Oregon Creek to Methow River

Hart’s Magic

There is this person in the PCT Facebook groups that makes a lot of unhelpful comments. Though they are not actively hiking, we have seen the person advise against trail magic in certain spots and stir up a lot of fear around things that need not be stirred up. This morning, Brianna and I joked that they would be at Harts Pass with ExLax laced trail magic, to make sure people are pooping in the outhouse before going into the woods. Imagine our surprise when actual trail magic greeted us there instead!

Rocket finished the trail about a week ago and wanted to give a little something back to the hiking community before ending his trip. As a hiker, he knew exactly what to bring: chickpea salad, fresh avocado, Coke, apples, and oranges. I used my coffee cup as a salad bowl and had two solid servings. I didn’t even clean the cup out before pouring a glass of Coke. Coke with avocado chunks never tasted so good.

Thank you, Rocket!!

I’m sure the Facebook person I mentioned earlier isn’t a bad person, they are just a Rick James-style habitual line-stepper. An affliction that many hikers suffer from, myself included, is attempting to help with a question when we are not the best person to be answering. This is why you never ask a hiker how far til the top of a hill or how difficult a certain section is. What we should say is nothing. What we do say is “about 2 miles” or “it’s pretty easy.” This is also why you should take all of my advice here with a grain of salt.

Fastest Known Times

It was during the trail magic that I ran into Red Riding Hood again. I asked if her friend that was on the brink of tears and without food had found her. She explained to me that her friend was Josh, on his way to set the fastest unsupported NOBO time, and he had not found her. She did see him passed out by the monument at 2am when she started her hike. Why would someone start their hike at 2am? Because she is trying to set the fastest known time for hiking Washington. Pretty cool random people to have run into, even if I did not know it at the time. Congratulations to Josh & good luck Red Riding Hood!

In case you’re not able to do the math from home – Red Riding Hood started @ 2am from the border. I met up with her again at trail magic around 10:30am. She covered over 30 intermediately challenging miles in 8.5 hours.  That’s an average of 3.5mph. She told us her plan is to hike for 20 hours a day and sleep for 4. I can see her game plan and I think she has a really good shot at making the new record.

It was difficult for us to leave the trail magic, but we still had 13 miles ahead of us and no areas to fill up water for the entire length of it. All of the afternoon climbs were rewarded with breathtaking views. Our worst climb of the day wasn’t even up, it was down 2,500 feet to Glacier Pass. We felt bad for the northbounders that would have to tackle the monstrous 5 miles of 30 switchbacks (yes, we counted).

We left 3 days of food in the bear box at Harts Pass, but the trail magic distracted us into not sorting through it before we left. I’m carrying a bit more food than we needed until we get to Stehekin. Unless I can figure out a way to eat it all… second breakfast, 11s, or supper, anyone?