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09/01/02
August is gone. Hello September.
Cheddarhead reported that there was a large cat in camp last night. I slept out, but didn't hear the growling he heard. If it was a mountain lion, I guess it was just curious. I woke up to a wet bag from the cloudy/misty thing it does here in Washington. I, for a change, was the first one out of camp.

We had some climbing today into the Goat Rocks Wilderness, which should be called the Goat Rocks Wilderness and Elk Hunting Grounds.

Today has been a mixture of finding bliss in nature and horror in humans. Both have me a little overwhelmed.
Early today we ran across a grown man covered in a camouflage outfit and sporting a smudged face and hunting bow. He tried to hide from us, but we saw him. He claimed he'd seen 14 elk this morning. Presumably he couldn't get close enough to kill them since he wasn't dragging a string with elk on it behind him.
This guy did not seem like a smart monkey. He was a grumpy monkey. I don't think he was grumpy because he didn't have enough food.

I then passed three more bow hunters. Earlier, Flutterby reported she'd seen another single elk bow hunter. I said to the trio, " Wow! With all the elk hunters, there should be no elk left by the end of the weekend." This trio had the full camo gear too.
During a break, I expressed some general disgust with hunters and hunting. Max claimed that some people hunt for food, while others hunt for sport. He could agree with my disgust when hunters were doing it for sport.
I mulled as I hiked through the day. I eat meat. I guess I would hunt if I had to do it to get meat, but I still don't think hunting is right. I decided that I'm an idealistic, simplistic dreamer. I don't like facing the reality that the animals I eat were killed so that I could eat them.

Then the day turned lovely. The sky was still overcast and cloudy; we even had our raingear on on because we needed it. But the Goat Rocks Wilderness was amazing anyway. Perhaps it was even more lovely because of the clouds. And the flowers. Pictures are better than words:

Our destination for the day was a shelter, but I came across the group, who had passed me during the course of the day, at a very nice campsite. The rain/mist had stopped, and things were looking up. The sun never made it out to help dry our bags, so we used a campfire to carefully dry them out.

Max in grape, Bug in red, Flutterby in purple. Cheddarhead is in the background.

Since it's Labor Day weekend, we've seen lots of people. Some neighbors that Bug and Max had talked to earlier showed up. They had their extra food that Bug had asked for. Both he and Max were short for this leg. The two guys took off, and the five of us cooked and visited. We'd gotten into this nice camp way early, so we had time to make a fire and sit around it.

Then two men showed up, with a huge rifle. They were bear hunters who'd flown to Washington for their expedition. Everybody started talking to them and asking them questions about bear hunting. I was very uncomfortable, but tried to go with the flow. Max was checking out the rifle, looking through the site, and asking questions. I didn't know what to make of it.

They finally put the gun down. But they kept on talking about hunting. The hunters claimed that they were out of their element and described the challenges in hunting bear. They claimed they were dumb monkeys. Then they pulled out their night vision goggles, which cost $250. Clearly these men did not want for food. These smart, well-paid environmental consultants seemed to me to be well-equipped smart monkeys hunting down a bear that doesn't even know what a monkey is. All the poor bear knows is huckleberries and grub.
Nobody else seemed to be bothered by the power these men had to destroy a bear.
Flutterby's father and brother brought home deer. Max is from Montana where they always had elk in the freezer. Cheddarhead is from Wisconsin where I guess hunting goes on. My world now and growing up has not involved hunting at all. It has always been a foreign, barbaric thing. Now, I'm the odd man out as the six of them sit around talking about skinning, butchering, and hauling the meat.
Bug asked, "What do you get out of hunting?" I took that question to come from my side of the bullpen.
I went into my tent. One of the bear hunters went to their camp to retrieve some food. He had Blueberry Cheesecake and Sweet & Sour Chicken for four. The conversation continued as they prepared and ate the freeze-dried food.

09/02/02
The sky cleared during the night and dawn revealed more of the glory that is the Goat Rocks Wilderness. It was the first night on this trip that I'd slept in a tent. It turns out I didn't need it, but I didn't want to chance another night of dew that would leave me with a damp bag. I like to be warm when I sleep.
As we left camp, we stepped into a morning of amazing hiking. As the trail made its way up, the views opened up. The ground was thick with purple lupine dotted with orange, yellow, and white flowers. I saw more and more larkspur too.
The area leading up to Old Snowy Mountain was just the beginning. At some point, rather suddenly, I got a shocking view of Mt. Rainier to the north. The morning light made the snow seem fresh. At the same time Upper Lake Creek canyon opened up below me.

	Looking back from where I came.
	Mt. Rainier behind Upper Lake Creek canyon in the morning.

I hiked around the deep glacial canyon, making my way across the longest snowfield since the Sierra and toward a ridge.
And what a ridge it was: it went on and on, and the trail was right on top of it. I was not sure it was the PCT. Sure, Flutterby and Cheddarhead's prints led me forward and the tread had that well-worn PCT feeling, but written description was rather empty on the page compared to what I was seeing. With Upper Lake Creek canyon on my left, McCall basin and environs on my right, and only the spine of the ridge for walking, I would think that the Book of Lies would describe it a more, since this was a distinctive and very unmarked part of the trail.

That's the trail on the left.

I made it through, finding the landmark from the map on the trail; a sharp turn east, near Elk Pass. At about the same time, I saw Cheddarhead and Flutterby far below. We were close enough to yelp back and forth. Then I went down, down, down into lots more flowers and greenness in this volcanic landscape scoured by glaciers. We had done 8 miles by lunch. We were slowed by the terrain, gawking, and taking photographs.

Flutterby, Cheddarhead and Bug tempted me with an out to White Pass, our destination for the day. This Flutterby-alternate-route had the same number of miles to Highway 12, if you didn't hitch when you got to the first road, which, of course, they would. The PCT had 2,000 feet of elevation gain and loss to get to the same destination. I chose the PCT, having mulled my choice earlier in Washington to hitch the road walk alternate route from Stevenson.

I set off alone. I was soon rewarded for my choice with the company of Blackhawk and Strawberry Girl. We walked and talked about our dreams for better lives and a better planet.

