Day 124, 23.6 miles

Well, so much for the clear day! The morning was covered with low fog but we all hoped that it would burn off during the day. We had a nice sleep in, and then we said goodbye to Caleb. Manza and I started the day hiking with Hiker Box Hero. For simplicity sake, I’ll refer to him as HB Hero in this post.

Most of today

HB Hero

There was a small period early on in the day where immediate visibility was about 500ft instead of 50, and it was my favorite part of the day in terms of views!

What a pretty little section! The three of us had so much fun taking pictures and talking and singing and just being goofy! We soon started our approach of the famous Goat Rocks Knife’s Edge area and unfortunately everything became socked in once again. It was still pretty neat as it felt like a different world, but it was very cold and windy!

Cool trailwork! 

HB Hero

Views...

Manza

Manza again

We started hitting some snow patches and the trail got really eerie and awesome! At one point you couldn’t see anything else except for the large snow patch that we were on! We called the section “Purgatory”.

HB Hero crossing Purgatory...

Soon we were on what we believed to be the Knife’s Edge although it was hard to tell what anything was! Unfortunately the clouds didn’t break and there were strong 20-40mph gusts nearly the whole time! I still took some cool pictures and we DID have about 45 seconds where a huge cloud lifted and the sun popped out before the area got socked in again.

HB Hero on the Knife’s Edge

Some other hikers with drops of over 1000 feet on both sides! 

A pano I took during the 45 second sun break!

Aaaaaand back to the mist...

So windy!!

Although we missed out on the views, we still made the best of the section despite the severely unideal conditions. There were a few sketchy moments when the wind would come in strong at a bad time and it was quite difficult to stay on trail. Falling would have heavy consequences, so it was definitely exhilarating and a little scary at times. 

Soon after that last picture the trail was closed due to the Miriam Fire. And unfortunately the alternate to the fire is also closed because of ANOTHER fire! We all took the Coyote Trail junction down to the west about 1.5 miles, where we all sat down and made a decision. You see there was even ANOTHER option from this point, which is to go straight West all downhill 11 miles towards the town of Packwood. From there a hitch would be needed to travel East towards White Pass and the PCT. Manza and HB Hero wanted to do this as it is easier than the 15 mile up and down fire alternate alternate that would lead to Highway 12. I did not want to take the Packwood Trail West as it would be much harder and longer to walk back to connect with the PCT again, and I still haven’t broken my continuous footpath and don’t plan to do so!

In the photo above, the red line is the closed PCT. The yellow line is what Manza and HB Hero will do; walk towards Packwood (West), then hitch East on Hwy 12 to the Crackerbarrel Store (resupply), and then continue North on the PCT. The blue line is what I will do; hike the 15 miles to Hwy 12, hitch into Crackerbarrel for resupply, hitch back to where I left off, and then follow a trail NE from Hwy 12 to rejoin back with the PCT in a few miles, keeping a continuous footpath!!

It’s a lot of extra work, definitely the road less traveled, and DEFINITELY not easy, but I’m committed to the idea of walking all the way from Mexico to Canada! Every obstacle that I’ve been faced with thus far has had a solution that made sense and I’ve kept on my mission! I feel a sense of pride when I think about how happy I’ll be when I finally get to the border, looking back on all of the problems and the way I solved them! 

But like I just said above, DEFINITELY not easy, and today proved that tenfold! From the Packwood Trail junction where we split, the boys went straight down and I went STRAIGHT up!! This was the steepest I’ve hiked so far this whole time! As I climbed back up, the wind and rain got worse and worse, but I felt so strong and steady! I pushed up the steep steep terrain and sliding grade over talus and skree.

So steep!!

And cold!!

The PCTA really did some quick great work fixing this low-use trail to accommodate us thru-hikers seekimgam altermate. There were many sketchy gulches that they built up for us which would be terrifying in their old state. They also cut up all the blow-downs on trail so that we didn’t have to climb up and over big fallen trees. PCTA you’re amazing!!

Thank you PCTA!

Fresh cut blowdowns!


