August 21
Miles: 25.4
Mile Markers: 2298.4 – 2323.8
Miles to Canada: 332.0
Listening to: Fruit Bats – Tacoma
We’re trying to hike about 30 miles from White Pass to Chinook Pass today. I had thought this would take about 2 days, but we’re going to try do it in 1.
Today is also the day that we cross into Pierce County. That’s the county where I live. I had marked it on a map back in November and today is a day that I’ll cross that point. Aside from walking over the Bridge of the Gods into Washington, stepping foot into Pierce County on the PCT might be the second most exciting point on the entire trail that I was looking forward to, just because after hearing “so you’re walking home” about ten thousand times over the last 5 months from people who discovered that I was from Washington and all thought they were the first people to make that joke, today I will actually really be home.
Shortly after we got going this morning, I came around a bend and everyone was sitting there. I thought it was quite early for a break and the boys just pointed at the pile of sticks that were laid out reading 2300 and they were waiting for everyone so we could celebrate as a group. This mile marker means that we have 350 miles left of the trail, and then another 30 miles back to Hart’s Pass. In the grand scheme of things, 380 miles feels like nothing now, which is absolutely insane to say out loud. I only have to hike 380 more miles. Who says that?
I really do like this group, even though I need time alone sometimes. They’ve made hiking so much fun, and I want to finish the trail with them. They’re planning on taking zeros in Stehekin and in Leavenworth, but I don’t think I will go into town. I’m sending boxes to myself along the trail and I’m just going to go straight through from Steven’s Pass to Rainy Pass and skip Stehekin and then just stay at Steven’s Pass instead of going into Leavenworth. I’ll take some neros and just do a few days of lower miles and then the crew will catch up with me. I think I could do a 30 mile day here and there, but I don’t want to have to do it everyday, but I’ve been consistently hiking over 20 miles a day now and it feels good.
It was a bit hot today and I lagged behind once we started up the big ascent, which we had to do during the hottest part of the day. It was just after the climb that I’d pass into Pierce County.
It was a little anticlimactic to be honest. There was no sign, or any kind of amazing views, just some trees, some rocks, quite boring. A tiny bit disappointing.
My disappointment was very short lived though when I started hearing rustling in the bushes. Something really big. I heard bear noises – the kind of growling breathing noise, and I started clapping my trekking poles together to make some noise and let it know where I was because I seemed to have startled it. It was a very large brown bear with white spots around its neck, maybe 15 feet away. It was the biggest bear I’ve seen on trail, and maybe ever. If I had to guess, it probably weighed at least 800 pounds. It started walking down the hill away from me when it realized I was there, not really running, just walking quickly. It stopped in another set of bushes that was still a little too close for my liking, and I kept clapping my trekking poles so it kept going. There was just one bear, thankfully. I wasn’t afraid though. Bears don’t really scare me anymore. They really just want food, and will otherwise leave you alone. Just one of the reasons women choose the bear.
I got a Garmin message from Roses saying that they were going to camp at a place called Dewey Lake, rather than pushing on a few more miles to Chinook Pass. I couldn’t say that I was disappointed, because by the end of the day, I had already climbed over 4,000 ft and I was pretty tired. The last mile was really hard. I was just really tired at that point, but I kept pushing on because I wanted to meet up with my friends, and when I arrived, they cheered as usual. I always feel like I’ve accomplished something when I finally meet up with them, and they don’t care that I’m slower and they’re always where they say they will be.
We always cook dinner together, and it’s always filled with tons of laughing, joking around, and fun. There are so many little games we play during the day to make things more exciting, so many inside jokes, and we even have a theme song. It’s probably the strangest group of people, individually, and maybe we wouldn’t be friends in normal life, but it just works out here.
I really had wanted to find love on the PCT and as cheesy as this sounds, I really did. It just wasn’t in the way that I had hoped for.
If you are enjoying this blog you can subscribe here to get email updates! If you are really enjoying the blog, please buy me a coffee and help me on my PCT journey! ☀️