The three of us arrived at White Pass to join the four of them,- the Max had been ahead all day - at the Kracker Barrel. [On our way down the ski area, I was looking to the left at Strawberry enjoying herself on a swing. I stepped into a trench and fell flat on my face across it. I could only laugh. I don't know how I came out of that without a scratch.]

We got our boxes and scrounged dinner from the store. The restaurant's only open in the winter. A room or two was definitely in order. The hotel allowed no more than four people per room, which has a triple bunk and a queen-sized bed.

Max on top, Bug in the middle, Cheddarhead on the bottom. Strawberry Girl is crashed on the bed on Flutterby's legs.

So between the two rooms we had seven people, only Blackhawk and Strawberry Girl had a room to themselves. They are married, after all. [It turns out this is the night they got pregnant!] So there were five in the room I slept in, with Flutterby and I sharing the big bed. Until Restless showed up. So now there are six of us with Restless on the floor. It's a small room, but it's fun.

When I was hiking with Yogi, I'd actually wished for this kind of hiker pile up. Now I have it.
At this moment, it's raining outside. Bug and Cheddarhead are trying to sleep, I'm in bed journaling, and everyone else is next door watching High Plains Drifter. Somewhere in this hotel Porno and his friend have a room too. We are all considering hitching to breakfast, but I want to get my/our laundry started in the morning, and 8AM is the earliest we can start it.

09/03/02
It was a longer night that I expected because were all packed into the room. I did sleep later than I expected to.

The water of the wash cycle of thru-hiker laundry is a site to behold. Today most everybody threw in essentials for the first load. The water was opaque and dark brown. The soap was nowhere to be seen having been overwhelmed by the dirt. I washed everything twice. The results were good.
I got in on a ride to Packwood that Cheddarhead and Bug had set up. A greasy, mediocre breakfast was the result. I caught a ride back with Porno, who I haven't seen since way, way back, maybe even the kick-off. The ride was a cold one in the back of a white diesel pickup towing a horse trailer.
I'm hanging at the Kracker Barrel waiting to leave with others. Porno took off when we got back.

Cheddarhead, the Max, Strawberry Girl, Blackhawk, and Flutterby: My White Pass Posse minus Bug and Restless Wind.

Now I'm camped with the Max, Restless Wind, Strawberry Girl and Blackhawk near Snow Lake, 10 miles from White Pass. The others are behind us, or still at White Pass. We had another campfire to ward off the cold and dampness.
We are all painfully aware that our hike will be ending soon. We passed the 2300-mile mark today. The trail's 2,658 miles. We should be done in 3 weeks.

09/04/02
Sleeping under the trees last night was a good idea. Strawberry Girl and Black Hawk, the Max, and Restless Wind slept under the open sky in their tents and were covered in a heavy frost in the morning. I had a bit of moisture at the foot of my bag where there was no coverage.
It was a clear, cold morning. When it's very cold, I forget to look at my very inaccurate thermometer (VIT), but it was 44 degrees during our early afternoon break.

I got a glimpse of Mt. Adams to the south and views of Mt. Rainier, at least the lower half that was not in the clouds, to the north.
I had a great talk with Strawberry Girl, Blackhawk, and the Max as we approached Chinook Pass in the Mount Rainier National Park.

On the bridge at Chinook Pass.

On our way we came across two women with two dogs on a search and rescue (SAR). Mark was a missing bow hunter. The SAR command center was at the rest stop at Chinook Pass. As we walked toward the SAR, we asked questions of a man trying to get mobile phone coverage. He wanted to know where we'd come from. "Mexico." He chuckled. "No, were are your vehicles?" he said. "No really. We walked from Mexico." He didn't get it. The question he finally asked was, "Where did you camp last night?"
We laughed to ourselves replaying the conversation as we walked into the SAR, hoping to find a way to reach my friend Sierra, a ranger at Sunrise Visitors Center in Mt. Rainier NP. I knew that I'd be leaving my hiking friends, possibly for the rest of the trail. They felt it too. To delay the parting, everybody hung out as I tried to locate a phone. After a few minutes, the people at the SAR offered us hamburgers, fries, chips, juice and fruit. The others were glad they'd tagged along.

They were actually seeing if it was possible to have dinner at Paradise, an area in the park, and still get back on the trail tonight. It turns out was just too far.

A ranger put me in radio contact with Sierra. Just after everybody else left, Sierra pulled up. It was also about the time the helicopter was trying to find the lost guy on a very nearby peak.
It was great to see Sierra drive up. I know him from the Santa Cruz faerie community. He cut loose from an unpleasant geology job around the time he turned 30 and has been wandering the world for the last couple of years, most recently New Zealand and Australia for 5 months. We headed to Sunrise, another part of the park, where he cooked a good dinner, and I met the other rangers in the housing.
I'm in a warm guest room, full and showered, on a night when it's supposed to snow down to 6,000'.
As for the others who hiked on today, I probably won't see the Max until the border. Blackhawk and Strawberry Girl I'll see at Snoqualmie or Skykomish.

On a gear note, the other stay on my Kelty Flight broke yesterday or today. I'll still don't have the first one replaced. Hopefully Cheddarhead will have it stashed for me near Chinook Pass when they go through tomorrow morning. He was leaving White Pass later than I was and said that he'd pick it up when UPS delivered it.

09/05/02
I woke up to a clear sky view of Mt. Rainier from my warm room. Sierra prepared a great breakfast, then we went on a morning walk up Sourdough Ridge to see the mountains to the north. It was 32 degrees at the start of our walk. We were looking for Mt. Baker, but could only make out Glacier Peak. Soon it was time for Sierra to drive me back to the trail.

Cupcake and Sierra with the shoulder of Mt. Rainier to the left..

The SAR was completely gone, and there was no sign of my backpack stay. I walked on, doing what I do most days when I'm hiking alone: figure out who is where by readinig the footprints. I could tell after a while that Bug (and by association, Flutterby and Cheddarhead) had not yet come through. That explains why my stay was not on the trail. The freshest northbound tracks were Restless Wind's. I figured he'd come through last night because there were deer tracks on top of his distinct Puma footprints. The deer were southbound, for those who want to know.

