7/30/2023
Section: Milepost 1953.6 to 1931.6
Total Trail Miles: 1007.7
Distance: 25.67 Miles
Moving Time: 10:16 hrs
Elevation Gain: 2465 ft
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Today we slack-packed and it was a glorious way to ring in 1000 miles on the PCT. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, Slack-packing is when you get a car-assist to carry most of your gear through a stage that you then walk through with the bare minimum essentials - water and food mostly. With the Porters nearby we were able to take part in this time-honored slacking activity and made good use of it, putting in one of our longest days on the trail.
The stage today leaves from the Elk Lake campground, crosses the Cascade Lakes Highway and makes it’s way up on the trail demarked only as #3 for 2 miles until it rejoins the PCT. From the junction, the PCT meanders along the same elevation headed west until it reaches mile marker 1949 and turns south. This region is full of small lakes and ponds which all make for wonderful dips and horrible mosquitos. The trail continues south, heading past a turn-off for the Mink Lake Trail and passing Cliff and Horseshoe lake. At Horseshoe lake, the PCT turns back west and passes by Mac Lake and S Lake before again correcting south. At the junction for the Snowshoe Lake trail, the lakes disappear and the trail climbs a bit dropping beneath Little Round Top mountain before maintaining under an imposing ridge to the north. The trail travels several miles from there before the lakes return and it passes Brahma lake. The stage ends at Irish and Taylor campground where a very primitive road services a similarly primitive campground and trailhead.
We got up at 5 today. Ray, Amanda’s dad, had already awoken and started the percolator making coffee and, when I smelled that, I knew I could get up too. Amanda lollygagged a bit but we were aided by the fact that we didn’t really need to pack anything up - everything was staying at the campsite for the day while we hiked and we were returning that night. By the time we were fully up and starting to pack up the few things we were taking that day, Ray had bacon ready. We ate and Ray and I drank coffee. Sandy, Amanda’s mom, made an appearance but was also planning on sleeping in a bit. By 6:30 am, we were ready to leave. Amanda and I with our tiny packs and Ray had the two dogs - Libby and Ted. We said goodbye to Sandy and walked out of Elk Camp, crossed the highway and headed up Trail #3 to the PCT. Ray kept up pretty well as we sped up the trail, feeling like feathers without our big backpacks. The trail weaved upwards and the dogs ran around like nuts. Eventually we reached the PCT and took a picture with Ray in front of the sign. We talked through the plan again. We thought we would get to Iris and Taylor lake around 5 pm and Ray said they would probably leave around 2 and just enjoy the lake if they got there a little early.
We parted ways - well actually the Chessie, Ted, ran after us about a mile into the trail and we had to convince him to go back to Ray, which he eventually did. We sped down the trail, averaging nearly 3 miles per hour. “This is like when you put track spikes on for the first time - super light and fast,” I said to Amanda.
We came to the lakes region. Every time we came upon a North Bounder they gave our packs a raised eyebrow. I had to explain quite a few times that we were slack-packing which always made them smile. We passed through the lakes region quickly. There was some blow-down and Amanda’s back is still not allowing for Limbo moves, though it is getting much better every day. At one point we passed a NOBO girl who asked if there were any lakes ahead. We looked at her quizzically given all the lakes we were expecting ahead of ourselves before telling her about Elk Lake. “It’s a little off the trail, but really worth it if you are looking for a swim.”
We continued on and the NOBO’s dropped off a bit. About halfway through the day we took a break at Mac Lake where a very nice camping area made for a good lunch spot. I took a dip and scrubbed the dirt off of my feet. These lakes are all crystal clear and gorgeous as well as warm - you can stay in them for 10-15 minutes no problem.
After lunch we continued on, passing under Little Round Top mountain and the ridge before passing into the other realm of lakes. Some were ugly little mosquito pits but most were good sized with crystal clear water.
We soon arrived on the west end of Irish lake and about 10 minutes more brought us to the trailhead at the base of the lake. We walked out to the road and my heart sank looking at it. See, i had expected it to be a standard, well taken care of, gravel forest service road. Ray and Sandy had brought their late 80’s, 4x4 2500 Ford pick-up truck and it was very capable, but it also had a camper on it. The road was, to say the least, not a standard forest road - it was a Jeep trail and a bad one at that. I realize pretty fast that, unless it got better closer to the campsite they probably didn’t make it up that far.
We headed toward the campsite, the road looking worse and worse the farther we went in. As we approached Irish and Taylor campground, I started to really despair when, suddenly, the brown form of Libby passed from under a tree and raced towards me. “Libs!” I shouted and soon saw Sandy and Ray walking with Ted towards me. “How about this road,” Ray teased as they came up. “A lot worse than I thought it would be,” I said back. “Well, you haven’t seen anything yet.” It turns out that they had attempted to come up but the road got really bad about 3 miles back and they had stopped and walked the rest of the way. We took a small break at Irish lake. Ray had brought a beer with him for me and we took some pictures on the shore. The campground was really nice and, because of the horrer story of a road to get to it, it was very secluded.
We knew it was going to be a while getting back. We weren’t going to be doing the 3 miles an hour we had been logging most of the day so we headed down the road. About 2 hours of walking through a very burned out section brought us back down to the purple truck, affectionately known in the family as Barney. From there, Ray expertly navigated back down the road in 4-wheel low before passing by little Cultus lake and returning to Elk lake.
That night Ray and Sandy made us steaks. We had them with Corn-on-the-Cob, “Adult” pasta salad, melon, and tomatoe salad. It was a feast fit for our 1000 mile milestone and we dug in accordingly. Afterwards we enjoyed talking around the fire but I eventually went down to the lake for yoga and a quick dip and we all headed off to bed.
