After a successful Mazama hitch to Hart’s pass, I was excited to start my trip to the northern end of the PCT! For those who are not aware, the northern terminal is not accessible by road, so those who wish to access the terminal must walk on the PCT from the Hart pass (or from other paths to the south of the border between the United States and Canada), since walking from the side of Canada del Padreo is illegal from 2025.
Fortunately, this 30 -mile section of the path is one of the most beautiful PCT of the entire PCT, which makes the 60 -mile walk a little tastier. They immediately greeted me with impressive views of the northern waterfalls, thanks to the heavens mostly clear.
Although I bent down with a six -day food tax (I planned to have my first resupply in Stehekin, more than 100 miles south of the Hart pass), I could maintain a fast pace, mounting at the top of the adrenaline. I felt relieved to see that there was very little snow on the path, although some snow was still clinging to the highest peaks. Fortunately, Washington received relatively low snow during the previous winter, which facilitated the tour. After 18 miles of ups and downs, I camped next to the drain under a beautiful snow cover (woody pass), excited with my first day.
The next day, I left my tent installed and laziness 23 miles outside and back to the border. I felt relieved to have less weight on my back, and pain in my legs quickly disappeared. I met many other sobo hikers during this section, many of which were throughout the path, and some of which were walking through the section. I also ran into Jitka, whom I met the day before on the road to the path. She walked more than 30 miles (!) The first day and returned from the border. What a machine!
Finally, I arrived at the Telew Ridge, which treated me with an impressive view of Lake Hopkins to the Northeast. The turquoise waters would normally have attracted me to swim … but a hikers that I passed warned me about the mosquito treasure there. His ankles were red and swollen with mosquito bites.
I did not know this at that time, but Lakeview Ridge is actually the highest point in Washington on the PCT, with 7,126 feet (lower than the highest PCT elevations of Oregon and California of 7,560 and 13,153 feet ASL, respectively). Just below the crest of the crest, I carefully crossed my first section of snow -covered path with some other hikers, and I started the descent to the border between the United States. And wow … the path descended, falling approximately 3,000 feet through narrow and trail covered sections to the border. There, I labeled the border, officially starting my walk south to Mexico.
The rise back to Lakeview Ridge was painful, so I was very satisfied with my decision to lighten my charge and my slack for the day. The clouds began to move when I approached the pass, but fortunately it never rained.
The rest of the day was without problems, although my feet were angry with me. I returned to my camp, satisfied with the long second day.
The next day, I woke up to discover that the cork in my trekking posts was chewed. A deer must have come during the night and chewed them by salt. This was a rookie mistake, and I always learned to sleep with my posts inside my store. In addition, one of my two Nitecore energy banks seemed to have failed, since I received an error message while my phone was loaded. Unfortunately, my phone quickly ran out of battery, leaving me without navigation help for my return to Hart’s pass.
This was an expensive setback, since it required me a) ordering a new energy bank yb) returning to Mazama to recharge my other energy bank, which was drained (instead of continuing towards Stehekin, as I intended).
I returned to Hart’s pass, frustrated with my misfortune, but still by the moon to be on his way. Back in Hart’s Pass, I hooked successfully with the second car that happened; A very friendly couple (Kat and Jay) picked me up on the way back to their walk of the day. As we descended the difficult path to Mazama, a motor control light was lit on the car’s board. Kat stopped, revoked the hood and horrified us to discover that a mouse chewed an important wiring in his vehicle … Unfortunately, his vehicle would have to be towed. We all hooked with another vehicle that took us to Mazama. There, I anxiously got food in the bakery, I loaded and spent another fun night in the lion’s lair. Despite the setbacks of the day, I was excited to start the section from Hart to Stehekin.
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