As I was hiking up from Sheep Lake, I was surprised to see Restless up the next switchback. I soon caught him. He was just going slow, which is why he was behind. He'd seen the deer that laid tracks over his. We had a great talk that extended to lunch. Then he dropped behind while I pushed on. He likes to hike alone.

I didn't see any animals or elk hunters. It was cold all day. At 3PM it was 50 degrees. I had on my fleece hat, liner gloves, and wind jacket most of the day. I was pushing to get to Camp Urich, although I actually wanted to get further than that today. The shelter, one of the very few on the PCT, was everybody's discussed destination for today.

Restless Wind and Strawberry Girl on the porch of Camp Urich.

The cabin at Camp Urich is big and well-built, with a giant wood stove. Blackhawk, Strawberry Girl, and the Max were already there when I arrived. They had a fire going. I settled in, then Gerard showed up. After we saw him in Cascade Locks, he'd gotten off to visit friend in Tacoma. Restless was the final one to the shelter for the night. We all are sleeping in the loft, up with the warmest air.

Today, I thought of my friend Maria in D.C. The exact thought was that she's a star in my life.

09/06/02
I was a raucous night. Somebody was snoring loud. I thought it was Gerad, but it turns out it was the Max. I put my earplugs in for the first time on the trip. I don't think I noticed the rodents when I woke up to put them in, but at some point it seemed like the rodent faucet was turned on. We all had our packs and food hanging. We were no fools. But they still came to see what could be had. I only saw the small ones. They were very cute and sort of bluish, especially in my LED headlamp. I had four near me. The larger ones made themselves be know with loud noises-thunks.

Now that the day is done, I can identify the sound of the large rodents jumping (or whatever they were doing) as the first odd, loud noise of the day. I couldn't do much about the rodent parade, except move what was left of my regular bedside midnight trail mix out of reach. I put it on a candle shelf downstairs when I went out to pee. I then went back to sleep, figuring people have mice-like things crawl on them all the time.

Dawn revealed Government Meadows covered in a thick, crunchy frost. I was first up, so I started the fire. I was the third to start hiking, Gerard and the Max being the first two. And, except for an early navigation error that had the Max backtracking on a logging road, I saw nobody from last night all day. I'm camped alone tonight.
We are in clear cut central:

There's even current clear cutting going on. The trail was rerouted for "PCT Hiker Safety" because they are clearcutting new parts of the PCT, even in 2002. I used my Sharpie to add to the reroute notice: "Stand aside while we rape the forest."

Along the trail there have been signs, usually US Forest Service signs, that indicate what uses are allowed on the PCT: a hiker and an equestrian. These signs are usually a form-like sign to which stickers can be applied. That way they can be used in many different use configurations. Once the signs are in place various things happen to them. In Washington, the most common modification is that the equestrian has been scratched out. In some places, the hiker has been riddled with bullets. Today, I was struck with the urge to add a new use: UFOs. The clear cut landscape is so alien, it seemed appropriate. It also drew me because I wanted to cover a lot of miles today, and dawdling is my first response if alone. I guess I was just Sharpie-happy today.

The blue huckleberries are immense these days. I eat handfuls during the day. I also had some giant salmonberries, but they don't appeal to me much.

GIANT salmonberries.

I was walking this morning with my headphones listening to the La Dolce Vita soundtrack, when, from the outside world, I head the second strange, loud noise of the day: The sound of a tree hitting the ground. It's a strange sound, and today it was preceded, not surprisingly, by the ceasing of a chainsaw.

Here's what they do to the forest in Washington: put in roads and clip it close. Is this someone's idea of pornography?

The crystal-clear morning gave way to more convection clouds which built during the day. The third loud noise of the day was lightning. This, admittedly, was the least strange noise, but the sound of it today, the sound of Washington thunder, was different than California thunder, or even Oregon thunder. It was longer, cracklier, and at times deeper. It rained near me only enough to get the leaves wet but not dripping. I saw it as a reminder that I'm in Washington, and not in charge. That bitch Stella was letting me know she could have all the forces of nature set up on me at any time.

But it wouldn't be today. The clouds looked threatening all day and were dumping rain to the north and east. I was spared all but the morning reminder.

I thought it would clear up, but I don't know Washington weather patterns, so I decided to put up my tent when the day was done. By 9:15 PM all the clouds had cleared. The fly's already damp from dew, so the decision to set up the tent was probably a good one.

The fourth loud, weird noise was from gunfire off in the distance. (I can't say, "I'm getting used to it now.") My Dad had taught me that I should be able to hear the bullets whizzing past my head before I could hear the discharge from the weapon, so I wasn't too worried that some crazed elk-deprived hunter was shooting me. I only heard a few shots.

I'm trying to decide if I should do a sweat lodge on Vashon Island on Sunday.

We had a 14+ mile water alert today that ended in lousy water with many more miles to good water. I guess that's the price of being on the crest.

09/07/02
It turns out it was best to sleep in the tent. I awoke in the clouds, and that means my fly was wet. Because I wanted to get into Snoqualmie Pass early enough to keep my options open, I got up early. Blackhawk and Strawberry Girl, who'd camped less than a mile away, passed me before I finished tearing down camp. Their goal was meeting her uncle at 5 PM at the pass, 22 miles away. I thought I could do it, and then probably get a ride closer to Kent, where Karen lives.

I dropped into the weather station to get much needed water and had a nice chat with the weather observer there, Jacquie.

As the day wore on, the huckleberry and blueberry bushes started to change proportion. There are more blueberries now. I met a dog that picked and ate blueberries, rejecting the huckleberries.

On my hike to the pass, I saw some lovely lakes. It's hard to tell from a map if a lake's going to be a shallow mucky place or a spectacular tarn.
I also got stung by something. It flew between my fleece hat and eye glasses, got stuck, decided it was being attacked, and stung me. I hurt more than anything else on this trip. I took a benadryl and waited to see if I'd need my EpiPen. The EpiPen was not necessary, but it still hurt BAD.

The trail to Snoqualmie Pass was through a ski resort. I went to the Time Wise Grocery, hiker and hiker package destination. I found neither.

