PCT day 101 - mile 2315 to mile 2348

Yesterday before I fell asleep a cricket decided to spend the night on top of my tents bug net, I really like them so I didn't mind it especially as he seemed to be hunting the mosquitoes in the perimeter. The only downside was it's jackhammer like sound, it's completely different when you hear them from the distance, three feet away it's a powerful sound!

I didn't sleep too much until midnight when my guest and all its cousins got quiet, I actually found him in the morning while folding the tent not willing to move on with its life, I even took few pictures in the darkness. I started to walk early trying to get in time for Lucky's friend trail magic ten miles away on the Chinook Pass Trailhead.

On the way there I saw a massive herd of elks grazing at the meadow by the trail, it must have been over thirty females and few young males, once they spotted me they started to run away over the hill and I took a very bad quality video of the event. It was the biggest pack of wild animals I have seen so far on PCT and probably in my entire life. I love how they make the ground tremble when they run, fabulous animals.

I arrived at the parking lot in time but I could see only Quicksilver sitting by the toilet (it had some shade and it was a hot day), but no sight of Lucky or Fomo. I sat with him and we waited for an hour but no one came so we assumed something must have changed and it would be a waste of time to wait any longer. I hiked out shortly after.

Half an hour later Fomo chased me up on trail saying that Lucky's friend has parked on a different plot so they had to go down half a mile to meet him and there was no means of communicating it to us (no t-mobile reception of course), he got me a beer as a compensation. We waited for Lucky to join us and once he did we carried on.

Day was really hot and we hiked mostly through the burned areas with little to no shade and scarce water, it was quite bad. We also had to do good miles as Fomo's friend offered us a place to stay in Snoqualmie Pass, the next resupply point but he could only pick us up in the morning as he was working in the afternoon. So the deal was that we will do two big days and get to town on Friday by 9am, we will see how it will work out tomorrow.

We ended up staying at the Mike Urich cabin with bunch of Sobo's, surprisingly no one was willing to stay inside but me. I don't get why people would turn away an opportunity to sleep inside a cabin in the middle of wood! haha. Well hopefully mice won't be bothering me to much, mosquitoes are definitely out of picture because the whole place smells like chimney smoke. Should be a good night.

Sonic, Quicksilver, myself, Lucky and Fomo:
Mount Rainier:
cricket friend:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Appalachian Trail (day 77) - Hikers Welcome Hostel to Eliza Brook Campsite / mile 1816

Image
"After hiking in White Mountain's everything else seems easy" Sue First day in the White's, I can confirm now that terrain here is unlike anything we faced on the AT so far. In the morning I had a coffee and a breakfast muffin at the hostel, surprisingly despite the early hour Tum Tum, Iceman, Yukon and Gutsy were up as well. Weather was supposed to be a mixed bag but we were all determined to climb Mt Moosilauke today. I headed out and started the 4000 feet climb first, it was a long, steady uphill going through well maintained terrain, problems only started at the top. Day was quite windy, combined with the rain and exposed, alpine environment, it became a recipe for a very wet, cold and uncomfortable time. At the top wind was pushing me left and right and rain was cutting across with great speed, I was completely drenched in just few moments. Luckily exposed section didn't last too long and the AT dived into the pine forest soon after. ...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 12) - Icewater Sorin Shelter to Cosby Knob Shelter / mile 231

Image
Today could be described in one word - windy. And it was not your refreshing summer breeze, it was the kind of wind that chills your bones and the moment you feel it you want to turn around and go back home, except there's no home and you can't turn around. The food I hanged last night was completely frozen, it was funny to crunch on a solid snickers and granola bars for breakfast. At least it was sunny, I've put all my layers on and started hiking. Trail looked really good, I could see small patches of snow and icicles probably formed last night hanging from the bushes. Later during the day you could see the damage last years hurricane has done, fallen trees, layers of uncovered rock showing that there was not much trees could hang on to beneath, trail was trying to manoeuvre around the blow downs and disturbed earth. I haven't met many people today but I hiked alongside Blazer, a friendly, older American guy. He also hiked PCT, so w...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 76) - Lambert Ridge to Hikers Welcome Hostel / mile 1799

Image
Hot, humid, stormy day. My goal was to place myself withing the short distance before the climb to Mount Moosilauke. AT in New Hampshire definitely prooved from the very begining that it means business. The first and second climb of the day:  Smarts Mountain and Mt Cube were steep and rocky, the path was muddy, overgrown and not very well marked, combined with the hot and humid weather I was moving at a snail's pace. Views were quite rewarding though and after the initial struggle trail got easier for the rest of the day. I've seen yet another two bear cubs, no mother in sight this time around which got me a bit spooked. Cubs climbed so high up the tree I could hardly see them from the trail, they were so incredibly agile! I've taken a blurry video of the couple as I thought it was fairly safe to do so, that's 10 black bears I've seen so far on Appalachian Trail.  At one point I took a break  by the road and tried to dry my feet a...
Read more