White Pass to Snoqualmie Pass

Day 128-132:

At the trailhead at White Pass I found this message:

"As I sat there on the rock I realized that, in spite of the closeness of civilization and the changes that hemmed it in, this remnant of the old wilderness would speak to me of silence and solitude, of belonging and wonder and beauty." ~ Sigurd Olson 1958

The hitch to Packwood and back to White Pass to retrieve my resupply box at the postoffice went well thanks to the kindness of people. It was 20 miles each way but a straight shot which helped. A big thank you to Bill who gave me a ride in and three brothers in law who gave me a ride back. They had been section hiking the Goats Rock Wilderness and had seen me riding the horse on the trail. While in Packwood I walked into the grocery store and the lady behind the counter looked at me and asked, "Are you Heather Feather"?

"Well yes I am actually", I replied surprised. She had recognized me from my picture on the facebook PCT page. It's a small world on the PCT.

Back on the trail I hiked past numerous lakes and ponds dotted along the way. I enjoyed an early supper with a family section hiking at the picturesque Pipe Lake which was thankfully sheltered from the wind and then continued hiking until sundown, camping on the bank of the Bumping River. 

The woods are teaming with hunters wielding crossbows as archery hunting season opened a week ago. It was not a good feeling when I walked up behind one of them on the trail, startling him and causing him to spin around with a loaded crossbow pointed at me. There was something horribly wrong with that picture.

The temperature dipped down to 27 degrees F, but I was warm in my tent bundled in my layers. I am grateful however that there is no rain.

The following day I woke up to the sound of hunters blowing on a horn which is evidently an elk call. Upon crawling out of my sleeping bag I started to shiver it was so cold and tried to warm myself up with a mug of hot camp cafe mocha.

The hunters call PCT hikers "Cresties" and when I heard the sound of an animal screaming, I could only assume that one of those arrows found their target.

Often my footsteps would go crunch, crunch, crunch on the ice in the mud along the trail and I was happy to enter Mnt Rainier National Park with spectacular views of the mountain, where weapons are not allowed. 

Lunch at a stream included Mediterranean Curry Couscous, Oregon Chai and a handful of huckleberries for desert.

As a south bounding section hiker passed by he exclaimed "Ah! Two Feathers"! He had also recognized me off the PCT 2014 fb page. What fun!

Many ascents and descents took me past Dewey Lake amongst many and up over Chinook Pass. It was here that I crossed paths with Storybook, Tasty, Crawfish and Tasty's brother, south bounding the Washington section. It was so wonderful to see them again. 

That night I found a delightful camp at Sheep's Lake. I was feeling very tired and missing all my loved ones back in Hawaii. I am so ready to get this last section done. I've been living out in the wild for a bit too long now and even though it's been an amazing experience, I have other things in life I'm looking forward too.

Upon leaving the lake I climbed and then traversed along the mountainsides all day with occasional views of Mnt Rainier. 

This part of the section was not the most exciting and consisted of a few days of ups, downs, trees, burned sections and occasional sweeping vistas of the daunting jaggered peaks of the northern Cascades. 

Socializing along the way with "old friends" from the trail who were south bounding made up for the less exciting scenery. I met Cash Money and Lancelot at a spring and was greeted with "Hello Dr Two Feathers". I earned this variation of my trail name when I had suggested a blister remedy to Cash Money back in south Kennedy Meadows. What a treat to see them and we had lunch together in a meadow. Later on I met One Track at another spring and we talked story about our adventures so far. The last time I had seen him was in Bishop, so it was great to catch up.

I did a short detour hike to Airplane Meadow where the remains of a plane crash lay. Apparently the pilot survived this small airplane crash. 

I wanted to stop at Urich cabin but it was filled with rowdy, drunk hunters and I decided to press on, meeting up with Lobby, Trinket and Heckle. We set up camp together and then were joined by Sinyk and Blue. 

Waking up to the sight of a pink tinged Mnt Rainier from a ridge is something I'll always remember. It's been such a treat camping with great people. 

