Summary
This trip covered Section J of the PCT northbound over four nights and five days. The trail offered a mix of challenging climbs, expansive ridge walks, and beautiful lake campsites. We (me plus two friends) encountered numerous PCT thru-hikers and experienced mostly good weather. We opted for an alternate route on day 2 that saved us some miles and provided a different perspective of the area.
Day-by-Day Breakdown
Monday, 9/08
- Starting Point: Trailhead at Snoqualmie Pass
- Lunch: Near Kendall Catwalk
- End Point: Icy Heart Lake
- Total Mileage: 15.6 miles
- Elevation Gain: 4,646
- Highlights: Beautiful ridge walking with great views. Ripe blueberries.
- Challenges: Hours of hiking on talus fields was a little rough on the feet. It was also the longest, steepest, and hottest day of the trip.
Tuesday, 9/09
- Starting Point: Icy Heart Lake
- Lunch: Pete Lake
- End Point: Waptus Lake
- Total Mileage: 13 miles
- Elevation Gain: 2,077
- Highlights: We opted to jump off the PCT and take an alternate route along the Pete Lake Trail and Waptus Pass Trail. This saved a few miles and some elevation gain. Waptus Lake was an amazing camping spot. Both the sunset and sunrise were stunning. We spotted crawfish in the lake too!
- Challenges: The last two miles or so down to Waptus Lake was steep and brutal on the knees. Our friend brought Clif Bloks and shared them on the way down. It's silly how much the little things can help, but that little hit of sugar and energy kept our spirits up as we trudged down the hillside at the end of the day.
Wednesday, 9/10
- Starting Point: Waptus Lake
- Lunch: Deep Lake
- End Point: Somewhere along the side of the trail
- Total Mileage: 14 miles
- Elevation Gain: 3,314
- Highlights: We had to cross several streams in the morning on the way out of Waptus Lake which we all thought was fun. Water level was only to our mid-shins. We took a long lunch at Deep Lake to enjoy the views and the sunshine. We rinsed off a couple pieces of dirty clothes and let them dry in the sun.
- Challenges: We ended up finding a few campsites along the side of the trail after not finding any spots listed in the FarOut app. It was getting dark and we were getting nervous about our sleeping situation. Luckily we noticed some spots in the trees down the side of the trail, northwest of Hyas Lake. It was a dry campsite, but we'd passed an offshoot of the Cle Elum River a half mile or so back and had filled up on water.
Thursday, 9/11
- Starting Point: Somewhere along the side of the trail
- Lunch: Glacier Lake (our original planned campsite for night 4)
- End Point: Trap Lake
- Total Mileage: 13 miles
- Elevation Gain: 3,110
- Highlights: More beautiful ridge walking with awesome views. We all saved our favorite freezer dried meals for the last night on trail (mine was buffalo mac n' cheese).
- Challenges: No noteworthy challenges. The weather at Trap Lake was very windy and stormy in the evening, but all of our tents and gear did fine so it was find of fun.
Friday, 9/12
- Starting Point: Trap Lake
- Lunch: Lake Susan
- End Point: Stevens Pass
- Total Mileage: 12.5 miles
- Elevation Gain: 2,395
- Highlights: The morning sunrise at Trap Lake was amazing. The best view might have been from the lake's toilet. We pushed our pace on this day as we were very motivated by the burgers, pizza, and cold beer that awaited us at the end of the hike.
- Challenges: Much of the morning was pretty cold and misty. We all had layers we could have put on, but didn't want to deal with stopping to put them on, take them off when we got hot, etc. See previous statement about burgers and beer. We kept our stops to a minimum.
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