Week 10: Cascade Locks, OR to Alpine Lake Wilderness, WA

Week 10 Mileage: 268.8

Wicked Hot!

I felt refreshed after my night in the hotel, but just an hour out of town I was drenched in sweat. So much for the shower. I packed out 4 days of food and had 147 miles to the White Pass Kracker Barrel, (not the restaurant chain, a convenient store.) As hot as it was, I wanted it to continue so whatever snow was left in the mountains would melt away by the time I arrived. Apparently, Washington had a below-average winter but a cold spring, so the snow lingered. Washington is harder than Oregon, longer climbs, longer descents. My goal for this state would be to do the 505 miles in under 14 days. Tough but doable with my confidence high after doing Oregon’s 457 miles in 11 days and 4 hours.

Mt. Adam’s Wilderness, Goat Rocks Wilderness, and Alpine Lakes Wilderness were my snow problem areas. Goat Rocks has a knifes edge that can be sketchy with big snow. The climb out of Cascade Locks is long and I finished from 10:20 am with a 27.8 for the day. The next day I wanted to pull something in the low to mid 40’s but the heat was working me pretty good and so were the winged devils. By 9:30 pm the mosquitoes were so bad I had to concede the day. I had 79.9 miles to make it to White Pass by 6pm on Sunday before the store closed or I’d be forced to slow down and wait until they opened Monday at 8. I didn’t like that option, so I was up, and on the trail just before 5 the next morning. The full-on assault by the mosquitoes started almost immediately, but I was wearing my rain pants and bug net. Luckily, the trail was easy for the first 12 miles. Ascending into the Mt. Adams Wilderness, the mosquitoes backed off over 6,000 feet and by 11:30, I had already done 16.8 miles. Passed the big mountain and pushing hard through the snowpack, I made it through with only a couple slips and falls and entered Goat Rocks Wilderness, going until 11:30 and finishing with a 48 for the day.

I wanted to be at the store by 5:30 so I had time to shop and eat. The only thing standing in my way were 31.9 miles. The ascent up to the ridge was completely covered in snow, something like 4 miles, but by 11:30 I was on top. Aside from a couple short sections of snow that I could see, everything looked clear. Without stopping for no more than 20 minutes in the next 15 miles, I made it to the Kracker Barrel by 5:40. The women working remembered me from two years ago, she asked me what I was up to and after telling her, she said that I couldn’t beat the guy from last year. She said it kind of matter-of-factly. That was all the motivation I needed. After resupplying and eating all the leftover hot food they were going to throw away (which I got for free), I headed out just after 7 with another 6 miles as my goal. But as I started the ascent, the mosquitoes swarmed. It was so hot, I was drenched and after only 1.7 miles, called it.

By Wednesday at 11, I had made it to Unique Pass. I resupplied for 5 days to Stehekin, met a hiker named “Maps” and took off at 2:30. This section would be my hardest since the Sierra. The Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Steep, hard hiking with multiple switchbacks. 3 hours later I was on top of the Kendall Catwalk. I could see the trail rimming along the outside of the valley and snow in a lot of spots. With a full resupply it was tough going, but as hard as it was, the views were incredible. Mt. Ranier looming in the distance, this was, and is, real deal hiking.

Other hikers ask me often how I do the miles I do, 40 through this kind of stuff. It’s hard to explain, I guess I just don’t let my legs stop moving, and every time I want to stop and rest, I just tell myself,  “the trail isn’t going to hike itself.” The days are long, but I’ve been hiking this way for a few years now and it’s becoming the only way I know.