Snoqualmie Pass:
This is another small ski area we pass through. We were happy to get a room at the Summit Inn. After an early check-in we postponed showers for an afternoon breakfast at the adjoining pancake house. We both got the "Summit Breakfast" which included a plate of French toast, 3 eggs, hash browns, 2 pieces of bacon, and 2 pieces of sausage. Hiker hunger is settling back in through Washington, neither of us had any problems finishing our food. This was followed by my usual town craving, a pint of milk. Although I have started to enjoy half &half with its more creamy and full body flavor. Yes, I do believe I will have to start a training plan and put together a diet for when I am no longer hiking 20+ miles a day.
Surprise Trail Magic:
We hiked out of Snoqualmie Pass on Sunday afternoon. Being that this is on I-90 and only an hour drive from Seattle it was no surprise to find we didn't have the trail to ourselves.
Passing day hikers up and down the trail you never think twice about sitting down for a chat. That was until we met 4 hikers from a hiking club in Seattle. They were taking pictures when we came upon them. As we passes they asked if we were hiking the PCT. Yes. They seem delighted. Where we thru hikers? Yes. I had never had someone so excited to meet us just because we were hiking the PCT. For a moment I thought maybe they were confused as to who I might be or what I might be doing. Nope, today they were specifically out hiking to run into PCT thru hikers and they got us!
We hiked with them for little ways and answered various questions regarding hiking and planning for the PCT. When we took a break with them we didn't realize what this would mean. They gave us sandwiches and some of the best coffee I've had. They sent us off with some candied walnuts. They were so nice to us, it made us feel almost famous.
Ups and Downs:
Washington is proving to be all that we heard about and more. We wind our way up and over high ridges leading to jagged peaks. Then we wind our way back down to a valley with one or two deep blue lakes. The scenery is so amazing.
With all these ups and downs by the end of our 2nd full day I felt pretty tired. Then I thought about our two days put together; we covered 50 miles and had 12,000 feet of elevation gain. That's like running the San Juan Solstice race. We did that with no packs, and a taper week leading up to it. No wonder I was feeling a little tired. Coming into Mig lake camp
Sir Poppins proclaimed, "The Northern Cascades, nature's Stair Master!" For the moment, my legs agreed.
Blasting Ahead:
Approaching the back side of the Stevens Pass ski area we saw a sign on the side of the trail warning us of blasting ahead. We had heard a few blasts earlier in the morning, but didn't know where they came from. Now we knew. The sign told us that three horn blows meant they where going to blast and one horn blow meant the blast was over. The problem with the sign however was that it gave no indication as to where they were blasting. Was there a blast zone? As we made our way through a talus/boulder field with tons of rock precariously balanced overhead I wondered; what the hell do I do if I hear three horn blows? If I run, do I go forward or back? They would surely mark the blast zone, wouldn't they? I shouldn't have dropped the Xanex in Oregon.....
Stevens Pass:
This is no more than another ski area (with some construction blasting) on a pass in Washington. To get to our resupply required a 24 mile hitch down to the small town of Baring. We heard from friends that this was a difficult hitch. We were prepared for a longer wait. We saw quite a few cars pass us by. We tried to hitch from two motorcycles thinking that would be fun, but no they passed and waved. At least they were friendly. Then we saw a large flatbed truck of hay hauling a long flatbed trailer full of hay. Tiffany put her thumb down. I said "you never know, put your thumb back up." Sure enough the long load pulled over. The driver said he had to go so slow anyway he might as well be stopped. So we headed down the pass with a couple who own a lot of horses and their two dogs Max and Marvin. At first Marvin growled at Tiffany getting in, but half way down the pass he was in our laps licking our faces.
Happy Trails!
Trail Statistics:
Days: 147
Miles: 2,476
Explosions/Blasts: 5
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S™II Skyrocket™ an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone.
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