Puget Pig Out

A version of this post appears on The Trek, which you can read here

After over two weeks through wilderness, national parks, and battling a stomach bug we are pumped to be walking the Puget Sound section of the PNT. It runs down Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island just a few hours north of Seattle and passes through numerous small towns. As in, numerous opportunities to eat food. Hot, delicious not freeze dried food.

It involves a lot of road walking but I don’t even care. I’m eating at all the spots the road takes me past. Big breakfast with bottomless coffee? Check.

Lunch at the brew pub a few hours later? Done.

Strawberry shortcake afternoon stop? Oh, hell yes!

Oh, and a taco truck? No problem, the PNT has that covered too. But food aside this section gets us to saltwater for the first time.

The last month or so has become routine. Hike, eat, sleep, repeat. Until now I kind of lost sight of the big picture. Seeing the tidal flats and smelling the salt it all hit me at once: we walked here from Montana. Whoa.

It’s also bittersweet. We have a ways left to go, but our journey will come to an end faster than we realize. Boarding the ferry to the Olympic Peninsula feels like the beginning of the end.

But of course, before we get on the ferry we make sure to eat two sandwiches and a pint of gelato.

The Mighty, Magnificent and Remote Pasayten Wilderness

A version of this post appears on The Trek, which you can read here

A crack of thunder and a bolt of lightning is how we started our section in the Pasayten Wilderness. Minutes after arriving at the Cold Springs campground the sky opened up and hail started dropping at a fevered pace. Five of us thru-hikers huddled under the shelter of the campground’s privy, each muttering a silent prayer that our tents would hold up to the onslaught.

To get to Cold Springs we had a daunting, treeless 25 miles of paved road to walk. Luckily, it was cloudy for most of those miles. But almost as if on cue the sun came out for our 5,000-foot ascent on the barren Chopka Grade Road. So a few hours later when the temps dropped 20 degrees and hail started falling I wasn’t even mad. In fact it felt awesome; we had finally entered the Pasayten.

The next day the temps hovered in the low 50s. A few miles from camp the views started to open and the vastness of the wilderness in front of us became clear. I particularly enjoyed the slow build of the geography in this section. At first the mountains are smaller and tree lined. By the end they are glacier capped giants.

Unfortunately, a large section of this wilderness has been burned by wildfires in the last few years, but luckily the PNT trail crews have been hard at work clearing many of those blowdowns.

That’s not to say the trail is clear by any means (this is the PNT). One section of trail had an epic “jungle gym” of blowdowns. I had quite a bit of fun crawling, hurtling, and falling over and under them. Honestly, this kind of stuff is why I love this trail. River crossings, route finding, and cross-country traversing are my favorite things about backcountry travel.

The worst blowdown section came a few miles before the PNT briefly overlaps with the PCT. We joked as we hopped over fallen trees and tried to find whatever was left of the trail that the PCT would have the best tread, the flattest campsites and James Beard nominated chefs as trail angels. Turns out the first two are true (sadly the chefs must only donate their time on the weekends).

It was a bit of a culture shock to be on such a busy trail. There were other hikers in our camp! Outrageous. In the 45 days we’ve been on the PNT we’ve met 19 other thru-hikers. In the half day we were on the PCT we met 32 PCTers. The giddy excitement in their eyes being only a few miles from the Canadian border both pumped us up and made us realize we still have a long way to go in our journey.

We said goodbye to the PCT and resumed our trek jumping blowdowns, searching for trail, and taking in jaw-dropping views all by ourselves.

The Trail Turns Hot, Then it Turns Hotter

A version of this post appears on The Trek, which you can read here

“The heat in the summer is 110. Too hot for the devil, too hot for men.” -Johnny Cash

According to locals yesterday the temp did reach 110 in Oroville. When we walked into town today it cooled a bit, hovering around 100. Joy.

