more PCT hikers there. It always seemed like the water sources were the place where the masses congregated. I  talked with them for a little bit and then I was on my way still climbing. The water source hikers passed me by easily as I was slowly plodding along getting my 2-2.5 miles per hour. It was getting late, though, and I was thinking that sleep might be the right thing to do soon. 

Once it was after 5 pm, I started to look for the right place to camp. The views, though, were just starting as I entered the very eastern corner of Mt. Rainier National Park. There were big views of meadows and mountains all around. There were not many views of Mt. Rainier, but when I got one, it was mostly covered in clouds anyway. Eventually after climbing for some time, the trail leveled out. My goal was to find the Two Lakes trail and go downhill to the lakes to camp there. When I found it, I was surprised to see someone was camped right at the junction. I took my stuff and went down to the actual lake. When I got there, another tent was already there. I didn't see anybody home, so I set up a little bit away from the tent. 

It was a nice quiet spot that really let me spread out a little bit. There was a stream running behind the campsite and the lake beckoned. Given that it was now approaching 7 pm, the lake was now in the shadows. I still managed to muster the strength to take a dip, though it was a very cold lake. I got myself all changed and ate some dinner. After dinner, I went to get water and the other campers were back. They were southbounders from New Jersey and Idaho. They were really friendly and we talked for a while during our water fill up. Afterwards, though, I did not see them anymore as it was time to get some rest. It was a nice quiet comfortable spot and I was happy to be back on the trail enjoying the cool evening. 

PCT Washington Day 8: Hogback Mt. to White Pass

 I awoke at 6:00 AM like normal. I had heard another hiker camp next to me after I was in bed and he was already up before me. When I finally got myself together and emerged from my tent, it was a guy from Oregon I talked to the previous day. He seemed like he was a bit of a mess with a bulky camera and some large hiking boots. When I talked to him yesterday, he said he was doing 30 miles a day. I didn't think he would be able to keep up that pace given the amount of gear that he was carrying. It took me a while to get out of the tent, so he and I were both nearly packed up. I got most things packed early because the mosquitoes were so bad. The trail today was not going to be very tough. It was nearly all downhill and it was only about 5 miles to White Pass. The terrain was rather easy and my pack was the lightest that it had been. Still I took my time because I had a ride arranged. My mom and her husband were going to pick me up and drive me 2.5 hours to Lacey where they lived. I was looking forward to a home cooked meal and a chance to repack some gear. Even taking my time, I got to the trailhead at 8:45. I used the last of my cell phone battery and I was picked up at 9:22 AM. I got my clothes washed and was able to repack all my gear. I made a few changes. I changed out shoes, but kept my same insoles. I noticed that my right foot was experiencing some numbness, now that I had my shoes off, but I was not worrying about it too much. I had some issues with my chargers as it took for ever for my power bank to recharge. I had pizza for lunch, chicken for dinner, and stayed up just late enough to watch the Mariners defeat the Angels. The next day I would be on the trail again, but for the night I could stretch out and sleep in a nice warm bed after a much needed shower. 

PCT Washington Day 7: Sheep Lake to Hogback Mountain (via Goat Rocks)

The morning started with the disappointment that the clothes that I washed the night before were not going to be dry. That was okay because tonight would be my last night on the trail before having a break. This was a big day because I was going to get to go through Goat Rocks. I got up at the usual time of 6 AM. I started moving by 6:45 AM and almost immediately I got big views in all directions. With only 2.4 miles to Cispus Pass from Sheep Lake, I knew that I was in for a show. I hiked around the lake and there were many people camped there. Then I hit the meadows. I had views south to Mt. Adams and to the north there were many small peaks. As I came around a corner, I saw a big drainage from the Klickitat River on the Yakima Indian Reservation. 

Here many peaks rose up in front of me and the marmots came out on the rocks to greet me. I moved slowly as usual, but steadily and soon I was at Cispus Pass. I took a break here because this was one place I was getting service. I checked my phone and found out how the Mariners were doing. I refueled and before I was gone from the pass, I spoke to quite a few people including Sam and Patrick from the first night on the trail. They seemed to be the only people that I saw more than once. I asked about Cispus Camp since I knew Sam grew up in Washington. She said that she had actually been a counselor there. I left them and dropping down from Cispus Pass is where the big views really started.