Lost Lake

After I hit Lost Lake, (about 6.5 miles into the detour after a huge climb and descent), the rain really started to come in strong. For most of the day it had just been a light mist and wind but now it was actually raining as I headed straight back up a huge and STEEP muddy section! I soon got completely stoked and my feet and legs and arms started to get compromised by the cold.

Not the happiest, but still a goofball...

Ughhhhhh...

Waaaaaay up I went, up and up into some pretty exposed terrain. Not quite as exposed as the Knife’s Edge but with the added wind and rain it was brutal!! It was almost 6:00pm and I was getting dangerously cold. I don’t throw that term around lightly but I knew I had to get warm and fast. I still had my puffy jacket nice and dry in my backpack which I did on purpose, so that I’d have something dry to wear when I set up camp. My rain jacket did a pretty good job at keeping my shirt and tires dry. Unfortunately I had been wearing my leggings all day since it was so cold, and they got soaked from the rain and wet brush along the trail. 

All the campsites around were already pooling with water, but I soon found a spot that was flat enough to not collect water and flood and also not be in danger of being in a path of run-off. I put up my tent in the high winds and rain which was VERY difficult! I grew frustrated and childishly yelled at my tent when it would keep blowing away before I could stake it down. 

Flooded

Flooded

Real flooded...

I was in trouble. The tent body got wet while setting up the tent and my pack and sleeping pad got drilled with rain. I finally had everything set up and threw myself into the tent. Wet wet WET, EVERYTHING was wet!! I stripped all my clothes except for my leggings and shirt, put on my puffy and crawled into my sleeping bag. I tried to let my feet dry out but they were so cold and hurt so bad that I quickly put them in my dry pair of socks that I had in my pack.

I’m telling you guys, about an hour ago I was in a REAL bad place... I’m only going into this much detail so that when I look back on this I can remember how bad it was. It would be easy for me to just say “Everything was wet and I was cold”, but this was the most scared I’ve been in any outdoors situation before in my life. 

The rain was coming down even harder and the wind was shaking my tent. I started debating if it would last the night. My wet feet soaked my dry socks. My legs (still in the wet leggings) and feet became super cold and got the inside of my sleeping bag wet. Since it’s a light 40° bag I started to feel it losing some of its loft and heat retention. The sides of my tent inside were sagging and getting water on the outside of my bag. My pillow and feet touch the ends of my tent and everything was getting cold and wet! My soaking wet backpack in the tent as well as my wet pile of clothes by my side did not help the situation.

I started thinking; “Had I made the right desicion? Should I have continued on in the cold and rain to keep my body moving and tried to get down to the Hwy and to safety tonight? That would’ve been a long and wet and feeezing 6 or 7 more miles (half in the dark) on sketchy terrain and poor visibility with the headlamp. But was that a better idea? Did I just doom myself here? Would everything slowly get wet including my sleeping bag and puffy and would I freeze overnight up here in the storm?! No, snap out of it! You got this. You’re smart. You’re prepared. You have a plan. It rains.. Duh! You’re in Washington! Just calm down and deal with this with your head in straight. You aren’t going to DIE out here...”

I ate dinner to try and warm up a bit, and eventually took off my socks and leggings. I figure that naked and dry is way better than clothed and wet. Within minutes my lower body started feeling better. I scootched more towards the middle of my tent so that the sides wouldn’t touch my sleeping bag and positioned my backpack so it wasn’t making me colder. I had to pee really bad but didn’t dare exit the tent. I have an extra water bottle and there is plenty of water sources in the next few miles to the highway, meaning that I only need one bottle, so I peed in my empty one. 

Here as I type this I’m feeling much much warmer and most importantly confident that I won’t die tonight. Tomorrow might suck but I’ll just have to put on wet clothes and hike to the hwy. I have enough food to sleep in late and stay warm until the morning temperatures rise. The rain is supposed to back off tonight, here’s hoping! I did over 23 miles today over the steepest, toughest, and most challenging terrain and conditions that I’ve faced yet on the whole trail! I’m feeling good and confident about myself. I know this is cliché but here it goes: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!!

Thanks for reading!!