This hike is amazing and I strongly recommend doing it if you have the chance. There’s definitely still time this season as when I did this in early September it was still very warm.
Day 0
My girlfriend and I drove separately out to Stevens Pass after work and stashed my car right by the PCT entrance/exit. I piled my stuff into her car and we stopped in Leavenworth for dinner, then drove via 97 to Snoqualmie Pass. It was getting dark right as we got to the trailhead, and I finally started the trip at 8:30pm. I didn’t really feel like camping at the trailhead so I hiked ~3 miles in and camped for the night. I slept terribly because of general anxiety about the trip and irrational paranoia about bears but finally fell asleep in the morning and got a couple hours of sleep before waking up for the day.
Day 1 (18 mi - to Lemah Meadows)
I woke up at 7:30 just before my alarm was set to go off and broke camp just past 8 to continue the initial climb up to the Katwalk. The morning was nice and cool which I was grateful for because I knew it was probably going to get hot and uncomfortable in the middle of the day. I took a short break slightly after the Katwalk but generally had a really nice easy start of the day before getting to Ridge and Gravel Lakes. I filled up my water here (I was just carrying 2 nalgenes and no dromedary) and then started the next section. The area between Ridge Lake and Chikamin Pass was definitely the crux of this first day, as there was no water source between there and Park Lakes and it got pretty hot in the middle of the day.
The climb to the saddle of Alaska Mountain is not too bad and this shoulder made a great place for a short break to contemplate the upcoming cirque and to take a look at my guide book. The trail drops quickly from here and then you have gradual ascent past Huckleberry Mountain until the Needle Site Gap. There was only one real patch of shade on this section and I took a little break there as well and chatted with a couple of other hikers who were doing Section J Southbound. The section after Needle Site Gap was probably the most frustrating because it got especially hot here, you’re on occasionally loose rock, and it takes longer than you would expect it to given how little elevation you’re gaining.
Finally, I reached Chikamin Pass and immediately began the nice easy descent to Park Lakes. I filled up on water again here so I had enough for the rest of the day and took another short break by the lake. I felt like I was making good time as it was only around 3pm, so I decided that I would probably skip Spectacle Lake and get as far past it as I could and retain the few-mile lead that I had gained from hiking in the dark the night before. I was anxious about making sure I remained on schedule - looking back on it I kindof wish I had just camped at Spectacle, since it looked so beautiful from above. Instead, I made it down into the valley and camped at Lemah Meadows, arriving there around 6:30pm and allowing me some time to wash up in the river and get things in order before dark. After arriving at camp at 10pm the night before this felt like no small luxury. Unfortunately I slept terribly again and didn’t get any sleep until the sun finally rose around 6am.
Day 2 (16.5 mi - to Waptus Lake)
I think this was my lowest-mileage day but also the hardest. It’s hard to tell how much of it was from the lack of sleep from the last two nights but this day was definitely a struggle. I slept from ~6am-9am, then finally got myself up and left camp at 9:40am. I started the slow, long climb up Escondido and felt great for the first while, feeling optimistic that I would cruise up it. My optimism slowly faded over the course of the climb, as it went on much longer than I was anticipating and it was already starting to get uncomfortably hot. By the time I reached the first tarn I was very tired and in need of a break. I filled up my water here and then continued on.
Again, I was optimistic that the descent would be easy but I had a hard time here as well. I had developed some blisters on the first day and had been doing my best to keep them in check but they were definitely starting to bother me now. My pack also somehow felt much heavier than it did the first day. Nonetheless, with a few breaks I finally made it down all the way to Waptus River. The campsites right by the river crossing looked great, but it was still only 4:30pm so I decided to continue on a little bit. I passed the Spade Creek bridge and campsite and that looked even more tempting but I decided to continue on since I felt rejuvenated since hitting Waptus River.. I finally got to the final camp by Waptus listed in my book, a little camp by a creek just past the Spade Lake trail. There was already a girl camped here but I asked if I could take the remaining spot and she said yes, though more people were coming. I set up camp and they all eventually piled in - it turned out they were all doing the full PCT and now were near the finish of their trip. I had a good evening talking with them and hearing their stories and was relieved to have people to camp with - I finally slept much better though I still didn’t sleep soundly through the night.
Day 3 (~16 mi - to Deception Lakes)
This was not an easy day, but it felt far more balanced than the day before, as there was no huge crux like Escondido on this section. I woke up a little past 7am to find that the through-hikers had already left and were on the trail (as I expected), and broke camp around 8am. I had slept much better last night but as a result I felt like I was still waking up the first ~4 mi to Deep Lake. I took a short break before Deep Lake, and upon arriving at the lake decided not to fill up on water, as I was in the mood to push on. In retrospect, I should’ve filled up here, especially because it turned out that a couple of the streams on the map on the other side were dried up.
