Day 132, August 27: Mile 2276 to 2296 / Packwood
Start: Mile 2276.1
End: White Pass - Mile 2295.9
Miles: 19.8
Ascent: 4623 | Descent: 6588
I had hoped the storm rolling in the night before would not be too bad, but unfortunately, it was. In fact, the storm was the gnarliest one I’ve ever camped in, with raging wind and lots of rain. I had to keep unzipping the inner body of my tent to reach my hand through and hold onto my rainfly as it was getting completely bashed around by the wind. At one point, the ceiling of my tent came down and smacked me in my face from getting blown around so much. It was a very stressful situation, and I ran through scenarios of what I would do if my tent failed and I got soaked. I could always go and beg one of my friends to crawl into their tents.
Luckily, I did not have to resort to such measures and made it through the night after only sleeping for maybe three hours. I had planned to get an early start on hiking, but I decided to sleep in a bit after passing out only in the wee hours of the morning. One upside of the morning was that I woke up to an incredible sunrise view of Mount Adams to the south.
My friends and I started hiking together and made our way up a big climb. We decided to do an “alternate” (aka taking a trail that is not the official PCT) that went up towards a peak called Old Snowy. Other hiker friends had recommended this alternate as the views from the summit were supposed to be great; unfortunately, the clouds from last night’s storm were still hanging around and we only caught glimpses of Mount Rainier and the surrounding landscapes. It was still very cool though!
On the alternate, we had to scramble up rocks because we got slightly off trail, and then we crossed what was maybe the sketchiest ice field of the entire PCT (in my opinion). I didn’t have microspikes and the storm had made any existing foot holds completely iced over and shallow. Luckily, there wasn’t a crazy cliff that I could go flying off of, but if I did slip, I would go sliding a few hundred feet into a frozen lake below. So, I took each step as carefully as I possibly could and nearly had a panic attack while doing so, but I finally made it across. Towards the end, there was a point where I could keep walking 20 more feet on the icy snow, or sit down and slide maybe 8 feet towards a flat section of rocky trail below. I chose the latter, and my right hand got covered in an intense red color from the mineral-rich soil seeping through the ice, and it looked like blood. I had fun shocking my friends out with the sight of my hand when I reached them at the next ridge.
Once we got to the top of the ridge, we snapped some pictures of Rainier just before the wind picked up even more and we could barely hear each other. We were able to hide behind a small rock wall while we layered up and got ready to descend the infamous “Knife’s Edge” - a crazy ridgeline that is, at times, very narrow. Hiking in those conditions was both nervewracking and fun, and we were leaning sideways into the wind, which we estimate to be around 60-70mph. The clouds were thick and gray but occasionally the wind would clear them just enough to catch a glimpse of what was around and below us.
Eventually, the adrenaline-pumping fun of the crazy wind pelting us got very old, and the exhaustion from the lack of sleep settled it. I struggled hard to make it down the unending trail filled with hard rocky steps.
I felt much better after stopping to filter and chug water, drink some caffeine, eat breakfast and rest my feet for 20 minutes.
After the long descent, there was another climb, and another descent, before finally making it to the highway. Miraculously, I was greeted with trail magic (!) at the highway, and it was some of the best yet. They had everything- fresh fruit and veggies, cookies, chip and salsa, beers, gatorades, camp chairs and tunes. It was great.
My friends and I finally left and we made our way to the gas station store where Frankie and I had to pick up packages. We got them and went outside to hitch into Packwood. Frankie and Gus got a car immediately but it took Kevin and me over an hour to finally get a ride. We had been getting cold and desperate in the windy, setting sun, but finally a car pulled over. A nice couple from the area gave us a ride into town.
Once we got to town, we got pizza, showered and passed out early in our hotel room.