A state not to be underestimated. Washington pulls no punches, the elevation might not match the Sierra’s, but the rivers cut deep and the trail climbs mercilessly before plunging into deep valleys, over and over. The beauty of Washington, especially in the late season, rivals the Sierra and it is a privilege to witness what hides among the clouds in the final section of the PCT.
I started this section slightly behind the curve, but with nearly 3 weeks left before the nominal cutoff date in early October, I had a fair chance of making it. We were lucky this year with mild conditions and I had a good feeling that we could push our finish date a week into October.
Washington is a hard state, there’s no mistake about that. Adding to that, I was fatigued from spending so much time on trail, and no doubt my push through NorCal and Oregon was catching me up too. Throughout this section, I had to come to terms with the fact that my time on trail was coming to an end. Many of the people I had hiked with had already finished by the time I got halfway through, many others hadn’t made it so far. I began the section with one of the Party Turtles, Wow, but she was also running out of steam and had to make the difficult decision to skip ahead to avoid missing the terminus altogether.
They say that the final stage of a thru-hike is spiritual, I certainly felt this way as I neared the end of this experience. I had to combine physical and mental force to push against my fear of finishing the trail. Cliche as it sounds, hiking out here had become my life. I worried about reaching the end and not being ready to end the trip, yet at the same time I could feel my body falling apart underneath me. It was difficult to keep going, and harder still to consider stopping.
In Washington, the conditions changed rapidly, I found myself waking up in a frozen tent more often than not. Further north, snow frequented the evenings, and the foliage on trees turned to vivid yellows and reds. I was lucky to be in the Northern Cascades as the larch trees turned yellow, thousands of people flood into the wilderness from nearby cities such as Seattle to witness the event. I was able to truly experience it in the back-country, away from the crowds.
I had timed my passage through Washington perfectly, arriving just in time to experience the real end of season conditions, but avoiding major storms. I made it to the Northern Terminus on 7th October with heavy snow in the forecast, just days away. Heading back from the terminus was a radical trip of reflection and awe. I met dozens of hikers from the trail, many of whom I hadn’t expected to see again. I will always remember Washington as the most powerful section of the PCT, and I would encourage any future hikers not to underestimate the beauty, challenge, and significance of this section.
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Day 144, 13 September: Entering Washington
I took my first steps in Washington today, the final state on the trail. We drove out from Portland to Trout Lake, stopping to walk over Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks on the way. The Bridge of the Gods crosses the Columbia River, which forms the border between Oregon and Washington. The entire
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Day 145, 14 September: Approaching Mt Adams
It was a cold and wet day today, one of about three truly rainy days on trail. The last day like this would have been on the way up to Mike’s Place, the one before must have been Mt Laguna, both feel like lifetimes ago. The trail today took us up the Salmon River until
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Day 146, 15 September: Passing Mt Adams
The rain cleared and sun came out today, a big relief to be able to dry out gear and feel some warmth. We had great views of Mt Adams as we walked around the bushline. From the trail, we also saw Mt St Helens and Mt Rainier in the distance. The trail took us past
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Day 147, 16 September: Entering Goat Rocks Wilderness
We spent most of the day hiking on very smooth and gentle trail today. First we went past Potato Hill, which seems to be a very old volcanic cone. We then hiked through forest over very wide ridges which had ponds and lakes scattered over them. At the end of the day, we climbed up
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Day 148, 17 September: Goat Rocks and Old Snowy
I hiked through Goat Rocks Wilderness today. The trail wrapped around the ridge we climbed yesterday and then up to a vantage of Gilbert Peak. I walked around the Cispus Riverhead and then began the climb up to Old Snowy Mountain. I made it to the summit with a bit of scrambling and took in
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Day 149, 18 September: White Pass and Packwood
Today’s plan was to get within a couple miles of White Pass and camp there. That would allow us to head in to White Pass in the morning and get our resupply done without having to pay for expensive town accommodation. With rumors of a party at the brewery in Packwood for Spider’s Birthday, it
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Day 150, 19 September: Snoqualmie Pass
This morning when we woke up, we didn’t have much of a plan for getting back to trail. About half a dozen hikers were looking to get from Packwood to Snoqualmie, a significant skip but also avoiding a fire closure within the next section. A lot of us were also concerned about making it to
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Day 151, 20 September: Entering Alpine Lakes Wilderness
The landscape around me had dramatically changed since leaving Snoqualmie. I climbed steeply up the side of Kendall Peak, then crossed the Kendall Katwalk and traversed Collar Mountain to Ridge Lake for lunch. After lunch, I walked around high above Alaska Lake and crossed over a ridge near the top of Alaska Mountain. The trail
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Day 152, 21 September: Lemah Meadows
Another cold and wet day today, I could definitely feel the seasons changing. Overnight the wind picked up a lot, and early in the morning heavy rain began. There was no rush to pack up in the rain, in fact we were prepared to do a trail zero if it kept up. It rained constantly
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Day 153, 22 September: Waptus River
The rain stopped today and the sun mostly came out, it was only blocked by smoke which filled the air, even up on top of the ridges. Today was another big elevation day, I began by climbing for hours up to a small lake near Escondido Ridge, then walking around a high shelf covered in
Trekkin Weka 
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