My Brooks Cascadias were disintegrating along the seams and the hole in my sock on my left achilles was causing chafing and pain. I sat beside a creek to darn my sock. More miles ensued until we met up with Lobby's friends Nicole and John who brought trail magic with them in the form of peanut butter stuffed pretzels, oreos and coffee. We hiked with them for the rest of the day, coming across more trail magic along the way and ended up at Snoqualmie Pass. 

From here I had to try to get to North Bend to buy new shoes and socks and was kindly given a ride. I also picked up a resupply from the Chevron and did the usual civilization chores like laundry, showering and blogging. I'm staying at hiker friendly Summit Inn beneath the ski slopes and chair lifts and heading off for the last two weeks on the trail tomorrow. 

The Majestic Washington Cascades

Day 124-127:

Breakfast at the cafe in Trout Lake was delicious! Blueberry pancakes and coffee, followed a couple of hours later by Blueberry pie and coffee. I reunited with K2 and her parents John and Cindy drove us back to the trail where we had left off. Here we met Snaps, Heckle and Jeckle again at the trailhead. 

Wonderful trail magic was being dished out there again too which I am always grateful for. The 13 mile/ 21km afternoon hike took us closer and closer to Mnt Adams and into the Mnt Adams Wilderness. 

I witnessed a rock avalanche on the mountainside high up and the sound of it was frightening. It was breathtaking walking along the base of Mnt Adams and being able to see the glaciers up close. 

We walked until Adams was behind us and Rainier loomed up ahead. As evening fell, we found a campsite near the Lewis River on a ridge overlooking the Cascade Mountains and sunset. 

To our left was Mnt St Helens. in the far right, Mnt Rainier and behind us was Mnt Adams, a more spectacular campsite would be hard to find!

Day 125:

I woke up to a spectacular pink skyline. Twenty seven miles (43.5 km) of trail ensued through alpine meadows, across creeks and streams, through lava rock areas and forests. 

Climbs and descents were the order of the day and I reunited with Pippin again for awhile. We ate handfuls of Huckleberries along the way which were delicious!

I camped at Walupt Creek with Stringcheese and Grandpappy Amos who is a south bound section hiker. 

It is so cold and the wind is whipping around the tent. I'm so happy to have all my layers on and to be snug in my tent and sleeping bag. Hope the weather improves tomorrow. 

Day 126:

The morning was cold and misty and I could barely see 20ft in front of me when I awoke. I found it difficult to get out of my tent but eventually did and said goodbye to Stringcheese and Grandpappy Amos. 

Presently the trail entered the Yakama Indian Reservation and the mist cleared to reveal spectacular views of plunging valleys and majestic mountains. 

After crossing over Cispus Pass, the trail hugged the mountainside and reached the beautiful waterfall of the Cispus River, where I sat and made some coffee. 

From there the trail meandered up through beautiful alpine meadows with spectacular views of Mnt Adams and into the rocky Goats Rocks Wilderness.

From there I had to traverse the Packwood Glacier on Old Snowy Mountain and dug my trekking pole into the ice and snow to prevent me from slipping. 

Great misty clouds came swirling across the mountain top, giving it a mystical "Lord of the Rings" type feel. 

Shortly after that I crossed another glacier on a steep mountain slope and then traversed over a ridge top called the "Knife's Edge" which most certainly lives up to it's name and gives sweeping views of the surrounding countryside.

 I felt a little scared a few times when part of the narrow trail with steep drops sometimes on both sides was eroded and had loose gravel preventing a stable foothold. 

When I got off the ridge, I had a late lunch at a glacial melt stream and met Redridinrobin and her two beautiful horses, Blue and Buddy.

She invited me to ride Buddy back to a trail junction about 5 miles/8km away and so I hoisted myself up into the saddle, pack and all. 

It was scary going down the steep mountain switchbacks but once on the trail in the forest I was relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. 

What an epic day!  Redridinrobin taught me a lot about riding a horse on a mountainous terrain. I am so grateful to another angel in my life. 

Once again, it is the spectacular people I have met on this journey that has made it so amazing.

I rounded off the day by setting up camp on a ridge overlooking the spectacular view of Mnt Rainier. As the mist and wind swirled about my tent I went to sleep in solitude on a mountain, exhausted but exhilarated!  

