PNC Days 27-29 – Manageable snow in the Cascasdes

We enjoyed beautiful scenery these three days as we walked through North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and into the Pasayten Wilderness Area. We walked through Nlaka’pamux ancestral lands.

Day 27 – PNT Mile 493.2 – Ross Lake

We continued moving slow through the blow downs (dead trees fallen across the trail) this morning. We met another backpacker early in the day—she said she decided to turn around earlier than planned because of the blow downs. We also met two guys early in the day yesterday who said they were turning around early due to blow downs. When we were about 10 miles into the day, we met a trail crew with chainsaws!! Yay! Thank you! They said the harsh weather and storms this past winter made the blow downs and wash outs worse than normal. The trail was clear for the rest of the day, and we cruised out of the National Park and into Ross Lake Resort. They are a small floating resort that is only accessible via boat or by foot. They accept resupply packages and sell a few snacks. We grabbed our box, charged our phones, and ate some chips before heading to camp. We were on single track trail the entire day today and yesterday (no gravel forest roads, no paved roads)—an anomaly for the PNT. -R

Day 28 – PNT Mile 511.8 – Easy walking

Our North Cascades National Park camping permit gave us a short day today. We could have decided to continue walking our usual distance, which would take us past the park boundary and back into open camping… Instead, we woke up late and decided that after a few tough days in a row, a short day is just what we wanted! Not only was today short (<19 miles), but the trail was also easy, following the banks of Ross Lake the entire time. It was nice. Ross Lake is a popular backpacking destination, so we saw plenty of hikers all day. We don’t think we’ll be in such a popular spot again until the end of the PNT in Glacier National Park. We hit 500 miles a little bit before noon (woohoo!), but there was no monument so we forgot to celebrate. We realized the achievement a mile or so late when checking our maps. We got to camp the earliest we have in a long time — 5:30 pm. We set up our tent, I went swimming, and then we had a leisurely dinner of chili with noodles. Yum! It is still light out while I write this 🙂 -T

Day 29 – PNT Mile 533.5 – A bear & the PCT!!

We started the day with a big climb—5,000 feet over 7 miles. We left Ross Lake National Recreation Area and entered the Pasayten Wilderness. We climbed to the top of Devil’s Dome at just under 7,000 feet, which is the highest we’ve been so far. We were nervous but hopeful about the snow and were looking for snow signs the entire way up. After our experience in the Olympic Mountains, we’ve become hyper alert to reading the landscape for snow. For example, there is a certain yellow flower that we noticed is the first to show up as the snow melts. The snow was fine though and our suspicions were correct—there is less snow as we head east because the clouds coming off the ocean hit the west side of the mountains and drop their precipitation there first. The vegetation has also changed the last couple of days as we’ve gotten to the drier side of the mountains.

After Devil’s Dome we spotted our first bear of the trip! It was a big black bear that stopped and looked at us before running away through the meadow and into the trees. At the end of the day, we connected with the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), which shares a trail with the PNT for ~14 miles. Right away we saw footprints and within a mile we met a southbound thruhiker just starting out. We were pumped to chat with him, as we have yet to meet a PNT thruhiker. It’s been a bit lonely out here! We found a spot to camp with more PCT thruhikers, which was lots of fun! We hiked the PCT in 2018, so it’s great to be back and reminisce. The PCT goes from the Mexican border to the Canadian border through California, Oregon, and Washington. -R