Our group meet at the trailhead Friday night to carcamp for an early morning start to our loop backpack trip (hike 62 in 100 Hikes in Washington's Glacier Peak Region). The maps indicate that the trailhead at Little Wenatchee Ford is also a campground, and one website I found even indicated that there were three campsites and a vault toilet. However, there was no sign of either campsites or a toilet at the trailhead, and we found the parking to be very limited. Fortunately, we found an area near the trailhead where people had obviously camped before, and we were able to pitch our tents. On Saturday we hiked the Cady Creek Trail (no. 1501) to Cady Pass, then took the PCT north as far as Lake Sally Ann and set up our tents. We were the second group to arrive at the lake; by nightfall nearly all of the campsites were taken at this popular lake. After a snack, two of us decided to take a side trip out to Blue Lake. As we hiked the clouds moved in and it became increasing chilly. Unfortunately, the clouds obscured the views of the surrounding mountains, but the wildflowers are great right now. We went out to Blue Lake via the steep and rocky trail 652.1. We opted for the longer route back to camp via trail 652 and 650. Blue Lake was very pretty and would be a great camping spot for backpackers on busy weekends; we only saw one group there. On Sunday we continued out the PCT to the Little Wenatchee River trail no. 1525. The fog was dense all morning and didn't clear until we were well down into the valley, and then the flies came out in droves. This trail is beautiful, but is quite overgrown in some spots. I calculated the complete mileage, including the side trip to Blue Lake, at 28.1 miles (based off the mileage on the Green Trails map no. 144 - Benchmark Mtn.)

Yesterday afternoon I had planned and put together a quick over-night trip into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in an attempt to push my mileage for the week up as well as penetrate further down the Pacific Crest Trail. Needless to say my plans were eventually altered, but what’s interesting about the whole evening in my opinion is how well everything was going along until that moment. At about 4:00 PM yesterday I had my bags packed and ready to head out the door. I jumped into FunTruck, picked up some gas and replacement batteries for my flashlights, a couple of chicken soft tacos and then headed on up I-90 to the PCT trailhead (#2000) at Snoqualmie pass. My intent was to trail run between 15 and 20 miles into the wilderness, “camp” light for the night, wake early today, and return the way I had come. This should have gotten me back to the trailhead early this morning with enough time to head down the west side of the Cascades where I was planning on taking a shower and then attending some meetings. I arrived at the trail head at about a quarter after five, loaded my ruck, tied my shoes and headed on up the trail. The first six miles of this trail is a pretty aggressive climb out of the Snoqualmie valley and I intended to push myself on this hill and was hoping for an average speed of around 2.5 to 3 miles per hour. According to my track log I was able to maintain this pace and often exceeded it where the hill lessens its demands. I was feeling good when I crossed into the wilderness area and feeling great when I made it to the bench just below Kendall Mountain. As I crossed the Kendall Catwalk I was pretty sure I was going to make the full 20 miles I intended to cover with only a short distance at the end running in the dark. I imagined I would be past September Meadow or even Spectacle Lake at about the same time the sun would set and the rest is all downhill, not terribly steep and full of cushy places to bed down for the night. I developed a quarter sized blister on my right heal and ended up stopping to doctor it up just past the Kendall Catwalk, but otherwise my body was working really well. The trail running was easy, my footfalls were light, and I even felt smooth as I traversed the uplands. There were a couple of campers off in the trees near Gravel and Rail lakes, but I don’t think they noticed me as I slipped through and began my traverse around the north side of Alaska Lake. I was silently running with a big running induced grin on my lips when I heard someone yell “HELP!” At first I thought it was a marmot chirping an echo off one of the headwalls above me, but it made me pause for a moment. I stopped, looking around as I jogged in place, and eventually my eyes came to rest upon the figure of a man about 200 feet below me lying on his back near a small collection of trees. “Are you ok?” I asked, not even sure what I should expect in the way of answer. “No, I need help.” The man below replied and I could tell that the effort of yelling was a strain. Now over that moment of disbelief I started things moving. I had turned off the antennas on my phone to preserve battery life in the back country, but changed that up quickly and was soon on the phone with Search and Rescue. Standing on the trail and speaking to the man below and SAR I established my location with my GPS giving them a really precise idea of where this was all going down, relayed as much information from the figure below as I could reasonably collect via shouting, and described both his situation on the cliff and my recently formed plan to descend to him and see if I couldn’t render some assistance. Soon this phone call was over and I was left standing on the trail trying to figure out a way down that wouldn’t send rocks his direction, wouldn’t put me too far away to be of assistance once we were on a level, and wouldn’t send me plummeting down toward Alaska Lake. I