Eleven days and seemingly a lifetime ago we started out of Northport, WA, in section four of the Pacific Northwest Trail. Already at that point we knew heat would be the name of the game for the next two weeks. Early starts and siestas were in, the damp cold rain of the first three weeks of our hike were out.

On top of the heat out of Northport we faced a daunting 40ish miles of road walking to start the section. Most of these are forest roads. Lightly traveled and fairly shaded.

When we got to the start of the trail we were greeted with a nice stretch of blowdowns (yay) and a burned area.

It was about this time that the road walking and the heat were starting to play tricks on our minds when we read a passage from Tim Youngblueth’s PNT guidebook that deviously mentioned that at this point “one could walk from here into Republic in about 15 miles. But our trail continues southward.” Of course at this point I couldn’t help but think of the glories of town: AC, sheets, pizza, cold beers. How many thru-hikers have followed the Sirens’ call down that road? A few miles and much climbing later I envisioned all the thru-hikers enjoying said comforts. Curse you, Tim! Then I saw some bootprints and realized it’s just the heat (probably).

Oh, and water? Yeah, this is how we get it. Gone are the running streams; now we get to share water out of cattle troughs and (sometimes) flowing springs.

However, as Tim foreshadowed, soon after the trail did get better. Wildflowers, ridge walking, and views.

Then a canyon to walk as we rounded out the south side of the loop around Republic.

Republic itself is a real treat of a town. Everything within a few blocks, great pizza, great brewery, and the local trail angel is the postmaster (ie, you can get packages on the weekend if you ask nice).

After Republic we entered section five and the trees became more sparse and the temps got even hotter. We’re talking near 100.

An epic climb up Bonaparte Mountain led us to the only manned lookout tower on the PNT.

Shortly afterward we got to the Havillah church that welcomes hikers. We got to use the kitchen for cooking and there was a fridge stocked with food for us. Most importantly, it offered shade from the relentless sun.

The last morning as we dropped down in elevation to get to Oroville the sun beat down and the air was full of smoke from a fire in Canada. But we were greeted by the friendliest hotel on the PNT!

One more long, hot road walk to go and then the cooler temps and views of the Pasayten Wilderness await.

Homicide Suspects and the Kindness of Strangers

A version of this post appears on The Trek, which you can read here

Walking the road into Metaline Falls on a hot 90+ degree day, two cars whip a u-turn and pull up behind us. County sheriff and US Border Patrol. Uh-oh, looks like I’m the latest in a long lineage of PNT hikers who DHS finds suspect.

The sheriff jumps out of his car and starts… belly laughing?

Turns out a concerned local citizen called us in thinking we were two homicide suspects from Canada. The sheriff showed us a photo, we most certainly are not.

After running our IDs he offered us a ride the last mile into town (of course in the back). On the short drive he told us some local history, why he loved living in the town and dropped us a block away from the hotel to “not cause alarm” when checking in. My only regret is not snapping a photo of some part of the event, but I assure you it happened.

Section 3 of the PNT was a stunning stretch of trail (and it was mostly trail!) but what marked it for me was the kindness of the strangers we met along the way.

Our section started at Feist Creek Resort, whose kindness I touched on in my last post, and ended in Northport WA with a stay at Jami and Josh’s wonderful small town oasis. 160 miles total.

After road walks through farmland to cross the Kootenai Valley we started ascending the Parker Ridge. This was the best day of walking on the PNT so far. After a big climb we were treated to ridge-line views for miles and miles. The weather was cool and the rain held off until just before camp.

Then the next day was the bushwhack day. The PNT bills this as the “rite of passage” day. You can either A: bushwhack about seven miles through thick forest where “grizzlies are known to occur” or B: take a ten mile “climber’s route” along a trail-less ridge with class two and three scrambling. Both are estimated to take a full day.

As much as I wanted to take the ridge route I was nervous about my climbing skills and didn’t think this would be the best time or place to find out how good I was. I was feeling a little down about this decision but a few hours into our bushwhack the sky opened up with thunder, lightning and hail. It stormed for the rest of the day and I was sure happy then that I took the low route. Things got a little weird in there but we made it out alive.

