Washington PCT 2015: Day 8

Day 8 is when the Washington portion of the trail started to really shine. We got early enough to have some breakfast before our ride back to the trail with Doug Anderson. It is really weird to me how fast people normalize a new activity. Laura and I had only been hiking for a week and yet the trail was our new "normal". Our time in Trout lake felt like a short dream that was about to end before we went back to real life: hiking the trail. On our trip out of town, we had a great conversation with Doug. We learned how he came to start helping hikers from the PCT and some of his most memorable experiences.

Waiting for our ride

Mount Adams Wilderness!

On the trail again...

About a mile from the road, we entered the Mount Adams wilderness. At first, it was just trees. Then we entered a pretty old burn area that was just gigantic! It was about that time when we first met Jesse, who we would get to know a lot better over the next few days. He was getting water out of a little spring and we chatted a bit before continuing on our way.

Lots of burnt trees but also a snowy mountain

Lots of burnt trees but wildflowers everywhere

It was really nice and cool after the thunderstorms. We were lucky to be in a house when they passed by according to Jesse, who slept in the rain. Regardless, the weather was perfect and so was the landscape. The burn had made the soil rich and there were flowers everywhere! Also, we could see the rocky landscape and the approaching mountain. It was like nothing we had ever seen before!

Hiking through the flowers

 There was just one minor problem: deer flies. They seemed to enjoy biting Laura and were a bit annoying to me as well. Just before the trail got to a ridge line and started circling around the mountain, we stopped in a meadow and Laura got in a tent to hide from them. I climbed up some rocks for a good view and breezy exposed area that flies tend to avoid.  Here, while we ate and rested, we were passed by Jesse.

Our place of rest

Speaking of eating, we had brought things to eat from Trout Lake. I had a ham and cheese sandwich. I grew to hate it over that morning. Something about the copious amount of lukewarm mayo made me feel a little sick to my stomach but I finished my meal like a good boy. It is strange how pronounced our tastes get on the trail. It is almost as if our body finally gets to communicate clearly what is wants in the form of cravings.

A view of Adams from my rocky perch... almost there!

When we got to the top of our climb we were met with a glorious view of Mount Adams! It looked like we could walk right across a field and start climbing it. We went about 100 yards south (the wrong direction) on the trail looping because there was a nice but silty stream flowing there to get water at.

Made it!

More flowers

The rest of the hike was filled with new views of Adams, as well as views to the west toward Mt. St. Helens. It was an amazing experience, and really cool to think we had walked here from the gorge! After a while, we ran into Jesse. He was sitting in a rock looking out to the west. We got to talking with him about life, where he comes from, why he was on the trail, and other things. That was the beginning of a friendship and hiking group that would last until White Pass.

It was weird rocky landscape up here

Looking out toward St. Helens

We eventually found a sandy campsite and stayed there with Jesse. Later, as Jesse and I went to get water, another hiker named Ken set up camp there as well. Jesse and I learned that distance is a very relative thing. I could have sworn that there was a stream just behind us when we set up camp... turns our we had walked a long way past the stream, so I hiked back over 1/4 mile in flip flops.

Mount St. Helens

Looking NW toward Rainier

One of many great views of Adams

First stream crossing not on rocks or bridge

 The sunset was gorgeous and a large moon rose over Mount Adams, which was just outside the door of our tent. The trail was starting to show us some truly beautiful sights, and we were not even 25% finished yet! We had hiked about 11.5 miles that day and we would hike many more the next.

Setting up camp!

Adams at sunset