August 3, 2022 - A New Day 1, White Pass towards Snoqualmie Pass

East side of Mt. Rainier from highway 410.

This is a continuation of a section of the PCT in Southern Washington started in August of 2020, the early days of COVID. The PCTA had requested hikers to stay home or at least restrict their hiking to trails close to home. Runningbird had started her “close-to-home” hike on the Oregon side of the Bridge of the Gods. The spot where she just recently completed her Oregon section at the end of last month.

And so the adventure goes on -

At home, we were up about 0700 (sleeping in), then had coffee and worked on our crossword puzzle a bit. We did have plenty to do. We’re getting the house exterior cleaned and painted and we had to get everything cleared away from the house in preparation. Peggy had a noon appointment and I had a few errands to run. Instead of taking the truck we took the VW Golf for the 2 1/2 hour drive to White Pass. As soon as Runningbird got home I had a couple of iced coffees ready and we loaded Beau up and got going. The backroads along the west side of the Cascades and east of Mt. Rainier are lovely and the wildflowers are in bloom. The highways expose some great view of the mountain and along the Green River.

Finally we turned east up Highway 12 and found the PCT just east of the Cracker Barrel store next to the White Pass Ski area. For some reason the Cracker Barrel is famous on the trail. Not sure why. I’ve been there and it’s nothing exciting. Unless you’ve been hiking on the trail for a week and you’re tired of eating peanuts and raw ramen. Runningbird was anxious and it was obvious her mind was elsewhere. We said a short goodbye and at 1545 she was on her way. A few steps away from the highway on the trail and she was gone.

Beau did his business and loaded into the Golf. I hooked a U-turn and almost immediately pulled over by the Cracker Barrel to pickup a hiker hitching a ride to a hotel in Packwood. I told “Mittty” we weren’t going all the way to Packwood but would get him along until we turned north at the next highway. Mitty is from Germany and had started at Campo so we had a quick chat about the conditions along the way. At highway 123 we exchanged contact info, did a fist bump goodbye, and I pointed him in the right direction. A short time later he texted to let me know he got a ride almost right away from a PCT work crew headed down. Lucky guy!

I continued on back home the same way we came only much slower. I was evidently experiencing the evening commute on the backroads of Mt. Rainier and Enumclaw. Getting home we had some dinner and I watched the SPOT to see how Runningbird was doing. At just shy of 8PM I received the “Checking In/I’m Okay” notification. She had gone 10 miles in 4 hours. I think I said she was anxious.