PCT Section i Day seven, White pass to Snoqualmie pass

Today was a day of logging roads and power lines. Our guidebook said "this leg is about to cross so many logging roads and forest roads that you might want to try to stick your spork in your eyes." A lot of road crossing yes, but I never wanted to poke my eye with my spork.

We woke to a foggy day at our camp, our rainfly was wet with dew so we put it away wet, packed up and headed on our way.

Off to another day and it's sights!

Bear-grass

The trail was surrounded with these bushes, all in bloom.

As I said in an earlier post the roads weren't confusing, the trail was always just on the other side of the road. As long as we didn't turn and roam around on the road aimlessly we were just fine.

Usually we found the PCT emblem somewhere as we re-entered the trail.

Small white flowers (Bride's Bonnet or Queens's cup?) dotted the forest floor.

Stag's-horn club moss (I believe)

Road crossing

We're now in the power lines, and the fog had cleared to another beautiful warm sunny day.

My husband looked down and saw the ground was covered in these very small wild strawberry plants. Mmmm yummy!

The power line areas were also full of blueberry bushes!

We passed several of these roped off areas.

More power lines and more berries

We walked under these lines that were very low over our heads. The buzzing and crackling was unnerving to me.

A pack off rest and water break after hiking up from the Stampede pass road crossing.

We walked a section that was just loaded with Bear-grass along the trail. We saw and heard our military jets overhead again this day as well.

Columbine

We finally came to a waterfall, listed as a seasonal water source on Guthook.

Off a bit from the water, my husband spied this frog enjoying the moisture.

A real "civilized" trail marker sign. I couldn't believe my eyes.

And the best sign yet, our constant emblem, confirming we were on the correct path.

It wasn't long till we came across Stirrup creek with a camp nearby. We put our things down and promptly went back to the creek and put our feet in. Ah...what a great feeling for aching hot feet.

The camp site was just big enough for our tent to fit. The mosquitoes were horrible at this spot. We donned our mosquito head nets and put on our repellent. After our feet soaking, tent set up and eating it was time for bed.

Relive video of our route:

https://youtu.be/S4zrLn-fUNU

Garmin stats:

total miles - 8.77

total ascent - 1224

total descent - 2375

to be continued.....

PCT Section i Day six, White pass to Snoqualmie pass

I was looking forward to a shorter hike today, my feet were a bit tired from all of the downhill and many miles of the day before. 

Morning routine: I bag the sleeping bags, deflate the sleeping pads and pillows, roll them up and bag them while my husband cooks breakfast. We then organize our pack items and put them back in the pack in some kind of organized logical fashion. I think I packed my pack differently every morning.

After crossing the road at Tacoma pass we were on our way.

Heart rock❤ (a bit of a stretch, but I'm claiming it as heart shaped)

We passed a section that had all of these silver maple leaves all over the ground. We decided the snows must have come before they could totally decompose, whatever the reason it was something to see.

Large mushrooms  and Bunch-berry plants were plentiful along the trail also

Our faithful sign❤

This old logging stump brought many logging facts and stories from my husband during this section. I enjoyed listening to his tales. He was a logger for a short time in his youth. Apparently this logging was a more modern one as there were no springboard notches on it. If you're curious about early logging verbiage I found THIS great article complete with photos! 

We passed many Coral-root Orchids.

Water filling break

Frog on the trail!

Huge Ant hill

Lunch break with a squirrel 

Out of the forest and back into the land of views! I love the high country❤

As we made our way up the ridge we heard a roar of noise and we looked up to see two military jets flying VERY LOW over our heads VERY CLOSE together. WOW!!! Crazy timing but what a thrill. I'm sure they could see my eyeballs popping out of my head they were so close. 

YIKES!!!

After that excitement we made our way down the trail once again.

A strange sign to see out in the wilderness, so far away from everything and no we did not see any workers riding on motorcycles.

Another gift a wildflowers mixed in with the ferns beside the trail.

We then came into Bear-grass country. These beautiful light and airy flowers were a sight to see as we made our way back into the forest.

I think my husband and I both agree that we loved seeing the Bear-grass blossoms each time we saw one. We stopped and admired them often.

We knew we should be getting near water soon, so I got out my Guthook app and sure enough we were close. We just had to walk through this old logging/slash burn area and we would be there.

Water! 

Our most prized possession❤

The first thing I would do at camp was to send out our Spot Messenger "check in" message. I had it set up to auto send: "We're O.K. and at tonight's camp." After it would confirm that it had been sent, I would help with the tent set up etc. *Note the trail going up into the forest just beyond me, that would be our starting spot in the morning. Our camp was straight across the trail you can just see it in the distance.

Evening "at camp" routine: We would put up the tent. I would then blow up the sleeping pads and pillows, get out the sleeping bags and clothes bags while my husband cooked the dinner.

Camp was at a spot about a 1/2 mile from where we got water. An old logging road gave us lots of room to spread out and enjoy the evening sun.

Relive video of our route:

https://youtu.be/1srlvWqi_s8

Garmin stats: 

total miles - 6.38

total ascent - 1919

total descent - 938 feet

to be continued......