10/13/2023
Section: Milepost 2336.9 to 2360.7
Total Trail Miles: 2358.6 Miles
Distance: 24.1 Miles
Moving Time: 09:56 Hrs
Elevation Gain: 3232 ft
The wind stayed off of us last night, but it was still cold… and noisy - the wind definitely woke me up a few times. We woke up a little behind schedule this morning. Honestly, we’re just past getting up before sunrise anymore. It would probably help our overall mood to walk in the dark in the morning rather than in the evening, but we don’t have it in us to get up and go in the dark… so we don’t. I texted Josh this morning to see if I could borrow his air mattress when they come to rendezvous with us at Snoqualmie Pass. Washington may be giving us the worst it has but we are now in a part of the state where we have a whole lotta support so that is helping tremendously. After some of Sandy Porter’s delicious homemade granola, we got up and going. The campsite was about 100 yards off the trail so after our warmups and Strava initiation, we wound up the little trail to the PCT and turned onto it!
The stage today starts on the ridgeline we walked along last night, on the backside of Crystal Ski Resort, and descends to a small saddle, called Barnard Gap, before passing through Hayden Pass shortly after. The trail winds northeast above Little Crow Basin, dropping elevation until about 2.5 miles in, where it goes over Martinson Gap. From the gap, it switches back up to another, nameless pass and then descends to the head of the South Fork Little Naches river valley, makes a small climb to near Arch Rock and then begins a 1000 foot descent to Rad’s Gap at mile 10. From Rad’s gap, the trail makes a small descent to an open butte-like feature where we find Ulrich’s snowmobile cabin at Government Meadow. From the cabin, the PCT makes a moderate climb to the western shoulder of Pyramid Peak, crossing NFDR 7080 at mile marker 13.8, and then climbs to the Pyramid Peak trailhead, 2 miles beyond. From here, the PCT parallels NFDR 7080 for 3 miles before some maddening up-and-down around Green pass. The day ends with a stout climb up Blowout Mountain and ends just past the access trail to the summit.
We got off to a quick start this morning. I am feeling quite a bit better today. Maybe not 100 percent yet, but noticeably better. I’m pretty damn chipper! We sped through the evergreen fairy tale that is Southern Washington, occasionally getting some nice views out to the landmarks around us. Today starts on a ridge and kinda just continues on it for a while. There were elk all around us as we walked in the earlier moments of the day. We can’t see them, but they definitely make themselves known.
At around 11 am, I got stung. This, I think, is my 4th or 5th sting on the trail. Along 2600 miles of backcountry walking, getting stung is less a question of if, than it is of when. It was a little surprised because I had thought the bastards had gone back to hell for the winter but I guess they are still out here and pissed off because it is cold. Amanda told me after that she had thought she had seen a nest. Sometimes we will see big wasp nests on the ground - long after they have fallen, and I always think that some poor hiker has had to have been around when one of them fell out of the tree - what a shitty day that would be…
At around noon we passed into the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National forest. We stopped to take a picture in front of the sign and to enjoy the feeling of homecoming. This national forest extends all the way up to North Cascades NF and is our main playground south of that park. Shortly after, we made it to Ulrich’s Cabin. We knew we were getting close because of the many road crossings that we started to encounter north of Maggy’s Creek. All of a sudden, the trees opened up and we were standing in front of Government Meadow with the large cabin on the perimeter. Fun story about Ulrich’s Cabin that you probably had no idea about (because we didn’t) - this cabin was the epicenter of a 2022 outbreak of Nora Virus that infected quite a few hikers at the time. Further investigation discovered it was rampant in the cabin. None-the-less, we went in and had a look around. It’s a super nice cabin that looks well taken care of, but we were still a little nervous and didn’t linger long. Outside we had lunch on a log in front and enjoyed the glorious sunshine.
We continued on and encountered many more service roads. This area south of Snoqualmie has a ton of them. 2 guys on ATV’s zoomed past us shortly after leaving the cabin. They waved and we waved back. The trail continued to be incredibly “cruise-able” and we made good time, despite the annoying up and down. No big climbs, no big descents - instead, just a rollercoaster of dips and rolls that became very frustrating.
Around Pyramid Peak, we came to a forest service road with a brand new Ford Bronco sitting near the trail. A family was lounging around on camping chairs and motioned for us to come over. They gave us tea and crepes and asked what we were doing. We gave our typical PCT spiel about the trail and our experience and then asked them what they were doing so far out. As we had encountered a few times already on the trail, they were mushroom hunters and were out with the family hunting King Boletes. They said that they immigrated to the US from Ukraine 20 years ago and that this area had the same mushrooms they used to hunt growing up as kids, though they didn’t know them by the Bolete name. The kids showed us their haul, which was impressive - big, beautiful mushrooms piled in buckets in the back of the Bronco. We stayed and talked with them for a few more minutes before thanking them for the tea and carrying on. They wished us luck before we turned and headed off.
Shortly after leaving, we stopped at a small creek and filled up on water. We didn’t really know how far we were heading tonight but wanted to be able to just stop whenever we were done. This area, for being in the middle of Washington, was surprisingly dry. We continued on, our tired backs beleaguered by 4 extra liters of water.
The sun eventually set and we carried on into the dark, making our way up Blowout Mountain. What a name. Despite the encroaching darkness, we were both just happy it wasn’t raining. Eventually, we reached the top of the stage, off the west shoulder of Blowout Mountain, and decided to call it. We camped on a little, super eerie side trail up to the summit. Amanda set-up the tent while I got our water going. It was Friday the 13th and we had seen some missing hiker signs at several trail heads over the last few days so, feeling pretty unsettled. The trees around us gave off Blair Witch Project vibes as we tucked ourselves into our tent, which was a bit too slanty for my liking.
We drifted off to sleep, eyes flying open at every snapped branch that echoed out in the dark.
