PNC Days 24-26 – Starting the Cascades

This section of trail took us into the snow-covered Cascade Mountains, including North Cascades National Park. When there is a break in the rain and clouds, the mountains are beyond beautiful. We walked through Nuwhaha, Nooksack, Skagit, Coast Salish, and Nlaka’pamux ancestral lands.

Day 24 – PNT Mile 443.9 – Swift Creek continued

Our last blog post ended with us camped on the banks of Swift Creek unsure if it would be safe to cross in the morning (sorry for the suspense, the timing just worked out this way). We woke up early and were ready to go just after 6. Last night we placed a rock at the waterline, and this morning we could tell that the water had dropped about 12 inches. Because there is less snow melting when it is cooler overnight, mountain streams like this one tend to be lower in the morning. Even at this lower level the creek was still raging and scary. We decided to walk out part-way to decide if it was safe. We were prepared to turn back if not. Part way turned into half way, and then we decided it would be just as dangerous to go backwards as forwards, so we kept going across. The water was up to my waist and past Renee’s and moving super fast. Since I am bigger I was able to get better footing than Renee, so we held hands and I kind of pulled/sling-shotted her across. We made it, but Renee lost a hiking pole in the process. We were both freezing cold from the freshly melted water and a bit shaken up afterward, and we agreed in hindsight it would have been better not to cross. If we find another stream this big later in the trail, we’ll backtrack and find an alternate route.

After the stream we walked uphill all day in the rain. The rain did briefly take a break to give us a view of Mount Shuksan towering above us — it was huge and beautiful! Eventually we made it to the road where we had intended to hitch into the town of Glacier to resupply, but instead we decided to catch a bus all of the way back to Bellingham to get Renee new hiking poles from REI. My sister and her husband were happy to host us for an impromptu visit. We stayed up until 2am chatting! It was a long day. We’ll head back to the trail tomorrow. -T

Day 25 – PNT Mile 451.6 – French press, not instant

We didn’t set an alarm this morning and didn’t wake up until almost 8. We had a nice morning drinking coffee (French press, not instant) and chatting with Tim’s sister and brother-in-law. Eventually we made our way to the grocery store to resupply and then got on the bus back to Kendall. We hitched from there to the Ranger Station in Glacier, WA. Tomorrow we enter North Cascades National Park, and we needed to get permits. The ranger was super friendly. It sounds like there will be plenty of snow, but a few others have set out to backpack the route in the past week or so. It is nice to know others are out there, and we’re not the only crazy ones. We will turn around if the snow gets too unsafe for us. It sounds like tomorrow will be the hardest day with two passes over 5,000 ft. After we got our permits, we hitched back to the trail and started hiking. We ran into a trail crew who has been clearing the trail. Thank you!! -R

Day 26 – PNT Mile 471.3 – Views!

We went over two passes today: Hannegan Pass and Whatcom Pass. The ranger had warned us that there would be snow on both passes and that they could be difficult. After our experience in the Olympics, we were nervous. As it turned out, both were very manageable for us and gave us great views of the Cascades. We saw marmots playing below Hannegan Pass and we saw Challenger Glacier towering above Whatcom Pass. Between the two passes there was a large stream we got to cross in a cable car! It was like a chair hanging from a cable, and after climbing in you could pull yourself across the raging stream, 30 feet in the air. It was cool.

Toward the end of the day we found ourselves fighting with countless blown-down trees and areas of the trail that have been completely washed away. Since we are some of the first hikers going through this year, trail crews haven’t yet been through to clear the fallen trees and rebuild washed-out trail. We also encountered a surprising amount of bear poop. Animals share the trails with people because trails are the easiest way to move through the forest. It seems like it is just us and the bears out here this time of year. Usually when there is a blown-down tree a “social trail” forms around it as hikers find a passable route. Since so few people are out here, we could tell from prints that the social trails were formed by bears.

We got to camp at around 9 after a slow-moving but adventure-filled day. Ultimately, the snow that we were nervous about was no problem, but the trail still proved formidable today. For dinner we had veggie ramen. Yum!