Trail Day 129: Tentsite (mile 2623.1) to Boundary Trail Junction (mile 2646.4)

23.3 PCT miles


It was my last full day of hiking today. Tomorrow will probably be about a half day of hiking to get to Manning Park, BC. Today is also supposed to be the day the newest storm system hits, with this first day having the highest chance of rain.
Yesterday I had heard that the chance of rain may not have been as high as originally forecast, so that, along with the probability of not hiking as far today, allowed me to get up a little later than I have been the past couple days. Even so, it still seemed to be earlier than everyone else on the trail.

Morning grouse herding on the trail.
I walked for a while, watching the morning light hit the mountains. The sky was incredibly clear. I took that as a good sign as the forecast I had last looked at predicted it would be cloudy in the morning.
Morning view from the trail.

Another morning view from the trail.

I had a similar morning to the past couple days, being passed early on by Flame, and Taylor and the Swiss. They are fast hikers, but get up late so I have been passing them in the morning while they are sleeping, only to have them pass me back after I get up.
I also started encountering thru-hikers who had made it to the monument and were returning south to exit the trail at Harts Pass instead of Manning Park. Most of them told me “Congratulations.” I have been hearing that for the past 3 days now. Apparently, making it to the border is a several day long celebration.


I recognized one of the people heading back to Harts Pass as One Eleven. I last saw him in Etna, CA when he and a bunch of other people were going to flip up to northern Oregon to try to avoid the forest fires. They were skipping a lot of trail miles, so I hadn't expected to see him again.
I continued down the trail into a valley, enjoying the great weather, and then started the uphill out of that valley. It was on that uphill, around 11:30 am that the winds picked up, the clouds came in, and it started to get cool. It looked as if we were going to get hit with that storm system after all.


The PCT.

View from the trail.

The PCT and a storm starting to roll in.
The first bit of rain started around 1:30 pm. It was just a tiny drizzle and I was on some switchbacks, so I didn't feel like it was worth it to stop and put my rain gear on. Then it got a little heavier and I looked in front of me. It was dark straight ahead. Still on the switchbacks,  I took my pack off and got my rain gear on just in time.


I walked uphill in the rain for a good while. The heaviest rain was definitely in those first sets of clouds. After that, I was walking through light rain or fog the rest of the day. It wasn't as bad as the last storm system because at the moment it was warmer. However, the last storm system was OK as well until that first night, when it started to snow.
Unfortunately, the weather smothered the amazing scenery, so I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Eventually, I started the descent that would take me down to the border.

Just below the cloud layer.

View from the trail.

Clouds from the storm.
There were two places I could camp before the border. One was a lake about 6 miles out and one was a trail junction about 3 and a half miles out. The lake seemed to be where most people in the thru-hiking bubble were headed today.
When I got to the lake,  it was barely under the cloud layer. Since it was likely to be crowded, at that elevation it could possibly be snowed on during the night, and there was a lot of daylight left, I decided to do the extra couple of miles to the trail junction.
Hopkins Lake.
When I got to the trail junction, I was really excited to see a sign pointing to the “U.S. Border.” Bam Bam was the only other person there and he was setting up his tent. I’m pretty sure that I have camped with Bam Bam the last two nights as well, but he was already in his tent by the time I got there.
With how hard I had been pushing myself, it felt weird to get everything set up and dinner cooked while there was still daylight out. I spent the rest of the time in my tent getting warm and sheltering from the sporadic rain showers as they hit.

3.7 miles until Canada!
Trail junction sign.

This way to Canada!

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 12, 2017 at 6:29 PM

    Just Below The Cloud Layer is one of my favorites!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SusanneOctober 12, 2017 at 10:29 PM

      It wasn't fun to hike in, but it did make for some nice pictures. :)

      Delete

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