August 5, 2022 - Tacoma Pass, Wingman’s Adventure

Day 3, PCT Section White Pass to Snoqualmie

The I-90 Corridor from the Cascade Range looking north. I think.

“As the crow flies”. What’s that about? Not relevant. Who cares unless you’re a bird or flying a drone. “The shortest distance between two points is a straight line”. Well, ya, I guess so if you’re a crow or drawing on paper. But not always. Google maps will guild you on the shortest, fastest, or most economical way. NO!

Sometime near mid-morning I got a call from Runningbird. She was doing fine but said she was hungry and had consumed nearly all of her food. Hungry? Uh-oh. Not a good thing to hear from her. I think that’s another first for me to hear from her on the PCT. I wanted to put my fingers in my ears and yell “la-la-la-la-la, I’m not hearing this”. It made sense though as she was doing more miles and hiking longer hours in a day now. I knew she had packed light as she didn’t plan to be out there long. I told her I would try to work on something and arrange a drop and would try to text her.

Opening my iPad and booting up Google Earth with the PCT overlay, I looked for options. Most of the options available were with an approach from the west and Rainier National Park direction. Areas I’m not familiar with and more timely to get to. There are a mass of forest and logging roads swimming in every direction. I didn’t feel good about any of them. I moved my finger along each of them on the screen and traced their origin and relation to the trail. If I lost cell service or took a wrong turn it wouldn’t be good. I do have experience with forest roads and most of it not good. The other problem was Runningbird was moving fast and most of these options would very soon no longer be options. I flicked the screen over to the east side of the ridge to have a look. I knew there was Stampede Pass on the south side of Lake Keechelus but that was too far ahead. Hmm? Tacoma Pass? Never heard of it. I have heard of Cabin Creek though and it comes right down from that area. I followed various roads from the east side to get to Tacoma Pass. Google maps said it would show me how to get there. Really? I quickly remembered my experience listening to Google maps to get to Summit Lake in Oregon and had my doubts.

Inaction was not an option. Sometimes I overthink things. Well, often I overthink things. I found a small box and then dove into Runningbird’s hiker bin. Ramen, dried vegetables, peanut butter, extra fuel cubes. Into the cupboards - Starbucks singles coffee, fish crackers, ginger snaps. I hard boiled a couple of eggs, got Beau in the truck and headed for the store. Cheese and crackers, animal cookies, two cases of bottled water (thinking a little “trail magic” here). Fueled up the truck and off we went towards Tacoma Pass.

Cabin Creek from Forest Road off I-90 near Easton, WA

We exited I-90 at Easton, crossed the railroad and went by the Cascades to Palouse Trailhead and followed the small paved road up into the hills. Continuing up the road it went to gravel and then dirt. We passed a couple of abandoned and gated trail parking lots and then the bushes started to move closer in. That’s never a good sign. Then a huge log across the road and the bridge beyond was obviously not actually connected on the other side. There was a small road branching off to the right and it was obvious then that others had gone this way and crossed the river. Enter 4-wheel drive and continue to the river. After a bit of a pause, inaction was not an option. We very slowly crossed the river and up the bank on the other side. Then there were the two huge trees that were questionable for my truck to squeeze between. Beau and I got out and walked ahead to have a look. With the mirrors pulled in we might get between the two trees but it was the huge hump in the road after that was definitely the show-stopper. The truck would high-side and there it would sit like a teeter totter going no where. I doubt that any tow truck would cross the river to tow me off the hump.

We got ourselves turned around, back across the river, and down onto pavement again before pulling over and looking for other options. There was that Stampede Pass again. And just before it was a road branching off to the left with the same Forest Road number as the one I had ventured on and crossed the river. Dang! Why didn’t I see that before? So off we went back onto the freeway. The road up towards Stampede Pass was gravel but compared to where I had been it was nice. Really nice! When I continued on to the road on the left it got a bit narrower but two cars could pass and it was still nice. I actually passed several regular cars on it. After some miles I found Tacoma Pass as confirmed by Google maps and my Far Out app. The PCT trailhead was just a spot where the trail popped out of the woods, crossed the dirt road, and then popped back into the woods. That was it. Barely noticeable.

Trail Magic and Resupply Box.

I put a couple of pink ribbons on a bush and put the water bottles, snacks, and Runningbird’s resupply box on the trail at a bit of a clearing. As if on cue Runningbird called but the signal was very broken. I told her food was there and headed back down the mountain.