Mile 2,319.0 - 2,332.5

We took our time packing up camp this morning and enjoyed hot drinks before setting off. It was a foggy morning with cool temperatures, perfect for hiking. It took most of the morning to clear up and give us some views of Mt. Rainier. The trail went in and out of the park all day as we hiked along a ridge line that bumped up and down.

Lunch was by Anderson lake, where we all took off our shoes and waded in the water. The sun was now out and the temperature rising. 

By day's end we ran into two other thru-hikers we know, Rod and Trek. Coppertone, who is a trail angel, was set up at Chinook Pass making his now famous root beer floats for all hikers. We didn't need his floats because we were meeting Linda at the same pass, and going to a motel for the night.

After meeting Linda it was a 27 mile drive to Whistling Jacks Lodge. It's the closest place to the Pass. We stayed in a two story house that could easily fit 8 to 10 people. What a nice place, with a full kitchen. Rosemary worked her magic as always and made a huge healthy meal once again. We are so spoiled these last few days with Balance's family here to visit us. We will miss all of you. Tomorrow we go back on trail alone and Balance's family heads home. 

Thank you to Rosemary, Linda, and Stef. It has been a fantastic last couple of days and ones we will never forget. Thanks for the memories.

Our misty morning on Crag Mountain.

Rosemary, Stef, and Balance after it started to clear up.

It took awhile, but it turned out to be a nice day for hiking.

Dewey Lake.

Hiking towards Chinook Pass.

Chinook Pass.

The entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park, and the bridge we are on is actually the PCT.

Rosemary's amazing pasta and veggie dinner at our lodge.

Mile 2,303.0 - 2,319.1

Rosemary cooked another huge breakfast for us this morning. We all packed up the car and headed 20 miles back to White Pass, where we got off the other day. 

The plan is for Rosemary and Stef to hike with us today and tomorrow, doing the 30 miles between White Pass and Chinook. At Chinook we meet up with Linda and go back to a motel for the last time with them. Then the next day Balance and Y-Knot will be on their own.

It was great hiking with Balance's family today. They both have trail names from when we hiked the AT a few years ago. Rosemary's trail name is Sunseeker, and Stef's trail name is Hayman.

Linda walked with us for a short while before heading back to the car. We had a 3 mile gradual climb, but then it flattened out nicely as we meandered around many lakes. We were hoping to camp by a lake but settled for setting up by a creek. Rosemary made us all a pesto pasta with veggies that was far better than our camp meals.

Just on trail at White Pass. Left to right in the photo is: Balance, Rosemary, Stef, and Linda. We are so pleased to have them visit us on trail. This has given us both a huge morale boost. We can't thank them enough.

Our lunch spot by Pipe Lake.

Balance and Y-Knot at Pipe Lake.

The three hikers headed north on the PCT.

Hayman fording the Bumping River.

Our campsite for the night. Sunseeker is cooking us all pesto pasta. One of our better camp meals so far. Sunseeker is the best cook, making amazing healthy but tastey meals. Many thanks go out to her for all the work and effort she put into planning the trip to meet us.

Rest Day - Packwood, WA

Motel, shower, bed, real food, and great company. That and more is what we were lucky enough to have last night and tonight. Thank you to Rosemary, Linda, and Stef for all that you have done to make the effort to meet up with us. We appreciate it more than words can express.

Today's a rest day. Only our 5th rest day of the trip. Far fewer than most PCTers take. We are not the fastest hikers on trail, but we are steady, and it's best for us to pace ourselves and not get injured.

After a pancake breakfast,  we did our laundry and a resupply. Getting that out of the way early enabled us to all drive to Mt. Rainier National Park. I have never been to this park before, so it was really a treat for me. We were limited in how much we could do in the park because neither Balance nor I wanted to do much walking on our rest day. We did manage to get up close the the glaciers on Mt. Rainier on a picture perfect day. We stopped at several pull outs to get a different perspective of the mountain, which was neat.

It was a very enjoyable rest day and more so with Balance's family.

Mt. Rainier at reflection lake. Left to right: Balance, Y-Knot, Stef, Linda, and Rosemary.

Stef and Linda with Mt. Rainier high above.

You can see why this is called Reflection Lake. Mt. Rainier National Park is an amazing place. I have never been here before so I was excited to tour the park on our rest day with Balance's family. We had a great day.

Hard to beat a wildflower meadow with Mt. Rainier in the background. What a beautiful National Park this is.

