Took a few days off around the holiday weekend to give me time for a nice long walk in the woods.
Thursday, June 29 - I was dropped off at the Chinook Pass trailhead around 5:30pm for a short hike. Got to Sheep Lake quickly, and pressed on since it was a nice night and plenty of light left. Eventually decided to call it a night and camp near the Bear Gap junction.
Friday, June 30 - Slept just ok the night before (wind and a slanted tent spot), so got up early and walked on. Was rewarded for the early start by seeing two herds of Elk (both were far away and spooked quickly). Saw the first person of the day - a flipped PCT thru hiker just before noon in the fire burned dead section of the trail. They had left the Urich cabin that morning, so either they left really early, hiked fast, or both. The trail is in fantastic condition, so I puttered along. Around 1:00pm, I was tired, and the bugs were out, so I found a camp spot, whipped out my tent, and took a power nap. I felt much better after a nap (and more food), and after a few more miles of hiking and meeting thru hikers, I ended up at the Urich Cabin. I stayed in my tent in one of the many campsites near the cabin.
Saturday, July 1 - Slept in a bit and took my time getting ready. Left camp around 8:30 and trudged forward. A lot of blow downs to cross this day, but nothing too annoying. Met a pair of section hikers as well as a few more thru hikers - including one at the water source at 2354.4 who kindly warned me that the next water source was over 11 miles away. I took a break, cameled up, and continued. Don't think I saw anyone for the whole 11 miles. But - after setting up camp near the water source at 2366.2, a few other thru hikers arrived - again, all heading the other way.
Sunday, July 2 - Up and on the trail by 7:00 - saw nobody for quite a while, and then as I approached Stampede pass, saw a lot of day hikers - all were nice except for one trail runner who didn't have a clue on trail etiquette. I also passed a group working on trail maintenance - I have a lot of sympathy for someone hiking up a trail with a chainsaw. I gave them some thanks and praise and continued - sure enough, within a mile, I walked through two piles of fresh sawdust where they had just cleared blowdowns. I made it to Stirrup Creek late afternoon and set up camp. Pretty buggy here, but not quite peak season from my experience.
Monday July 3 - no mosquitoes in the morning, so I cooked dinner for breakfast. Nevertheless, I was walking by 7:00am. The climb up to mirror lake felt long - but largely because the bugs were bad, so stopping for a rest was not an option. I made it to the lake where the first thing I encountered after largely silence for the last 3 days was a group of men loudly playing a radio next to their camp site at the lake. I passed quite a few people in this area, but as soon as I rejoined the PCT things were quiet...for a while. The last 3-4 miles of the PCT had a lot of day hikers. Nothing against day hikers in general - I day hike a lot - but especially at the end of 4 days of hiking, I really wish folks had a clue on trail etiquette. If I wasn't so tired - and scary looking after 4 days without a shower, I probably would have tried to have a nice conversation, but instead, I will just passive aggressively rant here.
Anyway - the last mile of the trip - traversing the ski slope at Snoqualmie is about the most boring mile of hiking I've ever done, but the trip overall far outweighed the sandy and rocky descent.
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