Some addresses that we send our packages to are clearly post offices, others are sort-of post offices, and a few are just businesses that accept packages, sometimes for a small fee. I thought Time Wise was the latter, but it's actually an official post office. That means that all my packages that require scanning or signature, which is all the important ones, would not be available until Monday. Ug, but I also saw it as an opportunity to have time in the Seattle area without the burden of the boxes or my laptop, the great time sink.

I'd gotten in by 5:15, and Blackhawk and Strawberry Girl said it would take her uncle at least a half an hour to get to the pass, so I could not understand why they were not there. The whole place was hikerless. I started to figure out what I'd do. I wanted to get to Kent, a suburb of Seattle, today. It was my friend from high school, Karen's, 40th birthday celebration. When I walked into this place, I saw the Seattle-bound Greyhound bus at the gas station. My plan was to hop on that until the town of Snoqualmie, then take Highway 18 to the Kent area, where Karen or Don could pick me up.
As I headed toward the Greyhound, I saw the Max at a roadside burger trailer. Everybody was in room 124 in a landscraper of a hotel. Yippee.
I was there a short while, then headed out in Strawberry Girl's uncle's van. They dropped me off at Highway 18 in a very light rain.

Within two minutes I had a ride with a woman who's aunt was following in an older station wagon. They'd tried to do a shuttle for a day hike, but they didn't have the right keys when they got to their destination car, so they had to hitchhike back up to the car with the keys. She said she didn't hesitate when she saw me by the road with my KENT sign.
Toward the end of our journey, when we were off the freeway, she was looking at her aunt in the rear-view mirror and telling me what she was gesturing. First it was strangulation, then a gun. I put my hands up. She laughed at her aunt's embarrassment of having her gestures verbally repeated to me.

Karen came and got with me with Colin and Liam in tow. Colin's seven and Liam's three. My call had been the final prompt for the party to end, so I didn't get to meet Karen's friends, but Karen and Don fed me well and let me do laundry to my heart's content. Karen and I stayed up late talking and getting caught up with each other's lives and families. Her parents are amazing for very different reasons.

09/08/02
Great to sleep in a warm, comfortable bed. All of us went out for breakfast in Karen and Don's old neighborhood in Seattle. I had a sugar-free whole-wheat pecan waffle with real maple syrup. WHAT A TREAT. I also had a regular big breakfast.

The day went quickly and soon it was time for Karen and the kids to drop me off at the Fauntleroy/Vashon ferry.


I'd left messages for several people on the island, and finally connected with Eric. He met me at the ferry and took me to his house. We had a little time to visit, then headed off to the sweat lodge. Bubbling Banana, Taylor, J Steve, AJ, Apple Blossom and others were there, and it was great to see them. Sierra showed up for the final round. Jeff/Running Buffalo ran the sweat in a Black Feet tradition.
Eric and I went back to his place and tried to talk a bit more, but both found ourselves drifting off.

09/09/02
Eric got up early to head to work, and I've been hanging out at his place all day getting caught up on my journal transcription and waiting for Sierra to call. It's been a nice lazy day full of problem solving and listening to music.

I finally got out of the Vashon vortex. Taylor came through and got us a ride to the ferry. I stayed with Aster, Indigo, and Cobalt in Seattle.
Indigo may have a new name: Trampolina. The poor dear nearly severed his spinal column in a trampoline accident. He thought he could do a front flip as easily as he could do a back flip. He's an amazing man with a big spirit. And a handful of pills.

Hickaho Down did a fundraiser for Indigo Saturday night. I looked like lots of fun, and I'm sorry I missed it.

09/10/02
Caught an early Greyhound to Snoqualmie Pass where I found Flutterby, Cheddarhead and Bug! They've been going slow. Billy Goat was here too. A friend of his, PV, was on the same bus as I, and he'll be joining Billy Goat on the trail for a while.

So-I don't know when I'll get to my laptop and web site again. I'll be journalling, you can count on that. I'll get the rest of the journal up here as soon as I can. I have a tentative finish date of September 24.

I finally broke free from the vortex. On the ferry back from Vashon, I could see Rainier and Baker. Pretty cool.
For future hikers: The Time Wise Grocery has an official post office. It's not an informal place. It also has odd hours. The hours this year were 6AM to 2PM M-F.

I rolled into Snoqualmie Pass around 8:30AM, found everybody in the thru-hiker room, 124, and got my boxes. Since I'd woken them up, I shuttled all my boxes from the PO to outside the door until the task was done, then barged in on their morning.
Cantaloupe and John, two thru-hikers I did not meet, took off this morning. I think they are from the fast set, so I'll probably never see them again.

We got our room checkout extended to 1PM, so I was able to get all my web stuff done. Then I headed to lunch with the gang. During lunch, the PO closed. Now I had three outgoing boxes, and I wanted to hike. My options were to get a room and send them tomorrow, get somebody to send for me, or figure out a way to send them UPS. So I waited for the UPS guy because a woman on the phone at UPS said any driver could take packages. I was doubtful, but had hope.
The driver could not take the boxes. He had me call UPS and get call tags. It was fairly easy, and I could even insure the box that needed insuring. I left my boxes at the Time Wise Grocery PO with a note and an envelope to send me the slips with the tracking numbers. I hope it all works out.

Packing up after checkout.

I got going at 5:15PM, two hours behind everyone else. Our destination was 7 or 8 miles in with 1600' of elevation gain. The climb was well graded. The scenery was spectacular. The sky has cleared and the air has warmed. I could see Rainier to the south, and immediately around me the mountain sides fell away steeply.
By the time I was walking the ridge crest, dusk had ended. I put on my headlamp and made the final push to camp. Soon I saw a little fire and got a familiar reply to my hooting.
I laid out my bag under the trees near Flutterby's Betamid.

Saw yellow, purple, orange, gold, white and black mushrooms while hiking today.

09/11/02
What a day of hiking. It was clear and warm. Even Rainier to the south was cloud-free.

	The trail's toward the bottom of the photo.
	This is one of place where the camera can't get it all.

