Washington
30. August 2003 — Day 127 – Cascade Locks to Wind River Road – mile 2167
I did not make it out of town until 11am started of by myself but after crossing the “Bridge of the Gods” I ran into Ronnie from Israel. We walked together along the road. It was not really a nice walk along the busy road. We stopped on the way for lunch in a small snack bar and again at a small shop. Most of the day we spend talking which was interesting to discover a totally different world view. We managed to do the 17 miles by 6pm and we were supposed to be picked up by someone from SoFar’s family. While waiting some more people showed up – Luna and the two with the dog. Luna I had not seen since Southern California so lots of news and stories to swap. SoFar’s mom showed up with Leprechaun and Sandsmurf. We all pilled into the big Suburban for the 1 ½ hour trip to Portland. We arrived at the house and had great food. Just everybody standing around the kitchen table. For the night the 16 hikers spread out on the deck and the living room.
31. August 2003 — Day 128 – Portland, OR – zero day
Just a lazy start into the day. Had bits and pieces for breakfast and then some people when into downtown Portland and others when to REI. I went to REI and afterwards we went down town for lunch. In the evening friends and family from SoFar’s parents came to the house for dinner. It was really nice just hanging out on the porch. A friend of the family had a 1956 Porsche 359 and he took me for a spin. Some people started a water fight later. I stayed out of it.
01. September 2003 — Day 129 – Wind River Road to Crest Campground – mile 2201
The plan was to get up early to get back to the trail early, but somehow it took us longer to get ready. So we left at 9:30 and SoFar’s Mum drove us down Columbia Gorge. We took the scenic route and stopped at Multnomah Falls. Amazing, with the bridge in front of the water fall. Made it to Wind River Road at about lunch time. Started of down the trail with Luna and the two with the dog. Later in the afternoon we ran into a girl going northbound. The five of us stayed at Crest Campground for the night.
02. September 2003 — Day 130 – Crest Campground to Trout Lake Creek – mile 2228
Luna and myself started off quite early and we actually did not see the others afterwards. Luna and myself seemed to have the same kind of pace and the same agenda for the rest of the trip. Uneventful day stopped after 27 miles at Trout Lake Creek.
03. September 2003 — Day 131 – Crest Campground to Midway Creek – mile 2258
Reached Road 23 quite early today. Found a cache with fruits and soda. Spiderbite had left them there. We checked the register and saw that quite a lot of people had gone down to Trout Lake Resort to resupply. John Calhun a. k. a. “Mother Natures Son” was one person so we knew that we would probably run into him today or tomorrow. Today the trail lead by Mt. Adams. Before we reached our goal for the day – Midway Creek. Found quite a big campsite and there was “Mother Natures Son” we swapped stories about the party in Portland and he told us that his stay in Trout Lake Resort was good. My water filter for some reason did not work, so I had to use Aqua Mira.
04. September 2003 — Day 132 – Midway Creek to just before Cascade Crest Trail – mile 2284
All three of us got up at roughly the same time. Luna and myself walked together for most of the day but we kept leap frogging John. Climbing up on hill we found him talking to – we couldn’t believe it - Hatchet and Paul. They wanted to drop out to reach white pass because Hatchet had problems with his hip. Still the same old story, more hitching then hiking. We entered Goat Rock Wilderness, which was absolutely stunning. After boring Oregon it reminded me a lot of the High Sierras. The end of the day we had to walk along McCall glacier and Old Snowy Mountain on this knife edge ridge. It was absolutely stunning. But somehow it took us longer as expected. And it quickly got darker and I was furious with myself that we “wasted” time taking pictures and stuff. This of course was totally ridiculous. Didn’t reach Lutz lake as we had planed so we stopped a mile and a half short of it.
