PCT Washington Day 14: Ridge Lake to Escondido Ridge

 I promised my wife that I was going to get an early start so that I had the option to quit early. So I was up at 4:30 AM. It was barely light at this time and I was barely awake. It was kind of nice to get going this early. The world looked different with different light. I was up on the ridge and I would stay there for most of this morning. The views were absolutely amazing. I knew that I was up early because for the first time, I was fighting the spiderwebs. The trail was pretty rough in this section with lots of loose rock and big dropoffs. My foot was feeling better than the previous day with the rest of three hours in the middle of the day yesterday giving me a bit of a reprieve. This felt like wild country. Here I was on this amazing trail with big beautiful lakes below me. 

I took a lot of pictures because the scenery was very photogenic. It felt quiet out. In fact, I seemed to be seeing more marmots than people. I was excited to see the marmots and they were good company out here. The few people that I saw seemed to be just as happy as me to be out there. I found out later that the people who had built this trail were used to building railroads. It seemed like they just carved this right out of the rock. The other huge benefit to this morning was that I was in the shade for a long period of time. I could see the sun in the distance, but I did not have to deal with it beaming down on me. The trail itself was not too difficult. It seemed to go uphill to get over a ridge and then downhill to get down the other side.

All the while with these spectacular vistas with these pristine mountain lakes below me. This was an amazing day and my favorite day so far. I chatted with the few people that I saw. It seemed so much easier to have conversation in such a great spot. Most people were not PCTers, but were just out for multiple days. One group of older guys had just made it up a very steep hill and were in a pretty good mood that they had made the climb up from Spectacle Lake. I was taking a break under a tree. They chatted for a while. I then proceeded down this steep hill. I had heard that Washington was so much more difficult than Oregon because of all of the ups and downs. So far it had not seemed that way. 

Now, though, I was starting to see those big elevation changes. Yesterday, I had to earn it up the hill in the afternoon. Today, I would be descending quite rapidly toward Spectacle Lakes. Looking at it from above, I could see why so many backpackers were spending a few days exploring this area. The lakes looked very inviting and the craggy peaks looked fun to scramble. I wouldn't mind spending another couple days out here on another trip. On this trip, though, I would have to continue moving forward. Today was marking two weeks of hiking and I was doing alright. It was also the halfway point of the whole trip as Spectacle Lake was the last big section on my map. I would move on to the second map after passing this area. 

It was downhill for a long time. I saw some kids about boy scout age and their out of shape leaders heading up the trail to Spectacle Lake. They seemed overladen with gear and struggling to deal with the steep hill. I was feeling pretty good just coasting downhill. I went past a waterfall and struggled to find a place where I would have a shady spot to rest. This area was burned over and the sun was becoming hot. It still did not seem to be threatening thunderstorms, but the heat was definitely warming up the air. As I was dropping elevation, it just kept getting hotter. It was about this time that I missed the trail. The PCT was really easy to find most of the time, because I would just follow the most impacted part of the trail. When I did this in this area, though, I realized that I went the wrong way. For some reason the trail out to Pete's Lake was very obvious, but I missed the PCT. Looking at my map, though, it was about the same distance to keep going the same way I currently was going. So I just kept going. There was a stream to cross without a bridge, so I put on my camp shoes for this section. I made the crossing and then continued on the trail until I ran back into the PCT. Being nearly out of water, I backtracked to the bridge. The trail seemed to be in great shape, so I was not sure how I missed it. 

I got below the bridge and filled some water. This is where the weather seemed to change pretty quickly. Up until this time, I was enjoying the nice sunny day. As I started up what I thought was going to be a pretty challenging hill, I could see the dark clouds start to build. There was absolutely no place to camp right now, though and given that it was still mid afternoon, I did not feel like camping anyway. Actually, I was feeling pretty good and the looming thunderstorms only seemed to motivate me more. I was actually getting in a pretty good groove charging up the hill. My pack was not incredibly heavy at this point and the switchbacks seemed to not be too bad. That is when the thunder started. I looked for lightning, but was not seeing any cloud to ground stuff. It was actually kind of funny because in one direction I was heading toward blue sky. As I turned the other direction, I was heading right toward thunderstorms. I hoped that the trail would go toward the blue sky instead. My wife was very paranoid of thunderstorms and lightning. Even though she was not here, her presence was felt and I moved forward with the thought of finding a place to camp as soon as I could. The ridge really didn't seem like the best place to be in a lightning storm, but so far I was still below the ridge. 

This is when I saw a group of tents. Right near them, were a couple of older guys coming back with some wet swim trunks. They said something about going for a dip and I asked casually if there was a lake right there. They sort of gave me some attitude which was rare out there on the trail. It was funny how kind almost everyone is out there. You really get to be away from judgment and unhappiness out on the trail. Almost everyone is pleasant and in a good mood. It was surprising to see these guys grouchy. Still, I did not let it deter me and I still found a place to stay and a nice tent site right next to the trail. All the while, there was thunder of in the distance and a little bit of moisture from the sky. It was only 4:30, but camping seemed the right choice at this point. Once again, it turned out to be a little under 20 miles, but I was holding my end in the agreement. Once the tent was set up, I set out for a dip in the lake. It was kind of funny jumping in a lake while it was actually raining, but the water turned out to be the most comfortable on the entire trip. I enjoyed the dip and then went through the typical motions of my nightly routine. A freeze dried dinner, pumped some water, had some small chat with my neighbors, and after brushing the teeth, settling in for the evening. I hoped there were no fires above me and I awoke about 10 pm to the sound of helicopters over me. That was not a good sign, but given the amount of tents in this spot, I figured one of my neighbors would let me know if flames came down the ridge and I let myself get back to sleep. 

