On the Knife’s Edge

Day 29: 19 miles. White Pass to Tentsite at mile 376, 7011 feet.

I was supposed to get up early to catch the tramily but I had lost my tootpaste and tootbrush. Could I hike 66 miles without them? Probably, but if I started one hour later I could buy new ones at the Krackel Barrel store. So I set my alarm at 7 a.m. Somehow I missed it, though, and only woke at 07.30. The tent and my quilt were horribly condensated by the lake humidity. I went to the gas station/store again and bought what I needed, even had a small breakfast there. I chatted with Daypack that started whole two weeks later than me – and had already catched up! I shall probably never see him again.

The trail had a lot of elevation change but it was still really nice. The most perfect so far, except from the mosquitoes once again. Only some miles before I realized I was going to do The Knife’s Edge today, since I had decided not to stare at the altitude profiles – I’ll have to do those climbs anyway so why know it beforehand. Some friends had done this famous climb and reported it was not snowy, so I was not worried.

The climb was scary as Hell, though, for somebody with fear of hights. The stones and sand on the narrow path were slippery and in the end you were really walking on a steep ridge. I met up with a hiker from Israel on a narrow crossing. I met also with two hikers who seemed to know who I am and knew both of my tramilys. They had decided to sleep in the middle of the ridge on a small plateau.

After the crazy ridge I saw what I didn’t believe I would see more: A scary snowcrossing. I was so damned scared to do this without spikes or an axe since the fall down was not short. Left, right, left, right like we used to do just a couple of weeks ago. And then another snowcrossing and then a slippery rockslide. I swore I would drink my emergency whisky once I was out of there. It was so scary I almost cried. And other people seem to cross these things without any fear of death, but then again, everybody is immortal in their 20s. I walked accidentaly wrong to the Old Snowy alternate since the signpost showed wrong direction. So I had to cross a third snowfield before I was clear on the dry land.

Once I had passed the snow I saw some beautiful tent places and some people had already set up their tents there. I found a small spot protected with stones and decided to for once sleep at over 7000 feet – after all it is mosquito and condensation free zone.

 

Day 30: 25 miles. Tentsite at mile 376 to Forest Service Road at mile 402

This was an exhausting day. I woke up at night to go to the toilet and witnessed the most epic starry sky. Also the sunset and the sunrise were full five stars at this spot, and for once it was not too hot.

I started walking 06.30 and walked through the most beutiful landscape. I had breakfast on the way and then climbed over Cispus pass. There was a little snow left, but according to a NoBo that was the last one. There were a lot of NoBos coming through today.

After a stream there was nowhere to have a lunch. I came to a forest and the mosquitohell exploded. For the following 9 hours I was walking in a horrible mosquitodense forest, and it was hot but you had to wear your black mosquitonet, windpants, gloves and all, but still the monsters found a way to bite through it all. Also the sound of mosquitoes next to your ear was driving me crazy. I asked a NoBo how much longer there are mosquitoes and he just replied while continuing walking: “The end of the state I think!”

At a tentplace I found Croc that was taking a nap in his hammock. He and Pocahontas had started slightly before me and were going to camp 11 miles ahead. As I had already walked 16 miles I was not sure if I could make it. I kept on walking through the hot mosquitohell. I was dehydrated because I didn’t want to open my mosquitonet to drink.

Finally at 8 p.m. I came to a forest service road where I set up my tent in a forest and ate dinner on the road. It was only 1,6 miles from where the others were camping, but after a 25 mile day with no breaks in five hours I was done for the day.

Day 31: 22 miles. Forest Service Road at mile 402 to Trout Lake

I got up by the sunrise and because of the cold the mosquitoes were not yet awake. I had some porridge and coffee right on the middle of the road and started walking. Until 11 a.m. it was nice uphill and no mosquitoes, then they woke up and above 6000 feet elevation didn’t seem to stop them. The scenery was crazy beautiful, though, with views of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams at the same time. Flowers and floating rivers.

The mosquitoes got worse by the day and I had my lunch wearing full-on gear though it was pretty hot. The mosquitoes were trail police that made it sure you wouldn’t stop for long.

I was counting the amount of NoBos I saw the whole day. Number 55 asked me about a creek and I forgot to check myself how far it is to the next one. He said the last shuttle to Trout Lake leaves at 6 p.m. it was 1.30 and I still had 10 miles to go. I had to walk 5 miles to the next stream having only half a liter wearing long pants for the mosquitoes on an extremely exposed forest burn area that felt endless. I was half running down the last miles. By the road I met with three NoBos and actually was offered a ride to the town by somebody. I was offered some rhum and got a trail name Whiskey because of my emergency bottletradition.

The number of NoBos on the trail was 102 plus one dog.

At the restaurant I met with the Dolphine Gang (renamed as The UN) and we had some food and beers. They were camping behind the church so I joined them and we had some beers there though it was probably not allowed. I took a bath in the river since my legs were super dirty.

105 km or 66 miles in three days was not bad at all.