PNC Days 21-23 – Obstacles

These three days took us closer to the Cascade Mountains, and the PNW threw some obstacles at us. We walked through Nuwhaha, Nooksack, Skagit, and Coast Salish ancestral lands.

Day 21 – PNT Mile 379.9 – Rain

We woke up to the sound of rain on the tent. We had a slow breakfast waiting for it to stop, but it didn’t, so we put on our rain gear and headed out. Taking breaks while hiking in the rain is challenging because everything is wet so there’s no good place sit and you get cold easily. The first 2/3 of the day was mostly on gravel forest roads, and the miles flew by. But then we hit more slow, challenging bushwhacking on decommissioned roads and unmaintained trails. It is amazing how the forest claims them back so quickly… Stream crossings wash them away, huge trees fall on top of them, and berry bushes take over. We had to constantly check our maps to make sure we were headed the right direction. We entertained ourselves by coming up with acronyms for the PNT… “Precipitation Now & Tomorrow” and “Pacific Nothing-more-than-a-dream-on-the-map Trail”. We saw no other people today. The only picture I took was of a slug eating poop. -R

Day 22 – PNT Mile 405.3 – Mt. Baker

We had a great day today. The trail was pretty well-maintained as we left our campsite and climbed up and up and up, and it stayed that way all day. The big question of the day was how bad the snow would be as we climbed partway up Mt. Baker and got back up to 5,000 feet — we really don’t want a repeat of what happened it the Olympic Mountains. We had our first patches of snow at 3,200 feet, but it stayed patchy all of the way up to 4,500 feet. From then on up everything was basically snow covered, but the trail was well graded and very manageable — we never felt unsafe this time. As we came down from our high-point of the day, we were headed toward a major trailhead. We encountered two mountaineering groups working their way up the mountain with plans to summit. Mt. Baker is one of the most glacial peaks in the cascades, so they had TONS of heavy equipment like helmets and ice-axes. Maybe next time 😜.

In the evening we made it down to Baker Lake which is absolutely gorgeous. Mt. Baker towers above it, and this must be a popular backpacking spot because the trail was beautifully maintained. We decided it was probably the nicest tread we’ve walked on so far. For dinner we had sloppy lentils on a rocky beach across from Mt. Baker and sunset. Yum! -T

Day 23 – PNT Mile 426.3 – Stuck

We woke up with a beautiful view of Mount Baker towering above us. The clouds cleared, and it turned into a hot, sunny day. We walked around Baker Lake for a big part of the day (turns out its a big lake), which was quite nice. Tim noticed a hot spring on our maps that was a half mile off trail. It was a hot day, but it felt like something we couldn’t pass up. We got there around 4 pm, and there were a few other people there. It felt great to soak in the bathtub temperature water and chat with others. The PNT has been a lonely trail so far. We have yet to meet another thruhiker. Towards the end of the day, we reached Swift Creek, which can be impassible or dangerous to ford during much of the year. Today’s hot, sunny weather was bad timing because it was melting the snow all day. At the spot where the trail crosses the river, it was moving really quick and looked quite deep in places. We saw a sign saying alternate ford with pink flags, so we bushwhacked upstream following the flags 0.5 miles to a different crossing where the creek was a bit wider. It was also moving really quick though and hard to tell how deep the water was in places. We bushwhacked all the way back to the trail crossing, then scoped the creek further downstream but still didn’t see anywhere safe to cross. We decided it would be best to set up camp and try again in the morning. The water level should drop overnight because the snow won’t be melting without the sunshine and warmth. We bushwhacked back upstream because that spot looked like our best chance of crossing. So the big question for tomorrow is, will we be able to cross the creek or will we need to turn around? -R