Trail Day 112: Tentsite near Gillette Lake (mile 2148.3) to Trout Creek (mile 2174.1)

25.6 PCT miles

I started hiking in the dark this morning, noticing that it was a lot more humid than what I had previously been walking in. I reminded myself that the forests in Washington were technically rainforests. I had been expecting that in Oregon too, but I must not have made it far enough north to see the transition.

Early in the morning it drizzled. I expected that drizzle to be the beginning of a rainstorm, and donned my rain gear, but it dissipated quickly. As I was heading uphill, I noticed that Washington had a lot more fern and mosses than when I had left the trail in Oregon. It was nice to see a change in scenery.

New scenery (greenery?).


As I was nearing the end of my morning uphill section,  I saw another hiker with a puppy headed southbound. When they got closer, the puppy excitedly bounded over to me for some pets. When talking to the other hiker, I found out that they had a mountain lion stalking their campsite last night. I assume it had something to do with the presence of an 8 month old puppy. Part of me is jealous that people have been seeing mountain lions, but part of me is OK with not having a mountain lion stalk my campsite.

Headed up.
View from the trail.


I walked the crest of the mountain and I wasn't walking in smoke for once. I was walking through fog instead. It was almost too chilly, but I was thankful it was cool.

The (foggy) PCT.
For once this is fog, not smoke.
Where did the PCT go?
Oh, here it is.
Slug sighting.
Fall colors.


As the day went on, the fog burned off. I then headed downhill for several miles, back into a sea of ferns and mosses. At the bottom of the downhill,  I took a late lunch and extended break  at the very pretty Rock Creek.

View from the trail.
Back down into ferns and mosses.
Rock Creek.


After lunch I had several miles of uphill again. By the time I crested and started heading downhill again, it was getting dark. I checked Guthook for the nearest campsite and it wasn't until I finished the downhill section at Trout Creek.

I got to Trout Creek well after dark and looked for a place to pitch my tent. There were already several tents pitched in the camping area to the right and left of the bridge.

I tried checking for a space for my tent without disturbing the people already there, but didn't see anything. I decided to cross the bridge to see if there was anything on the other side.

That is when I saw someone cowboy camping on the bridge itself.  I apologized for waking him up and he said that he moved to the bridge because mice were crawling over him as he tried to sleep. There were notes in Guthook that also warned that this site had aggressive rodents. He tried to give me advice on where to camp, but he was groggy and hard to understand.

I  crossed the bridge and came upon a dirt road. Next to the dirt road looked like a flat space where I could set up my tent, so I set it up there. I packed up my food as best as I could and prayed that the rodents wouldn't chew through my tent tonight.

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