The PCT Volume 37: Into the Evergreen State

[Brad Young]

As expected, we made it well into Washington State this trip. Our hiking days were filled with what seemed like just the right mix of forests, clear skies with vistas, and clouds. We certainly lucked out in that last area, the weather; although all but a few days started cloudy, and all were cool, we got almost no rain. In June. In Oregon. We also seemed to have clear weather whenever we really needed it.

But I’m ahead of myself….

Day One:

I’ve been a little concerned about this summer’s first PCT trip. Tricia is 17 years old now. She has an occasional teenage attitude. Some of that is normal (and honestly, with her, it’s really, really slight). But some has come also from the pressure of this just-finished year in high school. Her junior year has pushed her hard. Or maybe it’s better to say that she’s pushed herself hard. She’s driven, very smart, and she’s a perfectionist (she gets that last one from her mom). The school year's pressure has erupted now and then, compounding her teenagehood.

As examples, her schedule included two Advanced Placement classes. Also, she loves her place playing trumpet in band. She’s an officer in Associated Student Body (which is a full on class; it meets before "normal" school). She does stats for basketball in that season and runs track when it's time for that (she pole vaults and, like me when I was her age, does the 300 low hurdles). And her grades! Wow. She gets an  occasional A; all the rest are A+.

We’re incredibly proud of her, but we’ve also been worried. She’s been exhausted half the time. And the other half (it seems) she’s been gone on school activities (as just one example, her Academic Decathlon team made the California State finals, resulting in a long weekend in Sacramento). Vicki and I have been worried about her pace, her lack of free time, and her level of exhaustion. But when we’ve tried to get her to slow down, she’s looked at us like we’re nuts. She likes and loves all of the things she’s doing.

Anyway, all this work, all this “push” has left her occasionally moody and sometimes hard to be around during the school year. My background concern about this PCT trip has centered on Tricia. How much of her attitude has been “teenager,” and how much the result of pushing herself so hard? Would she be difficult to be around or her usual incredible self? Would she even want to go on the PCT at all this year?

Answers started days before our departure. Tricia was amazing. Of course we were going on the PCT (she has a trail to finish!). She had all of her gear packed and ready a day ahead of time. And then, the day before our start, she and Vicki did all of the family shopping and packing! Things were looking good

The drive to Oregon was long. We allowed two days, one into central Oregon and then another to get almost to Mount Hood. During the whole two days, Tricia was great to be around. In short, it seems that my pre-trip “concerns” were pretty much unjustified. (And now what about her senior year as it approaches? Can we slow her down even just a little? Should we? Is it true that senior years are a little less intense than junior years? I guess that we’ll enjoy summer vacation and then deal with those questions.)

For us, enjoyment of summer vacation includes, of course, the PCT. Our first day, northwest of Mount Hood, starts at Lolo Pass, exactly where we left off before:







Our hike leads immediately back into forest. We enjoy the movement but hope for occasional views. And we get them in one quarter mile, passing under a huge belt of transmission lines:







We also get close-up views, including whole banks of rhododendrons. These are wild, very pretty, and all over the place. I include a photo of them for these reasons, and, because, down where we left the highway this morning, at the town of Zig Zag, there is also the town of Rhododendron:




A few open escarpments have other flowers:




But we’re more hopeful about vistas. Hiking up here is dominated by forest-marching, but when there’s a view, it can be just “wow.” Today’s "new" views start with this: Mount Adams, well into Washington. This trip will end just northwest of there. We’re pretty keen on seeing (basically) our trip’s end point after only one half mile of hiking (the last shot is extreme telephoto):










Views back south to Mount Hood don’t get old:







On this day we met several fellow-hikers. These included another father/daughter team. In their case, he’s 80 years old and she’s 54. Like us they’re doing the whole trail in pieces. After this summer they’ll be down to just 600 PCT miles left, which they intend (just like us) to do next summer. We really enjoyed visiting with these two. We’d have liked to have more time, but they were headed south and we north. So on we went:




Next in line for an opening in the trees and a “volcanic view” was this flat topped mountain (Saint Helens):







More forest hiking followed (pretty easy stuff, mostly level, shaded and cool):







And then, for the first time, we saw this behemoth, the third of three Washington state volcanos that are visible from this northern-Oregon part of the PCT. Yep, Mount Rainier itself. The peak is so big that, even though it’s 60 or 90 miles further north from Adams, the two looked to be literally the same size from our southern perspective (Rainier is to the left in the second photo):







Tricia was happy and really up today. Loving the hike, glad to be back on the trail and just fun to hang with:







Proper foot maintenance:




Finally, nearing the end of the day, our “Sound of Music” trail section for this part of the trip. Rounding the north end of Indian Mountain we got views of most of the western Columbia River basin as well as of all three of the Washington biggies (in the second shot below, left to right, Mounts Saint Helens, Rainier, and Adams):













The day ended with three more miles of easy hiking back down into the forest (good about the “easy” - I for one was getting tired):




To one more leg-stretcher; a full quarter mile up a railroad-tie terraced hillside to reach the car-camping campground at Wahtum Lake (where, of course, Vicki was waiting):




Once again, we were back on the trail. We'd made an excellent start, and predictions for the next days were of more good weather.

[Brad Young]

Day Two:

In spite of predictions, mountains make their own weather. The “cloudy” part of the trip theme started on this day. We woke up to cold conditions. Actually it seemed that we were in the clouds, with mist and slight sprinkles:










It was all OK though, we just put on our “woolies” (as Vicki calls them - even though they’re mostly not of wool any more), and got ready to go:




The early part of the day was cold, damp and dark (everything we don’t prefer - we are, after all, Californians!):




Large parts of the forest here burned in 2017. Hiking in these conditions, in the burned areas, was like walking through a graveyard:







Eventually it started to clear:










As we continued, the trail started down. Although we couldn’t see any distance, we had a rough idea where we were, and knew that down had to mean that we’d come to the edge of “The Gorge.” No, not the Owens, and not the Red. In these parts, “The Gorge” is the Columbia River Gorge. And it is big.

Our first view came through burned trees. It was barely an “appetizer:”




An occasional clear ridge-spur allowed better views:













A long, long traversing descent followed. Mostly through trees (lotsa trees):




Dry Creek was large enough to be bridged (and isn’t ever dry):




We were closing in now on the town of Cascade Locks. About a quarter mile up from the trailhead there we ran into this lady:




She hiked with us slowly into civilization, under Highway 84:













(Notice the PCT sign on the concrete overpass pillar in that last shot.)

We continued into town and almost, almost to the Bridge of the Gods (that’s the bridge's south-end toll station in the third photo):










And then we stopped. The Bridge of the Gods is famous (well, at least PCT famous). It spans the Columbia River (the biggest river that the trail crosses). It leads from Oregon into Washington (state three of three). And the gorge and the bridge are right at the lowest point on the whole 2,650 mile trail (the trail’s very lowest point is just off the north end of the bridge, at 140 feet above sea level).

We’d been looking forward to this crossing for almost a year. Tired and dirty today, we’d planned a short day tomorrow during which we could really enjoy the whole event.

For now we headed back to camp (which Vicki had set up for us at Wyeth, just to the east):

[JC w KC redux]

Good installment.
Vicki is a saint.
Dude - that wasn't like a graveyard - it was! 

Now as for this Bridge of the Gods thing...

[Brad Young]

Vicki is a saint.

Careful, her sister reads this!

Dude - that wasn't like a graveyard - it was! 

Interesting way of looking at it. I can't argue either.

[Brad Young]

Day Three:

We learned a bit about the Bridge of the Gods while we were hanging out in Cascade Locks. To start with, the name might not be as pretentious as it sounds (I mean really, “of the Gods”). The structure is named after a perhaps-mythical natural bridge that formed thousands of years ago over the Columbia River. The short version is that the sides of the river gorge collapsed, dammed the river and created a huge inland lake. After time the river eroded through the blockage, leaving a huge natural bridge ("the Bridge of the Gods"). This bridge lasted for many, many decades or centuries before then-intense volcanic activity caused a collapse.