The climb over Cathedral Pass was not too bad and was nice and gradual. I ran into some guys that had camped at Peggy’s Pond at the pass and chatted with them some on the way down. It sounded like Peggy’s Pond was a bit of a challenge to get to but gorgeous once you got there (I heard the same thing from a couple other parties I passed). The following descent felt a little long, especially as I was low on water but then we eventually came to a perfect stream at the base of the descent which was a great place to stop, fill water, and take a nice long break.
The short climb up to Deception Pass was not too bad and was enjoyable - I said goodbye to the pair of guys I had met on the trail here as they branched off for Tuck and Robin Lakes. The next section to Deception Lakes was very chill, though not much to speak of. I had to take another break as the blisters on my heels were really getting to me at this point, but besides that I had a nice time cruising through this section.
When I arrived at Deception Lakes I was really taken with it and jumped in for a swim immediately (though it was too cold to stay in long). The lake was gorgeous and the bugs were not bad at all until later in the evening. I had been debating continuing on over Pieper Pass to Glacier Lake to make the next day easier but after I saw the lake I decided to stay, especially after making friends with a few fellow hikers and one of them offered me a great place to camp in a perfectly flat dirt patch between the two lakes that seemed too good to pass up. I had a great night talking with them until bedtime, at which point I finally slept like a rock all the way through the night.
Day 4 (~18 mi - to Stevens Pass)
As much as I loved Deception Lakes, I almost wish I had camped at Glacier, as it would have cut off the first few miles from this section. Looking at the elevation charts for my final day it looked like all the passes were relatively chill and I would have an easy day, but in reality it was definitely still a challenging day and all of the remaining climbs felt deceptively hard.
I woke up around 7am and lazed around in bed, then finally got up and slowly packed up camp while talking to the friends I had made the night before. At around 8:30 I finally got myself moving and left camp. The climb up to Pieper Pass wasn’t too bad but was harder than I expected, and I felt the same way about the descent. The night before, I had hiked up to Surprise Gap since I had extra time after arriving at camp and saw a trail up there that I found out was the old PCT before it was moved West of Surprise Mountain. I read that it was moved because of repeated problems with landslides, but after doing both options, it really seems like the current path of the trail goes unnecessarily out of the way and makes this section harder than it needs to be. I kindof wish I had just climbed back up to Surprise Gap and tried to follow the old version of the PCT trail, as it would have been much shorter and the trail looked surprisingly intact (though I have no guarantee that this would’ve worked).
I took a break at Glacier Lake and filled my water (this was the last time I filled my water and in retrospect that was probably pretty foolish). There are some amazing campsites by the water here and I was jealous of the parties that had set up camp here and then left to dayhike the surrounding area. I then continued on the trail and did the climb to Surprise Pass, which was again surprisingly challenging given that it didn’t look on the map like I was gaining much elevation. The following section felt easy and smooth until the final descent to Hope Lake, which took a long time and made me very anxious that I had somehow wound up on the wrong trail. When I finally arrived at Hope, I was relieved that I was indeed on the right trail, but annoyed at how long it had taken me, and didn’t love the lake itself, as it looked kindof swampy and I was immediately swarmed with bugs.
The following climb was again exhausting and by the top of it I was really wishing that I was nearing my final descent rather than being condemned to drop into the valley and then ascend again to Stevens Pass. Despite my exhaustion, this next section of trail was actually very pretty - Josephine Lake looked amazing from above and I feel like it matched in beauty some of the earlier lakes like Deception and Glacier, as well as seeming like a much better place to camp than the slightly swampy nearby Susan Jane lake. For a moment it looked like the final section up to Stevens was going to be brutally in the sun under the powerlines, but thankfully it was mostly in the shaded forest and was quite pleasant, especially as a breeze rolled up the hillside. I finally slowed down on the final descent, feeling assured that I would reach my car at a reasonable time. I had refrained from eating the trailside huckleberries most of the trip but I finally caved and ate probably a hundred of them on the way down - they were delicious and perfectly ripe and I was amazed they hadn’t already been completely picked over. I got to my car right around 5pm which I was happy with as I had plenty of time to get back to Seattle in time, regardless of the Highway 2 traffic.
I highly recommend this section! I don’t think there’s any perfect answer for how many days to take or where to camp and part of what makes it such a great section are just how many different options you have for those. If I were to do it again I think I might take 5 days to make the pace a littler chiller. I also would stop at Spectacle Lake, as I think that would be a great first place to camp if you’re going Northbound. The camp near Waptus Lake and the Spade Lake trail I highly recommend, though it is small and could be occupied so I wouldn’t count on it. I would definitely recommend Deception Lakes, where there seems to be a good number of campsites, though from what I saw the best one is the dirt circle between the two lakes where I stayed. You can also reach a number of these spots from other trails than the PCT, and I think I might have to experiment with that in the future. For Deception Lakes in particular, it seems like one could easily make it a moderate weekend-length trip if you came in from the Surprise Lake trail, rather than the ~18mi stretch of the PCT I trudged through to get out from there. I think I’ve probably written too much so happy travels and if you have any questions about this section of trail I’m more than happy to answer in the comments!
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