The morning was full of sounds. I heard the call of the strangest bird in a tree, then saw a redheaded woodpecker flying and calling.

I was retying my shoe along a steep section when above me I heard a thump, then another. I thought it might be a mountain goat or sheep coming down. The thumps continued as I thought about what they might be. I eventually (in the course of the second or two this took to transpire) looked up. I saw a fist-size rock bounding down the grassy slope right at me. I moved aside as it passed me about a foot away. It continued on its duty to gravity with aggressive speed, knocking a few more loose just below me. Together they disappeared over the rock face below me.

Another sound that was good to hear today was airplanes.
Heard lots of water today too.

On paper the day's hike looked hard, but it wasn't that bad. We did end the day with a 6 mile, 2200' climb. We did 20 miles and are camped in a cirque with a ton of stars above our head.

Yesterday, two guys came up to me and said, "You must be Cupcake." They'd talked to Flutterby earlier. Today, I met a man who asked it I was a thru-hiker, then if I was Cupcake. He was out for 3 days, and he'd been reading my journal. Amazing.

09/12/02
Another day of great weather. We hiked about 22 miles and are camped at the confluence of two streams on the north side of Cathedral Peak. Billy Goat and PV are camped nearby and joined us for dinner. Chilly came southbound. I'd not met him before, but he's flip-flopped. Then Satellite showed up. He's doing big miles, so he moved on north even though it was completely dark. Met a southbound section hiker, Long Walker. I think I found his bandana. I thought it might have been Cheddarhead's.

One thing I have not written about is the smells. Some days lately have had moments of the smell of berries moving through the air. Today had a sweetness, but also the smell of warm forest. Smell is probably the hardest thing to write about.

More landscape. .

Had a good time talking around the campfire tonight. Here at our camp is Cheddarhead, Flutterby, and Bug. Bug always pulls into camp last.

Hiking is killing me these days. I can't hike fast, and the miles come hard.

Met this guy southbound on the trail today who was taking a month to get from Skykomish to Snoqualmie. We'll do it in 4 or 5 days. He had a heavy pack and a big gut.

09/13/02
Last night was a great night to sleep out. Except for the mouse that was interested in my food. And jumping on my face. I tried to smash it a couple of times with my jacket/pillow. Then I figured out that I could just move the stuff it is interested in. That worked.

Leapfrogged with PV and Billy Goat during the morning. Hiked with Cheddarhead most of the day. Flutterby and Bug took a shortcut to the highway.

Cheddar and I saw lots of granite and evidence of glaciation, and I got to give an abbreviated glacier discussion. I couldn't find any glacial polish or chatter, partly because we were moving so fast.

There's a tarn in the middle of this image.

Near Glacier Lake, we met some people from BackpackingLight. I'm not sure who they were. It seemed they have the same take on lightweight backpacking: take what works for you. That means to me that I can switch to lightweight pieces to save unnecessary weight, but still take what I want.

I had, for the first time this trip, thoughts through my head about how I could lighten my pack weight. We have less than 200 miles to go, and I'm starting to feel the burden. I'm taking a zero-miler tomorrow so I can rest. I don't want to arrive in Canada exhausted.

It was a long day and my feet started hurting again. We finally made it to Highway 2 after a perfect ride yogi. Here's how it went:

Cheddar was in front as we passed some day hikers. When I got past them I asked, "When we get to the highway, will there be a safe place to hitch? Is there a pull out?" They said yes. We started to walk on, when Cheddarhead jumped in with, "How far is it to Skykomish?" and "Is it right or left on the highway?" We got the answers we already knew. We took two steps more and the man said, "We are going that way if you need a lift."

SCORE!

We walked on and met them in the parking lot.

We got to the post office before closing, but Flutterby had already picked up my box using the note I wrote this morning. Excellent.

We found our way to Bridget and Scottie's whose first hikers were Ken, Cindy and Buster, who told us about our hosts. Bob Norton is listed in the Town Guide for emergencies, but apparently he will host some people too.

Ran into Restless on my way to the restaurant. Blackhawk and Strawberry Girl are just getting back on the trail, so I may see them again. I directed Restless to the house. Cantaloupe is there too. It's my first time to meet him.

I'm at the restaurant for dinner because I want fresh vegetables. I ordered a seafood sauté because the menu said it had vegis, but I asked if they could use oil rather than butter. They could. Then the man dressed like a chef came out to work out the details. His final question was, "Do I like chantrelles?" Uh, yes. So I got chantrelles rather than vegis. A good trade off. So I ordered a serving of the entree vegetables, which were zucchini, onions and bell peppers. Yum. Only, since I like chantrelles, I got the zucchini swapped out for, yes, chantrelles. I've decided that's how this meal is going to go. At least it started with a salad. Tomorrow's another opportunity.

09/14/02
A zero-mile day with a big surprise: Yogi showed up! She finished on September 12th. Noid met her and Dewey at Manning Park. The three of them were at Snoqualmie Pass last night where they saw Goof, Beefcake, Emily, Load, and others. Stroller is off the trail.

I spent all of the morning in bed, and most of the afternoon there too. I was just finishing a call when somebody came up the stairs with a party horn. It was Yogi with Noid and Dewey in tow. Noid hiked the PCT last year and was with Yogi until Yogi got off. I met her when I met Yogi last year (near Mt. Whitney), and I had just seen her photo in the Skykomish Post Office yesterday in a collage of hikers from last season. It was great to see Yogi, and to meet Dewey, who'd been around me since Northern California, but who I never managed to meet. Bug was singing, "It was the Cupcake and Yogi reunion..."

Bug, Dewey, Yogi, Cupcake, Restless Wind, Flutterby, Cheddarhead, Bridget (with dog), and Scottie in Skykomish.

They told me that Gottago was finished, and at home, so I gave her a call. It was great to talk to her too.

We hung around until Flutterby's AT friend, Hawkeye (the young Hawkeye in her collection of Hawkeyes) called. He'd been rock climbing in the area and wanted to say hi. He ended up driving us to Sultan to get dinner, which was great-both his willingness to drive and the dinner. Restless Wind, Cheddarhead, Flutterby, Hawkeye and I piled into his Jeep.

