Re: trail maintenance in Glacier Peak

Having just hiked the “impassable” section I can shed some light. It’s my understanding that the Forest Service is planning on repairing the trail (there is a sign at the end of the detour that says that they’re currently working on it). It’s understandable though that it’s going to take years, if it’s even possible. First, the Suiattle River needs to be bridged. How it’s possible, I don’t know. The river isn’t big right now but the flood wash around it is about 500ft (?) wide. That’s a HUGE bridge. The other bridges could more easily be repaired but each one will be quite expensive and prone to future destruction. Then there is an area of switchbacks that was washed away in a landslide. It’s a fairly big zone of loose soil and rocks. A large scar down the entire ridge. This obstacle will probably require some re-routing of the trail. For them to do that while still maintaining the slight incline of switchbacks might require moving the whole trail a bit or a lot. I’d be surprised if they could simply rebuild trail accross the active slide path.

The trail is doable as evidenced by the hikers passing through. The danger areas that I identified were the crossings of Whitechuck Creek (I think), and the landslide area. We crossed Whitechuck on a somewhat sketchy log over dangerous water (this was upstream of the destroyed bridge). I heard that there was a better log downstream if you follow the flagging.

The oft-talked about Suiattle River crossing was fine. When we passed through there was a large tree just barely bridging the river downstream of the trail. It’s a constantly changing stream bed though and this log seems to be on it’s way out. I won’t give away the surprise but this log crossing is a novelty. When I passed through, fording the Suiattle seemed in the realm of the possible. Again, dangerous, but possible. It was maybe knee deep, pretty swift but not totally cloudy. The runout of a swim looked decent.

Our route through the landslide was more dangerous than neccessary. It involved some slight, loose mud footholds on very high angle slopes with dangerous consequences. It was better to simply head straight down the slide path for a little bit. Be sure to scout!

All in all, the trail was great. Beautiful and exciting. But be aware that the old trail did involve a greater degree of risk than most of the rest of the PCT held. It was one of the most dangerous things I did on the trail this year. The government has flagged helpful areas. Follow this flagging.

I mitigated the risk by not traveling solo through this section. I suggest you do the same. I’d also seriously consider taking one of the alternates. I’m sure they’re great and they probably safer. Safety is #1 priority, right? So, make up your own mind. I don’t recommending heading in to this area simply because other hikers are doing it.

 

I’m done! Wooooooohoooooooooo! more to come later. It’s been a fantastic trip. Super fantastic.

Life continues but the trail stays within.

 

Hello from Seattle!
I’m in the city with Snail and Hot Sister, staying at Hottie’s wonderful mother’s house. Just heard Snail say that he has gained eight pounds since he arrived here yesterday. Personally, I’m down to a slight 130 pounds. I think that I started the trail at 142 and considering that I weighed 165lbs before I became a vegetarian, I can confirm that thru-hiking is an excellent weight loss plan.

The trail continues to be great. Washington is going well. The first few days out of Cascade Locks were a little brutal as I had a very heavy pack, the trail gained and lost a lot of elevation (with no views as rewards) and it was very hot and humid. Thankfully that transitioned into something better. I passed areas dotted with multitudes of lakes, ridges with catastrophic views of the area’s Stratovolcanoes (Adams and Rainier), and other great alpine scenery. Goat Rocks wilderness is cited by many to be a highlight of the hike. It surely did not disappoint. Goat Rocks rocks! It’s very, very beautiful. Walked down a sketchy knife edge ridge in a near white out, saw about 50 Mountain Goats, was shaken to the bone by some sketchy ice traverses,…

Since Portland I’ve also been hiking with some of my favorite people. Snail, Hot Sister, Pouch, Nemo, just to name a few. The hiking community has really made the hike. Love to all that I’ve met!

The end of the trail is on fire and therefore closed. Epic year for fires it has been. Off the top of my head I think that there are seven major forest fires that have either threatened or burned the trail this year. It’s a little frustrating that I won’t be able to walk to Canada on the PCT, won’t get to take a picture or sign the register at the end monument, but whatever. It’s about the journey, the finish line would be anti-climatic anyways I’m sure. Plus the alternate route sounds pretty nice. I’m hopefully headed back to Oregon to do the 57 miles around Mt. Jefferson that I skipped due to fire once I get to Canada anyways. Would like to go to ALDHA-W but I’m probably reaching to border on Sept. 29th and that would be too late.

I’m excited about this next section. Alpine Lakes Wilderness is supposedly beautiful. Lots of climbing but great rewards. Hopefully the weather holds and hopefully I don’t pull another stupid stunt like sleeping in a depression during a rain storm. Hah!