There were big snowy mountain peaks with their snowfields and glaciers melting down to create streams and waterfalls through lovely green flowery meadows. Coming around the corner on the pass, you could see the whole route curving around the valley crossing streams and meadows. I hiked around really soaking it all in because this place really was quite amazing. I came around the corner, crossing the Cispus River, before I ended up at Snowgrass Flat. Here the terrain became slightly different. It was rockier with more fragile alpine plants. There were snowfields in some places and smaller streams. Here the trail climbed to over 7000'. There seemed to be more people around on the trail then had been there so far.

They also seemed to be moving much slower than me as I was passing people all over the place. I was good with that, though, as each corner and curve produced a new view of a hanging valley, a snowfield, a distant mountain. I started to get my first views of Mt. Rainier in this section which was sort of like coming home having grown up near there. Goat Rocks was truly spectacular, but by 10:30, I was now approaching what a lot of people were talking about, having to cross the snow. Luckily, I was wise enough to bring yaktrax with me, so I had a traction device. I wondered if I should wear them. There was a small snowfield before the big snowfield, so I tried crossing it without the yaktrax. It was difficult, so I thought when I got to the big snowfield, I would wear them.

I could see the first of the big snowfields in front of me and there were definitely some people taking their time crossing it. You could see that each step was deliberate. You could also tell that a fall, while not life threatening, would be embarrassing and a little bit scary. So the goal was to cross the snowfield without falling. I got to the edge and quickly put my yaktrax on. They were very helpful and even though they were not as nice as crampons, they did provide additional traction. I still spent some time on the crossing kicking steps for my feet to have more purchase. This seemed to help quite a bit. The interesting thing was that going up was the easiest, but going down was challenging. 

This was because gravity was pulling down on my heavy pack and trying to make me go the easiest way. Well, I took my time and I crossed the multiple snowfields until I was safely on solid ground happy that I had carried the yaktrax for the last week just for the 10 minutes that they were a necessary item in my backpack. The big day was not done at this point and for the next mile or so, I got to be on what was called the Knife's Edge. Having hiked in many places all around the U.S. and the the world, this knife's edge was not so bad compared to hikes I had done in Zion or Grand Canyon. Still, the feats of engineering to build this section of trail were impressive and I was really enjoying being here. 

It is kind of funny how your anticipation of a section of trail is often way different than the reality. Having treacherous snowfields and an area known as the Knife's Edge sounds like a potential trip ruiner. When you are there, though, it is not much different than the usual of putting in the miles and soaking in the views. As I picked my way through the Knife's Edge, the number of hikers began to dwindle away. By the time I made it to Elk Pass, I actually felt quite alone out there. I think people were really taking their time through the big views. I was more interested at this point in trying to pick up the Mariners game, which I succeeded in doing first on my mp3 player that had a FM radio on it. 

It would cut in and out with a radio station playing music in Spanish. After a while, I gave up and tried my cell phone which actually had some service. It had been spotty at best so far, but today I was getting good service. I listened to the game, but the Mariners disappointed me with a loss. From here the big mountains and large snowfields disappeared and it was more large meadows with bubbling brooks running through them. I stopped for a while to fill up some water at one of these and then the trail continued going downhill into the forest. Here I was surprised to see just how quiet the trail could be with barely a soul to keep me company. It was such a different than up in the peaks of Goat Rocks that I often checked to make sure I was still on the PCT.

The views were unspectacular for a while as I went downhill into the forest. At Tieton Pass, it switched over and soon I was going uphill through the forest again. There were a few more PCTers here and one warned me that there was no water up ahead. So I decided I would leave the trail and go to Shoe Lake to get water. When I did Oregon, there were a lot of talk about blue liners and red liners. Red liners stayed on the official trail and blue liners picked their own path. I was somewhere in the middle preferring to stay on the red line unless the blue line turned out to be a preferred alternative. In this case, there was access to water and a lake to swim in to cool down and get clean for the evening, so I chose to take the slightly longer route to Sheep Lake. 

