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Day 165-170

photo13Day 165-170: September 14-19th
Mile 2476 (Stevens Pass) to Mile 2599.6 (Rainy Pass)

Tortuga’s wife drove me back to Stevens Pass along with hikers Tortuga, Princess, Mr. Sandals, Firecracker, and Tidy Camper and we were off to hike the Glacier Peak section of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Another hiker described this as the final exam of the PCT and on many ways this is true. It’s a very beautiful and scenic section of the PCT but in many ways it’s difficult too. I was taking six days so I needed to carry more food than any time since the Sierra. The section involves quite a lot of climbing, about 6,000 feet per day and about 8,000 feet on the third day after Stevens Pass. You definitely need to plan on fewer miles per day in this section.

Most hikers resupply in Stehekin, but I opted to go an extra day to Rainy Pass where I met Deb instead. It’s interesting to note that the North Cascades National Park does not honor the PCT thru-hiker permit, the only national park with this policy. The North Cascades National Park was otherwise very nice and the backcountry vacant, except for a handful of PCT hikers.

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Note to readers

I probably will not have cell coverage for the final 10 days of hiking so don’t expect blog updates during that time. I will send Twitter updates to: http://www.twitter.com/loncooper

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Walking

Day 163-164

photo12Day 163-164: September 12-13th

Mile 2463.8 to Mile 2476 (Stevens Pass)

Just a short hike on the Pacific Crest Trail today to Stevens Pass where I met Deb. I will zero in Skykomish tomorrow, resupply, and then I will continue the final 193 miles to Manning Park, British Columbia on Sunday. If the weather remains good this should take about 10 more days.

Skykomish is a cute historic railroad town. We are staying at the Cascadia Inn which is hiker friendly and has a good restaurant.

Mileage: 12.2

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Day 162

photo11Day 162: September 11th

Mile 2444.1 to Mile 2463.8

I was surprised to find frost covered ground this morning when I woke up. It made a crunching sound with each step for several miles as I walked the Pacific Crest Trail.

Today was another day of big climbs, almost 6,000 feet. I decided to stop hiking and set up camp early. A little tired from the climbing and yesterday’s 25 mile day.

Mileage: 19.7

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Day 161

photo10Day 161: September 10th

Mile 2418.6 to Mile 2444.1

Funny how Pacific Crest Trail hikers can get spread out. In two days of hiking I have only seen two northbound section hikers. Starting to feel a little lonely out here. I met a southbound section hiker this afternoon and he tells me that I’m the 40th thru-hiker he had seen in two days of hiking. I guess everyone is ahead of me. Probably because I got a late start leaving Snoqualmie Pass.

Mileage: 25.5

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Day 160

Snoqualmie Pass
Near Snoqualmie Pass

Day 160: September 9th

Mile 2402 (Snoqualmie Pass) to Mile 2418.6

The Summit Inn was full of hikers, probably 25 or 30 staying at the Inn and a bunch more just having meals at the Pancake House next door. Not sure where they all came from, but there are a lot of hikers on this section of the Pacific Crest Trail.

It rained last night (as forecast) and was foggy and misty in the morning so I relaxed in the motel a few hours waiting for the weather to clear before I started hiking around 10.

It’s a big climb out of Snoqualmie Pass, about 6,000 feet according to the Halfmile App for today. A lot of today’s hiking was in the fog and clouds but at least it was not raining.

Mileage: 16.6