PCT Washington Day 13: Mirror Lake to Ridge Lake

 Although I made it to sleep at a reasonable hour, I had a rough night. My foot pain came back during the night and made my sleep uncomfortable. It was always looming over me and my mind could not escape the fact that this may impact my whole trip. I thought that loosening my shoe would help, but the main thing that it did was cause me to roll my ankle more frequently. I knew there were going to be some residual effects of this after the trip was over, but I tried to ignore it. I knew the problem was being created by the new inserts that I put in my shoe. I was just going to have to decide if it was worth it to keep going. I thought about taking a break at Snoqualmie Pass, but once I got moving again, I felt like it was not going to impact my trip too much. 

I only got moving at 7:15 AM. This was a late start for me as I seemed to have trouble moving very quickly on this morning. I was hiking just fine, though, as I had a little bit of uphill in the morning and then it was all downhill after that. I knew I only had about 9 miles to go to get to Snoqualmie Pass. From there, I could make different decisions on what to do about my foot. The walk there would really tell me. I moved along just fine with a couple of through hikers passing me in the morning. There were a lot of huckleberries around on the open slopes, so that gave me a little bit of fresh fruit. As I got closer to Snoqualmie Pass, the day hikers started to come out. There were not nearly as many as I expected, though. 

Given the trail's proximity to a large metropolitan area, I was surprised. Maybe this area was just viewed as less scenic than the north side of the trail. It gave me something to look forward to. The trail wound through open slopes and forest when soon I was on a ski hill heading downhill into the town that housed the ski area. I asked some people if they knew the town well. They said they did and recommended the grocery store to the left for fancier food and the gas station for packaged food. So I walked over to the fancy grocery store. There I took a break to get some charging done and talk to my wife. She was in a rare mood and seemed determined to take me off the trail to wait out an impending thunderstorm that was on its way. 

I am not going to lie, it had me all confused. I trusted her judgment, but thought that she was overreacting. I talked to both of my parents and we agreed that I would just hike early and try to camp earlier to avoid being in a bad spot during a thunderstorm. This is what I told her. She still was not convinced. The funny thing about the conversation is that it seemed to make up my mind about my foot. I would go forward because that was what I was planning to do. It took me a while to get through all of that. In the process, my electronics were charging very slowly. I ordered myself a burrito. I had lunch with a very nice Canadian couple. The guy was a teacher and a former cross country coach. I walked over to the gas station to buy some extra food in case I needed to stay out an extra day. 

It took me about 3 hours to get all reorganized again and to set out on the trail. It was 1 pm by the time I was heading out. This meant that I was going to be on the trail during the heat of the day and it was going to be a hot one. Also, now my pack was a little bit heavier considering I had bought a little more food and all my water was filled. I had a lot of uphill to cover as the trail gained about 2500 feet from about 3000 feet in elevation to around 5500 feet. I was feeling pretty good, though. The three hour rest was sort of a luxury and now my foot and my energy level seemed to be at a peak. I was feeling pretty good with my ability to get up the many switchbacks. I was passing lots of people coming down as this was the more scenic section from Snoqualmie Pass. Just as I was feeling really good, a northbound thru hiker came behind me. I got off the trail for him to pass. We chatted for a little bit. He was covering 40+ miles a day. He was from Canada and said that his favorite part of the trail was Oregon. I appreciated that. He and I talked for a few minutes and then he was gone, never to be seen again. I continued to fight my way up the switchbacks doing my best to stay cool. I took my breaks every hour and soon I was approaching more open country. There were tall, pointy mountains all around. 

I had been viewing these mountains for many days as I hiked through the endless forests south of Snoqualmie. Now I was finally there. I really was enjoying this section of trail. I knew, though, that there was a dangerous section that loomed up ahead. I was nervous about what I read about the Kendall Katwalk. Here was supposed to be a very narrow, very exposed section of the trail. When I actually got there, though, it turned out to be a walk in the park. Not only was it not narrow, but you could have fit two people wide on that section of trail super easy. Sure, there was a large drop off, but it would have been nearly impossible to actually fall down that. 

Once I got passed the Kendall Katwalk, I realized how tired that I was. I knew that Ridge Lake was up ahead and it would be really nice to camp at a lake. I was hot, sweaty, tired, sore, all the things that a lake could help me improve. But Ridge Lake would leave me with a day of only 16 miles. This seemed like too small of a day. Still, when I got to the lake and saw its cool inviting waters, I decided that this would be my destination for the night. There were other groups already camped there, but I found a nice big site to myself that I could stay at. After putting down my tent, though, the ground was a little bit too dusty for me. So I grabbed the tent and moved it down the hill. 

Here I had a campsite right next to the water. I put up the tent and then went for a swim. It was a little muddier than I was hoping for, but eventually I got to the middle. It was pretty comfortable conditions, but I still only stayed for a few minutes. It dropped my body temperature down and got me clean pretty quick. I made myself some dinner and pumped some water. While I was pumping water, a couple swam with their dog all the way across the lake. I ended up talking with them later. They were interested in hiking the PCT. I encouraged them to go for it. You too can have a numb foot. Actually the foot wasn't too bad and I think that 3 hour break was pretty good for it. I got myself to sleep early because the plan was to get up early to beat the thunderstorms. 

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.