Day 127:

It's tough waking up to a cold, damp tent. All the mountain mist caused condensation on the inside of my rainfly and infiltrated everything, causing even my down sleeping bag to feel damp on the outside.

Outside on the ridge however, I was rewarded with the spectacular sight of Mnt Rainier in the early morning light.

I hiked downhill for the next 3 hours and reached the very friendly Kracker Barrel at White Pass. Here I saw Pippin, K2, John and Cindy again which was nice. My resupply box had not made it here, but I tracked it down to Packwood which is 20 miles away and I'll hitch in tomorrow to pick it up. Tonight I'll stay in lodging in White Pass as the temperatures dip down into the 30's F (32 degrees F is 0 degrees C). Yay, a warm bed for the night. Another reason to feel grateful! Only 347 miles/ 543km left to go.

Walking the Green Tunnel

Day 120-123:

My last day in Oregon couldn't have been more perfect. I was originally switched onto the PCT by my friend and fellow tango dancer, Damek aka Atomic. He had hiked the trail in 2006 and suggested that I would enjoy doing it too about three years ago... and here I am! Atomic became one of my trail angels in Cascade Locks and hand delivered a very generous and delicious resupply of food to me. Wow! I am eternally grateful. Thank you so much!

Before leaving town I went up to Shrek's trail angel house and received a bandanna which was very nice. There were a lot of PCT hikers in town and it was great seeing the ones I knew and meeting a few new faces. 

I then walked across the Bridge of the Gods which was an exhilarating feeling as I now only have one more state left to conquer. 

By 07:15 pm I had done a significant amount of climbing and set up camp on a ridge. 

The solitude up there was palpable.

Day 121:

From the ridge in the morning, I could see Mnt Adams, Mnt St Helens with her blown top and Mnt Rainier. I passed a few section hikers , one of whom thought I was from India and a couple of hunters with their crossbows.

A lot of climbing ensued as well as descending down to creeks followed by more climbing through "the green tunnel". 

I enjoyed a wonderful lunch break at Rock creek and was joined by K2 who I hiked with for the rest of the day. It was great to see Stringcheese again, who was south bounding this section to get back to Cascade Locks for a hiking event called "Trail Days". 

I eventually camped on the banks of the Windy River with K2. Madhatter and Wisdom. It's not really set up for camping at all but we found spaces for our tents. I hiked over 20 miles today. Gratitude is my main emotion.

Day 122:

Another great day spent hiking with K2. We left Windy River and mostly hiked uphill through fairly dry forests all day, gaining over 5000 ft of elevation. Once on the ridge of Huckleberry Mountain. We got spectacular views of Mnt Hood, Adams and later Mnt St Helens. 

During the course of the day, we saw Apache, Mary Poppins and Blueberry south bounding, also to get to "Trail Days". We crossed paths with Wisdom, the other Apache and Ninja and ended up camping at Blue Lake after a long, tough day but felt good that we had made such good progress, covering 26 miles/ 43km of mostly climbing.

Day 123:

It's been a treat hiking with K2 for the past few days. It would have been a long, long walk in the woods by myself and at least we've had each other to talk to. I awoke at Blue Lake at 06:12 am and saw a mouse running over the roof of my tent under the rainfly. I'm glad I kept everything zipped up inside. It's really cold in the mornings and getting light later and dark earlier. After collecting and filtering lake water we set out, passing quite a few lakes initially and occasionally getting glimpses of the majestic mountains of Washington. 

We stopped for a lunch break at Mosquito Creek which was rather pleasant and completed another 24 mile day at road R 23 where K2's parents were waiting.

They kindly gave me a ride to the quaint village of Trout Lake  and I rented a comfortable room with a shower and laundry facility at the grocery store for $25. 

After enjoying a wood fired veggie pizza and glass of Huckleberry wine, it was time to turn in and rest as I'm back on the trail tomorrow. My first encounter with the people of Washington state has been fantastic! Everyone has been so friendly. 

Washington also wins the prize for having the most bridges over the creeks and streams on the PCT. Fabulous!