Day 104 – 45.1 km – Thursday 08.08.2024
Although the power generator was on next to the sleeping place all night, I was able to sleep reasonably well. I get up at 6 a.m., pack my things and have breakfast in the hiker’s area behind the shop. Over time, more and more people are coming and I’m talking to other hikers for quite a while. I’m only really starting after 7 o’clock.
First it goes back along the road to the trail.
It continues in the forest and since I had a short day yesterday and I was rested, I’m making good progress today. In the morning relatively little happens and there is not really anything to see next to the forest and meadows. So on a quiet morning I walk around relaxed and soon completed the first 10 miles.
I take a short break at a river around noon and meet other hikers. This is followed by a longer climb, where I leave the forest and thus get some views.
Once at the top, I meet other hikers who are also taking a break here. The conversation with you is very funny for me, since the others are only here for a few days or only the PCT section is running in Washington. I notice that I’m in pretty good shape now. The others have planned a total of 10-12 miles for today, which I usually did before 10 a.m. Also, they carry food for about 10 days to run the same route I will hike in 4 days. I realize that the PCT hikers are now running a different dimension and even if I put in a short day (less than 20 miles), that’s still a long distance for normal people. After the interesting conversation, I’m on my way again.
Actually, I had thought that things should go downhill now, but somehow climbs and descents alternate again and again. In between, I always get a nice view of the imposing Mount Rainier.
But I also like the landscape in the afternoon very much and it always goes past small lakes.
I wanted to stay at a bigger one first, but due to the many mosquitoes and day tourists, I walk 2 miles further to a smaller lake.
There I find a suitable place for my tent and enjoy my dinner in peace. Since nobody else gets around to it, I’ve been camping alone in one place again for a long time. While I’ve always eaten with other people and spent the evening in the last few weeks, I’m using the quiet evening today to read. Shortly after 8 a.m. I go back to sleep to possibly complete a slightly longer day tomorrow.
Day 105 – 46.6 km – Friday 09.08.2024
My alarm clock rings at 6 a.m. and at 6:04 am I hear three shots not far from me. Shots will be added in the next few minutes and, according to birthday songs, there will be singing. At least I’m awake now and then I’ll take my tent down.
I have a short breakfast and when I start, a whole group of people who seem to be celebrating their birthday here comes towards me. For me, on the other hand, it goes briefly downhill to a road. There I get a soda from a trail angel who is building his stand here, and then I’m going straight to the first climb for me.
In front of me I get a fantastic view of the landscape and beautiful mountain flowers grow next to the path. This is how the day can begin.
After the longer climb, I take a short break at the top and look at the beautiful landscape.
After that it goes downhill on the other side, but the view remains beautiful. It goes along the slope for a long time and after another climb, I get a good view of Mount Rainier. Here I take a long break, look at the fascinating mountain and eat a little something.
But after about 10 minutes I set off again because I still have a lot to complete. It goes downhill first on the slope and then unfortunately I have to walk through the forest that has been burned down again. Somehow the whole thing reminds me more of a toothpick box than a forest.
In the afternoon, the sparsely burned out environment with green forest alternates and it often goes up and down easily.
In the evening I reach a camp where I want to stop after 29 miles. Unfortunately, many people are out and about again today and so there are already a number of tents in the camp. On the crowded place, however, I still find a small, somewhat uneven place that should be sufficient for my tent. I quickly set up my night camp there and start cooking for dinner. To eat, I sit down with a group of hikers who only run the Washington section of the PCTS. We talk for a while and around 8 a.m. we all disappear in our tents.
Day 106 – 46.8 km – Saturday 10.08.2024
Yesterday a few people came along and so I wake up in a real tent camp today. One tent stands next to the other in a confined space. I have a short breakfast and then go straight to set myself apart from the many people.
After just a few minutes, I am greeted by the rising sun, which lets the landscape shine in a beautiful light.
Then it goes on through the forest, although I always get a beautiful view in the morning. It goes downhill for a long time and so I can quickly get the first 10 miles full.
Later, however, comes a longer climb, which is very exhausting for me. Almost at the top, I’m getting slower and slower and often stop. The reason for this is the many blueberries that grow right along the way. So I’ll soon be right in the bushes and collect berries for a while, which I keep in my cup. Then I walk the last few meters to the summit and sit in the shade of a tree where I eat the delicious berries.
After my break, it goes on and off and at some point I notice the many steep descents in the bones. I decide to fill up my water at the next spring and stop at the next campspot. I cook dinner there and since it’s only after 6 p.m. even afterwards, I’ll continue to walk 4.5 miles.
Also in the evening it goes through the forest and I quickly completed the remaining miles. At some point I turn left and set up my tent in a free space. Since I’ve already had dinner, I go straight to my tent and go to sleep. From here I only have 11.7 miles to the Snoqualmie Pass tomorrow, where I hope I can get a late breakfast or an early lunch.