 

Yet again, my friends. I’m in town. Well, a city. Portland, OR. Damn near finished the entire state of Oregon as I just arrived in Cascade Locks a few hours ago. I had planned on spending some time near the Columbia River (the OR/WA border), but up at the Locks, not here in such a large city. But since Timberline we’ve been walking past notes left by So Far (PCT ’03) inviting us hikers to his house. I was going to resist but lo and behold I finish breakfast in up in the mountains and my friends have already secured a ride with So Far’s roomate Gloves, leaving in 10 minutes. I make it sound like a difficult decision but really, a zero is just a natural part of thru-hiking, at least for someone who has taken nearly a month of zeros in the past four months. I’m now sitting in a cool coffee shop, using wifi, drinking San Pellegrino soda, and listening to weird music. Can’t do that on the trail! Zero, will come tomorrow. Today is but a nero. Besides the 57 miles that I had to skip, I’ve finished Oregon~! Washington will be finished by the 1st of October. I’ve picked up my foul weather gear and I’m ready to take it easy on the last leg. Only 510 miles to go.

Slept on the Eagle Creek Alternate trail last night. Boy, that’s an incredible trail. Eagle Creek is a must-do alternate. The trail passes by countless impressive waterfalls as it winds along sheer cliffs. Luckily, there a plenty of cables to hold on to should you slip. Most impressive is the famous Tunnel Falls. There is a tunnel drilled behind a waterfall nearly as large as the cascades of Yosemite Valley.

Yesterday we did about 30 miles, as we do every day. By “we”, I mean the great group of hikers I’ve been around since Sisters: Snail, Dr. Jones, Nemo, Pine-nut, Shera, Hot Sister and Pouch. Most are a part of the High Alpine Knitting Club, a group of hikers who have been taught to knit hats by Nemo and T-Bird. I am the newest member and am working on my first hat. Admitedly, it’s strange that a bunch of dudes are out here knitting. But it’s actually a good fit with thruhiking. We wear hats, it requires only sitting on your ass and shooting the shit, and it’s ultralight. Good stuff.

The day before on Mt. Hood, we litterally froze. I was about an hour behind the group pulling in to Timberline Lodge. Good thing becuase they got snowed on. I just got to spend an extra hour in wet, cold weather. My skimpy poncho was barely adequate. Thank goodness for the beautiful Timberline Lodge. We took most of the day off, posted by the fancy central fire place and had a hiker garage sale with gear spread out drying everywhere. Clearly, it was unacceptable behavior for a fancy hotel but it took them hours before they shooed us downstairs. Very nice people work there. Thanks!

Back in time a little more.. Getting out of Sisters was chaotic. And we had a ride. We all had to go around the fire closures. The grapevine tells of one hiker ahead of us who walked through the southern fire. He had flames on both sides of the trail and up to a foot of ash to wade through. Then he hit the fire line and was thankfully not busted by a group of Hot Shots. The only other hiker we’ve heard of that tried to walk through was caught and turned back. And that’s the southern, tame fire. The northern Puzzle fire is a total no-go I think. Anyways, back to getting around. I have no idea how hikers behind us are going to manage. We got a ride up to Brietenbush Lake. The road to the lake is a rough dirt road that is only trafficked by a few campers. It requires high clearance. The car full of hikers behind us couldn’t make it and everyone had to walk the last six miles, finally finishing at 2am. One of them had to carry the pack of a hiker that was in my car. Ugh, six miles with two loaded packs. Chaos. We were all pretty whipped so we barely hiked the next day. Had a great time lounging by Olallie Lake.

 

Just a quick entry.

I’m in Sisters with a bunch of my hiking friends. I’d been alone (well, nearly alone) for the past couple of weeks and then *bam*, see everyone in town. We’re all staying at one of their friend’s cabin. Great time for a beer.

The hiking has been awesome. I’ve been doing about 30 miles per day which isn’t very hard considering that the rumors about Oregon are true. It’s FLAT. Had a beautiful night stealth camped up on the Crater Lake rim. Greatly enjoyed passing about one lake per mile in the southern part of Three Sisters Wilderness and then the past two days in the northern section has been going past the amazing volcanic mountains. Plus, I’ve experienced some sweet generosity from strangers. Ok, only a little bit of it was “yogi-ing”.

We’re all having to skip the next fifty or so miles because of forest fires. Bummer, but it seems like there is at least one section closed to fires every year.. I’ll be done with Oregon on Friday! Boy is it flying by.

Time to get back to socializing. Need to keep those skills up