This story is a prominent part of Native American stories. Geologists doubt it was possible.

Either way, we were going to walk across the more recent one into Washington today. The morning was cool and cloudy (again). But we weren’t going far and so jeans and sandals as "hiking" clothes would do.

Pedestrians walk against the west edge of the bridge. Surprisingly there’s no walking lane at all:



















The bridge decking is actually just steel grates (I’m not sure they’d build them that way nowadays):













I suspect that one particular reader of this thread will highly recognize those whitecaps and the breezy, cold conditions  

And... there’s the state of Washington (no drama, but very very pleasing):







Vicki and the four-legged girls came across next:







The PCT goes left:







Now in Washington, we spent some time doing a reconnaissance, including driving through the Washington state town of Stevenson, and checking out some dirt roads that we thought might lead to an end-point for the day (they were pretty convoluted, but they worked). Then a few more miles of hiking led to an easy place to get on and off the trail (in this case under some power lines; the power-line road let us get on and off with some easy walking):






















Although we didn’t go very far on this day, all three of us really enjoyed the hike and were very happy to be into our "last state.”

[F4?]

Nice job, so close to Mr Muds place.

[Brad Young]

Nice job, so close to Mr Muds place.

He only lives 40 miles from the PCT at Snoqualmie Pass. Compared to us at 56 miles at Sonora Pass.

But we won't make it quite that far this season. Next July?

[mungeclimber]

Getting in WA has to feel good.  That burn I think is where Tim eeked out a crossing before they closed it.

[clink]

Thanks for bringing us along with you, by this again captivating sharing of your PCT journey. It feeds the soul.

[Brad Young]

Day Four:

Naturally day four started right where day three ended. The power-line road got us quickly back to the trail (after a short, but convoluted drive up from town):




Today’s hike may have been the “gloomiest” of the trip. Deep forests and heavy clouds as we climbed up and then around Table Mountain. We got one view of Bonneville Dam:




But overall, our “views” for the first half of the day consisted of the Greenleaf Creek Bridge:







And lots of dark forest:







We ran into two locals who were also on this trail today. In the deep, dark forest, on a very cloudy day. We first heard them on switchbacks above. Mostly though we heard their music. Although I distinctly and totally despise bothering other people with music as one hikes, I have to admit that here, at least, their music choice was the right one. We hiked parts of this dark, forested trail to the blaring sounds of the Lord of the Rings movie soundtrack.

Finally, halfway through the day we broke out onto a talus slope. We got sunshine and views. Unfortunately, the views were only of the clearcut, south slopes of Hamilton Canyon:







But as we gained the rest of over 3,000 feet of elevation for the day, the views improved (the guidebook really pisses about this gain, which is followed by a descent and then other big gains and drops, all putting a hiker 750 feet higher in elevation than the Bridge of the Gods (which is 12 road-miles away) after 30 miles of trail.

Table Mountain and the Columbia River Gorge:




A broader view of that gorge:




We got some alpine terrain with wonderful flowers:










And then, inevitably, came to some clearcut crossings:







The trail then took us gently downhill to Road 2000, where (no surprises) Vicki was waiting (this shot is possibly my favorite of the whole trip).




While we hiked, Vicki had moved us to Beaver Campground in the next drainage to the northeast. We headed off (with dinner in town on the way) for the first of three nights camping there.

[Brad Young]

Getting in WA has to feel good....

Oh yeah: "and... there’s the state of Washington (no drama, but very very pleasing)."