Day 107 – 30.3 km – Sunday 08/11/2024
I get up early again, take my tent off and drink a cup of coffee, which is really good in the morning. Because today it is quite humid and cold in the forest. Apparently I’m trapped in a cloud.
I’m running and it’s uphill right away. In a freer place I can see the sun through the dense cloud.
It’s been going uphill for a while and at some point I’ll be above the clouds and can look down on them from above.
The path is quite rocky today and often traversed by roots. That’s why I don’t make very fast progress, although it’s not really not going up or down steeply. When the path gets better, running is easier for me and I can cover miles faster, but the view is getting worse again.
Soon I’ll be back in the thick fog. I can’t see much in the cold, wet environment. Only when I’m Kurt in front of the Snoqualmie pass that the clouds move up a bit and I can see the houses below me.
A few minutes later I’ll get there. I’ll get a delicious coffee and a chocolate muffin at a café. After that, I buy food in the small shop next door for the next few days and put them in my backpack. This time I packed a little more food than necessary to take a more relaxed approach to the next few days. Since it’s now 12 o’clock, I’ll buy another piece of pizza and drink a coke with it.
As I eat the food, I find out about the fires in the area and look in Fareout to see where I can best charge my power bank and cell phone. As it turns out, the best place for this is a small brewery opposite. So I walk there, buy a beer and use the WLAN to upload some reports and the associated pictures to my blog. Since my power bank still needs 40 minutes to charge afterwards, I treat myself to a second, small beer and a hot dog.
Like me, many hikers are sitting around here to charge the batteries.
When I’m done with everything, I have my water bottle filled (not with beer) and then set off again. In the late afternoon I still have a fairly long climb ahead of me. It goes up almost 1000 meters in altitude again. With all the food in the backpack, the climb is exhausting, as it is more or less uphill all the time and there are hardly any flat places to relax.
After a while I get a nice view and I take a little breather on a larger stone.
By then I’ve already completed 600 meters in altitude, but still a lot ahead of me. I quickly cover the last meters in altitude and the path flattens out a bit at the top. It goes on to the other side of the mountain and there I get to see a beautiful mountain panorama.
I follow the path further back along the slope and since I still have a liter of water, I decide to set up my tent in a flat point and not descend further to the next lake. Here I have all the space to myself and even from my tent his good view of the mountains.
Since I only have one liter, I eat a few snacks for dinner and do without cooking. When I’ve finished eating and enjoyed the view long enough, it’s already time for bed again.
Day 108 – 37.4 km – Monday 12.08.2024
When I wake up in the morning, it’s quite wet in the tent. A look outside quickly shows me why. I’m in the middle of a dense cloud and my whole tent is wet. So I pack the wet tent and make myself a warm porridge and a coffee, which is really pleasant on the wet and cold morning.
Then I walk right in the thick fog. Unfortunately I can’t see much of the landscape in the morning. The few meters that I can watch off the trail look interesting and somehow it has something mystical.
Even today it’s going uphill again. But this time about rock, which luckily isn’t slippery. After a long climb, I can at least marvel at the top of a mountain in the distance. Otherwise everything is still shrouded in clouds.
Between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., the sky suddenly clears up and I can also look at beautiful landscapes through which I hike the whole time. Below me I see a lake and in front of me I can marvel at beautiful mountains.
From here it goes downhill for me for a long time. I pass a waterfall and otherwise it goes through the forest most of the time. Again and again it goes from left to right and back again. Due to the many switchbacks (turnpoints), even the long climb is pleasant to cope with, as the path leads down relatively flat.
At the lowest point I take a break at a river that I had crossed previously with the help of a tree trunk. I’m joining Sonic, a German hiker I’ve known for a long time and I’m always found somewhere. He is currently more or less permanently on the move. In winter he deserves something as a bicycle courier, but in summer he always runs various longer trails.
After the longer lunch break, we both set off again. In front of us is another long climb, which will lead us up about 800 meters in altitude. The path here is not overly steep either, so I can still walk it well, even if it’s permanently uphill for several hours. On the way I always get beautiful views of the surroundings and can watch some clouds roll over the ridge on the other side.
After the exhausting climb, I arrive at the top after a long time and take a break. Then I walk a few more miles, fill up my water at a lake and build up my tent not far from there at a meadow. Even though I only completed 23 miles today, it was due to the many climbs where I completed over 1600 meters in total, but it was a strenuous day and I am happy when I can finally eat my dinner.
After that, I crawl into my tent, which is somewhat dry again, and read a little while more and more people arrive and set up their tents next to me. Shortly after 8 a.m. I go back to sleep.
Day 109 – 45.5 km – Tuesday 13.08.2024
The night was freezing. In the morning I’m pretty cold and packing up the wet tent isn’t much fun.
