Say that title five times fast
There's been something about the Suiattle River for Tricia and me. It's a gorgeous, long river in a very remote and treasured wilderness. But at times it's seemed to us like "the doldrums" must seem to sailors. For sailors, the doldrums is a belt around the Earth near the equator where sailing ships sometimes get stuck on windless waters. They're infamous.
During three out of the last four years the PCT at and near the Suiattle River has been closed in full or in part and it's affected and/or stopped our trips repeatedly. We've changed plans, waited on plans and were fully stopped for a season (2024 - no progress) by these conditions.
We had some hardships on this trip, and some tough parts to hike. Tricia torqued her knee crossing a wet, blown-down tree in the rain. But in the end we got well and truly past the Suiattle, past the last of the hardest PCT hiking and past what's seemed like windless waters.
We finished this trip 79 miles from Canada.
Day One, August 4:
Tricia started a new full time job at the end of 2024. She seems to like the job, she likes the people she works with and she's off to a great start. But there's a problem with a new full time job - a new employee hasn't earned much time off. So there was some doubt about whether Tricia would be able to do any PCT at all in 2025.
Fortunately, her employers must like her too: She managed a week off at the start of August and met us at the "start" campground in Darrington on Sunday.
Coincidentally, a longer amount of time off came together for the Dawsons and they planned to finish the rest of the PCT in one five week push. We hoped to share some parts of our hike(s) but didn't know if this would work out. It did, starting at the Suiattle River Trailhead:
Steve planned to hike in to the PCT along the Suiattle River Trail with a friend from the area and with extra supplies. He would meet Laura and Amity at the PCT. From there, Steve would continue with Amity and Laura would hike out.
Luckily for all of us temperatures were low and clouds covered the sun:
There's a large suspension bridge on the Suiattle River Trail, six miles out from the trailhead and about half a mile west of the PCT. This was rebuilt just this year and looks solid and amazing:
And many of the blown-down trees we'd seen on our way out two years ago have been cleared - there were none on the Suiattle River Trail at all. Unfortunately for us, the trail crew which has been working these blow-downs has focussed on the PCT south of the Suiattle River Trail/PCT junction (which we finished on two years ago and which desperately needs the work).
So, once we rejoined "our" trail? We had to go up and over (and through):
A bridge at Miner's Creek, almost four miles along the PCT, had also been rebuilt this year. Steve and I looked this one-log crossing over very carefully and decided that the main log absolutely had to have been helicoptered in. It was very big, very new and there was no place near where it had been emplaced that it could have come from. Brought in from off-site or not, it's very, very nice to see this trail (slowly) getting some much needed maintenance:
Tricia and I set up camp just the other side of this new bridge. After an hour the Dawsons showed up; Steve had diverted to the Suiattle to meet Laura and Amity and they then moved up trail to set Steve and Amity up to continue north tomorrow and Laura to hike out and meet Vicki:
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