Trail Day 113: Trout Creek (mile 2174.1) to Forest Road 60 (2195.4)

21.3 PCT miles, plus 2.5 miles detour

I had camped next to a dirt/gravel road last night, not thinking much of it. Most of the dirt/gravel roads I have encountered on the trail see absolutely no traffic. That was not the case with this road. At 1:44 am I was woken by someone driving down the road at high speed. I woke up in panic, terror, and confusion as it came roaring towards me with the high beams ablaze.

I have made a habit of setting my alarm with plenty of time before dawn to start hiking early, should I feel motivated to do so. Today was not one of those days. I reset my alarm several times before I decided that I would get up when the sun comes up. That plan was also shattered when about 4 trucks raced down the road just before dawn. When that happened, I decided it was time to pack up and leave.

The first portion of today was really easy and flat. I walked several miles before I stopped at Wind River for breakfast and to refill my water. The next 9 miles were all uphill.  Ugh.

Wind River.

Morning in the forest.

PCT marker.

View from the trail.

Another view from the trail.

I walked until my feet didn't want to walk anymore, then stopped for an extended lunch break. Between the late start and the long lunch,  I didn't expect to get many miles in today.

After lunch, I started uphill again, preparing myself for a long climb. Not long after I started, I heard the clicking of poles behind me. I had wondered when the group that had camped at the bridge last night would pass me.

I stepped aside for the woman to pass me by and when she did she asked, “Snapper?” I returned with, “Second Wind?”

It turns out that I knew most of the people who had camped at the bridge last night including Second Wind, Vortex, Poppa Oats, Hatchapi, and Flame. The one person I had interacted with (Holiday) was one of only two people in the group that I hadn't met. Apparently Holiday had a tale for them in the morning about how someone had walked through “in the middle of the night.” It was actually about 9:30 pm.

I hadn't seen any of them since I injured my knee outside of South Lake Tahoe, so they all asked about it. They were all going to hitch into Trout Lake in a few hours so I let them bound off. I was not going into Trout Lake as I was going to detour around the East Crater Fire closure instead.

Once I reached the top of the uphill, I had a great view of Mt. Adams. I was thankful for the clear skies as people who went through here last week were complaining about thick smoke.

Mt. Hood (left) and the Eagle Creek Fire (right).

Mt. Adams. 

I then headed downhill towards the fire closure. I was walking through very old lava flows that were eroding and covered in mosses.

I've been seeing these racers a lot the past couple days.

The trail going through old lava flows.

I got to the road where the closure began and started walking the detour. Thankfully, someone on the PCT Facebook page had posted details of the route, mileages, tentsites, and water sources. I managed to hit the tentsite 2.5 miles into the detour just as the light was fading.

Edge of the fire closure.