Mile 2,282.1 - 2,303.0

What a day. What an amazing day. Both Balance and I agreed that today's hike to the ridge of Goat Rocks was equal to anything we have seen so far on the PCT, including the Sierras (which were spectacular).  We both went into Goat Rocks not knowing what to expect, other than what some southbound hikers had told us. They said it was incredible, and they were right. The rains of yesterday were gone, and the sun rose brightly without a cloud in the sky. Outstanding views of Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Rainier rising above the horizon. We walked for hours high on the ridge of Goat Rocks with our eyes and mouths open in anticipation of the next view. Today was one of those days that stays etched in your memory forever.

The culmination of this beautiful day was that we met up with Balance's family. They parked at White Pass and hiked in a few miles to meet us on trail. From afar I heard a call to Y-Knot, and sure enough Rosemary (Balance's sister) starts running towards us. Just down the trail we met up with Linda and Stef (Balance's mother and father). Rosemary ran ahead to retrieve our food box from the store before it closed, and the rest of us hiked out to the parking lot.

We all drove the 20 plus miles into the town of Packwood to our lovely cabin with a full kitchen. Rosemary made us all an incredible taco salad.

Like I said, what a day. What an amazing day.

Amazing sunrise with Mt. Adams in the background.

Y-Knot in Goat Rocks Wilderness.

Balance in front of Mt. Rainier. Mt. Rainier is only 100 feet shorter than Mt. Whitney, which we summited in the Sierras a few months ago. I think Mt. Rainier stands at 14,400' above sea level.

Our trail followed this amazing ridgeline for miles of 360 degree beauty. The Goat Rocks Wilderness is unique. I don't see how we can top this place.

Balance in awe of the view.

Balance's sister Rosemary meets us on trail near White Pass. We were so excited to finally meet up.

Balance's mom and dad, Linda and Stef, also came from New York to meet us on trail. What a treat. Tomorrow is a rest day, and then Rosemary and Stef will hike the next 30 miles with us and Linda will pick us up at Chinook Pass. At that point we will have just 330 miles to hike to the Canadian border. 

Mile 2,260.3 - 2,282.1

Morning sun turned to afternoon thunderstorms today. Not the way we envisioned climbing Goat Rocks. Kind of a disappointment with the weather, but that's Washington. 

Just after lunch the rain began. Once we were wet, the chills set in. Now add climbing to 7,000' with hail and high winds and you've got yourself a disaster. During the hail storm we took shelter under a large tree while the heavy hail fell for 15 minutes. We had to move to get warm, so after the hail ended we headed up Goat Rocks. On a nice day this place would be spectacular, but today wasn't the nice day we were hoping for. 

We were lucky that the rain stopped so we could set up camp for the night. We really hope tomorrow is nice as we have to finish the climb up Goat Rocks. Then it's on the White Pass to meet up with Balance's family. We can't wait.

Y-Knot with Goat Rocks way in the distance. This was the beautiful morning we had today. The weather was about to change.

Balance hiking towards Goat Rocks.

The thunderstorm started as we climbed towards Cispus Pass.

It's named Goat Rocks because there are hundreds of goats on this mountain and plenty of rocks, as you can see by the photo. The goats were too far away for a for a good shot, but we could see them.

Our trail to Cispus Pass. It was cold, wet, and rainy here. Still amazing though.

This is another part of Goat Rocks Wilderness. 

Mile 2,238.5 - 2,260.3

Today's hike brought us to the flanks of Mt. Adams. We had a mix of sun and clouds while hiking beside this glacier covered volcano. We have been hearing about Mt. Adams for weeks; southbounders keep telling us how beautiful it is. It was beautiful, but the peak was covered by clouds part of the day.

It's always a pleasure meeting trail volunteers, and today we met 7 or 8 of them just north of Mt. Adams. I can't thank them enough for all the hard work they put into the trail just because they like to help out and love the trail themselves. We appreciate the work you do and are thankful. The trail wouldn't be the same without the many volunteers who maintain it.

A field of lupines.

Thank you trail volunteers Bob and Jane. Bob and Jane are married and have been maintaining the Mt. Adams section for many years now. Talking with them for a few minutes, I could tell they love doing it.

One of the trail volunteers took a photo of Balance and me with Mt. St. Helen in the background. Today we could see Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Rainer from the same spot. All 4 of these volcanos stand by themselves and protrude into the skyline.

Balance fords another river near Mt. Adams. Y-Knot slipped on a rock here and fell into the water. Just a few small cuts on the hand and leg. Also I got a little wet.

