A Jaunt on the PCT II, Day Two

August 19th, 2019:

I woke up the next morning feeling completely better, although quite sleepy from lying awake so long. I didn't have much time to snuggle into the sleeping bag, though; we were hoping to cover 20 miles today, and our aching legs reminded us that this terrain was more difficult than the section of trail we'd hiked in central Oregon.

Last time we'd crossed the Muddy River, Zach had done gymnastics to clamber across a log, and I had just waded straight through and been grumpy the rest of the day. Five years later, the log's huge root ball had been eroded, making it easier to manage even with a backpack. We inched across one log that was almost entirely overlapped by a bigger log, and although the footing was slippery, we made it in one piece, and started up a steep climb through a fir forest limned with golden morning light. 

Also I got Zach to punch this tree like he's in Minecraft, in order to imitate a picture we took on our thru-hike (see below). He insisted it was far too early in the morning for such theatrics, but accommodated me anyway.

The original Minecraft-punching photo, 2014. Wow, Zach was starved back then. 

The forest today continued to be thoroughly Northwestern: water seeping through the volcanic rock, never-ending stretches of Douglas fir, mushrooms of all shapes and sizes pushing up through the pine-needle duff, scraggly lichen and shag-carpet-like moss coating the trees. We crossed a campground and walked under some power lines, then toiled up a hill to follow a windy ridge carpeted in berry bushes. We snacked on the refreshingly tart huckleberries, the fuzzy-skinned but deliciously jammy thimbleberries, and even the occasional salmonberry even though they're bland. We pressed on for a while, then took a stop at a campsite for a little nap. Although I didn't sleep, it felt good to lie down.

Note the beautiful red elderberry

After a while, though, we were feeling the time crunch, so we hiked onward, following the line of mountains on a fairly level path. We began crossing moraines— fields of rock carried there by glaciers— walking slowly to listen for the telltale dog-squeaky-toy sound of pikas, an alpine relative of rabbits. To our joy, we did hear them, and later that day, we saw movement among the rocks, and a furball the size of a guinea pig hopped up onto one of the stones, its round ears and whiskers twitching. It had been five years since we'd seen these adorable creatures, so we were pretty excited!

Toward the end of the day, we emerged from the trees to an open ridge and a spectacular vista: Mount St. Helens off to our left, Mount Adams looming to our right, and the distant peak of Mount Rainier in between the two. We walked slowly across the open trail, flanked by carpets of heather and clumps of a trumpet-shaped blue flower called gentian. Overhead, huge ravens wheeled, and a pair of some sort of stout falcon took flight from the few remaining trees.

Zach and I walked along the ridge in open-mouthed wonder. "Why on earth don't I remember this?" I asked, and Zach reminded me that last time we'd been here, it was morning and a fog had settled over the nearest ridge of mountains. I was glad we got a second chance to see it in the golden evening light!

If you look closely you can see St. Helens to the left, Rainier in the middle, and Adams right by Zach's head.

Gentian

From there we dropped down into the woods again, and paused at the junction of the PCT and Eagle Creek. On our thru-hike, we'd taken the Eagle Creek alternate because of its legendary beauty and notable features, including a waterfall with a tunnel underneath that you could walk through. Now, that's not an option: Eagle Creek was closed a few years ago after a raging human-caused wildfire. The forest, which is a fire ecosystem, will bounce back, but everyone who loved hiking there was devastated.

So Zach and I hiked on, following the official route of the PCT to see what the twenty-mile section would bring us. Darkness was gathering, so we stopped at a campsite on the shore of the shimmering slate-gray Wahtum Lake. Zach set up the tent while I filtered water and watched an osprey wheel far overhead, crying plaintively. 

That night, I laid back, smiled at the firs silhouetted above us, and plunged into exhausted sleep.

 ~~~