I got my water and took a dip in the nice cool lake. I would have probably chosen to stay at Sheep Lake, but there were signs all around that said it was day use only. It looked like an ideal place to camp, so I could see that it probably had a bunch of impact at some point. I enjoyed the cool lake, but it was already getting late. I packed up and headed back up the trail to reconvene with the PCT. I found a campsite not too far from the junction. There were the usual mosquitoes there, which had been absent for most of the day, but no water. I made a quick dinner and still got to bed by 8. When I was drifting off, I heard another camper make camp. I decided I would visit with them in the morning and enjoyed the blissful sleep after a very full day.

PCT Washington Day 6: Lava Spring to Sheep Lake

I could hear it raining during the night off and on, so I procrastinated getting up. There were plenty of people camped around me that got an earlier start, so I let them clear off all the bushes of their accumulated precipitation from the night before. The trail was mostly flat in this section with lots of forest. The weather was damp, but not wet. The clouds were low and the fog made for an eerie feeling even in the middle of summer. I felt pretty strong when I woke up and it seemed like each day it was getting easier to move. This day, though, I had to deal with the uncomfortable feeling of having wet feet. Even though the branches were fairly dry, my feet were still in recovery mode from the day before. 

I spent a little time on the trail talking to people. Richard, who was a former heart surgeon from Seattle, and I talked for quite a while. Then at a junction I talked to a young German woman who was hiking with her mother. There were also many people going by who were heading south and I was even able to see a woman whose blog Jacqueline and I had been following before we left. The flatness of the forest did not help the bugs for sure and soon there were a lot of small ponds showing up. This was a sure sign of mosquitoes, but we got the bonus today because not only were there mosquitoes, but biting flies also. I put on bug spray, but after a while, it did not seem to help as much as it should. 

So, needless to say, I took short breaks because every time I stopped it gave the mosquitoes a chance to feast. I also spent a lot more time listening to music or books while hiking because the buzzing of the mosquitoes often bothered me more than the biting and blood sucking. I think this was the worst section of trail I had the whole trip for bugs and it was confirmed with the conversations I had with other hikers on the trail. I seemed to fly to the Walupt Lake trail junction. I am sure this was a wonderful place to spend some time once the mosquitoes left the area, but I could not imagine how miserable it would be to camp here. I hoped it would get better and that all of Goat Rocks would not be spoiled with mosquitoes. After the junction for Walupt Lake, it did better. The trail started to gain elevation. Here I was on an open exposed slope and it seemed like with every hundred feet of elevation gained, the mosquitoes began dropping like flies. I was getting excited because the terrain was getting so much more interesting as I climbed also. The views were bigger and the trail was becoming more like the visions that one has of the Pacific Crest Trail. There were mountains in the distance, lakes below me, and a precipitous drop off falling off to my left.

Soon I was approaching Sheep Lake and even though it was only 4 pm, I was thinking this was my stopping point for the night. Given that I had put in 20 miles to get here, I felt like that was okay to stop. I quickly perused the available campsites and took the one on the highest hill. When Richard came through later, he called it the penthouse. It was an awesome sight out in the warm sun overlooking the lake. I got my tent up and decided to give washing clothes a try. I had made one major mistake so far and that was in only bringing 3 pairs of socks. I thought that a good washing would do me well. I put my dirty clothes in a dry bag with a little soap, shook it up pretty good, and then hung them on a line. 

The problem with that is that it never ended up being warm enough to dry the clothing. So it hung on the line, often in the sun, but never actually got dry. Oh well, I still had one more dry clean pair of socks left that would have to last me for the last couple of days before I got to White Pass. I think that Sheep Lake was my favorite campsite on the whole trail. I took a short dip in the lake and really just had a very relaxing evening. A guy named Lou came over and chatted for 15 minutes. He was hiking the PCT by car. He would drive to the more exciting places on the trail and hike around those areas rather than doing the whole thing. I thought that was pretty creative. I enjoyed a good night of sleep and prepared for tomorrow. Many people I talked to going south had said that Goat Rocks was the best area that they had hiked in thus far.  