05. September 2003 — Day 133 – Just before Cascade Crest Trail to White Pass – mile 2298
Got up early all fired up and ready for town. Again Luna and myself set off first and I wanted to make it to White Pass before lunch time so I could make my phone calls home. So when Luna decided to get water at Hidden Spring which was 1/3 mile of trail I said I wait for him but after he was gone for 20 minutes I wrote him a note and left. Made it to White Pass at exactly 12 o’clock. There were a lot of hikers hanging out there, Laffie Taffie, Troll, SandSmurf, HighLife, Bergfish, Dawntrader and Shivers. It was cool finally meeting Bergfish who is also German and he was in front of we for month. So after 2200 miles I meet him. I made my phone calls and by that time Luna and Mother Natures Son (MNS) had arrived. After a lengthy discussion we had four people to share a room in the Lodge, Luna, SandSmurf, MNS and me. So it ended up being a relaxed evening. Had a few beers on the porch and cooked soup for everybody and afterwards scored left over hamburgers from a group of kids on a high school training camp.
06. September 2003 — Day 134 – White Pass to Dewey Lake – mile 2324
Woke up and got ready early. Made another quick phone call and then we headed off. SandSmurf was ahead of us but by lunch time Luna and myself caught up with him and we had a break together. Somehow Luna was not up to his pace. His feet were giving him trouble. So he said to go ahead and he would follow after us. So I walked with Sandsmurf until we reached Dewey Lake were we found an OK camp site occupied by two people. Then MNS arrived and Luna arrived late at 8:30. Quite a hard day were we did 26 miles.
07. September 2003 — Day 135 – Dewey Lake to Camp Ulrich – mile 2350
Woke up to a slight drizzle, so I just packed my stuff and started walking by myself, because Sandsmurf and Luna were still in there sleeping bags and there was no sense in waiting for them in the rain. Reached Chinook Pass after an hour and had a quick rest then continued on. The clouds were really low so you could not see a thing. Had my lunch break on one of the passes. And there were a lot of hunters around on horseback. I was sitting there when Bergfish came around a bend. I had passed him somehow so we started off together. It was good to talk German to someone, so time flew by. It was already starting to get dark when we reached Camp Ulrich, a nice, spacious shelter. Laffie Taffie and Troll were there but they wanted to walk for another 4 – 5 miles. There was one hunter there who was out bow hunting for Elk. Talked to him about hunting, something I don’t have a clue about. Luna arrived late at around 8:30 – 9 o’clock. I was getting worried that he would not be able to make it or not see the hut in the dark. But it was good to have roof over our heads, because the weather got bad during the evening.
08. September 2003 — Day 136 – Camp Ulrich to ½ miles after weather station – mile 2378
Luna and myself had a late start for our standards. But everybody else was as well. We started of in the drizzle that continued the whole day. Pretty miserable day. We had lunch standing under a tree. We just stuffed our food into our mouth as fast as possible. Had a nice surprise at a water cache that had some sweets as well. In the register we could see who was ahead of us. We met this girl who was southbound on the trail and she told us that there was a fire in the last section of the trail and that the trial was closed. Something that we had to check out in the next few towns. At the end of the day we wanted to reach the weather station. But somehow the guide and data book fooled us again. So we were not sure how much further it was so we turned a few times into small forest roads just to realize that is was the wrong one. Finally we made it to the road and of course there was a sign. The couples (Troll & Laffie Taffie; DawnTreater & Shivers) were staying at the weather station. Talked briefly to them and then went on to our final destination for the day. Half a mile after the weather station was a small plateau and the forest service had build a wheelchair accessible toilet there. So this night we spend in the dry “comforts” of this toilet. Not to bad – not smelly and reasonably clean.
