10/17/2023
Section: Milepost 2395.8 to 2417.2
Total Trail Miles: 2415.1 Miles
Distance: 23.6 Miles
Moving Time: 11:31 Hrs
Elevation Gain: 5594 ft
Day 153. We woke at 5:30, enjoyed some time together and got going - safe to say everyone was feeling a bit better. We got our packs on and walked down to Laconia Market where we purchased our last bit of creature comforts - coffee and hot breakfast. It was expensive but the coffee was incredible.
After our meal and delaying as long as we could, we finally meandered out into the parking lot, awkwardly did our warm-up and got underway. We made a few small wrong turns and ended up doing a stupid little loop trying to get back up to the trail we had left off on two days ago. Was not necessary but, eh, it happens. We made a short descent and got across the highway before reconnecting with the PCT on the other side and began our 3 day jaunt to Stevens pass.
Today’s stage starts from I-90 and immediately commits to a 2500’, 6.5 mile climb up the nose of Kendall Peak where the Kendall Katwalk awaits. The PCT makes an airy traverse along a ridge running north from Kenall Peak before winding between Collar Mountain and Ridge Lake. It then continues on the traverse around the upper reaches of the Alaska Lake cirque and passes under Alaska Mountain. The high, traversing ridge walk keeps things interesting by subsequently tip-toeing along the precipice between Joe and Edd’s Lake and then taking a U-turn around the head of Gold Creek Valley. Once around Gold Creek Valley, the PCT hits its highpoint for the day at just under 6000’ and continues southeast on the western slopes of a very long Chikamin Ridge, passing under Chikamin Peak and Four Brother’s peak in the process. At fourteen and a half miles in, the path climbs over a small, unnamed pass at the southern end of the ridge and hitches suddenly east. Here, at the end of the maneuver, it crosses the northern banks of Parks Lake, makes a final small climb and commits to a 2000 foot descent on an exceedingly switchbacked path. On the way down, the stage passes by Spectacle Lake and through Delate Meadow. The day ends shortly after, at Lemah Meadows.
Before we began though, we had to bid adieu to a very important implement that had been with us through thick and thin along the trail - our beloved poo shovel. During some frantic digging on our approach to Snoqualmie Pass, it had finally succumbed to the rigour of its work and fractured. No longer of any use to us in its current state we interred it to the depths of a USFS trashcan at the trailhead for Kendall Katwalk. Your watch has ended dear friend.
After the ceremony, we began our climb up, 2500 feet, to the Katwalk itself. The day was overcast, but mercilessly dry as we wound up and up out of the pass.
Nearly 3 hours climbing in the trees brought us away from the sounds of I-90 and to the Kendall Katwalk - a wonderfully airy traverse high above the Silver Creek cirque. As landmarks go along the PCT, this one is probably in the to 50ish and definitely one of the big ones in Washington, right behind the Knife Edge. We traversed the walk without incident, noting how wide it was to accommodate horses, and then began a long day of ridge traverses above gorgeous alpine lakes. From the Katwalk, we had an amazing vantage point of stunning peaks off in the distance. To be honest, of the passes through Washington, Snoqualmie is actually low on the list for natural beauty when compared to others like North Cascades or Steven’s. It’s the most used, but not a lot of iconic landmarks to make it stand-out. Turns out, the epic views are there, just on the other side of a 2500 foot climb. It was remarkably beautiful, looking out east at Alta and Hibox mountain, just to name a few.
We eventually left the stunning views of the Katwalk and headed north, winding our way through some truly inspired trail building. The stage manages to keep us out of the countless gravity wells of various cirques, all of which have a small lake nestled at the bottom. I gotta say, though, I wouldn't want to have to give right away to a horse on this trail. The way they are etched into the side of these slopes doesn’t give a lot of room to get out of the way.
We are now solidly in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and, true to its name, there are countless little lakes up here. I was continually stunned at how beautiful it is. Snoqualmie, to me, is the dividing line between the more volcanically inclined South Cascades that run all the way south to Sierra City and the North Cascades which have much more stark and imposing peaks. The contrast was in high definition as we wound through the incredible landscape. Lemah mountain, in particular, was gorgeous in the distance.
The other thing that was especially noticeable was the squeak. The lil’ varmots were everywhere, cruising between their burrows and chiming out into the thin air. It was actually hard to stay moving along because we had to stop to look closer at the blurs of gray as they screamed by to see if we could spot them. They were usually gone by the time we noticed them. As the morning wore on, I threw in my audio book. I’m listening to Outlive by Bill Gifford. It’s a fascinating read and definitely made me feel good about the activity we had been working on for the last six months.
At 2 pm, we hit our high point for the day near Chikiman peak and stopped for some lunch, with a good view down to Joe Lake. We had restocked on snacks and had 3 days of hiking so we could afford to take on a few extra calories at each stop. The day was still a bit overcast but had continued to remain dry which is all we really cared about. After lunch we got up and continued south along Chikamin Ridge, with more amazing landscape spread out below us. About an hour and a half brought us to the pass over Chikamin ridge and we made a small descent to Park Lakes. We then made a small climb up and out of the lake basin, which was brutal - we were into the “no-climb” zone of the day, basically the part of the day where even small climbs that would ordinarily be easy-peazy are a total drag. In fact, it probably would have been good to stop the day there but it was getting deep into October and we needed to get north before the snow started falling. Here in the PNW, we are usually good for one early winter storm in the Fall up high and we are both worried it’s waiting for us out there in the next 2 weeks. So, we marched on, reached the other side of the basin and began an incredible descent. Seriously, look at the map near Spectacle Lake. Some switchback masochist was given this section of trail and zero oversight. Don’t get me wrong, it was gorgeous trail and very well laid out, but so…many…fucking…switchbacks.
The sun set on us as we descended past Spectacle Lake. Down, down, down we went winding through house sized granite boulders seemingly forever but we finally got to the west side of Delate Meadow near the bottom at 6:30 PM. We broke out the headlamps and continued on. By this time we were exhausted. Just done. The darkness set in hard and it didn’t help that we knew we were walking through what was probably some gorgeous country, but couldn’t see any of it. It was about this time that two Screech Owls decided to keep us company. Don’t get me wrong, I love owls and under slightly different circumstances, I would have been intrigued to have them so close by but it was pitch black and I was constantly worried about something jumping out from behind the very large trees all around us. Add to that an incessant, otherworldly screeching from two trusty friends who had decided to follow us and it was a very eerie experience.
It was with all these things compiling that, when we reached the Lemah creek crossing and Amanda fell in we called it quits. It wasn’t bad, but she definitely got wet. We hiked on a bit farther so she could dry out and to reach the Lemah Meadows campground which, in the light of day, I’m sure is beautiful but, for us, it was just a large empty campsite with about 5 pads and a whole lotta mice. Like, these fuckers are getting bold. Anything we left on the ground they would get into. Towards the end of our quick dinner I was ready for the owls to come back. There is a strong difference between camping in the dark on some high promontory or bluff and camping in a low river bank or meadow edge. Just a bit creepier in the latter situation. So we cleaned up pretty quickly and I ran over to hang our food from a tree before running back and diving into the tent. It was a super long day. A lot more beautiful and exhausting than we had expected and Amanda is recovering very nicely so, overall, we were happy with how everything had turned out and excited for what the next day would bring.
