On the Trail Again

I got about 3 hours of sleep last night as I had a full day of work and life stuff and didn’t get around to packing and cleaning up my condo for Airbnb guests until 11 pm! Phew. 3:30 am panic wake up in case I missed my alarm, then 4:00 am alarm to drag my tired booty to the airport. Don’t think. Just do.

I had secured a Seattle trail angel to drive me to Chinook Pass, which is about 2 hours from the airport and 17 miles south of where Red Stripe ended her day yesterday. 

I am joining my dearest hiking friend, Red Stripe, as she attempts her triple crown hike on the PCT Sobo (Pacific Crest Trail Southbound).

[Triple Crown = thru-hiking all 3 major scenic trails >2k miles in the U.S.: AT, CDT, PCT].

Red Stripe made it about 75% of the way on the PCT Nobo (northbound) 2 years ago, but had to get off due to illness. 

This time, this girl is CRUISING! She is throwing down 30+ mile days, hiking until dark most days. It’s going to be tough to jump in and keep up with her, but I’m just grateful for any trail miles we can share together. I’ve known Red Stripe for 6 years now, as we met hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2018. She was the ONLY other woman in her 30s I met on the entire trail that year. We insta-bonded and she’s been a dear friend and steady source of love and friendship ever since. In 2019, during my divorce summer, we thru-hiked (fast packed?!) the Colorado Trail together. In 2021, I hiked a section of her CDT thru hike with her. 

Getting back on trail feels good, but I’m worried I’m relying too heavily on the Arizona hiking in March for fitness and preparation (as I’ve not worn my pack at all since then). I know I’ll have different issues because the terrain is different in Washington/Oregon. I’m worried primarily about my feet (blisters and general swelling/soreness), mosquitoes (there were ZERO bugs on the AZT), and wildfires (western WA & Oregon are in flames…). The first 175 miles (of this 300 mile adventure) should be fine regarding wildfires. However, we will likely need to pivot when we reach the Oregon border bc there are fires and trail closures all over Oregon.

Generally, I’m going into this hike healthy, although I have some new/unexpected trauma that occurred 2 days ago to work through AND a toe injury. Yesterday, a cabinet organizer fell on my foot and my stove scraper sliced one of my little toes open. It bled for a long time and it’s still in a ton of pain. I have a Band-Aid on it and am hoping for the best.

Sometimes, I do not know what to do, but my body does. I will trust it to know how to handle the unknown.

I messed up my arrival time massively thought I would be landing at 10:30 am. Well.. that was central time. I landed at 8:30 am Pacific Time. My trail angel lives pretty far from the airport, so she ended up picking me up at 10:00 am. During our two hour drive, I was trying to engage in conversation while also figure out my Garmin Inreach Mini 2. I couldn’t troubleshoot why it was draining battery so quickly. In response, I went on a battery saving setting frenzy on my iPhone. I had a lot of issues learning my new Garmin Inreach device, but I think I grappled the basics. Sleep deprivation likely played a role in my inability to engage energetically in conversation while also trying to read, learn, and problem solve my emergency communication device…

My "Why"…

I am training for a 100 mile race on my birthday in September. I got off the waitlist and into the race at the beginning of summer and have had myriad setbacks to my "training cycle." Getting time on trail, miles on my feet, and exercising my agility muscle (of pivoting when things inevitably don't go according to plan) is my main "why" for this hike. I am out of practice with the rollercoaster of trail highs and lows, and know that the more time out here, the stronger I will be both physically and mentally going into Run Rabbit Run 100.

Day 1: 13.4 miles hiked. Parking Lot at Chinook Pass — NoBo 5 mi — back to parking lot — 3 more miles to Dewey Lake. 

I started hiking from the Chinook Pass TH north to intercept Red Stripe. At first, it was HOT, and I regretted starting with my rain jacket. The rain basically stopped and it was warm so I took it off. However, a mile or two later, it began to get colder and rain again, so I put my rain jacket back on. It got soaked pretty quickly and it kept getting colder and colder. I was also going down hill. I stopped under a tree where it wasn’t raining as much to putt on my puffy jacket, gloves, hat, and gortex mitten liners. I was shivering at this point.

My rain jacket was soaked through, my base layers were wet from earlier when it was too hot to wear the jackets, and now my puffy was getting wet. De ja vu… 

Eventually, after 5 miles of gorgeous drippy, foggy, flowery Washington hiking, I turned a bend and saw Red Stripe! I yelled at her and we excitedly stopped for a quick moment but pressed on, now, sobo. I had hiked exactly 5 miles north to find her. she was with a new trail friend, Karma, and they had decided on 8 more miles (which would be a 26 mile day for them!).

Tomorrow, we planned on a 26 mile day to a resupply convenience store (“Kracker Barrel”) right on trail at White Pass.

The three of us hiked together all the way to the parking lot I was dropped off at hours before. The rain was on and off, but because we were going uphill when we turned around, I warmed up again and began to shed my hat and gloves.

We took cover under a tiny awning at the pit toilets in the parking lot. karma chatted up some friendly day hikers in the parking lot and they offered us some melon and peaches! YUM!