I walk straight away to enjoy my breakfast in a place in the sun. It goes downhill at the beginning and after just a few minutes I reach a place with a little view, which is heated by the sun. Here I cook oatmeal and drink a soothing coffee in the pleasant sun.
After my breakfast I’m going downhill for a long time. I walk over 10 km down to a river, only to climb longer on the other side.
Just as I want to start the ascent, I meet Jussi. Although I started running with him in Campo, on the border with Mexico, I haven’t seen him since Idyl. It’s been a few months now, so I had to check twice to see if he really is. His beard has grown significantly and he has visibly lost weight. As he tells me, he has lost over 12 kilograms and thus looks much narrower than at the beginning of his hike. We quickly exchange ideas and walk up the mountain together for a few miles while talking about various topics. We walk to a stream where we take a little break.
After that we continue upstairs, only to descend longer on the other side.
I pass a mountain that somehow reminds me of a church and when I look, the rock is actually called ‘Cathedral Rock’.
After that it goes on downhill and relatively little happens. After a while I refill my water. While Jussi still wants to make a few miles, I actually wanted to call it a day here. But since it’s not even 5 p.m. and the mosquitoes here on the water are too annoying for me, I’ll continue walking afterwards.
More and more clouds are slowly gathering, hanging deep in the valley. So I continue uphill through the dense clouds. I don’t really notice much of the landscape around me and so I walk up to the next peak. Since I can’t make out mosquitoes there, I start cooking my dinner. Soon I’m sitting in the dirt in bad weather and eating my simple dinner, which today consists of a rice-noodle mixture and tuna. I don’t really have a view either, and yet it somehow feels good to sit in the silence here and enjoy the warm food.
After the supper, I start the descent for a moment and a little later I set up my wet tent again. Unfortunately, it probably won’t dry today, but I’ll survive the night that way too.
After more than 45 km and almost 1800 meters in altitude, I am again slightly exhausted today, although I expected it worse. Nevertheless, I go straight to sleep and then arrive tomorrow for lunch at the Stevens Pass.
As it currently looks, I unfortunately have to circumnavigate a fire again from there. Since the fire is quite large and difficult to walk around, I guess I’ll have to get to Mazama by car or bus. So I’ll probably skip almost 130 miles. From there it is only 30 miles to the border to Kannada. So the end is getting noticeably closer.
Day 110 – 23.5 km – Wednesday 14.08.2024
Even today I slept very well and surprisingly my tent is relatively dry.
I’m running right in the fog to complete some distance early on. In the morning I’m going through the forest again for a long time and since the clouds are hanging deep between the trees again, unfortunately I can’t tell much of the landscape. I pass a few small lakes and sometimes have very steep climbs to cope with.
Due to the many wet bushes, my feet get a little wet, but it’s still good to walk. Around 11:30 the clouds slowly subside and the sun comes through. I continue to walk around quickly and meet day hikers again and again, but hardly any PCT hikers. Many of the day tourists are very interested in my hike and already congratulate me on the route I have traveled, although I still have a few miles ahead of me.
After further ascents and descents, I arrive at Stevens Pass around half past twelve. Since a larger fire is raging further north, I have to leave the PCT here and take the road to Mazama. In total, I skip almost 130 miles on the PCT, which hurts a bit. Because from Mazama only 30 miles separate me from the border of Kannada and so I almost skip the last part until just before the border. Even though I have to go around a section again, I’m glad that I was able to walk so much in Washington at least. As I have already learned, some have completely dropped out because they would have to skip almost 50 percent of Washington due to the fires behind me. On the other hand, my section is still manageable, even if I would have liked the ending better.
First I think about something to eat in one of the restaurants here, but then I decide to hitchhike to Leavenworth. With an older man who runs the Washington part of the PCTs from Cascade Locks here, I try to get a ride on the road. After about 10 minutes, someone takes us with us and there are already two PCT hikers in the car, with whom I camped a few days ago. The full car continues to Leavenworth, a Bavarian-style town. Together with the two women and the driver, I drink another coffee and then I start looking for something edible. In a restaurant there is burgers and a delicious beer.
Later I take the bus on to Wenatchee, where I have to change trains again on another bus. Since it’s already 5 p.m. and I probably can’t make it to Mazama today, I’m booking a cheap motel here and I’m buying food for the last few days. Then I take an extensive shower and wash some clothes again before I go to sleep again.
Overview
In the meantime I have actually arrived in the north of the USA and made it to the Stevens Pass. Because of the fire, I got off the trail here and traveled on to Wenatchee. Tomorrow I would like to take the bus to Mazama to get back into the PCT via the Hearts Pass and complete the remaining miles to Canada.
Slowly but surely I’m getting closer and closer to my goal and somehow I’m almost too fast.
Here is the overview map:
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