Billy Goat and PV are staying here too, so that makes 11 hikers here tonight.

Taking a zero-mile day was a really good thing for me to do right now. I feel more rested and my body feels like it had time to heal. Today I had a big breakfast with a three egg omelet, home fries, and two pork chops. I had three cans of tuna for lunch with some fruit, and a big Italian dinner.

09/15/02
I slipped out of the house and had breakfast again at the Sky Chalet. Another diner and his wife recognized me as a thru-hiker and offered me a ride to the Pass. I said yes.

PV and Billy Goat showed up before too long and then Cheddarhead. I left before they'd gotten their food.

Back at Bridgette and Scoty's everyone was up. I finished packing up and said my goodbyes.

The hiking today was nice. See for your self:

That's Glacier Peak in the distance.

Tonight, Flutterby came by my tent and we talked for a while. Flutterby's a friend I'll have after the trail.

09/16/02
The rain started during the night. The forecast is for four days of it. Oh joy.

I did get to pack up while it was not raining, which is always nice.

I was slow in the morning and had done only 8 miles by lunch. Camp was potentially 25 miles away, so I had to get a move on.

The weather and trail in the morning. Cheddar's to the right of the large rock.

The landscape grew more dramatic as the day progressed.

	The colors and light were amazing.
	Ditto.

Near the end of the day, I was making the final approach to Red (?) Pass. I was walking along the side of a steep slope enveloped in clouds or fog. I could see only what was in my immediate vicinity. I had the thought that, although I'd see a lot for a rainy day already, that it would be nice to at least get a punch-through to see what was around.
I looked up and what I saw took my breath away: Fog-like clouds above and below. My steep hillside falling away in greens to a shelf that in turn fell into the canyon filled with clouds and dark trees. The distant dark peaks with snow above the treeline. It was too much for the camera lens to hold.

On the way up I also saw two grouse. I made their noise, and they seemed puzzled.

Red (?) Pass was stunning, and there was no sign of Bug, Flutterby and Cheddarhead, so I pushed on, which in this case was down.
I was wet, but at some point I began to feel water on my butt, which could mean only one thing: my water bladder was leaking inside my pack. It was. Now most everything was wet from the rain and the drinking water.

Night was approaching as I descended. We'd discussed several possible spots to meet up, but I was ready to stop. Below me, I saw an out-of-place blue, which I surmised to be a person. Was it Fluttterby? I couldn't tell.

It was a man, out having his evening hot chocolate. He walked with me down near his camp and reported not seeing anyone. While I went Looking for Mr. Hankie, he asked two women camped near the trail. They hadn't seen anyone either.
The man was Steve, and I camped with him. He boiled water for tea and for my dinner (!), and let me add my food to his bear hang. He was very nice. He knows Stitch who did the PCT in 2000.

09/17/02
Had mice all night. I like to sleep, when in a tent, with the fly closed and the tent open. Last night, the open tent door let mice in and crawl all over me. I finally zipped the tent, and got some rest.
It rained all night, plus I had the drip, drip, drip of being under a tree. Because of all the mouse excitement, I slept in a bit. It was a cold morning and packing up all my wet stuff made it worse. The sun came out and blue sky was dominate. The light and clouds worked things out and soon we had a great view of Glacier Peak.
We were right below it, and it had a fresh covering of snow. Hiking until after dark can lead to those kind of surprises.

Glacier Peak from camp with fresh snow and showing at least two glaciers.

I wanted to get going to try to catch everybody. I'd have to do my drying out later, which is fine because the morning sun isn't always the best. I found the best time at lunch on a bunch of rocks with giant hoary marmots.

My morning walk was through a forested river valley. I think I was walking through the FIRST old growth of the whole trip.

A photogenic section of trail with meandering tread.

No sign of Flutterby, Cheddarhead or Bug's prints. At some point I decided they were behind me.

Flutterby caught me at Mica Lake around 5.

Flutterby and Cupcake at Mica Lake. Cold, windy, rainy, and hiking. What fun.

Met Peter and Asher for the first time. They are brother thru-hikers from Port Townsend, Washington.

So, tonight it's Cheddarhead's chance to not be with the crowd which is camped at Milk Creek. Maybe he walked past, or stopped at the last camp site.

Lots of up and down today. We got a preview, on our way down, of tomorrow's climb.

Today I was thinking a bit about Nick Brown. We are in the area where, during his thru-hike in 2001, he broke his ankle and ended his trip. It must have been hard to reconcile, but clear to know that the hike was done. You can't hike this far and dismiss the trip as a failure.

09/18/02
Great climb up from Milk Creek. Lots of good campsites up at the top. I must have been crazy to not take photos. We contoured around a giant north-facing cirque.

When we drop down into these low river valleys, we are in the land of mushrooms, elves, and pixies. Green moss of many different varieties grows on everything. Up until today, I had not been interested in photographing mushrooms. The bug bit hard.
 

The marmots in the North Cascades must be a different species. Some live in the forest and burrow. They also have a very loud warning call. Plus they are giants, like an overfed housecat you'd see at a stranger's house.

Siesta and her husband, DQ, came by where we were having lunch. I'd not met her, but saw her note at Santiam Pass when she got off the trail. She decided she wanted to finish. She's now southbounding it with her husband and dog. Good for her. She did have to leave school for this term though...

I'm camped alone. The group did 27, and I just didn't want to do that many miles. It just means I'll catch the 3PM bus to Stehekin rather than the noon bus. Stehekin is the last town stop on the PCT.

Today was a data day to report. We started the day with a 2200' climb up to a place with lots of good campsites. Then we lost 3150' going down to the Suiattle River. We then went up roughly the same distance, 3130', to Suiattle Pass. Now at the end of the day, I'm not quite sure where I am, but I'm camped at least 1000' below the pass. I estimate today's miles to be around 22.

The climbing and descending is just part of the hike. I'm so strong now, that I just pound out the climbs. If the trail's not too steep, I do better. When it gets really steep, I start to slow down a lot.
I'm starting to feel a little excitement about finishing the trail. I have lots of unknowns in my life, but one certainty seems that I'll finish the trail. The body, weather, and all other things must cooperate though.