09. September 2003 — Day 137 – ½ miles after weather station to Snoqualmie Pass – mile 2397
The night was not bad in the toilet. At least it was dry for most parts still got some of my stuff wet. We started of early again because we wanted to make it early to Snoqualmie Pass. We reached it at about lunchtime. We knew that Highlife was in front of us and we figured that he most likely was looking for someone to share a room with. So we walked into the Best Western at the pass and inquired about the prices and if they had somebody staying that fitted Highlife’s description. The people behind the desk were very helpful but did not really know or remember if he was or not. So Luna and myself decided to walk over to the post office and check the register. We ran into Highlife there and he was really happy to see us. So we checked into the hotel. Nice room and they had a hot tub as well. So again the town stuff – shower, laundry & food. We had to dry some of our stuff so we put up a cloth line from the door frame to the curtain rail. During the afternoon the weather got really bad. It started pouring down. Some more people arrived so Bergfish, Doc and Sandsmurf were staying in the next room.
10. September 2003 — Day 138 – Snoqualmie Pass – zero day
Had a good breakfast in the restaurant next to the Best Western. I had already called my folks back home. It was still raining heavily. So the decision was easy to take an extra zero day to wait out the bad weather. Very lazy day going to the store to get more food. Then sat in the hot tub for a while. Mother Nature’s Son showed up during the day and we let him stay in our room. He was in a bad mood because of the weather. It really bothered him. We tried to cheer him up as best as we could.
11. September 2003 — Day 139 – Snoqualmie Pass to Lemah Meadow Trail – mile 2420
There were three crazy people starting of today. Guess who. Yep, that’s right. Luna, Highlife and me. Still raining heavy, but we were antsy to get back hiking after sitting around in a place were there is nothing to do. We had breakfast and then started off. We had a quick stop at the Ranger Station to by a map for the last section (in case we had to walk around the fire). Oh yeah we had called some fire info line and they had confirmed that there was indeed a fire and that the trial had been closed just north of Stehiken. They were really helpful and had given us an alternative route around the fire area. The whole day we walked in the rain and we could only guess the stunning views that would have been there. Not stopping for lunch just trotting on. At some stage Luna said he would walk a little slower and we should walk on, he would catch up with us. So Highlife and myself walked on but we did not see anything from Luna again that day. It was really difficult navigating because you could only see about 500 ft. and then you did not want to stop and search for signs at every trial crossing. Every thing went fine so we made it to Lemah Meadow Trial. At the spot we wanted to stay there were already some people camped so we quietly setup our shelters. Miserable night.
12. September 2003 — Day 140 – Lemah Meadow Trail to Deep Lake – mile 2441
Thankfully the rain had stopped this morning. Every thing was still wet but there was hope that we would be able to dry some stuff during the day. We had heard somebody shout last night and assumed that it must have been Luna. So after warning the people at our campsite, we shouted for Luna and about 300 yards further on the trial we heard him yell back at us. Highlife and myself packed up and went over to Luna. The three of us set off together. It started to clear up during the morning and we found a nice spot at lunch time to dry our stuff in the sun. We stayed together an reached Deep Lake quite late. Found a good spot. We kind of knew it would be a cold night as soon as the sun was gone the temperatures just plummeted.
13. September 2003 — Day 141 – Deep Lake to Hope Lake – mile 2464
It was a cold night and a cold morning. Stayed as long as possible in my sleeping bag to stay warm. It was a pleasure to stand in the sun as soon as she made it over the mountains and reached our spot. Had a good day with quite a bid of climbing but that didn’t really bother us. We met some nice people and chatted to them. Funny story: It seemed to be a couple of dad’s with there kids (between 10 – 18 years old I guess). So we were talking to them and told them it was great to be able to do what you like. During this Highlife let on rip. The dad’s just looked distressed and the kids just kind of grind not sure if they could laugh or not. We had a good laugh afterwards about it. Again it was a long day before setting up camp at Hope Lake. Did not find a great stop but it worked. Thankfully it would be a short walk before reaching Stevens Pass tomorrow. We had heard and seen the notes of Don Johnson but we didn’t want to get our hopes up to much. So we were telling ourselves, that he might not be there because it was Sunday and so on. Still looking forward though.