descended a melt wash about 50 feet or so up the trail from where Jim had fallen. This worked well enough as what rock I dislodged went tumbling down the wash rather than down upon him. There were some thistles in the vegetation and I stuck my hands into a couple of them, but otherwise this was a pretty good decision. I couldn’t really hear what Jim was yelling at me while down in this wash, but we exchanged hopeful shouts as I made my way down then traversed back the 50 or so feet to where he was laying. Jim looked miserable. He had come to rest in a small stand of spruce but was laid out on a bed of rocks that was anything but level. Close enough now I could see that his face and hands were covered in dried or drying blood, that both of his eyes were nearly swollen shut, and that his he was unable or unwilling to move his right leg. Not wanting to move him or aggravate anything I tried to palpate him and quickly discovered the whole soup-sandwich that he was living with at that time. I was still able to get a phone signal out to the medics who had started to collect with the King County SAR team at Snoqualmie Ski resort. In particular they wanted me to isolate his head and spine as best as I could. Jim had already tried to splint the compound fracture of his left index finger and there was nothing I could do for his other extremities. I made it clear to the SAR team that we were only going to get him out of this situation on a back board and that I wasn’t sure how even that might be accomplished. There was 200 feet of loose granite above us and a crumbly headwall above that to tie into. The way down past the trees that had arrested Jim’s fall was steeper and crappier than up and I had already tried the way through Gold Creek last Saturday. Even if we could get him down to the lake, we’d still have to descend the “trail” from Alaska Lake to Gold Creek and if that weren’t bad enough there was the physical impossibility of a mile or so of debris field to cross as well. The SAR team called for a helicopter which came from the Naval Station on Whidbey Island. Jim and I hunkered down, I got a small fire going (at the recommendation of the SAR folks) and prepared to wait it out. Mostly we exchanged stories, but I tried to make him as comfortable as I could and did my best to collect up the scattered contents of his ruck. He had been working on the PCT for years and this was the last stage left before it was done. Earlier that morning (it may have actually been the day before I’m not completely certain because Jim’s grasp of time wasn’t too solid and he kept saying it was the 3rd.) he had started out on his hike and had to stop and bend over for something. When he stood up he became light headed and that’s what caused his tumble. Eventually, the helicopter showed up and located us on our ledge. They had to head back down the valley because the rotor wash was fanning my little fire to an extent that it might spread and I ended up clawing what dirt I could out of the hill above it to extinguish the fire. They tried again, but had to fly off once more because they missed their drop. Finally, on the third attempt three people made it to the ledge and Paul, the medic, began working on Jim while Rich and Guy, the helicopter guys made preparations for more medical folks to join us. My recollections of this period are a little sketchy, but it’s enough to say that things started to happen. Several helicopter trips later, the Huey hauled Bob, Jim and Chris off to Harborview Medical Center. Paul, Guy, Rich and I remained with a big stack of gear. We had about two hours or more to kill because the Huey would have to fly to the hospital, then to Boeing field to fuel, and then back up to pick us up off the mountain. The moon was nearly full and Jupiter hung in the sky over the lake. Everyone tried to get a little sleep, but it’s nearly impossible to make this happen on a scree field. We ended up exchanging stories and talking quietly under the stars. There was, I’m sure you’ll all be amazed, even discussion of barefoot and minimalist running techniques. Finally, the helicopter returned for us, the gear went up first, then Paul and Guy, and Rich and I followed up the cable. I don’t think I’ll be forgetting this experience any time soon. Rich used his arms as the winch hoisted us to keep us from spinning and as soon as we were clear of the ground the pilot started back to the LZ was us dangling beneath the whirly bird. Once we were inside the helicopter I couldn’t hear anything, but was amazed at the sight of the mountains lit by moon light passing by outside. All too quickly we were back on the ground. The King County Sheriffs debriefed me and then I made my way back to FunTruck. I arrived home at about 4:30 this morning, waking Tess as I crept unexpectedly into the house. *** First, I want to wish Jim a speedy recovery, I’m glad that I was able to help you. I hope that you get another opportunity to finish the PCT. Next time let me know when you’re going and we can hike it together. Second, it’s important to say how much I appreciate the competent and professional response of the King County Sheriffs and the King County SAR team and everyone else who helped with this event. I don’t know what I could have done for Jim without your assistance. These are critical services that society largely consumes (when they need them), but also which we tend to ignore or even berate while we feel safe. You guys have a thankless job, but I want you to know that I thank you for doing it. Finally, if I got your name wrong or if you think I’ve misrepresented the progression of things somehow please let me know and I’ll do what I can to correct.