The day after the bushwhack we slept in and rewarded ourselves with a short day and a beach camp on Upper Priest Lake, a gorgeous lake and our first rain free day of the trip! A perfect day for swimming and relaxing.

Being a Sunday there were many boaters out on the lake. One particularly rambunctious group pulled up on our beach. Good news, Sunday Funday boaters have two things hikers love: food and beer!

When they heard about our hike the coolers and food baskets opened up and sausage, cheese and cold, cold beers emerged (cue a choir of angels singing)!

The next day was a beautiful stretch of trail through old growth cedars and along another ridge-line. There were limited spots to camp so at the late hour the best place we could find was in a trailhead parking in front of the PNT trail crew truck.  Thanks PNT!

Then into Metaline Falls (after the sheriff incident) where the Washington Hotel was something out of a hikers dream. Laundry, coffee, town clothes, soft sheets and the owner Arlie who despite not knowing really how the hotel ran was just absolutely excited to host hikers. Then Mary another trail angel, who owns the local theater, opened it up for a special hiker only screening of Toy Story 4. We’re killing it!

It was hard to leave but the trail called us up Abercrombie Mt for a stunning night on a ridge and time to sew some holes in our shoes.

The walk into Northport the next day was less than ideal (hot paved roads for ~19 miles) but it was totally worth it. The Mustang Grill literally opened the door for us and served up a huge meal. Then a short walk down the road to trail angel Jami and Josh’s beautiful house and perfect backyard for a day and night of relaxing, eating and great conversation.

The kindness showed to us on this leg of the journey makes leaving a tough thing to do, but section 4 awaits!

Hey PNT: I Still Love You but the Honeymoon Is Over

A version of this post appears on The Trek, which you can read here

Don’t get the wrong idea, we’re having a great time but section two of the PNT has more road walking, fewer alpine views, and more up and down. To be fair, the first section through the majestic mist-shrouded peaks of Glacier was always going to be a tough act to follow.

Physically the initial boost of energy and excitement has waned as we set in for the long haul. The day to day of thru-hiking has become more routine and less novel. My body seems to tire easier and recover slower. The road walking is harder on the feet than trails.

But hey, PNT, you’re still amazing.

I was enticed by the quiet, subdued beauty in this section. Dark, dense forests that seem to have stood for ages. Rugged mountain trails littered with wildflowers. Secret waterfalls to swim in. Fire lookouts with endless views to stay in (in fact you could line up the first three to four days of this section to stay exclusively in lookouts!).

Yaak was a great anything goes trail town. Pitch the tent anywhere. $4 burgers. Live music. And maybe even laundry if they can find the key by the time you come. The huckleberries are also ripening!

Feist Creek Falls Resort welcomed us in with open arms (even though they were technically closed) and to a special once a year Vietnamese meal.

Just when I started to despair all of the road walking, we hit a great alpine section with bountiful wildflowers and lots of views of the mountains that surround us. Including views back to the now tiny peaks of Glacier where we started seemingly so long ago. And views of what’s to come in section three with the mighty Selkirks looming to the west.

The honeymoon’s over, but PNT, our relationship is just getting started.

PNT Section 1 – Am I Back in New Zealand?

A version of this post appears on The Trek, which you can read here

I grew up spending lots of time in the outdoors but I credit the two-plus years I lived in New Zealand for cultivating my love for backpacking.

Ever since moving back stateside I’ve been looking and longing for places that could match. The Pacific Northwest is the closest I’ve found in the Lower 48, a big part of the reason I chose to thru-hike the Pacific Northwest Trail.

I was expecting the NZ nostalgia to kick in during the Olympics, possibly the Cascades, but not right away in Glacier National Park. Steep mountains, wet misty weather and lush valleys took me back to the land of the long white cloud.

