It is supposed to be unseasonably cold the next week, maybe even snow. I should have known that before I sent my shoes on and committed to walking the rest of the trail in sandals.
Probably should have taken my stove out of my bounce box as well. Hot beverages would have been nice. That down vest that was in there might be missed this week, also.
My son and I head out soon.
Hey from I don’t know where. I left Stehekin on the boat and am camp out in a small hotel room with my son in some small town. Tomorrow we take the boat back to Stehekin and start hiking the last 90 miles together.
I’m worried for a PCT thru-hiker that has failed to show up. His hiking partner has not seen him since Tuesday morning and as of Saturday at 11:00am he was 48 hours late arriving in Stehekin. His wife has not heard from him in a week and a half. Search and rescue has been notified.
I’m at Snoqualmie Pass–mile 2400. Been here for three days now because I don’t want to go out in the rain.
I have been slow and tired lately so the rest might do me some good.
Very few huckleberries have been ripe, and that has been a great disappointment.
Lots of hikers here. Many talking of failures from their light weight tents. I remember last year it raining really hard and me and my gear getting really wet too. That’s the thing about single wall sil-nylon tents– they are great until it rains really hard and then you realize how crappy they truly are.
It is going to be a mass exodus once the weather breaks.
I bought two new pairs of Fox River socks in Wrightwood about 1900 miles ago and even though I hardly ever wash the dirt out of them and I wear them with sandals, they are showing no wear….. Those are some good socks. I think one pair is the WICK DRY® OFF ROAD QTR and the other is the WICK DRY® ENDEAVOR QTR.
I would buy these socks again.
Okay, it’s morning and I should be back on the trail. Instead, I’m sitting in the apartment, drinking coffee, and reading stuff on the Internet.
It’s cloudy and cool out. If it starts to rain it will be very hard to get moving.
I went shopping for a new backpack and almost bought an Osprey44. It weighs 2lbs 7 oz. I put 35lbs in it and it carried it pretty decently.
For now though I think I will revert to my repaired Mountainsmith Ghost and my son can use the duct taped Mountainsmith CDT when he joins me in Stehkin.
I went shopping for new shoes because my running shoes are like hiking in slippers when I hit snow… But I’m having trouble parting with a 100 dollars to try out a new pair of shoes that may or may not work for me.
Maybe I will just buy a pair of lightweight instep crampons. I had a pair in the Sierras that weighed 6oz, but I lost them on one of the passes.
I still have to resupply–I guess there is a store around here somewhere in this maze.
After pulling myself out of the comfort of the motel in Sisters, I successfully hitched backed to the trail. Just as I was passing the trail to the parking area, a guy introduces himself to me and says he is doing trail magic and asks if I need anything. I say, “No, I have lots of everything.” Then he says, “Did you see the sign warning about conditions ahead?” I follow him down to the parking lot and there is a laminated sign that says something like,
“ATTENTION HIKERS–the trail past Santiam Pass is treacherous and should not be attempted without crampons! PCT thru-hikers should hitch to Lolo Pass.”
There was no date, no phone and no indication of who posted the sign
Just then a section hiker who was finishing up his hike appears and says, “I’m going that way. I can take you to Lolo Pass if you want.” So, I took the ride and skipped 100 some miles of trail.
Back on the trail at Lolo Pass I meet other hikers who hiked through and they said it was snowy but definitely doable. I felt duped.
Skipping took the fire out of my hike. Which isn’t a totally bad thing..there may have been a little to much fire in my hike any way. After I got back to the trail, I just hiked a little bit and then sat down and watched Mt. Hood and ate away at my now overly supplied food bag.
The next day I slept in till 10:30 am I took long breaks during the day, laying in the woods looking at the sun shine through the vine maples for hours.
Now, I’m in Portland hanging out at my son’s and future daughter-in-laws place. They live in a swanky downtown apartment building that serves free good coffee all day long in the lobby. I met a guy in the elevator with a carbon fiber bike that says it is so light they had to put weights on it.
There is a North Face shop in the building and an REI a few blocks away. Might check out some gear while I’m here. My Mountainsmith Ghost got here yesterday and is now repaired. I’m going to see if REI sewers can repair my Mountainsmith CDT.
Be back on the trail soon.