09/19/02
Peaceful night, although I got up early, even before the alarm. I set the alarm, a very unusual event, so that I could catch up with FB, CH, and Bug. I eventually caught them lounging by a river. The rest of the day was hiking into Stehekin. They got ahead again as I had one of my dawdling days. I just had to get to High Bridge by 3, and there was nothing standing in my way.
When I pulled in around 2, Don and Leslie were there, in addition to the rest of the crew. Cantaloupe pulled in before the bus got there.

We hopped on the blue bus with some day hikers. The bus driver lets thru-hikers sign the roof of the bus. I saw the signature of many that were ahead including Rocket Girl. I signed near Raven.
We had a tour of the lower Stehekin River and upper Chelan Lake, including a stop at the famous bakery and at Rainbow Falls.

We got in and got our boxes first thing. Their post office is small and seems to have trouble with the volume of thru-hiker mail that they get.

There were free campsites for us, but we decided to sleep in what we called the Cabaña, although it was more of a covered picnic area on the lake. The wind blew, and waves lapped against the sturdy shelter. It was comforting to have a stomach full of town food and to be protected from the wind sleeping among friends. Cantaloupe woke us all up at 3AM eating tortilla chips.

09/20/02
Cosue: "Something awful happened."
Cosue, Slim Tim and Scooter caught up with us today. They came in on the 3PM bus with much fanfare. I saw Slim Tim once north of Castle Crags. He was the one hiking with his sister. Cosue and Scooter I last saw in Big Bear: a long time ago. This is my reward for taking lots of zero-mile days: new hiking companions.

Cosue and Scooter, a little later in the trip.

Cosue got stung by a bee yesterday and went into anaphylactic shock. She was alone and passed out in about 30 seconds. Scooter was waiting for her and went back to find her. She was barely breathing and very swollen. She's not leaving Stehekin without an epipen.

Stehekin has been a great stop, although expensive. Having a big recharge just before the end of the trip turns out to have been a good idea. I even got a massage, my first of the trip. I started the trip with the intention of getting a massage every month.

We got a hotel room for our second night in Stehekin. They gave us an early check in, which made it even nicer. We had the two-bedroom penthouse above the Lodge. We had windows on three sides, and the long middle window had a view over the roof of the rest of the Lodge to Lake Chelan.
All of us, including Don and Leslie, caught the bus back up the valley to the Ranch to have dinner. We had a great time because of the company and the atmosphere.

09/21/02
Sumara, Lemstar, The Flying Dutcman, Fire Marshall, and Ranger came in this morning. I was meeting most of them for the first time.
Cantaloupe and I caught the 11:15AM bus back to the trail. Flutterby, Cheddarhead, Bug, Slim Tim, Scooter, and Cosue will come out on the 2:15 bus. We'll all camp together. Cantaloupe's hiking on. I just want to hike slowly and have a little time to myself. Tom sent me a Minidisc from Japan that I want to listen to.
I wrote the above on the bus up to the trail. I'm now at camp, Hide-a-way Camp, with Cantaloupe, Don and Leslie. The others have not shown up. We started the fire without them.

The Minidisc from Tom was great. He'd gotten a new Minidisk and microphone in Japan, so he could talk to me. He shared some personal stuff, then took me onto the streets of Tokyo and into his dance rehearsal. I enjoyed the contrast of walking through North Cascades National Park and listening to urban Tokyo noises and a narrative of the space and people.

Since I was having a leisurely day, I stopped and made a return recording to Tom, then rigged up my microphone so that I could walk and talk. I gave Tom a narrative of a section of trail. Plus some personal stuff and some creative stuff that's been rolling through my head since I last saw him.

The countdown is in earnest now. I only have a few days left on the trail. It's hard to believe. I'm trying to face the end with enthusiasm rather than exhaustion or depression. I think I'm doing fine, but my body reminds me that it's time to be done.

There are lots of people I want to see when I get off the trail.

09/22/02
Another great day on the PCT. When we woke up the temperature was around freezing, but the day warmed up to the low 80s according to the VIT.
The hike started off a mess. The Book of Lies says the trail was on one side of the river while the old PCT was on the other side. We tried to take the new PCT, but it was a little confusing. Since it was a little-traveled trail, I got to eat lots of perfectly ripe thimbleberries.

Don and Leslie had left camp about an hour before I did, and we all left Cantaloupe under his tarp sleeping.
Don, Leslie and I leapfrogged all day. The clear warm day was made all the more wonderful by the opening terrain. We moved into open slopes and later into cirques.

We are camped in a lovely cirque. We, tonight, is pretty predictable: Flutterby, Cosue, Bug, Cheddarhead, Don and Leslie, and Scooter. Slim Tim's off doing a tour of the North Cascades.
We had a great time sitting abound the fire telling stories and jokes.

Flutterby tells a tale to the group.

Before the fire was lit and the darkness came, we were reading from a book I got from the hotel in Stehekin that I jacked in Flutterby's's pack. In camp, she jacked it in Don and Leslie's tent.
Leather and Lace was soon discovered. Flutterby and Cosue claimed to have sped-read the book and proclaimed that it had not a one tawdry part. I said, "Let me look." I opened the book to a lightly steamy full-on sex scene. I found, and read, three different sex scenes from this awful book. We laughed at Honeysuckle and Buck's love scenes.

I've headed to bed early and everyone else is by the fire telling jokes.

09/23/02
Another picture-perfect day. The sky was clear, and the air was warm enough to be comfortable.

Flutterby and Cosue, one switchback up. Tan, red, green, yellow, and blue stripes. It was gorgeous.

Today had a bunch of milestones. We got past the 2600 mile mark first thing in the morning, we have less than 50 miles to the end of the trail, and we are on the last page of the data book.
We did 25 miles today for several reasons. Mostly we were trying to get to a mythical yurt near Windy Pass. We also wanted to have manageable miles tomorrow, so that we have an easy final day the day after tomorrow.
I really didn't want to hike as far as we did, but this close to the end, I'm interested in staying with the group.
They kept naming distant possible destination, and I'd say, "I won't make that." Then we stopped for dinner. That makes all the difference. With a full stomach full of yummy food, I was good to go, and we got in some excellent night hiking. I led the pack as the stars came out and the moon began creating shadows across the landscape. Early on, the fading light of the sunset backlit the distant craggy peaks to the west.