[Brad Young]

Day Five:

Washington state seems to be wetter than California. At least the western third of the state does. At Beaver Campground we saw something that I’ve never seen in our state; the camp tables were not only growing moss, they were growing actual plants:







Still, it was a quiet and comfortable place. We got back out to Road 2000 in good time in the morning, ready to start (again) in cool and cloudy conditions:













There wasn’t much that was unique about the hike. A few pretty creeks, and one view of a really big mountain (why does it appear bigger the farther north we get?):
















The dogs loved the trail tread (always cool and almost always soft):




It didn’t take long before we were closing in on our end-point for the day at Trout Creek (Vicki started up to meet us from there):

[Brad Young]

Day Six:

This may have been our easiest day of hiking on this trip (well, excluding the very short Bridge of the Gods Day). The first half was level to slightly downhill, skirting Bunker Hill, a feature that stands by itself in a wide, level part of the Wind River Valley:










The Wind River, like most of the significant drainages in this area, is bridged. And the bridges are really high above the water (which leads me to believe that, on occasion, the bridges are not all that high above the water):










The name “Wind River Highway” sounds so much better than “Forest Road 30.” Either way, that was our next waypoint (Beaver Campground is on this road, just north of the PCT):




On this day I really appreciated this girl, our almost 10 year old Charlotte. I’d met another 10 year old retriever back at camp who, to say the least, was not in the same excellent health as our girl. I’m hoping we get at least six more years out of her (and I think about enjoying my time with her whenever she’s out with us):







Crossing Panther Creek marked the last of the day's easy hiking. Right across the bridge we started a major, major uphill (2,200 feet). Repeated hills like this make it easy to understand why this part of the PCT has a reputation for big ups and downs, even though it is at low elevation (from the Columbia River to this point is all under 3,500 feet):







We finally got up to the ridge-top. From there our “Vicki” point was just a mile and a half away, where Road 68 and the PCT meet on the west-most end of Big Huckleberry Mountain. It made a good pick-up point:

[JC w KC redux]

Table Mountain, Bonneville Dam, Bunker Hill, Wind River...funny how names get re-used between states - those names get around - as do the three of you! Looks like a pretty mellow trip so far with lots more good memories and time spent 

[Brad Young]

Table Mountain, Bonneville Dam, Bunker Hill, Wind River...funny how names get re-used between states - those names get around...

So true. On this trip we also saw Blue Lake, Bear Lake, Junction Lake. All of those names are also used in Yosemite and nearby. Sawtooth Mountain has a twin with the Sawtooth Ridge on the north edge of Yosemite.

Reminds me of some climbing route names. "A Farewell to Arms" seems to be found at every other climbing area. Kinda glad we don't have one named that at Pinnacles.

[F4?]

Great name for a route...Farewell to Fingers!!

It’s the pinnacles, fingers go 1st versus arms.

[Brad Young]

Great name for a route...Farewell to Fingers!!

It’s the pinnacles, fingers go 1st versus arms.

Actually, I like that. It seems like a lot smarter name than one that's been way over-used.

[Brad Young]

Day Seven:

Today dawned clear and blue. It was cold too. We cleaned up at Beaver Campground and headed back up Road 68. I expected cool-to-cold forest hiking today. We got that, but we also had two real treats where the forest opened up, high on ridges.

Before hiking we warmed up a bit in the sun:







We then walked uphill in the forest. Viewless, until we got this nice view of Hood to the south:




And Three Corners Rock (from three days ago) to the southwest:




In a few short places the forest opened up to flowered, meadowy areas:




But these views were just good. We stopped for some food and water at three miles. Tricia saw an open section of ridge top just off the trail that gave us a really spectacular view:













Just past Big Huckleberry Mountain we got our second spectacular view of the day, Mount Adams to the northeast:













These are such wonderful mountains to see from on high. Although 98% of today’s hike was in deep forest, the views we got (plus the milage we were making toward a goal) made this day just wonderful.

