10/15/2023
Section: Milepost 2382.5 to 2395.8
Total Trail Miles: 2393.7
Distance: 13.3 Miles
Moving Time: 05:53 Hrs
Elevation Gain: 2454 ft
We managed to get up at 5 today. Praise be. We’re getting real slow in the morning. We finished off what little breakfast food we had left, giving the rainfly a few more minutes to dry out. It hadn’t rained a whole lot last night, maybe an hour or two, but it had been enough to get things real damp. There had been another owl last night, sounding off around midnight. I love owls, but they are getting real loud up here in central Washington and I get that nighttime is their daytime but I don't understand why they need to be so loud about it, especially when everything else about them is so quiet.
Anyway, we got going around 6:30 this morning, which is a real improvement. We wanted to spend a little time with Josh and Maddy at the pass and we had told them we would meet them shortly after noon, so they would have time to get back home.
The path today continues to wind through the lower elevations around Snoqualmie Pass and closes the last 13-mile stretch to the pass. It begins by winding around the eastern shoulder of Meadow Mountain, crossing FSR 5483 at the 2-mile marker and then completing a quick see-saw to Yakima Pass, where Twilight Lake sits amongst some thick trees. The PCT then makes a strong climb past Mirror Lake to a high point of 4500 feet, winds west along the northern shoulder of Tinkhorn Peak and serpentines through some smaller ponds. At 6.5 miles in, the path begins its main descent of the day. The trail drops 1200 feet in 3 miles, passes Ollalie Lake and bottoms out at Rockdale Creek. Here, it traverses the backside of Snoqualmie Pass Ski Resort, passes by Lodge Lake and climbs briefly to a small saddle, where it breaks out onto the lower slopes of the ski resort. Once on the ski slopes, the trail makes a final descent down to the pass, where it ends the stage at Snoqualmie Pass.
We sprinted off into the morning light. It was a beautiful morning. The sun had really come out and there was nothing but blue sky above us. The bad news is that Amanda has some increasingly bad cold symptoms… She was congested all night and was moving a little slow this morning. My headlamp also died this morning, so we are really running on fumes coming into the finish of the stage here.
We cruised this morning, quickly coming to Twilight lake. No vampires, but we started climbing here and eventually reached Mirror Lake. There were a bunch of tents here. About 5, and we eventually came upon the group they belonged to. A bunch of highschoolers with some chaperones. We said hello to them and got nothing but silence back. Teenagers scare the shit out of me - stone cold killers, every single one of them. Anyway, we went by the lake, and stopped briefly to get some water before carrying on. Beyond the lake we encountered many shepherds of the alpine and their terrifying screams. At one point, a little Pika poked its head out and screamed right at me. I stopped to try and get a video of it’s performance but, right then, it got stage fright and remained silent.
We completed the climb out of Mirror Lake and began the long cruise downhill to Snoqualmie. We went through Windy Pass and Olallie Meadow, commenting on how it might be a good place to trail angel from at some point before deciding it was too close to the main pass to be really helpful for the hikers. The midday passed without much more incident. We grew closer and closer to the pass we have been over countless times. All the while, Amanda felt crappier and crappier. The density of day hikers started to increase as we came towards the ski resort. At 9.6 miles in, we crossed over the Palouse-to-Cascades State Park trail and I-90 really started to make itself known. We began to catch glimpses of the state’s main East-to-West Artery far below us and could detail the cars making their final push to the top of the pass eastbound.
We committed to a short climb at about 10 miles in, though it was taxing in our current state. The day-hikers were out in droves as we passed Lodge Lake and some of them recognized us as PCT hikers and stopped us to chat. We glanced at each one to see if it was Josh or Maddy, in case they had arrived early and gone up the trail to catch us. At the top, we passed through a small notch with a pond nestled in it. We stopped and talked with an older couple catching their breath from the climb out of the ski resort. After everyone had collectively recovered, we continued on down, the pass materializing far below us. As we marched below the lifts, I picked out Maddy’s gray Ford Escape coming up the highway and saw it turn off into the ski resort. We waved and hollered at them when they got out and Maddy started her way up with their dog, Pakka. Pakka actually sprinted up the hill, easily 300 feet straight up to reach us and we gave her lots of love for the very impressive physical feat.
Towards the bottom we met Maddy and gave her a big hug, though Amanda held her breath because the other thing Josh and Maddy had brought for us was a COVID test. Back at the car we repeated the ritual with Josh and Amanda took the test in the parking lot. It came back positive immediately - so, the mystery of the flu-like symptoms that had haunted us over the last week was solved and now it was Amanda’s turn to suffer through.
After donning a mask and loading our packs up in the back of Maddy’s Escape, Josh drove us the 3 minutes down the service road along I-90 to get to our home for the night, the Summit Inn, a 2 Star Motel on the apex of Snoqualmie. I checked us in, noting the many hiker boxes located behind the counter and went back outside to check-in with Amanda, Maddy and Josh. The original plan was to head over to Dru Bru, the local brewery on the pass, for food but Amanda was crashing fast and decided to go to the room and sleep. I told Josh and Maddy I would get us settled and then come over for some dinner. Amanda said goodbye and that she was looking forward to seeing them again real soon and we headed to the room.
It was a pretty drab affair, but functional. I got our stuff situated and the things we needed dry set out to speed up the process. Amanda took a shower and crawled into bed while I went back across the street to meet up with Josh and Maddy. I caught up with them for about 4 hours. Our van had inspired them to look for their own, though they were still on the fence. Josh had climbed Forbidden Peak, one of the 50 Classic Climbs of North America, and recounted what sounded like an epic summit day. Eventually, it started to get dark, and they said they had to get back to Seattle. It wasn’t far, but it was a school night. We said goodbye, and I picked Amanda some food up from a food truck just outside the brewery.
Back in the room, I found Amanda watching some TV. As expected, she was excited for the food and enjoyed it while we watched some Survivor. The irony in that was not lost on either of us. After that we watched some Naked and Afraid which was, still, very on point. At around 9 pm, totally exhausted, we passed out in the warmth of the 2 Star hotel room, listening to the rain fall harmlessly outside.
Nothing like a good COVID nose swab.