8/27/20 PCT Update #4: Snoqualmie —> White Pass
Dear friends and family,
We felt more at home on this section of the PCT through southern Washington, because parts of it reminded us of northern California. We have gradually hiked out of the rugged North Cascades and the profile of the hills have become softer and more rounded. The trail curved west to take us through Mt Rainier National Park, and to get there we skirted the watershed that contains Seattle’s drinking water and crossed over many dirt roads.
It had been probably a hundred trail miles since we had first seen Mt Rainier at Red Pass close to Glacier Peak, and we next saw it again unexpectedly, hiking around a corner through a clear cut strip with power lines overhead. It doesn’t look like anything else in this landscape and it seems to have its own weather system. As we got even closer over the next few days the sky was cloudless except for over the mountain.
We got our first “trail magic” — a couple drove their truck up one of the dirt roads and set up a sandwich bar and cooler for hikers right before one of the creeks. When we got there Aubri was already there, eating a croissant, turkey, and cheese sandwich with Doritos and drinking a cold ginger ale. The couple had waited for about four hours before the three of us and one other hiker showed up — there are handfuls of us out here, but it is really a light season.
It’s still pretty warm, but every so often we catch a chill and remember that the hiking will feel pretty different soon. The camping on Blowout Mountain was super cold (our fault for dry camping on a ridge), but the hiking hours have also already become noticeably shorter. We’re trying to get better about waking up early to make use of all of the light and warmer daytime temperatures. We’re also still working on getting serious about getting rid of any nonessential stuff in our packs! But Johnathan still won’t ditch Moby Dick.
We are watching the fire / trail closure in Oregon and will just do as much hiking as we can do when we get there. A good thing is that we have started to catch up with a couple of SoBo thru hikers that had earlier start dates than us. We are all staying down the road from White Pass and had dinner last night on a lawn under a pavilion. There is a real grocery store in town here, and Johnathan and I got a rotisserie chicken, lettuce, apples, cheese, rolls, and a pint of Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream ice cream. Our next stop is Cascade Locks, Oregon!
Love,
Rebecca & Johnathan
We felt more at home on this section of the PCT through southern Washington, because parts of it reminded us of northern California. We have gradually hiked out of the rugged North Cascades and the profile of the hills have become softer and more rounded. The trail curved west to take us through Mt Rainier National Park, and to get there we skirted the watershed that contains Seattle’s drinking water and crossed over many dirt roads.
It had been probably a hundred trail miles since we had first seen Mt Rainier at Red Pass close to Glacier Peak, and we next saw it again unexpectedly, hiking around a corner through a clear cut strip with power lines overhead. It doesn’t look like anything else in this landscape and it seems to have its own weather system. As we got even closer over the next few days the sky was cloudless except for over the mountain.
We got our first “trail magic” — a couple drove their truck up one of the dirt roads and set up a sandwich bar and cooler for hikers right before one of the creeks. When we got there Aubri was already there, eating a croissant, turkey, and cheese sandwich with Doritos and drinking a cold ginger ale. The couple had waited for about four hours before the three of us and one other hiker showed up — there are handfuls of us out here, but it is really a light season.
It’s still pretty warm, but every so often we catch a chill and remember that the hiking will feel pretty different soon. The camping on Blowout Mountain was super cold (our fault for dry camping on a ridge), but the hiking hours have also already become noticeably shorter. We’re trying to get better about waking up early to make use of all of the light and warmer daytime temperatures. We’re also still working on getting serious about getting rid of any nonessential stuff in our packs! But Johnathan still won’t ditch Moby Dick.
We are watching the fire / trail closure in Oregon and will just do as much hiking as we can do when we get there. A good thing is that we have started to catch up with a couple of SoBo thru hikers that had earlier start dates than us. We are all staying down the road from White Pass and had dinner last night on a lawn under a pavilion. There is a real grocery store in town here, and Johnathan and I got a rotisserie chicken, lettuce, apples, cheese, rolls, and a pint of Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream ice cream. Our next stop is Cascade Locks, Oregon!
Love,
Rebecca & Johnathan
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