PCT Washington Day 5: Highway 23 to Lava Spring

 Sleeping peacefully, I felt a disturbance on my sleeping bag. I had to feel it a couple of times before I realized something was amiss. I pulled myself out of my slumber, put on my headlamp, and looked into the eyes of a little mouse that was currently inside my tent. My first thought was that he should not be here. My second thought was, how did he get here? My third thought was, how do I get him out of here? He seemed to have the same thought, because he started chewing at the walls of my tent. That is not good. So I opened the big flap to my tent unconcerned currently if any mosquitoes would get in. He scurried all over my tent using the mesh on the sides to be able to travel on all surfaces of the tent. He finally ended up on the side, found the hole, and ran out into the night. Now to assess the damage. First thing I did was to grab the hand sanitizer wipes that were probably the reason he made his way into the tent in the first place. All of my food was safely stored away in the bear canister, but these hand sanitizer wipes had a strong scent of grapefruit. I was now using these to clean up the mouse poop that was in several places in the tent. That I took a look at where he was chewing. There were five small holes, one of them plenty large enough for a mouse to travel through. I was wise enough before I went to wrap my water bottle in duct tape. 

So I took off little pieces of of tape and put them on each side of the tent wall. They seemed to block out the ability for any more creatures to easily access the tent. In fact, they made it the rest of the trip and duct tape proved to be the right solution to the problem. I looked at my watch and it was 2:45 AM. Needless to say, I was rather restless the rest of the night. Just the sight of the mouse and I staring each other in the eyes when I turned on my headlamp was enough to have my guard up for any other critters that wanted to access my personal space. I was happy to get the day started when 6 AM finally came around. I was packed up and on the trail by 6:38 AM. Today was overcast and cool. I hiked with my poofy on for quite some time and even had the thought of putting on the rain jacket. 

Along with the weather and the mouse, the terrain was a little more challenging today. It was uphill to start and then I got right into a burned area. Multiple times this area had burned given its proximity to Mt. Adams, I am sure it received its fair share of lightning. Any burned over area was challenging. Today, the sun at least was not beaming down upon me, but there were many blowdowns. I even took a fall when a branch caught me right inside my sock and took me down hard upon my right side leaving me with a large bruise and a bloody cut. I pushed through it though, no worse for the wear, but a little more cautious as I went around the blowdowns. It was kind of a polar opposite to yesterday when I was feeling so refreshed and excited as today I was sluggish and less motivated. 

I even got to pull out my rain gear for a little bit, though the rain pants stayed in my pack. I was nervous that I was not going to get those big views of Mt. Adams because this was going to be the big day that I would spend circumventing the mountain. I would still get those big views just with some of the mountain hidden. I was okay with that because I had climbed the mountain a few times anyway. It was one of my favorites, though, so I had been looking forward to this day. Eventually, I got out of the burned forest and the whole way became meadows with wildflowers. The terrain was a little up and down, but not nearly as bad as it could be next to a volcanic peak. 

There also seemed to be a significant rise in the number of human beings. There were day hikers around and overnighters. I also saw for the first time a northbound thru hiker pass me. He smelled pretty ripe and I wondered if I also smelled that way to others. I hit Sheep Lake about lunch time and after talking to many day hikers, this seemed to be their destination for the day. This was about the only place where the mosquitoes were bad. After Sheep Lake, the terrain seemed to change a little bit and it was a little less meadowy and a little more volcanic rock with glacial streams. 

This included one ford of Adams Creek, which actually turned out to be fairly easy. There were some logs across it, so I did not even have to get my feet wet. I did not get any unobstructed views of Mt. Adams, but that did not mean that I did not get lots of great views. With the overcast weather, it actually turned out to be rather an enjoyable day. I did not have to fight the heat and the sun came out enough on the day to make it enjoyable. Still, I was tired from the mouse visitor the night before. I looked on the map and it seemed Lava Spring would be a good place to camp. It was given approval by many southbound thru hikers who praised the water. I looked forward to it, but before I could get there, I got more rain. 

This time, since I was leaving the slopes of Mount Adams and returning to the forest, I got to experience the rain on the huckleberries. The rain was truly nothing significant, but it was enough to get all the plants wet. Those huckleberries hold on to the moisture until your leg brushes against it. Soon it is all down your legs and it was not long before I was soaking wet, especially in the feet. I was very happy to see Lava Spring and its cool water coming right out of a lava flow. I found a flat place in the woods to set up my tent. I tried to hang my clothes to dry, but the moist air and damp conditions would give me no relief. Still, I was able to get to bed early and glad to get some much needed rest.