Cosue and Scooter are a nice addition.

Yes folks, the hike is coming to an end. There's nothing I can do about it.

From my bag here on Windy Pass, I can see the main cloud from a forest fire in Canada near the border. The eastern edge of the cloud is white from the light of the rising nearly-full moon and the west end is pink, reflecting the fire below. It is amazing, weird, huge, and probably not a threat to our hike.
This section of trail had lots of evidence of glaciation: deep U-shaped valleys, cirques, jumbled rocks and steep cliffs.

Wow.

There's a deciduous conifer in these parts. I've never seen them before.

09/24/02

It's my last night on the trail. Hiking today we spent a lot of time together, but silent. You might think I was having profound thoughts, or waxing nostalgic, but this afternoon I was thinking of Tellie Tubbies and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luckily that passed.

After lunch there was a low trail and a high trail, the low trail being the current PCT and the high trail being the former PCT. The high trail had a Trail Abandoned sign. So Cheddarhead, Cosue and I took it. Flutterby was ahead and decided against it alone. The trail was passable, but a little hairy at points for hikers. Horses could not do it. It was a fun diversion from the highway that is the PCT tread. It didn't save much time.

Flutterby, Bug, Cosue, Cheddarhead, and Scooter at 7100'.

Our camp tonight is at Hopkins Lake. The conversation was a little more focused because it's the last night. We had a great campfire. The moon came up red. Deer were close to camp crashing through the night.

09/25/02
I finished the PCT today with Flutterby, Cheddarhead, Bug, Scooter and Cosue.

We encountered the resident grouchy grouse before crossing the border. It attacked several of us, including me. I was low on camera battery, so I chose not to take a photo of the aggressive ground bird with red eyebrows.
We rolled in around 9AM and hung around in the cold cheering and celebrating.

They all told me they'd be wearing costume, like hamburger and fries.

Some of us were drinking and got a little wild. Then they knocked over the monument.

The northern terminus and the vandalized Monument 78.

Just kidding. The monument comes apart and holds mementos and a register. A woman named Alice took all our pictures. She asked me if I hiked the whole trail in a dress.

We got to the road and took a wrong turn. We walked an extra 2 miles to get to Manning Park.

Here's a link to the text I wanted to put in the register, but didn't. It's an excerpt from Wichita Sutra Vortex, an Alan Ginsburg poem.

09/26/02
A night in Manning Park did not bring any insights on what I want to do next. I slept in and joined everyone who had already had breakfast. Cantaloupe rolled in as I was finishing my breakfast.
Lots of emotions and thoughts came and went today. I got through a little depression I felt in the morning when Blackhawk and Strawberry Girl came and picked up Bug, Cheddarhead, Flutterby and I. Scooter left solo via Greyhound for a direct connection to Vancouver BC. Cosue's staying behind.
It was great to see Blackhawk and Strawberry and hear how their final days on the trail went, and hear news of their transition to off-trail life. We all piled into a small pickup and made the 3 hour drive west.

I got excited for a while when I remembered that part of finishing the PCT was to achieve a major goal.
I've done it.
It doesn't feel all that monumental, but I know I'll never regret my decision or my efforts. I might even reflect with amazement of what I did some day. Right now, I'm just trying to find a temporary place to land. October 18th is my target date for being back in the Bay Area. I have lots of places to stay in the Seattle area.

Right now we are in Strawberry's sister, Christel's place in Langely, BC, outside of Vancouver. We are surrounded by cow fields, and we should have a view of Mt. Baker in the morning.

We spent the evening discussing the ways everyone could get to where they needed to be. We will be scattering. Bug and Flutterby have rides and planes to catch. Blackhawk and Strawberry have to get to Albuquerque by Monday. Cheddar's off to the San Juan Islands, then trying to hook up with Cosue on a train. She'll be leaving from Ashland. It's all complex and constantly changing. I'm just trying to decide my best options.

These hikers are done: they are through thru-hiking.

All these logistics are masking some of my emotions. We are keeping busy to keep ourselves distracted. I know that pattern.
I'm hoping that Blackhawk and Strawberry can fly to their destination, and I can hang out here with them for a day or two.

09/27/02
Journaling off the trail is much different than I thought it would be. I need to make a decision: Do I keep a regular non-trail journal in this space or do I keep a journal related to my post-PCT thoughts and reflections? I'm leaning toward the latter, then creating a new space for my regular journal.

Why have a personal journal online? I certainly don't write everything in my online journal, but having it is a GREAT motivator for writing at all.

I knew you all were reading this journal and many, many nights I used that as my impetus to pull myself up when I'd first lay down after a long day of hiking. I would 'just lay down for a moment' and find myself in a stupor of much needed and well-deserved rest. The stupor was sleep chasing me down, almost literally tackling me.
I'd allow myself some rest, but then pull out of it: "I have to journal. Now... what did I want to remember while walking on the trail?"

I got good at keeping a running list in my head, but at first I had to take notes during the day. I found I had several working categories: Flora and fauna, weather, topography, people on the trail, meals, and the monkey mind were a few categories that I used. I'd run through them each night to help me recall what I wanted to write about.

Bug, Cheddarhead, and Flutterby got a ride to the US border today. We said our goodbyes, and they were off.
My trip began unraveling as easy as that. They were last seen walking toward the border on their way to Bellingham to catch a Greyhound to Seattle. Bug would be off to try to get to England sooner than his ticket allowed, Flutterby to hookup with Hawkeye, and Cheddar to catch a ferry to begin exploring the San Juan Islands. He'll try to hook up with Scooter.

09/28/02
Still in Langely, B.C. My desire for downtime is beginning to be met. Yippee.
Hanging around with Strawberry, Blackhawk, Christel and Cal.

Well, I'm going to do some October entries and a separate epilogue. Follow my journey a bit more or get to the closing thoughts about my trip. You decide.