Getting to the start of the PNT at the Chief Mountain trailhead is a bit of an adventure in and of itself. There are many ways to get to Chief Mountain but they boil down to either hiring an expensive private shuttle or a series of free shuttles and hitches that can take the better part of a day. Then I got a lead on a former AT hiker, Turtle Man, giving rides to hikers in his turtle van for a very reasonable rate.

We crammed in four PNT hikers and one CDT hiker and set off on the two-hour journey. About halfway through on the Going-to-the-Sun road Turtle Man told us to slide open the door to “enjoy the epic views.” Epic indeed.

It was overcast when we set out, the best weather we’d have for the better part of the next week. Certainly the driest we’d be. I wish we had more of the views in Glacier but there is a special moody feeling to walking through mountains shrouded in mist and cloud (those NZ feels kicking in again).

The trail runs right through the town of Polebridge at mile 55. Consisting of a hostel, a bar, and a general store, it has everything you need and nothing you don’t. The perfect place for hungry and wet hikers.

The second half of section one runs 80 miles through national forest, features more ridge walking, more up and down, and we are no longer permit limited so we can hike as far as we please each day.

The weather also improves; it still rains each day but for shorter and shorter amounts of time. The highlight of the four days to Eureka is the night we spent atop Stahl Peak in an old hut. The sunset was out of this world and the weather was perfect. The pictures do a better job describing it than I ever could.

My Final Gear List for the Pacific Northwest Trail

A version of this post appears on The Trek, which you can read here

Let’s get down on some gear talk for a second. I love nerding out on my spreadsheets (believe me I do) but I also like my bank account to be larger than my base weight. 

As a backpacking couple I get a nice bonus to split weight on items and can also skirt needing to buy super light options. For example, our Silnylon Tarptent MoTrail is 38oz with stakes. You can definitely go lighter but split two ways it’s 19oz each and under $300. Not bad.

Being patient has rewarded me with a pretty good run with sales. I found my 850 fill down puffer jacket for $14 at a Kohl’s end of season blow out. I don’t have a fancy logo on it but it keeps me toasty, and at 9.9oz no complaints here.

Sometimes I’ve been downright lucky. My Gossamer Gear Pilgrim pack I found at a thrift store, in pristine condition, for $49.99. Whatever gods blessed me on that day I am forever in your debt.

Of course many times I’ve had to just bite the bullet and pay full price. However, I’ve had good luck buying quality items when I do buy new. I’ve had my Enlightened Equipment Accomplice sleeping quilt for 2.5 years now and it’s still going strong. The initial price tag of around $400 was not fun but certainly worth it in the long run, especially if it makes through this summer.

Tl;dr that’s a long winded intro to giving you a glimpse into my pack. Below is all the gear K and I are bringing on our thru hike this summer. It works out to a base weight of  11.1 lbs each. On our longest sections, 9 days and 8 nights, we’re starting off with a total carried weight of 29.85lbs including food and consumables. 

The Pacific Northwest Trail

A version of this article appears on The Trek, which you can read here

I remember as a kid seeing a North Country Trail sign while hiking on Lake Superior. I asked my uncle where the trail went and when he said “New York to North Dakota” the idea of hiking that far both baffled and enticed me.

Since then thru-hiking a long trail has always been in the back of my mind as “something to do someday” but I never really had a plan (or time) on how to do it. Then 3 years ago when I was laid up with a broken ankle I stumbled across the book “Grizzly Bears and Razor Claims” by Chris Townsend. I devoured it. The Pacific Northwest Trail resonated with me: rugged, rough, remote. I became somewhat (ok, totally) obsessed with the idea of hiking it.

And just over a month from now I’ll be starting the PNT. Hell. Yes.

Why the PNT?

The PNT has all the things I love about backpacking: navigation challenges, undeveloped sections, bushwacking and solitude. The length is perfect for my 3 month timeframe, the trail typically takes 2-3 months. These are the reasons why I’m choosing the PNT over some of the more popular trails like the AT or PCT. Plus, I love the scenery and the vibe of the Pacific Northwest and am excited to spend the summer walking across it.  

