Mile 2,563.7 - 2,580.0

Cold, very cold, freezing, and last but not least frozen. That was how our night went as we camped just below Cloudy Pass at an elevation of 6,000'. At best we got a few hours of sleep, trying desperately  to stay warm. The freezing cold air just found its way through our sleeping bags, through two layers of pants, two long sleeve wool shirts, a rain jacket, socks, a winter hat, two hoods, gloves, and a sleeping bag liner.  I had nothing left in my pack to put on and I still froze. Our hiking friend "Handbrake" said that his thermometer read 28 degrees this morning. I can believe it. Our tent was covered in frost and so was the trail. We both agreed that this was our second coldest night on the trail. The coldest night was in Southern California, just before Big Bear Lake at 9,000'. We survived, but it was uncomfortable.

The plus side was that today's 16 miles was mostly downhill to the long awaited North Cascades National Park. Balance's sister Rosemary has worked in the Park for many years now, so entering it on foot from the Mexican border has special meaning for us.

We took the Park shuttle to Stehekin, which is a very small resort community where we can camp, shower, do laundry, and get our last food box. Chelan lake here is amazing, with massive mountains surrounding it.

Tomorrow we hike through the North Cascades National Park, although for only 17 or 18 miles. We can't wait.

Fall has arrived here in Northern Washington. Vine maples turning color.

Welcome to North Cascades National Park. That brings a smile to our faces.

Glacial blue water at High Bridge, the  southern part of North Cascades National Park. Salmon were spawning in the river.

Our shuttle to Stehekin. There is a 10 mile dirt road which passes an amazing bakery. All hikers stop there and load up on baked goods.

Amazing Lake Chelan.

Mile 2,538.5 - 2,563.7

Our luck ran out this morning. We woke up to rain pelting the tent. Kind of a bummer to have everything soaked again. The worst part was that 15 minutes after breaking down camp, it stopped raining. It's much easier to pack up dry.

By mid morning the sky cleared and the sun was shining brightly. The problem was that all the overgrown vegetation along the trail was still soaked. Of course we brush up against it as we hike and get saturated from our knees down.

Today we crossed the Suiattle River on the new bridge, as the old one got washed away by flooding. The bad thing is that the new bridge is 3 miles down river, for a total of 6 extra miles round trip from where the old trail used to be.

Another 10 mile climb after that to Suiattle Pass, with tired legs.

Someone had counted the rings, and this tree was over 650 years old.

Old growth forest.

Drying out on the Suiattle River bridge.

Suiattle River.

The climb up Suiattle Pass.

Mile 2,517.7 - 2,538.5

Just as forecast, the weather took a turn for the worse. We woke up this morning in a cloud. The tent fly was soaked, but mostly with dew and condensation. Kind of a shame that its not a clear day, because we are hiking around Glacier Peak, which is supposed to be beautiful. 

The first few miles were downhill or flat in a forest. Then everything changed. We had a super steep and long ascent to Fire Creek that made our legs burn. So much for being in shape. After that climb we had a 5 mile knee pounding descent to Milk Creek. Only to then climb back up 5 miles to really finish off our legs. A really hard day of hiking. On the plus side, it didn't rain like we thought it would. The sky was always threatening, but with a few hints of sun throughout the day. Time to rest our aching bodies and hope that a 10 hour sleep is enough to recover so we can beat ourselves up again tomorrow. This Glacier Peak Wilderness is the toughest section on the entire trail. Just so happens that it's near the end. I guess the PCT wants you to remember just how hard it is to thru-hike this trail.

Balance's pack is so heavy that when she hiked across the bridge, it collapsed. Just kidding. This bridge over the White Chuck River has been beaten by storms and flooding, which caused the damage. We were still able to cross on it.

Fire Creek.

Our hiking friends, Handbrake and Landslide. We have known Handbrake since the early desert, over 4 months ago.

The clouds parted long enough to get a photo from the top of Fire Creek.

Mica Lake, just past Fire Creek.

Mile 2,495.7 - 2,517.7

We crossed the 2,500 mile mark first thing this morning. It's hard for me to believe that we came from the Mexician border almost 5 months ago. So much has happened in those 5 months that its hard to put into perspective. There will come a day when we can sit back and reflect on what we have done. For now it's about finishing the last 150 miles of the PCT.

Today started out with nice weather and then clouded up towards afternoon. We crossed into the Glacier Peak Wilderness, which was an instant favorite of the trip. Views today were awesome. Unfortunately Glacier Peak was in a heavy clouds most of the day, but other mountain ranges were visible. Another day of ups and downs and long open ridge lines. A great hiking day in our favorite state, Washington.

Incredible! Pretty much says it all.

Approaching Glacier Peak Wilderness.

Sallyanne Lake.

Balance on the ridge in Glacier Peak Wilderness.

Balance loves Washington.

Taking in the sights.

Surrounded by mountains. Does it get any better than this?

 

Mile 2,476.3 - 2,495.7

Our hiking friend Buttercup said yesterday, "See you at 6:30am" for a ride back to the trailhead. Sure enough, the retired Marine was waiting in the motel lobby at promptly 6:30am, even though he was taking a few rest days to be with his wife. Thank you Buttercup. The world could use more people like you. Buttercup is doing this hike as part of the Warrior Walk program. 6 warriors started in Mexico and just 3 are left, including Buttercup. What an interesting guy.

