Day 160 – Mile 2543.3 – 2574.6

Tentsite (4) to High Bridge

Miles to go: 80.6

Canada: 2655.2

Sloth & Sawlax had agreed to set off at 6:30am and again had failed to be ready on time (I should have known when they told me their names). So I set off alone again.

First I was faced with a 3,700ft climb to ‘Suiattle Pass’ (6,007ft). But over 12miles this was the easiest climb over 3000ft I’ve done. At the top I emptied my pack of wet gear and tried to dry it all in the sun, mostly successfully. At this point the trail had been closed for the next 19.9miles for the ‘Dome Peak’ fire in the Glacier Wilderness, but luckily for me it was announced the trail was re-opened on Thursday night (Day 157), so no massive detour for me.

The trail descends from here. It’s not all plain sailing as there are some very rocky sections, some overgrown burn area (from past years) & inevitably some blowdowns and because the trail hasn’t been hiked for a couple of months the overgrown bits are ‘fresh’/not beaten back. But it’s downhill and that makes it a little easier than uphill. So I checked the weather for tomorrow (town day). I didn’t want to leave myself too much to do if it’s going to rain. Forecast is for rain at 11am. So my plan is to hike as far as possible today and get up early in the morning and hike as much as I can before I starts to rain. Hopefully I can be in town while the worst of the rain is falling.

As I approached High Bridge, where there’s a campground & dirt road to Stehekin, it was getting dark. I met a couple who were staying in Stehekin, who I’m sure would have offered me a ride if I’d wanted to go there. I found the campground (not obvious) and quickly pitched my tent on a very flat spot. There are warnings everywhere about ‘bear activity’ so for dinner I just had more lunch snacks so not to attract bears with strong smelling tuna.

Water filtered: 499.0 litres

PCT Miles hiked today: 31.3

Nights under canvas current streak: 4

Max streak: 18

Total nights under canvas: 119

Total nights in a building: 41

Lake swims: 1

Showers: 36

Trail Magic: 19

Thought for the day: Fewer than 100miles to go!