We finished through the forest to meet Vicki at Crest Horse Camp, on Forest Road 60. Cold, with lots of mosquitos, it still made a fine home for the night:

[Brad Young]

Day Eight:

On our eighth day we continued due north through the full length of oddly-named Indian Heaven Wilderness:







By this point the trail has returned to about the elevation at which we started (4,000 feet). Up this high, Halifax could thoroughly enjoy residuals from the just-passed winter (Charlotte, who turns 10 years old this summer, got a rest day today):










Although skies were cloudy, we got some views of the big volcanoes. But these were obscured by clouds and they are just so big that it's hard to gauge forward progress using them as markers. Not so with closer landmarks though. This shot shows Red Mountain which came into view and then faded all in the course of one day (as Tricia said with deep sarcasm, "wow, how did they come up with that name"):




We encountered some rare, open forest areas today. And meadows and lakes:







Blue Lake and Gifford Peak:




Junction Lake:




Mount Saint Helens put in a fairly close appearance:







About mid-day we reached the highest elevation we'd get to on this trip. At just over 5,000 feet elevation we started seeing a fair amount of snow (nothing though compared to what our fellow PCT hikers are seeing in the Sierra):










Mount Adams again (it's getting closer):




We both loved these oldest-of-old style PCT signs (calling the trail a "trail-system"). They're probably from the late 1960s, when the newly conceived Pacific Crest Trail was still just a not-quite-connected patchwork of already-existing paths:




After a long, but easy day of hiking we reached more open forest near Road 24. Located here are very big fields of huckleberry (The "Sawtooth Huckleberry Fields," named for nearby Sawtooth Mountain). These are very well known berry-fields and have been used by locals for literally centuries.

Vicki met us here (after her own "adventure," a series of events that show that she doesn't always have the "easy" part of these trips):













Vicki's "adventure" is worth a further explanation. It starts with maps. While we are hiking, we use the "Half-Mile" maps. These are free on-line and very detailed. For area navigation (including Vicki's drives to meet us), we use what we call the "Strip Maps." The Strip Maps show the trail in long lengths, together with the terrain for about four miles to either side of it. The Strip Maps have been very helpful for general planning:




Vicki's adventure starts with the northern part of the Strip Map for this part of Washington (from Crest Horse Camp to Surprise Lakes Indian Camp):




It's easy to see on this map the quickest way for Vicki to progress north from Crest Horse Camp to our next meeting place at Road 24, near Surprise Lakes Indian Camp. Go west, then north on the obvious road, and then cut east again and voila!

One problem though. What's obvious sometimes skips what's almost as obvious.

This sign was Vicki's first indication that something wasn't quite right:




Now keep in mind that Vicki's done some crazy drives on these trips in order to meet us. And there hadn't been any crazy driving yet on this trip; "back roads" in this part of Washington are remarkably good.

Except this one. Vicki continued another "4.5 Miles." And yeah, the road was closed. Really closed. She looked at the Strip Map. And noticed that we'd missed a "small-print" detail:




Oh crap, this road is closed for sure. The bridge is out. So out that it's actually marked on the map. Now what?

Luckily, even though we've been married for 197 years, Vicki and I communicate fairly well (actually maybe that communication is why we've been married so long). Although the "obvious" way to drive was to the west and then north, we'd also discussed extensively what was to the east.

Vicki looked at the maps again.

To the east is the town of Trout Lake (nope, no lake there at all). Trout Lake is 18 miles east of where we'd last stayed, at Crest Horse Camp. And from Trout Lake? Well, according to the Strip Map, road 24 (our intended pick-up point) also connected to Trout Lake.

Alright. Into reverse. A 24 point turn in order to get back from the "out" bridge. And backtrack 18 miles to the start point. Through Trout Lake (a tiny town where, however, she found a huckleberry latte) and back north. Will it go?

It did.

All we knew on our end is that, when we got near the end of the day's hike, Vicki was there. The adventure story came later.

It wasn't just that she'd done the drive and met us either. She'd found a wonderful, open and viewful "bandit" camp among the huckleberry fields and set up camp (all before hiking out to meet us):







A very relaxing and fun afternoon/evening followed while we regrouped for tomorrow, the last day's hike on this highly, highly successful, first-of-the-year PCT trip:

[F4?]

Can you mark where Mr Mud's house is on the map to give us some perspective?

Some of us don't know the state of Washington well (and why would I, since I live in California!).