PCT Day 16: Dancing with Marmots

Sunday, 22 July 2018

Fire Creek (134.8) – Reflection Pond (152.4): 17.6 miles / 182.3 total miles walked

The first half of the day sucked ass…

It started out with a stream crossing (the first of many) that took way too long to figure out, followed by a crazy steep uphill before breakfast….ehich resulted in me having to jump into the bushes and jank my pants down just in time. Why do uphills always make me have to poop so badly? It’s so annoying…

After that fun little interlude I continued walking, dodging about a million downed trees.

The trail was an obstacle course all the way down into the bottom of the ravine, costing me precious time.

At one of the downed trees I lost my footing and slid down the smooth wood, thankfully catching myself before toppling over the edge into certain death. I guess one daily near-death experience is par for the course out here. 😂

The stream crossings were no joke either today. Some could be crossed by hopping from rock to rock, other by balancing on logs.

Just before the designated lunch spit I caught up with Sink (or she caught up with me, I don’t remember) and we walked on together…..right into trail that turned into a creek. Welcome to the Pacific Creek Trail. At first it was kinda fun trying to March around the wetness and mud, but then there was no way to avoid getting wet feet. So screw it, I just walked right through it.

That also made crossing the next few creeks easier. Just walk right through it.

And then walking twoiles in wet shoes wasn’t so bad since the day had gotten pretty warm.

After a short lunch break with some sad assortment of food, I started the climb up to Red Pass, pretty steep, but I was feeling amazing.

The trail wound through this beautiful meadow and then up and up and up, with a few snow crossings.

All the way to the top I kept seeing and hearing Marmots calling out and playing with each other. It was so adorable. And then one was just standing there at the top, waiting for me to finally make it up to 6500ft.

At the top Sink and I took a few pictures and saw Deerbait in the distance, making his way up. You can see him as a tiny dot in the picture.

The remaining few miles were along narrow trail, partially washed out, along a steep ridge. We made it to a pond (mosquito hell) by 7 pm and I tried not to eat too much. We still have over 30 miles to go…

Keeping you posted…