Category: Pacific Northwest Trail

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2022, 0830-1900Rattlesnake Gulch to Fireplace Camp, WEBO mm 642.4, Section 6 Pasayten Wilderness 26.2 miles, Gain 7900′, Loss 2110′, elevation 7000′ In the morning, we repeated our car ride to just past Loomis, courtesy of Kevin. Thus began a day of many miles of climbing with a very heavy pack. We each had 5 days of food…which was actually the bare minimum considering the 140 miles we needed to hike before our next resupply. We’d need to average 28 miles a day and already I was fairly certain I’d fall short of the goal this day. We didn’t get the earliest start and it was hot as we made our way up a dry exposed dirt road.[…]

Tuesday August 2nd, 2022, 0820-1600Rattlesnake Gulch to Oroville, WEBO mm 616.2, Section 6 Pasayten Wilderness 24 miles, Gain 1160′, Loss 1430′, elevation 945′ Today was supposed to be sort of an easy day, slack-packing along a road stretch so that we could connect our footsteps and reduce our food carry into the Pasayten Wilderness. Actually, beginning with Oroville, I’d already missed 2.5 miles of road walking to the Whistler Canyon Trailhead. On my first visit to the area, I’d asked to be dropped off directly at the trailhead. I was so anxious to start the trail, I didn’t have the time or will to start off with a walk along the highway. Now I doubted if I would bother going[…]

Sunday July 30th & Monday August 1st, 2022East Glacier, MT to Oroville, WA 500 miles, via the train, a bus, and 5 cars Because the westbound Amtrak Empire Builder train only departs once a day in the evening, we had another day to spend in East Glacier. At first, I’d been eager to hop the train the same day that we got in, but shortly realized this was overly ambitious. We’d have needed to get all our chores done after hiking a half day, plus hitching to town. In addition, I needed several days just to catch up on my blog and other internet-related business. So a whole day in EG was just fine…even if there’s not much in the[…]

Saturday July 30th, 2022, 0700-1200Gable Creek Camp to Many Glacier via Ptarmigan Tunnel trail (then onto East Glacier for the Flop!), WEBO mm 0 alternate finish, Section 1 Rocky Mountains14 miles, Gain 2630′, Loss 2530′, elevation 4500′ I could spend all summer just hiking around Glacier, it’s so special. It really makes me wonder sometimes why I’m walking hundreds of miles on roads in the middle of nowhere, in 100 degree heat, to complete the PNT. Today was a bonus hike I’d built into my schedule, just because. I’d actually hoped to do more hiking around Glacier but it was already almost August and I still had half the PNT waiting. One day was about all I could spare. Really[…]

Friday July 29th, 2022, 0800-1720Waterton River Camp to Gable Creek Camp, WEBO mm 6, Section 1 Rocky Mountains20.8 miles, Gain 3680′, Loss 3232′, elevation 4650′ The last piece of my PNT eastbound section was ready to be hiked this day. Stoney Indian Pass had been the crux giving so many hikers fits in the early weeks. It’s a very difficult pass with snow, but now all that snow was gone. In its place were wildflowers and waterfalls. I think my visit to Glacier was the perfect timing, as I got to experience it in its full summer glory. The morning got off to a slow start. I brought all my stuff over to the lakeside ranger station and gazebo to[…]

Thursday July 28th, 2022, 0640-1900Upper Kintla Lake to Waterton River Camp, WEBO mm 26.8, Section 1 Rocky Mountains18.4 miles plus 6 RT bonus miles to Waterton Border Monument, Gain 3700′, Loss 3860′, elevation 4220′ It was another grandiose day that was too good to put into words. On the one hand, I love experiencing such days, and on the other, I hate writing about them. There’s just too much to say and none of what I write can do the experience justice. Even the pictures aren’t enough. We tried to get a pretty early start but having to make coffee and breakfast at the cooking area instead of from the front porch of my tent messed with my routine a[…]

Wednesday July 27th, 2022, 0820-1900Polebridge to Upper Kintla Lake, WEBO alt, Section 1 Rocky Mountains26.6 miles, Gain 1730′, Loss 866′, elevation 4440′ I slept very well in my own room all night. What a nice score during the peak of the season! We got away pretty early from the hostel but were sidelined by coffee at the merc. This proved to be fortuitous, as we made friends with some lady kayakers, Sarah and Jackie. We had a big day for our first in the park, but it was a lot of road walking at the beginning. Holding with our pattern of connecting our footsteps, we put in 15 extra miles on the dry and dusty road. It was by far[…]

Tuesday July 26th, 2022, 0620-1200Red Meadow Lake to Polebridge, WEBO mm 56.3, Section 1 Rocky Mountains19 miles, Gain 930′, Loss 3000′, elevation 3550′ As imagined, everything was soaking wet in the morning. My hiking clothes were all still very damp from my swim, so I left camp wearing some of my dry camp clothes. This was a mistake because shortly the route left the road for a single track trail that was very overgrown, to say the least. It’s a phenomenon that I’ve recognized before: every piece of vegetation sticking out into the trail is much more noticeable when it’s wet. The weight of the water also bends the vegetation down even more. But this trail was just absolutely saturated with[…]

Monday July 25th, 2022, 0620-1830WAM Lookout to Red Meadow Lake, WEBO mm 74.4, Section 1 Rocky Mountains31 miles, Gain 6030′, Loss 7500′, elevation 5550′ I managed to get some sleep despite the bugs but had a very hard time waking at 5 am. Wolverine had set her alarm and we were both happy to snooze for a bit longer. The days have already gotten shorter (plus we moved 1 hour ahead in Montana), so it was still dark at 5 am. A very urgent need for the privy got me moving and shortly after I was flying down the trail. I’d been hoping to see sunrise from the lookout but the day was overcast, so no chance. I was on a[…]

Sunday July 24th, 2022, 0730-1830Caribou Trail Wagon Camp to WAM Lookout, WEBO mm 104.7, Section 1 Rocky Mountains23 miles, Gain 6470′, Loss 3140′, elevation 6985′ Oh the glory of a bed! The last time I’d slept in a real bed was 18 days prior in Republic. I didn’t know how much I’d missed it. The minute I crawled in, I sunk into its coziness. Which meant it was very hard to tear myself away in the morning. We’d planned a smaller day to arrive at a fire lookout for camp, so we didn’t need to get that early of a start. Many warnings of snow and blowdowns and grizzlies and steepness had done nothing to lower our expectations of making our[…]