My son and I took a loop trip. We hiked up to Peggy's Pond (should be Ponds) from the Hyas Lake parking area (over 50 cars). Spent 2 nights a little above Peggy's Pond and climbed Mount Daniel. Nice climb via the Hyas Glacier route. Then we went back to Cathedral Pass and took the PCT to Deception Pass. This trail needs some brush work and the crossing of the river was work. Luckily, we had water shoes. Then on to Tuck's Pot and Robin Lakes. We were going to stay 2 nights there also; however, the humidity and bugs convinced us to go back to cool and bug free Montana a day early. These are great places to be a month from now. A WTA work party was doing some good work on the Deception Pass trail replacing wood walkways over swamp area.

Wanting to beat the hordes to the Kendall Katwalk we were on the trail at 5:50 a.m.. Unlike a few weeks ago, the trail was free of snow all the way to the Katwalk and there was hardly any water flowing in the creeks. We had the Katwalk all to ourselves and enjoyed the view for a while before continuing on to Ridge Lake. There were a few patches of snow between the Katwalk and Ridge Lake and I managed to slip and fall on one of them - what a klutz! When we reached Ridge Lake we came upon a campsite overlooking the lake and saw that there were several tents set up on the other side so we decided to stop and set up our tent in the available site. Then we continued our hike with the intended goal of hiking to the top of Chikamin Ridge to close the gap from where we left off last week. We hiked over a few snow patches and some very loose talus in places but a lot of the trail was easy tread and some of it was sheltered by trees. Near Joe Lake there was a a steep slope both above and below the lake with a huge array of wildflowers that were absolutely beautiful in the sun. We stopped to enjoy the views and try to take some pictures which can't do justice to what our eyes were seeing. A little later a hiker wanted to pass us and I asked him where he had started and he said "Mexico"! We had met our first thru-hiker of the season. His name was Eric and I immediately asked if I could feed him. Of course he wanted to eat! So we sat by the side of the trail and visited about thru-hiking and the people who he knows who are hiking this year that I have met through their trail journals. This is Eric's 7th thru-hike of the PCT in 6 years! Doing it just once would be enough accomplishment for us! After Eric said goodbye (and left us in the dust) we hiked on toward Chikamin Ridge but it was getting late and we decided we needed to turn around to get back to our camp before dark. Just then the skies opened up with rain and thunder and lightning! We had to hike 4 miles along mostly exposed slopes with lightning and thunder crashing around us and rain pouring down at times. I slipped on a steep slope and started sliding down it but managed to grab some brush and save myself without doing too much damage other than getting a good scare. As we were hurrying along we heard a huge noise and looked around and thought it was the sound of the water that was now pouring down every little creek from the volume of rain but soon we came across two rock falls that blocked the trail that we had to clamber over. We were grateful we weren't under one when it fell! Upon arriving back at our camp on Ridge Lake we realized that a mini flash flood had to have passed through our campsite. There was a log jam under our tent and evidence that the water had pushed against the tent - thank goodness it was staked and tied securely (and still dry inside). We decided that we were soaked and our tent was not in a good spot and it was now 6:00 p.m. so we packed up and began the 8 mile hike back out to the trailhead. We had to use our headlamps for the last 2 miles or so and arrived at our car at 10:30 p.m. having hiked a total of 24 miles for the day. All in all it was quite an adventure but one I do not want to repeat!

We started up the Mineral Creek trail at 8:15 am Saturday morning. There was only one other car at the trailhead. One sign says that Park Lakes is 6 miles and, after crossing Mineral Creek on a log and scrambling up a poor trail for about 1/4 mile another sign says it is 5 miles. We hiked along a very old road for awhile and then the fun really began! The trail is covered in brush which was mostly above my head (5'3") and sometimes above Larry's head (6'2"). I am glad he was doing the route finding because neither of us could actually see where we were placing our feet most of the time. When we could see our feet we were crossing numerous roots and rocks and/or climbing steeply. We had to ford the creek again and luckily there was another log although we could have waded across at this time of year. Two day hikers passed us at one point and said they had actually hiked this trail before (why again?) but they reassured us that there were nice campsites by the lake. Then a group of 3 day hikers passed us on one steep section. All of them agreed that the trail was terrible. There were also numerous blowdowns that we had to clamber over or under. Our GPS said that we hiked 6.7 miles to reach the upper Park Lakes. Once at the lake the views were wonderful. We could see Hibox Peak and the Three Queens among other peaks that I don't know the names of. We could also see the PCT winding its way high above the lake up and across the ridge heading toward Snoqualmie Pass. After setting up our tent and eating our lunch we headed up to the PCT and north on it to Spectacle Point for a wonderful view of Spectacle Lake. Then we headed South on the PCT and up and over that ridge we had seen from below for a view of Joe Lake. We had two short snow chutes to cross but they will be gone very soon. Joe Lake had one big patch of snow still at the shoreline but the trail (PCT) looked snow free. We know of a total of 13 hikers who hiked the Mineral Creek trail this weekend and with that much traffic this trail deserves far better maintenance than it has received in years. I will not take this trail again to get to Park Lakes.