PCT Day 22: Durchgeniffelt

Saturday, 28 July 2018

Tentsite (203.7) – Tentsite by stream (222.6): 18.9 miles / 252.5 total miles walked

Oh my goodness, I actually found a campsite with water that has no mosquitos, dreams really do come true….although still no sign of Sink. But let’s start at the beginning of the day.

I slept until about 6 am, which considering I could barely keep my eyes open at 7 pm yesterday was quite the feat. But after more than 12 hours on my air mattress my back was in agony.

And of coarse, as soon as I stirred, so did the bugs. I packed up as fast as I could and started the climb up to Piper Pass, which went by fairly quickly.

Some new views presented themselves, the huge snow-capped peak I had seen on and off is apparently Glacier Peak.

The descent down the other side felt like it took forever. By the time I hit a stream crossing and stopped for lunch I had already walked for about 4.5 hours….and only gone about 7.5 miles.

I had also experienced the worst mosquitos yet. At deception lake and some other ponds, clouds of the little beasties would suddenly surround me and follow me for almost a mile before dissipating. So annoying. So now I have a few more bites added to my collection.

The deer I startled on trail was just as surprised to see me as I was surprised to see it, and walked a few paces ahead of me before darting off into the bushes.

When I came to the crossing of ‘Cascading Stream’ I initially thought it was only the one log to cross (which would be scary enough for me, thank you so much), but it turns out the stream forks so many times that you have to find your own way through this wet maze. So with climbing up and over boulders and hopping from rock to rock I actually managed to get across with dry feet.

I stopped to have some food since there were miraculously no bugs here, and ended up hanging out in the sun for a while. The group of boyscouts and chaperons I had met yesterday showed up and I watched them all crossing the river safely, even adding more rocks in some parts.

I soaked my poor bitten legs with some cold water and then proceeded to climb 1800ft, leapfrogging with the group. It started to drizzle a bit on the way up, which felt pretty nice actually. But just as I crested the mountain, I heard thunder rumbling. Thankfully it was far away over on another ridge. Still, I beat feet out of there.

The trail led me downhill and I listened to some podcasts (Serial Killers) and it felt like it took forever to finally make it to my intended camp spot.

There were already 3 people there but after a short (and very odd) conversation they were okay with me squeezing in. It was a beautiful spot next to a stream and best of all THERE WERE NO MOSQUITOS!!!

I almost couldn’t believe my luck, being able to have dinner without constantly being bitten by tiny vampires.

Still no sign of Sink or Deerbait though….🙁

And I noticed that I managed to rub through my pants in just 3 weeks. So walking with that for the next 40 miles should be interesting.

Keeping you posted…