Having a lot of experience backpacking I’m confident in my backcountry skills, but that’s not to sound naive. According the PNTA less than 300 people have completed the trail since its inception in 1977. It’s going to be tough. Really tough. It will test me. It might even break me. All part of the adventure. Let’s do this.

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Skyline Trail

After last week’s trip on the Berg Lake Trail I’m feeling much better about having to re-organize our plans. We had one day in between the Berg Lake Trail and now we’re on the Skyline Trail for three nights.

The smoke in Jasper isn’t too bad as we head out to the Skyline trailhead. To get to the Tekerra Campsite we start with a steep uphill on an old 4WD road. It’s easy walking for being so steep and we make good time to when the Skyline Trail turns into a proper trail. From here it skirts around the side of the mountain through a wildflower meadow.

We get to the campsite and start making dinner. Whoa, the mosquitoes are bad here. In the 3 weeks we’ve been in Canada this is definitely the worst. Bug nets out, gloves too. After giving away more protein than we ate for dinner we spend the rest of the evening in the tent.

When we wake up in the morning our water bottles are frozen almost solid, I think it was well below the 4C prediction… The good news is we are able to break camp and eat breakfast before the mosquito onslaught begins again.

It’s a little more smokey this morning and we begin the climb up to the ridgeline. The wind picks up and the smoke starts coming in. Visibility is now pretty low and the smoke is burning my eyes but we carry on heading up the hill, maybe it’ll get better. Unfortunately, an hour later is isn’t any better and I start to hear wheezing from behind me, it’s K, stooped over gasping for air. She’s having an asthma attack. To my knowledge she’s never had asthma and I can see the anxiety in her eyes, not helping matters.

After a couple minutes she calms down and is back to normal. We walk on about 50 yards and it starts up again. We decide to take an extended break and eat lunch. After we’re done she says she’ll give it another go and see what happens. She makes it about 200 yards and starts wheezing loudly again. Not. Good.

We take another break and assess the situation. Strenuous walking is sending K into fits, there’s still some climbing left and then a ways to go to camp after that, and the visibility is so low now we can hardly see more than ¼ mile in front of us. Tomorrow we’d have to go up and over the ridge again to get back to Tekerra campsite for night 3.

As much as it pains us we decide to try to slowly walk back down the ridge and back to Jasper. Seems more prudent than trying to push on. Damn those fires!

We did see this cute marmot though, not all is lost.

If you go:

• Skyline Trail

Great Divide Trail Section A

We begin our adventure on the GDT with a climb from Waterton to Alderson Lake, our first camp. It’s only 7.5 km (4mi) but it’s a nice way to ease into the trail.

A contentious issue before we started the trip was the matter of camp shoes. I was staunchly against, K was in favor of a pair of cheap flip flops (7 ounces, insane!). It’s day 1 and we come back from cooking dinner to a missing flip flop. We hunt for it with no luck. I’m blamed. I swear it was a marmot (it was, honest).

It rains overnight and we wake up to a misty morning. The trail to Carthew Lakes is clear until just before the last steep climb to the lake, here we encounter a ~6ish foot snow wall. We make it over by cutting in foot and hand holds and slowly making our way up. At the top we see the lake and tons of marmots hanging out on the rocks (which one of you is currently lining your burrow with a comfy stolen flip flop?). When we get to Cathrew Summit the fog has lifted and the views are jaw dropping. We are definitely take an early lunch break here.

At Cameron Lake the sun is shining and it’s packed. We just left Waterton yesterday but it feels weird to see this many people especially since we only saw one other camper last night. From here we head down the road to the Akamina Trail and the Akamina Creek Campground. We make it to the campground by 4pm and enjoy the rest of the sunny day relaxing near the creek.

