Soon, it started snowing!! Nothing too crazy, just a few flakes coming down and a little blustery wind. I actually prefer a little snow compared to cold rain as my gloves don’t get all wet and my hands can stay warm! It’s hard to capture the flakes in photos, but I tried!
See the snow?
Don’t worry I have other gloves, I just kept these holy gloves for hiking!
The snow picked up and it got even colder. It was actually really neat to be up on the breezy ridge in the snow. I was watching how quickly the clouds were moving in and out of the valleys and over the ridges.
I went through patches of flurries and then sun, on and off for a couple hours. Sometimes I would get hot in my rain jacket, take my hood off, and then have snowflakes falling in the sun! I’m just glad it wasn’t too cold of a day and with on and since I was on a huge ridge traverse, it was not too hard to keep my body temperature regulated.
The sun started breaking through, and at one point I had a nice sunny ridge in front of me and directly behind me was a flurry blizzard!
Ahead of me
Right behind me!
The trail dropped downward and soon I came across Hart’s Pass. Hart’s Pass is 35 miles from the Canadian border and it’s the last place you can hitch out of to get back to Mazama or Winthrop. It’s also the place where people who don’t have their passport or entry to Canada permit have to walk back down to after touching the border.
I saw about 6 other hikers there, two of which had finished already and were waiting for a ride to get back to civilization. I also saw Upstream and Older Happy, and a couple others. The sun had popped out and I laid out my stuff to dry. Although it hadn’t rained my tent was still wet from condensation and most likely a low mist overnight. The sun only lasted a few minutes, and then it started sprinkling again. That was my que to leave!
The trail from Hart’s Pass going North is closed and our final fire detour alternate starts. I took the side trail up Slate Peak and and then started down into a beautiful valley.
Going up Slate Peak
Looking back towards Hart’s Pass
On the way down I ran into a few hikers coming back southbound who had just finished the trail yesterday! First I saw Panda and his dad, and a few minutes later I saw Skywalker! My stoke got more real as I passed by these people, quickly approaching the end of my long journey!
Panda!
A beautiful valley!!
Down down down I dropped into the low valley. There were plenty of mushroom varieties I had never seen before! The alternate was surprisingly well maintained and well signed. I never felt like I was unsure of which direction to go.
About 14 miles past Slate Peak I got down to the Pasayten River. At this point the alternate heads West and starts traversing a valley ridge on the way back to the PCT. I figure this would be a great place to stop especially since I had already done a big day. I’ll definitely be able to hit the northern terminus tomorrow and probably go all the way to Manning! I’m flying!!
At camp I had sweet surprise. I saw Mougs! I met him way back on day one, and it was cool to think that we’ll now be finishing on the same day as well! i set up my tent in a sweet little spot nestled in a bunch of trees in case of heavy rain, but at this point I figure I’ll be pretty safe :)
I got a little sad when I realized this will be the last time I set up my tent for a while, but also kind of glad at the same time! I’m almost back home to my warm bed and roof over my head! Well, needless to say but I’m SUPER excited to finish tomorrow! I hope I can actually sleep tonight!
Thanks for reading!
How perfect that you met up with Mougs again!
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