This trip was all about learning to be comfortable with the uncomfortable, both emotionally and physically. The camp sites aren't reserved like we've been used to on the Wonderland trail, sometimes there just isn't a camp site when you want one and you have to make the best of it, or there isn't water for a long stretch and you have to carry it for miles. Such is the PCT.
We've been reading a few books on the PCT and you know what happens when you read things, your mind keeps abit of it inside and just won't let it go. That's what happened to us. We both had read these books:
My husband had read Cheryl Strayed's book "Wild", I chose not to read that one. Anyway...we made a plan to do some sections of the PCT this summer. We didn't know if the current issue with the Covid virus would keep us from going or not, but when they opened the areas back up to hiking we made our plans.
We brought pages torn from this guide book so we wouldn't have to carry the whole book. We bought two books: one to read and one to tear up section by section for our hikes.
The photo below show our map and map sections that we brought with us plus a screenshot of our route from the Guthook app on my phone. The app was very helpful when we needed to know if a side trail was our route or just an animal trail. It also was extremely helpful for letting us know where the water was and how many miles away complete with photos. Very helpful.
The Guthook screenshot of our first route going northbound from Chinook as you can see it shows where the camps and water are as well as other essential info. Each icon if tapped on opens to more detailed info. as well as comments by others and usually a photo. The app works on airplane mode so not a huge battery drain.
Our night time reading aloud time in the tent consisted of reading the next days trail description and reading from the Patrick McManus book "The deer on a bicycle".
We drove two cars to the passes as we'd be doing our own shuttle. The first drop off was Snoqualmie pass on an off and on rainy morning. This trip was a two part trip. The first started at Chinook and ended at Snoqualmie pass, the second trip had another car shuttle and hike start from White pass finishing at Chinook pass. Both trips combined would give us a distance of aprox. 100 miles. This way we'd get all of section I of the PCT done, all hiking was northbound. We parked our car at the PCT northbound lot, then drove to Chinook pass to begin our journey.
It would be nine days and aprox. 69 miles hiked until we saw this lot again.
The weather had greatly improved by the time we had driven to Chinook pass. The forecast was for sunny and warm days while we would be hiking. The photo below shows a look back at the lot as we made our way up the trail. The restroom was closed because of the virus and there were no permit tags or signs at the start of our hike. Our first day's hike would be a short one to Sheep lake. The general Covid trail protocol worked out pretty well. Most people put on masks and stepped aside. If they didn't have a mask they turned away from us. We put our buffs up whenever we saw anyone on the trail. We generally only saw the most people near the roads and tourist areas other than that it was nice and quiet on the trail.
We began hiking just before 3 pm.
Avalanche lilies
First day photos of us on the trail.
Heart rock❤ on the PCT
Sheep lake
After we set up our camp we took an evening stroll to enjoy the wildflowers and the view of the lake.
That night the wind came up and it was very cold, but the stars Oh my goodness: spectacular!!
Relive video of our route:
Garmin stats:
miles hiked - 2.14
total ascent - 538 feet
total descent - 98 feet
to be continued.....
