6-27-86, Travel Day
I flew
from Pierre SD to Seattle via Minneapolis and stayed with Dave Pollack.
6-28-86,
Gear Day
Buddy
flew in at 11AM and was picked up by Steve Palmer (who I knew from our 1984
Wind Rivers Trip). Dave and I met Buddy and Steve for lunch, then the four of
us went to REI to rent a tent and buy some maps. I used the PCT OR-WA guidebook
and both the USFS map and a more detailed wilderness topo. Steve and Buddy then
went to Steve’s Place in Tacoma, while Dave and I went to a birthday party for
a friend of his.
Our
goal for this trip was to hike the Alpine Lakes Wilderness section of the
Pacific Crest Trail from I-80 at Snoqualamie Pass north to US 2 at Stevens
Pass. This hike was much earlier in the year than our usual summer vacation,
and consequently worry about the weather was a constant theme for the trip.
6-29-86,
Ridge Lake 7.4 miles
Steve
and Buddy picked me up at Dave’s, and we got to Snoqualamie Pass at 1PM. Most
of the drive up was under gray skies and a light drizzle. Luckily for us the
rain stopped soon after we started hiking. Initially, we followed a forested
trail up a ridge that reminded me a lot of the West Cascades in Oregon. We had
a steady 2,000’ climb, but the trail was so well graded that we still made good
time. My pack felt heavy, but I didn’t tire out as fast as I’d thought I would. 
Buddy, HR, and Steve
The
last 2 ½ miles was mostly along an open ridge with small remnant snowfields.
Some of the trail was simply blasted out of the side of the mountain.
Unfortunately, about the time we made the ridge, the skies clouded over, and we
lost any views. We camped near the outlet of Ridge Lake which had few campsites,
and most of those were wet. With a breeze and clouds it didn’t take long before
I’d put all my clothing on. We guessed the temperature at 45F.
Steve
brought BBQ chicken and potato salad, so dinner was more like a picnic than a
camping trip. We added two Guinness stouts to the meal. Our rental tent was a
Jansport Lhasa Hotel. The first night we pitched it with the fly on backwards,
but otherwise we were really impressed with the tent. We huddled in the tent
after dinner, hoping that it would be warmer the rest of the trip. I’d been
afraid we would be hiking in the midst of bug season, but so far it had been
too cold for insects.
Steve
would leave the next day to return to Tacoma, but I was glad he’d been able to
join us for the start. Our next day had the potential of being the best of the
trip, with open country most of the way, but also could be our worst day if the
weather turned bad.
6-30-86,
Spectacle Lake, 10.8 miles
Steve
hiked with us out to Huckleberry Pass, where he turned back to his car. He’s
got his own trip to California coming up and wasn’t able to come for the full
week. We got up around 7 to clear skies and warmer temps. The walk was
beautiful, we had views of Mt Ranier almost all the way, and we saw Mt Baker from
Needles Eye Pass. The trail was carved into a steep slide slope above a basin
that opened directly in line with Ranier. The trail building was impressive,
much of it carved into steep, hard to hold slopes. The builders used a lot of
switchbacks and have kept the route extremely scenic. 
Buddy, Steve & HR looking towards Mt Ranier.
We
stopped for lunch above Park Lakes. I had three fruit bars, which didn’t fill
me up at all. I’ve been snaking nonstop so far. My hips and shoulders have been
sore from the weight of the pack (my old Kelty Tioga external frame). The
middle backband is loose, so more of the weight has been on my hips. I can’t
tighten the band without loosening a grommet, so I left it as is.
The
afternoon walk was mostly downhill on switchbacks. We were the only ones camped
that night at Spectacle Lake. We had seen no one else on the trail. I think the
poor weather had won out over the popularity of this section. We washed up by
the lake, but it was too cold to swim. Ridge Lake was frozen over the previous
night. Evening was cloudy with a slight breeze and no bugs. 
Crossing a small snowfield.
I
thought my soreness was from being unused to carrying a pack. I’d had some
short trips the year before, but nothing longer than three days. Buddy seemed
to be in about the same shape. I hoped I’d feel better as I ate more of my food.
The Pacific Crest Trail, Alpine Lakes Wilderness.
7-1-86,
Waptus River, 18 miles
If
the word for the day yesterday was beauty, the word for this day was
switchback. We saw a hell of a lot of them on both sides of Delato Valley and
on our last descent to the Waptus River. I had slept like a rock and finally
crawled out of the day to a nice warm morning. Then it was downhill forest
walking to Delato Creek followed by the climb to Escondido Ridge. With great
trail we were up on the ridge for a 1 PM lunch. There was a good campsite and
bridge just before the second trail junction. But, we decided to try for the
Waptus River, since there likely would not be any good campsites 12-18 miles
out from Spectacle Lake. 