Mt. Adams from a meadow.

Beautiful reflection of Mt. Adams.

Mile 2,216.0 - 2,238.5

We made the mistake of camping in a meadow last night. Meadows are beautiful and it's nice to camp on grass, but the dewfall left our tent soaked. So much so that it was dripping onto our sleeping bags. We were lucky that it was a sunny day and were able to dry out during breaks.

A southbounder told us that Coppertone was doing trail magic up the road. Coppertone has been following the PCT northbound giving out root beer floats to all hikers he meets. He parks his RV at random spots along the trail and stays for a week or two before moving on. We have seen Coppertone 4 times so far but only have gotten one float - he was away all the other times. About a half mile from the road Coppertone came running nude up the trail. His name isn't Coppertone for nothing. He recognized us and said he would run back to the RV and make us floats. We didn't want to ruin his run but he wouldn't hear of it. Minutes later we were sitting by his RV enjoying a refreshing root beer float and other treats. Thank you Coppertone. 

We camped just a mile after along a small stream.

Mt. St. Helens off in the distance.

Lunchtime at a creek.

It's nice to be back in the big trees.

I had to fix up this sign. Looked like it was made a while ago and needed a few touch ups. 420 to go! We like the sound of that. It's funny that we are excited for that, since 420 miles is like walking from Boston to Washington DC. Who does that? 

Balance and Coppertone at his self made RV. Thank you for the root beer floats. We really needed that, as we are low on food to make it to White Pass in 3 days.

Waterfront camping. A small stream runs right behind Balance.

Mile 2,194.1 - 2,216.0

Today is a special day for us. It's our 4th wedding anniversary. 2 of the 4 years we have been on thru hikes during our anniversary. It's hard to celebrate in a traditional way while being on trail, but this is how we like it and wouldn't want it any other way. Happy 4th Anniversary to my partner, my friend, and my wife. We have bicycled across the country, hiked the Appalachian Trail, and are about to finish the Pacific Crest Trail together. Amazing, what else can I say?

Today's hike was harder with its ups and downs, but what we have noticed most in Washington is that the trail is not a dusty mess. The trail has a lot of pine needles and the ground is more compacted. Also the greenery of the plants and the mossy trees is a nice change from California and Oregon. So far we love Washington.

We had a few overlooks of Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, and Mt. St. Helens today.

Mt. Adams.

Balance at a trailside lunch break.

Married 4 years ago today to the minute. August 21, 2010 at 4pm.

Happy Anniversary to us! 

Mile 2,155.0 - 2,194.1

An exciting day for us - we crossed over the Columbia River and into our third and final state: Washington. It's been a long time coming and now here we are after putting one foot in front of the other for thousands of miles, and we have made it to the Bridge of the Gods. The Bridge of the Gods is a very narrow two lane bridge with open holed steel decking, so as we walked over it we could look down at the river below.

We had to make a decision once we crossed the bridge. We can either take the PCT or take the alternate road walk, which goes through two small towns. More importantly, it's about 15 miles shorter than the PCT. We are meeting Balance's family in less than a week about 150 north of here, so the need to save miles made our decision easier. We choose the alternate road walk. Though the towns were nice to walk through, the road walk was not great and a little dangerous with the windy turns.

Just after crossing over the Bridge of the Gods, we took a right heading east on state highway 14. Cars, trucks, and log semis wizzed by at high speeds and we hugged the shoulder as best we could. We were on highway 14 for 7 miles and then we had 10 or so miles on a smaller and less busy Wind River Road, which the trail intersected. It took us until 3pm to reach the trail junction and were happy to be done with the road walk. Our feet, ankles, and knees were happiest of all. Road walking does a number on the body with a loaded pack on. 

We connected with the PCT and hiked a few miles before setting up camp on a nice soft mossy site. That's Washington for you, and we are so happy to be here.

Balance walking to Washington state over the Columbia River on the Bridge of the Gods.

The Columbia River.

We have made it to Washington.

Y-Knot on the Washington side of the Bridge of the Gods. This bridge is the official route over the Columbia River for the PCT and the lowest point on the entire trail at around 150' above sea level. A far cry from Mt. Whitney at 14,505'.

It has taken almost 4 months to walk from Mexico to the southern border of Washington. We are happy hikers to finally be in the Evergreen State.

Balance hiking along Highway 14 with big rigs blowing by.

Trail angels Dale and Janet gave us watermelon slices at the Panther Creek bridge. We love watermelon. Thank you Dale and Janet.