10/3/2024
Section: Milepost 2551.9 to 2569.5
Total Trail Miles: 2636.5 Miles
Distance: 16.9 Miles
Moving Time: 08:00 Hrs
Elevation Gain: 2164 Feet
The mice engaged in some more…erratic… behaviour last night. They really do make some outsized mischief and, given that Miners Creek Camp is already a bit of a spooky place, the occasional scrabbling against our tent fly was not appreciated. Despite all of this, we still managed to sleep well. I had almost forgotten how great the sleeping is on the PCT - your body just shuts down. Amanda says she is a little cold on these nights but, honestly, I think this girl would be cold if she had a negative 20° mountaineering bag with her.
This morning was damp and cold at Miner’s Creek Camp. Sad to say it but this might be one of my least favorite sites on the whole PCT. There’s nothing wrong with it, per say, but it just feels lifeless so, after our morning activities were wrapped up, we were happy to be under way.
The stage today crosses over one of the final high points of the Glacier Peak wilderness, Suiattle Pass. The first 2.5 miles are committed to a 1500 foot climb from Miner’s Creek camp to the pass. From there, the PCT winds into a small cirque, drops 1000 feet and winds through a much larger cirque below Sitting Bull Mountain. From this second, larger cirque, the trail climbs 400 feet and traverses across a cliff band above the South Fork of Agnes Creek before entering into the third and largest cirque below Bannock Mountain. This marks the approximate halfway point of the day, from which the trail descends uninterrupted for 2300’ and 9 more miles, following the South Fork of Agnes Creek the entire way. Along the way it passes Swamp Creek and comes to a close at Five Mile camp.
We climbed for a little over an hour before reaching Suiattle Pass. The day was clear and bright and we enjoyed the early morning sun filtering through the trees as we went. It did make picking the right layering configuration difficult though. Our jackets were in an almost constant state of being taken off or put back on. At the pass we stopped for a quick break and I snapped some pictures looking back at Glacier Peak. I kept trying to get a glimpse of Bonanza Peak which I have wanted to climb for some time, but I couldn’t see it. Suiattle Pass was one of my last worries coming into this 8 day trip. In October, a snowstorm is always a potential threat and this pass marks the most northern high point in the section so getting through it was a relief once it was behind us. That being said, it’s not really anything to worry about. The southern side is heavily forested and the south side has a few points of exposure but really nothing that is too concerning.
After the pass, we wound into the first cirque below Plummer mountain and then descended to the second cirque. On our way down, a mighty squeakening enveloped us as we began to cross through boulder fields. At one point, Amanda became engaged in a staring contest with a bold little pika who eventually decided it had more important things to be up to. It is October, after all, he had foraging to do! Shortly after we found ourselves in a beautiful, amphitheater-style cirque with huge boulders littered all around us. We stopped and dropped our packs, finding a nice flat rock to sun-bath on. In a rare moment on this trip, we actually got to feeling a little hot! Turns out I had a few Sea Salt and Vinegar crumbs left, which I did seal the deal on and Amanda enjoyed some sweet snacks she still had. She’s very confident, now, that her sweet-to-salt ratio is too high and has mentioned a few times now that she needs to correct that in the future.
After a short break we continued on through the boulder field. At the opposite edge of it we started a short, but very frustrating, climb. It was probably frustrating because I had kinda insinuated to other people in my group that today was pretty much all downhill after the pass and this climb was… not expected. In any case, we overcame it shortly after and traversed through more boulder fields before beginning what was truly, the uninterrupted descent of the day.
As we started the second half of the day, we ran into a SOBO hiker coming up to the pass. He had a large pack and was listening to what appeared to be an early generation iPod shuffle. We said high and wished him luck before he continued on with a few words.
Down and down we went. Below us we could start to hear the South Fork of Agnes Creek. As we hiked along, we would pass through sporadic avy chutes. Suddenly, I heard a low whistle coming up the river valley. Recognizing it as a jet, I looked up and ahead of the sound. We had been hearing them for the last 2 days and occasionally caught sight of them far above us but this one sounded way closer. Sure enough, as I looked up, a gleaming fighter jet streaked by about 800 feet above us, close enough to make out two helmets in the cockpit. The sound came shortly after and was deafening in the mid-afternoon silence of the forest. I waved, doubtful either pilot could pick us out in the midst of the overgrown avy shoot. “That was loud,” Amanda commented once the jet had passed out of sight. “It was,” I answered “poor Oscar II - I don't know what I would think was happening if I were a bear!”
We plodded on and eventually reached the South Fork of Agnes Creek, crossing at Hemlock creek. At the crossing we met an older couple trying to figure out how they were going to cross. I used a skinny log over a deep pool while Amanda decided to ford just up from where I crossed. On the other side, we talked to the couple for a while. They were nice to talk to but didn’t have a whole lot to say. As they ate peanut butter spread over pita bread and we snacked on our remaining rations they told us how this was the last section of the PCT they had and had been working on the PCT for almost 20 years. They seemed a little scared of the weather heading into this section this late in the year, which I can't say wasn’t warranted but we wished them luck before heading our separate ways.
The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. We walked along the South Fork of Agnes Creek in the deep forest. At one point I was able to look up through the Glacier Creek drainage and get a peek at what I think was Bonanza peak. We passed through Swamp Creek in the afternoon and contemplated stopping there as it was really nice, but decided to stick out the 3 remaining miles to Five Mile Camp and, boy, am I glad I did. We arrived at Five Mile camp about 2 hours before dark and found a beautiful, open set of sites on sandy ground. It felt like a very “Eastern Cascade” style campsite, like something you might find out in Bend. We tossed down our packs after agonizing for a bit on which of the amazing sites we should take. Amanda set up the tent while I dipped down to Pass Creek to top up on water. Once I was back I started boiling water for some of the last freeze-dried meals we had and got a fire going at what appeared to be a communal fire pit. Our little MSR Windburner is on its last legs. We got it for our wedding in 2015 and it’s boiled A LOT of water in it’s day without any maintenance. We burned through a canister of fuel that should have been good for about 10-12 days in less than 8 and i’m worried we may not be eating hot food tomorrow night - we will see.
That night, we ate our dinners next to a much more self-sustaining fire and looked up at the stars that would occasionally show themselves. A bit after dark, I went back down to refill the bladders for a quick departure in the morning and walked the bear cans way down to another site below us. We had just gotten into the tent when we heard voices down the trail and saw lamps coming up the way. A couple with a French accent stopped at the turn-off for the camp, which also felt a bit like the doorstep to our tent, and deliberated for a bit on whether to keep going. They decided to stay for the night and I called out that I could move our bear cans, below, if they decided to stay in that site. They thanked me and carried off before one of them came back and indicated that they did indeed want to stay in that site. I got out of bed and ran down to rearrange the bear can, which they thanked me for, before I said goodnight, gave the fire one more safety check and retired back to the tent. Once in, I read for a while before saying goodnight to Amanda and passing out.
