9/30/2023
Section: Milepost 2231.6 to 2256.4
Total Trail Miles: 2256.4 Miles
Distance: 25.5 Miles
Moving Time: 09:44 Hrs
Elevation Gain: 3914 ft
Today, I committed a great sin… One that I paid for well into the day. I ate a donut that didn’t belong to me. It belonged to Amanda. We had gotten breakfast for free at the hotel which was… continental. At the end of the bar had been an assortment of donuts and in our current, physical state these round repositories of fat are the absolute SHIT, so we took a few. After we got back to the room, and while we were packing up, I noticed one donut just hanging out. It didn’t seem to really have a future and I was worried about it ending up in a trash bin. I should have known better. I ate it and it was only as we were getting the last few items, finally dry btw, into our backpacks that Amanda noticed her “for later donut” gone and, damn, was she PISSED!! It’s never wise to take another person’s food, but it’s even less wise to take that person’s food when they have zero fat reserves left and have to walk 25 miles that same day. So, needless to say, the morning didn’t start out on great terms.
The night before, we had arranged a trail angel to get us back to the trail head since we now had service in the vast town of Trout Lake. Dennis showed up around 8 am and we, like many times before, got into a complete strangers car. Dennis was great, but no mushrooms and no great conspiracy theories were shared on the way up. He did tell us an interesting story about a bunch of guys he had picked up during the atmospheric river who he had gone all the way out to Potatoe Hill to collect. He said it had taken him 90 minutes just to get out there and they were in sorry shape when he showed up. As we left the one lane town behind, I thought about how many times I had been down the central road of Trout Lake on my way up to Adams. I think I’ve climbed it around 6 times now in my life - great mountain and Trout Lake is a fantastic little town. One of the last good stops on the PCT. Dennis dropped us off at 8:30, refusing our bid to give him a few dollars for his troubles, as usual. We did our warm-ups as his Subaru sped away and started off on the day ten minutes later.
The PCT begins, today, at the relative low point that we ended on the day before, NFSR 23, before heading straight for Mt. Adams, climbing steeply up it’s western flanks. The climb encompasses most of the first half of the stage, gaining a little over 2000 feet in around eight miles. At Horseshoe meadow, the trail makes a strange “U” maneuver and traverses north along the western shoulder of Mt. Adams, slowly turning northeast as it follows topographical lines around the mountain, maintaining around 6000 feet. At the Killen Creek Trail junction, the stage begins a long descent, crossing the East Fork of Adams Creek and passing a few small lakes - namely Killen Creek Ponds as well as Batty, Butterfly and Pocket Lakes. The PCT continues to descend until approximately mile 20 where it crosses out of the Mt. Adams Wilderness and back into the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The path makes a beeline for Potato Hill, an old and very pronounced cinder cone, breaking northwest from there. The day ends 3 miles beyond that, just after crossing Midway creek, at a lovely camping spot on the edge of a large meadow.
After our warm-ups we began our climb of the day. 2000 feet up to the lower slopes of Mt. Adams. The morning was crisp and cool and we hiked in a few layers to begin with. Summer was officially over as of 8 days ago, just before we came out at Kearsarge, and the change in light was really starting to show. What it did make for was some beautiful colors though. As we rose up the slopes of mount Adams, relishing the heavenly clear skies, we were surrounded by shrubs sporting fiery reds and yellows in sporadic burned sections in the early morning light.
Near the top of the climb, we stopped to have lunch and take in the mighty mountain. I reflected on all the times I had been on top and what a friendly peak it is. A woman passed us on a day hike and we waved and said hi. As we were finishing up I noticed we had stopped right underneath a widow maker and hastened to pack up and continue on.
At the East Fork of Adams Creek, we helped a few day hikers find the trail on the other side before beginning the big descent of the day down towards Potato Hill. The burnt sections we had walked through periodically throughout the morning gave way to younger forest sections as we traveled northwards. We passed by the great Potato Hill, which is a ridiculous name, and turned northwest. Eventually the evening, which was coming earlier and earlier every day, came and we hiked on into darkness but, this time, no rain. We eventually came to the spot I had picked out on FarOut - a gorgeous meadow-side site with some trees under which we pitched our tent. The stars were perfect above us as Amanda set up the new Big Agness and I went back to Midway creek to collect water. We made a lovely dinner and stayed out a bit to take in all the tiny dots above us. Afterwards we slunk down in our dry clothes, into our dry sleeping bags, in our dry tent and quickly fell asleep to the quiet peace of the forest - all thoughts of donut related crimes forgotten to the past.