After Buttercup dropped us off at the trailhead, we had several miles of flat easy hiking to warm up. That was just a tease. Today was one of the harder hiking days of the trip. Huge and painful ups and downs all day long. The reward was clear views of Glacier Peak. The last volcano we will hike near -it's incredible. 

About midday we came across two trail volunteers doing maintenance. I noticed right away that it was Bigfoot Jim, who we hiked with back in Northern California. He and his friend "Structure", who is 77 years old, hiked a huge section in California. He recognized us right away too. What a small world it is. We talked for some time before moving on and letting him and his partner get back to trail work. As always, we thank every trail volunteer we see out on the trail. They are the reason we can hike this amazing trail, and it's a lot of work. Great seeing you again, Bigfoot Jim.

We couldn't help ourselves. We are camped again in a beautiful meadow with the setting sun putting an alpine glow on our tent. Hope we don't have regrets tomorrow morning with a dew-soaked tent.

Thank you Buttercup for helping us out with rides both to and from Skykomish. We got to avoid making the last hitch of our hike. Even more so, thank you for your service with the Marines. 

Our hiking friend "Bigfoot Jim",  on the right. He and his partner were doing trail work as we came hiking by. Great talking to you and thank you for your work.

Glacier Peak. We have been hearing about how beautiful it is for many miles now. Glad we had a nice day to see it.

Balance hiking in the noon day sun.

Our meadow campsite. Hope we don't regret it with lots of condensation in the morning.

Mile 2,464.7 - 2,476.3

Despite a totally clear night, our tent fly was soaked this morning. Between condensation from breathing and the small meadow we camped in, things were wet. Not a problem, today the sun shone bright and strong with temperatures reaching 80 degrees. I don't want to jinx us, but the long range weather forecast looks pretty good except for Tuesday, which shows rain showers. Other than that it looks warm and sunny. Of course that can change, so we are not holding our breath.

We had only 12 miles to hike to Steven's Pass. Those 12 miles had two major ups and downs. When we did arrive at Steven's Pass, our favorite trail angel "Coppertone" was there making his famous root beer floats for all hikers. We sat in his chairs while he made us floats. Another hiker named Buttercup came right behind us. We haven't seen him since California. Buttercup was meeting his wife Kristy here and offered us a ride into the town of Skykohmish, if he could fit us. Their car was packed, but some how they moved everything around to squeeze us in. That was very nice of them, but we did feel bad putting them through so much trouble.

We were all going to Skykohmish for the night so at least we weren't inconviencing them that way. Buttercup is insisting he take us back to the trail tomorrow morning, even though he is taking a few days off with his wife. Again he wouldn't listen to us saying that we would hitch a ride back to the trail. So at 6:30am he is driving us back to the trail. Thank you Buttercup and Kristy.

We like the very small town of Skykomish. The whole town may be only two blocks long, but it has real charm. As you enter town you cross a wide, shallow river on a large bridge with a sidewalk. Skykohmish is the type of town where you can walk to everything. The Post Office, the motel, the cafe, the gas station, and the market. That's just what we like about these small PCT towns. Attached to our motel is a nice restaurant with good food. We had both a late lunch and dinner there. That's another reason we like these small towns, real food.

Only a handful of hikers stay here in Skykohmish. Most go to the Dinsmore's, trail angels who host hundreds of PCT hikers every year. We decided to skip that party scene and stay in the quiet little town of Skykohmish. Maybe not that quiet, the train runs just feet away for our motel.

Morning light shines on Balance and Y-Knot as we descended from the ridge.

It's starting to look more and more rugged, like the North Cascades.

Cloudless skies.

Stevens Pass Ski Area.

Trail Angel "Coppertone" working his magic once again. We said our sad goodbyes, as he is not going any farther north.

Balance walking to our resupply market, which is just a gas station in Skykomish. 

Mile 2,443.7 - 2,464.7

It worked. We camped on top of a boulder last night and no mice. It was cold this morning. For the past few weeks the mornings have been chilly, and it takes about an hour for my hands to thaw out. It's not as cold as it was in the Sierras, but still it's cold. We had a beautiful day, with blue skies and warm temperatures.

The scenery from Snoqualmie Pass to Steven's Pass has been awesome. I guess that's why we met so many groups of section hikers doing just that. Today had a few really long and steep climbs. We are in our best hiking shape now and it shows. We can motor up these huge climbs like its just a flat meadow. It's a good feeling to be in that type of shape. It will be almost impossible to stay in that shape. One thing for sure, our diets will get much better once we are though. 

Speaking of through, we have just under 200 miles to go to become PCT Thru-Hikers. We can't believe just how long this trail is. All the obstacles that lay before us are now mostly behind. The last 200 miles won't come easy and that's just the way we like it.

Deep Lake and mountain reflection.

Deep Lake from high above.

Balance after crossing a dangerous ford. We hiked across a few fallen logs people had placed across the raging river.

Desolation Lake.

Glacier Lake.