Day 3 we head back out to the road and take it to the Tamarack Trailhead. We debated taking the Mt. Rowe-Sage Pass alt but it’s only day 3, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The trail up is mostly shaded, good cause it’s getting warm, and the wildflowers are everywhere. About 5km (3mi) from the start of the trail we reach an open meadow before we start up the ridge. From here the ridge looks impressive, and it is, there is 1,500ft of elevation gain in the next 1.5 miles.

Walking up to the ridge we are going over snow patches, most are fine, a few are a little steep and deeper than I’d like. What makes me more nervous is the snow above us, it looks stable but it’s overhanging the edge. We hurry past this part of the bowl and just before the apex of Lineham Ridge there is one last lick of snow to cross. The ridge comes to a point and the trail goes up and over. To our left it’s steeper with deeper snow (see: slide back down the 1,500 ft we walked up), to our right a ~700ft drop off (see: death). There’s a big bear paw print in the snow, and the view past it is obstructed by a small rock pile we have to cross. From looking at either side of the snow in the small dip before the rockpile I come to the conclusion that it’s probably not a snow bridge. K really doesn’t like the “probably” qualifier. We brave it over and thankfully it’s not as bad as it looked once we get on it. Once we’re on the other side the entire ridge down is snow free with views for miles.

The Tamarack Trail follows the northeast facing side of the valley and there is still snow (and snowmelt) here making it a slow slushy walk. We come across many bear prints and fresh-ish scat on this section of trail. I’m glad Lone Lake, our destination, is in another valley.

Day 4 and another day of clear blue skies. I didn’t get very cold last night so I’m expecting today’s going to be a hot one. We head out toward Twin Lakes, no one else in sight. The trail into Twin Lakes is the same as into Lone Lake, snow covered and some postholing is required to get down. When we get to Twin Lake we stop and have our first major trail discussion of the trip.

After yesterday's freaky snow experience on Lineham Ridge we’re not sure what the GDT primary route over Sage Pass will be like. We don’t have ice axes for snow travel and we know the next 2 days involve some very steep ridges. Could be dicey. The alternative is to take the Twin Lakes Trail down to (I think) the Avion Ridge Trail. Once the trail hits the border of the park we should be able to take an old fire road down to the South Castle River and then follow the road/ATV trails out to the road and rejoin the GDT at A31/Syncline Mountain Trail. It’s a big detour and it’s skips some great ridge walking, but much less risky.

In the end we take the detour, I’d hate to come across a situation feel “obligated” to continue on a dangerous path. It’s a bummer but the route ends up being a fun journey through the castle river valley. Once we are at the edge of the park the trail stops but the fire road is obvious the whole way down. There are a few blowdowns but nothing too intense. When the trail levels out there are sections of brushy willows bushes over the trail, annoying more than difficult, but otherwise a clear trail. We camp about ⅓ of the way down the valley.

Day 5 is mostly walking down the rest of the Castle River valley and then out to the 774 road. The walking goes fast, as we get closer to the developed road the trail changes to ATV to gravel road. We spend part of the afternoon “swimming” (more like running in and running out of the water before we freeze) in the Castle River, later we find an old campground near the river to stop for the night. The walking was easy, mentally it was tougher thinking about the ridge section we were skipping.

Day 6 We begin the day by hitting the 100km mark of the trail (although with our detour i’m not sure how far we’ve actually walked), then immediately onto a cutline straight up 1,000ft. After that we’re mostly on ATV roads for the rest of the day until we get to Willloughby Ridge and start to climb again. It’s windy and we end up camping on the east side of the ridge instead of the ridge itself to provide some shelter. The only flat-ish spot is the trail itself which is also covered with bear track (black bear I think/hope). Yikes.

Day 7 Walking Willloughby Ridge is beautiful and the weather is calm. We’re not in the mountains but the views of the mountains from here are stunning. After the ridge it’s 16km of ATV trails into Coleman. Section A complete!

Links:

• GDT

• Waterton Lakes National Park