Canada, here we come!

Hello from breathtaking Washington! We have been hiking here for almost two weeks and we love it so much! It is greener, a bit colder, and has a mysterious vibe.

But before I get more specific, let us go back to where we stopped last week: PCT-Days in Cascade Locks!

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For those of you who don’t know PCT-days, it is a festival from hikers for hikers, allowing them to celebrate themselves plus many gear factories presenting their gear. And I can tell you, we hikers celebrate the hell out of ourselves! It was amazing to see so many beloved people again, with whom we shared one or the other mile.

It is strange how these hiker relationships are built. The last time we saw some of them was in Wrightwood, and yet we kept in contact, and once we met them it was like meeting very old friends. No wonder we started counting the length of our friendships in miles.

Smokey Traildays

Cascade Locks was a much-needed break after the long 16 days through Oregon. We could do our laundry, shower, recharge our body batteries, and restart our brain after 2 intense days of partying and chatting. The only minus was the thick and heavy smoke that crawled in on Saturday morning. All of a sudden the sun was covered and until Sunday night the sky was reddish and the sun had a tough time coming through. Not bad actually, otherwise the people would have probably suffered from heat strokes.

After surviving all the smoke, a little bit too much alcohol, dancing, and laughing, we headed out late on Sunday and could finally cross the bridge of the gods. To me one of the most significant places on the PCT, as I love bridges a lot. For a long time, I dreamed about seeing this place. It always does something to me to reach a bridge with the power of my own body and cross it afterward.

Finally in Washington

It felt unreal to touch ground in the last state of our journey, only 20 days after we finished California. After only 3.8 miles we called it a day, we were still too tired, and the smoke was not very inviting to hike.

The next morning, the trail proved again, that it likes us. The smoke was much less, hiking was easy. It is funny, how all of a sudden nature changed. While Oregon was a mixture of pine trees and NorCal, It changed rapidly after Mount Hood. Mixed forests, much more light green plants, and many creeks. Every evening we could wash our legs and feet, no more dusty filth in bed. Plants were already shifting the color of their leaves. Red and yellow popped up more. I cannot tell if it was through the drought, or the time of the year.

Panther Creek Falls

Our first section to hike was towards Trout Lake. Since this is our last state and our last 500 miles, we wanted to take more time for rests, fewer daily miles, and sometimes more blue blazes. For example, we did a 10-mile road walk parallel to the PCT to see the Panther Creek Falls. I can highly recommend this hike! As a bonus, we had trailmagic right where we rejoined with the trail!

Panther Creek Falls

First stop: Trout Lake

It took us 3.5 days to Trout Lake, a cute little Town at the foot of Mt. Adams, my far favorite mountain out here. The glaciers and the size of it are bigger than anything else I’ve ever seen. The people of Trout Lake are generous. They offer a Trail Shuttle, hikers are allowed to sleep at the church or behind the grocery store, where they offer anything a hiker needs: Wi-Fi, Food, Drinks, and for some of us a shower. I liked the vibe there. People seemed to be happy with their little community, even though it is small, it seemed to offer everything they need. I was also surprised to see that many young people. In a town of this size in Germany, you would mostly see people in their 70s/80s.

Goat Rocks Wilderness

Washed and showered, we got driven back out the next day, to head off into one of the most famous sections in Washington: Goats Rocks Wilderness with the Knives Edge Ridgewalk. It was some climbing involved, which was not too bad, all in all, the climbing in Washington was somehow easier than in Oregon, but I think we are just rested enough.

The whole area reminded me of Bavaria. Dreamy green spots spotted with colorful flowers, little creeks running quickly down the mountain. The most picturesque campsite was found here for us. With Mount Adams, St. Helens, and sadly a few fires in the distance, we dreamed about staying here a little longer, but our food would not be enough.

On the last day of our trip to White Pass, the trail led us higher and higher, far above the tree line, where there were just rocks and snow left. We felt back “home” in the High Sierra, even though we were just above 6000 ft. 3 small snow patches completed this feeling. Please enjoy our pictures of our Knives edge crossing. This part made up for the long days in Oregon and Norcal, we finally could enjoy the trail again.

Also, the approaching end and the realization that we made up a lot of time make us relax more and stay longer at places than we planned. For example, the Kracker Barrell store at White Pass was so inviting for hikers, that we stayed there for the night. We did that also, because our buddy from the desert, “OK” came back to finish Washington together with us! Who still remembers him?