With Buddy on the Alpine Lakes PCT.
We
passed a pretty little alpine area that was mostly snowed in, and then the next
three miles were similar to the prior day. We passed two forlorn looking
southbound hikers. Most of the way to Waptus River we walked in a light
drizzle. I put on my new Gore-Tex raincoat, and was fine until we hit a brushy
section and my feet got soaked. Wet feet at the end of a long day weren’t fun
and I was thrilled to finally see the river. We found a nice campsite just past
the bridge and basically collapsed. 
View north to Mt Ranier.
Our
18 miles was likely the farthest we’d backpacked in a day since 1978’s
Northville-lake Placid Trail hike, and potentially the last time we ever went
that far with packs again. We both had wanted to see if we could still hike
that far, I guess the answer was just barely. I also wanted to see how I’d hold
up after a weeklong trip, our last had been 1984 in the Wind River Range (1984 Wind Rivers).
The
tent was up, and dinner cooked in 45 minutes. We moved faster at the campsite
that we had on the trail. Some of our efficiency comes from having hiked so
much together. We knew how tired we were, and how that makes it more important
to operate efficiently. We were able to plan out our campsites for the rest of
the trip, something that’s easy given the level of detail in the PCT
guidebooks.
I
was less sore at the end of the day, but was now sure I’d have enough food for
the entire week. Somehow I’m more relaxed when main concerns are food, weather,
my feet, and where to hike the next day.
7-2-86,
Peggys Pond, 11.4 miles
We
woke up to another cloudy morning, but at least there was no rain as we broke
camp. Both of us had survived the long hike the day before, but we decided to
play it safe taking the low route around the Waptus River instead of following the
PCT to avoid a potentially high water crossing. We didn’t get any god lake
views until crossing the Spade Creek Trail, but there were lots of nice
campsites and only one other tent.
We
got a bit confused about the trail at a horse camp near the east end of the
lake. I felt really good and smoked the climb up to Deep Lake. There was one
small creek ford before Deep Lake which we both did barefoot. Boy, that water
was cold! Unfortunately, it rained for the entire climb, and we were soaked on
arrival. Another hiker at Deep Lake told us that he’d been forced to take the
Cle Elum Valley route because one of the streams on the upper route was
impassable. We’d go that way the next day, so we had some decisions to make.
The
skies cleared after lunch, and we got a little sun on the side trail to Peggys
Pond. After the well maintained PCT the side trail seemed overgrown, and looked
like just an old path. Just before the lake the trail passed an old cabin on a
small knob. We decided to camp by the cabin, there were no good spots at the
lake. However, both the pond basin and the surrounding valley were still full
of snow. The cabin was a curiosity, too long a walk in for a hunting cabin. But
the builder sure picked a scenic spot.
At
our stream crossing I discovered a hole in the toe of my left boot. I was
pissed for two reasons; first that my foot would likely be wet the rest of the
trip, and then in general at the poor durability of that pair. The boots were
probably not repairable, but I dreaded the thought of having to buy a new pair.
(The boots were likely a type of leather/fabric hybrid, and I would eventually
replace them with far more reliable all leather Vasque Sundowners.)
Since
we were about midway, I did an inventory on my food and meal planning. I looked
set for the rest of the trip. And, since we hadn’t planned on Steve coming
along for night one (and he brought dinner), we had an extra meal.
7-3-86,
Deception Lakes, 14 miles
I
woke up in the morning to a strange scratching sound on the tent. I peeked out
and was surprised to find it snowing, not too hard but with big flakes. I went
back to sleep for a bit, but it was still snowing when we left camp. I left
wearing shorts, with my gloves and wool and Gore-Tex jackets. Dressed that lightly
I really needed to hustle on the hike out of Peggys Pond just to stay warm.
We
had a brief discussion at Cathedral Pass, and decided to take the bypass trail
along the Cle Elum River valley. I think I was the conservative one favoring
the valley route, while Buddy wanted to stay high on the main PCT. I was too
cold to want to face another rough crossing.
Near
Squaw Lake the snow quit. There we met some people who had hiked in the
previous day and camped with the plan to hike up Mt Daniel. It didn’t seem like
a good day for a climb, but it wasn’t really a good day for a hike either. One
good thing about the bypass was that I got to use the toilet at the Skeeter
Pass Trailhead. Not quite indoor plumbing, but a step up from the woods. There
were 5-6 cars at the trailhead and some horse trailers, but the only other
group we saw was camped right at the trailhead.