After the parking lot, we had one more up and down until we finally arrived at a little camping area by a lake at 6:30 pm. It was still rainy, but it got quite a bit colder than earlier. ALL of my clothes were wet! I luckily still had some long Johns and a wool long sleeve in my pack and stripped down to put on a dry base layer.

The mosquitos were bad so I quickly set up my tent and lit some incense. 

I cooked beans and rice, added some flavor spices and salt, burned my tongue slightly, and snuggled in my sleeping bag, still feeling pretty wet and much colder than I would’ve liked…

Luckily, I was so tired, so sleep was not an issue and I passed out at 8:45 pm.

Day 2: Dewey Lake to Kracker Barrel at white pass 26 miles 

We planned an early start, so I set my alarm for 4:15 AM. I slept so soundly and well and didn’t wake up at all during the night with cold or aches and pains like I have in the past. That was my least cold night in memory as every single night on the Arizona Trail, and the Ozark Highland Trail in Arkansas were significantly colder than last night. I took my time in the morning, gathering my things for the day and packing up my wet tent. I put my rain fly on the outside of my pack in hopes that it might dry while I was walking. 

The three of us hit the trail at 5 AM with Red Stripe in front, and we flew! She set such a strong pace and I was proud to keep up with her! The first seven or so miles of the day were still in drippy forest and very foggy conditions, but it wasn’t raining. 

Finally, we saw sunshine, and savored the rays beaming through the trees, burning off the clouds. We walked through the most beautiful transition from cloud forest to sunny mountainside. One of the things I love about hiking, is the pace is slow enough that you can really observe and treasure the small moments in between big transformations that you might otherwise miss. This transition from rainy and cold to sunny and glorious, was momentary and precious.

We pressed on and I took a turn leading the way. Eventually, around 10:00 AM, we reached a beautiful stream and we decided to take a break to eat some snacks and celebrate our “10 before 10”achievement. However, not only was it 10 before 10, we had hiked 12.5 miles before 10:00 AM! We were halfway done with our day! The miles just seemed to pass. And the elevation game for the remainder of the day was much more gentle than the earlier parts. 

We had been hearing horror stories about the bugs and mosquitoes for this next section rolling into White Pass. But, perhaps the cold rain somehow calmed them down…? I wrapped my rain jacket around my legs, but it wasn’t unbearable. We enjoyed our snack break as I watched mosquitoes land on my permethrin soaked shoes and walk around, completely undeterred.

Leaving that stream, I somehow dropped Red Stripe and Karma and was on my own. I slowed down the pace a little bit, hoping they would catch me and also just to give myself the gift of a little slowness. 

As the day wore on and the sun was now completely shining without a hint of a cloud, I begin to feel pretty warm. I upped my water intake, which increased my pee frequency, and I noticed I was starting to get a little headache. I began to feel a little bonky, and I recognized this feeling as an imbalance in electrolytes, especially considering how frequently I was peeing out the water. I was glad we would be rolling into a store this evening so I could get some electrolytes and pick up some salty snacks to add to my food bag and body.

It is such a wonderful thing to be with Red Stripe again! She and I have been through a lot together over the years and I feel so lucky to have gotten to share so much of my hiking life with her. I am also the only person who has hiked with her on all three of the scenic trails as she hoes for her triple crown this year! She is feeling good and hiking so strong. I’m in awe and inspired by her resilience and strength. This is Karma‘s first thru hike and it is fun to experience the miles through her eyes. I remember thinking similarly to how she is in the first hundreds of miles of the Appalachian Trail. It is also really heartwarming to watch Red Stripe act maternal and nurturing to Karma as she checks in on her and asks about snacks and how her feet are doing regularly. I also love to see how Karma looks up to Red Stripe as a wise, experienced, strong thru hiker to aspire to keep up with.

The day was beautiful, the forest, green and vibrant, and I am so thankful to my body and for the life I have built for myself to be able to be out here, forest bathing here in Washington on the PCT.

We stopped for lunch around 1:00 pm / 18ish miles at Pipes Lake. There have been SO many lakes, and some are more like mosquito-y ponds. This one was pretty and it had a very sunny area where we dried our stuff out.

I got into the lake up to my shins to cool off and clean my feet a little. We sat, chatted, let things dry out, and realized we only had about 7.5 mostly downhill miles until the coveted Kracker Barrel (gas station/hiker-friendly resupply spot). I didn’t need to resupply as I had just started yesterday, but still looked forward to amenities!

We left the lake and said Kracker Barrel or bust!

I charged up and up and up. I was breathing hard and sweating. It was getting hot. I knew I needed salt. I was peeing a lot and bonking.

I marched straight to the gas station and bought 3 bags of chips, and an electrolyte drink. I ate a small bag of Fritos and drank the Powerade (the other chips were for packing out). I began coming back to life. I then ordered some tater tots and they were too salty, so I gave them to Red Stripe. We did laundry together and I retreated to my tent early. I was getting mosquito bites through my rain gear and the place was full of hikers hanging out. I was needing some introvert time, so I laid in my tent and did a little bit of work (reviewing student essays) and then went to sleep around 10:00 pm. Karma and Red Stripe wanted to have a late morning, so I knew we could sleep in.

*Pictures are blurry, but that's the way it is. :/