Woody Pass to the Northern Terminus of the PCT and back to mile 2635
Miles: 26
I AM OFFICIALLY HIKING SOUTHBOUND!
Today was a perfect day, but now my brain feels sluggish from 11.5 hours of hiking and 26 miles.
I woke up this morning to the rays of the sun climbing the massive rocky peaks on either of Woody Pass. From the opposite direction, foreboding dark gray clouds rolled in. Hayden and I reassured each other that "it's just morning fog." Fog or not, the clouds burned off quickly.
Emerging from my tent at 7AM, I felt like the tin man before Dorothy oils him up. My body hurt just as much as when I finished the trail yesterday. Aren't I supposed to be fully refreshed every day? How is this sustainable if I'm not recovering?
I pooped in the woods (first of the trip!) and felt better.
For my morning meal, I drank a vanilla carnation instant breakfast and ate a flour tortilla smeared with almond butter. Everything turned to paste in my mouth. One downside of not cooking anything: everything is paste.
I stretched while I ate. I wondered if my old fencing stretching routine is applicable to hiking, but the ritual felt meditative and, most of all, it took my mind off the paste.
I took my time to chat with Hayden and pack up camp. Finally, I strapped on my pack and set off on the trail. Well, I didn't set off. I began limping up the rocky uphill terrain. Due to my slow and irregular pace, I began reducing my expectations for the day and thinking of other places to camp.
A mile under my belt, I found myself navigating a thin trail along a scree-covered mountain face, with the Northern Cascades bathed in morning sunlight across the valleys from me. Also, the breakfast of carb paste kicked in. Both of these were huge morale boosters and the tin man received a squirt of oil.
Within a few hours, I was hiking down Holman Pass, the biggest elevation change on this segment, and my body finally felt rejuvenated. I was cruising, eating a granola bar, exclaiming out loud to myself about views, and was ready to push through to the border. Even though I was apprehensive about the nine miles of downhill that I was hiking since I'd have to retrace my steps later in the day, I managed to ride that wave of energy down the pass, through four miles of heavy underbrush and, around 1 PM, I arrived at the end of the trail. Jackpot.
I was the only one at the terminus when I arrived. I immediately broke federal law and walked twenty feet into Canada to pee.
Interesting factoid: the USA/Canadian border is a clear-cut 40-foot wide line through the forest. It looks like a strip of power lines through the woods sans power lines.
Hayden, Dustin from Oklahoma, and a couple showed up promptly at the border. We took turns taking photos of each other in a range of power poses. I ate my five-star backpacking meal: an olive oil flavored tortilla with slices of rosemary romano cheese and salami slices. It was a proper celebration for the first 30 miles and the beginning of my southbound journey.
I signed the trail register at the terminus. Glancing back through the entries, I saw Whistler's from a couple days earlier: "hike fast, shit fast."
I added an electrolyte tab to one water bottle and Gatorade powder to the other. As I set off on the trail, some combination of the real beginning of my southbound journey, my delicious lunch, and those electrolytes sent me flying up the trail. Well, flying at 2-2.5 mph pace, but the uphill miles came easy.
In the mid afternoon, my right foot began aching intensely, too much to hike on it. I sat down and loosened my laces and the ache went away within twenty feet. Half a mile later, I felt a hot spot on my heel due to my foot moving around in my loosened shoe. Fearing blisters, I tightened my laces. I proceeded to repeat this switch every two-ish miles for the rest of the day. In the end, no heel blister! I do have weird reddish marks along the arches of my feet; not exactly surprising given the dozens of miles.
Hayden and I had talked about camping in the same spot, making it a 20-mile day. He had mentioned that he may push farther though and over another pass to a bigger campsite if he had the energy. I managed to keep up my second wind and, though my dogs were barking, I hiked through Woody Pass, over Rock Pass, and to a big campsite a couple miles further. There were already four guys at the site, but plenty of space for more. I set my tent up right in front of the other hikers and felt self-conscious about my gear. It's good gear and appears brand new (I've taken it out one time but kept it pristine for this hike). The guys asked me if I had ever used the tent before since the stake-lines looked totally clean. I said, "Well, not for a thru-hike." Uh, duh.
I'm excited about the miles that I put in today, but even more for the high morale that I kept all day thanks to my food and water intake. Though as I write this my knees and ankles are freezing up, this tin man is going to find some oil again tomorrow.