We
had a nice walk up the valley to Little Hya Lake, then had lunch at Deception
Pass. The rain was intermittent the rest of the day, but my Gore-Tex was
keeping me reasonably dry. I decided the only negative about the trail was the
crossing of old burn areas. These had a lot of underbrush, which got my feet
wet from the water running down my legs. I was able to cook dinner during a
rare break in the rain. Ramen Snowbank Surprise had two packets of Ramen
noodles, a can of chicken, a can of Great Beginnings, minute rice, and bullion.
We
got another surprise after dinner, more snow! By now we were worried it might
begin to accumulate and make the next day’s walk miserable. We had only a ten
miler planned, and hoped to spend some time at Glacier Lake. There was supposed
to be a lean to there where we might be able to dry off over lunch. I was
surprised by all the snow. I didn’t think it would be cold enough this late in
the year.
Later
in the evening I took a trip out of the tent, and could see the snow line was
only 100 feet or so above us. I could see snow on all the trees, except those
closest to the lake shore. There was also snow on the huge ridge above the
northeast side of the lake. The temperature was already about 40F, and I feared
for another cold morning.
7-4-86,
Mig Lake, 9.7 miles
We
woke up again to another hard snow. Sometime in the night the snow had begun to
stick and covered the tent. We were very happy with the rental tent it had been
keeping us dry, and had a big enough vestibule to allow us to cook under cover.
The tent was a little heavy, but had enough room for two people, plus our
packs. We used the vestibule to cook in bed, hoping to wait out the snowstorm.
I had some oatmeal I’d saved for hot breakfast days.
I
started the walk in my wool pants, and wore them all day as it never really
warmed up. At my warmest, I could unzip my wool jacket. The back side of Pieper
Pass had a lot of snow, and it was especially hard to read the old snow when it
was covered with an inch or so of the new snow. We were cold and wet enough
that our only stop of the day was at the Trap Lake Trail junction. Trap and
Pieper passes were the two highest points along this section of the PCT, not
the places I wanted to be in perfect hypothermia conditions. We were seeing a
lot of deer tracks in the snow, but no sign of other (smarter) people. The
terrain looked very open, and it seemed we were missing out on some great
scenery. Somewhere by Hope Lake we passed out of the granitic batholith we’d
been traversing, and into a terrain of mostly gneiss.
After
Trap Pass it rained most of the rest of the way to our camp at Mig Lake. Just
before dinner we had some visitors, three folks from Seattle out for the
weekend. They had gotten drizzle, but no snow, all the way in from Stevens Pass
(our destination for the next day). We saw a few patches of blue sky, but
otherwise our weather was unchanged from the last three days. The sky would
lighten up during the day, then we’d get rain or snow, and which would turn to
drizzle before the cycle would repeat. But this evening was especially warm,
and good weather for camping.
Route map for PCT Alpine Lakes Wilderness, 1986.
7-5-86
to Stevens Pass, 7.5 miles
For
our final morning we avoided the rain and snow. It was still cloudy and foggy,
but still much nicer than what we’d awoken to the last few days. We had another
oatmeal in bed breakfast. The warm food and thoughts of cold beer awaiting were
enough to launch us down the trail. Cold, wet feet be damned.
We
were slowed down by one steep switched backed section but made good time to
Lake Susan James where we stopped for a snack break. We even got some vistas as
the skies cleared across the valley by Lake Josephine. Josephine was a deep,
pretty lake, and I wished we had pushed on the day before to camp there. We saw
one group camped at the lake and a family of day hikers, all the people we
would see before Stevens Pass. The rest of the hike was mundane, with a big
powerline cut before reaching the pass. From the signs, it looked like the PCT
was used for cross-country skiing in the winter, and it looked like fun terrain
for it. Closer to the highway we walked the edge of a clear cut that was as
planned to eventually engulf the PCT.
At
the pass we found a phone and left a message for Dave in Seattle. It took him a
bit to get away and make the drive. We used the time to dry the tent out before
we had to return it to REI. Dave arrived wearing shorts and told us that
Thursday and Friday had been rainy in Seattle, but they’d had good weather the
rest of the week. Oh well, I guess that’s the Cascades for you.
My
notes stop with the pickup at Stevens Pass, but I remember that Buddy and I
spent the night as guests of Dave and his wife before I flew back home to
Pierre, SD on Sunday. We had totaled 79.3 miles for seven days of backpacking,
including side trips to campsites and the two sections of the PCT we had
bypassed.
