To PCT mile 2552.8 (stats here).
I felt good waking up 5:30am. The weather seemed not to be that wet. I still put my full rain gear on learning from previous days mistakes and got underway 6:30am. I did not know how much vegetation there would be when ascending from the valley.
The terrain was great for hiking. The trail was wide and even. The climb was over 3000 feet but it was gradual and long. The weather was fine, the sun glimpsed through the clearing clouds every now and then and I was able to ditch my rain gear on my first break. I got an almost 3 mph pace in the beginning. I met the group of the three hikers that I encountered the previous day. They turned out to be from New Zealand and were unaware that today the trail contained the start of a fire detour that would lead us to Holden Village. The detour meant that there would be not many PCT miles, but instead lot of extra descends and ascends.
The good quality trail made it easy for my legs. Even having higher pace did not make them hurt that much. I was happy. Just after my second break, I encountered the German couple, Simon and Angelika. I was surprised as I thought they would be long gone. We had a nice chat and kept seeing each other for the rest of the day. It is great to see people that you have met many times before. You do not need to go through the same basic talk and introductions, and can build on top of common history.
After I departed with the Germans, I needed to poop. The previous day I did not perform such a feat at all, so today the performance was quite something. The terrain was not the best possible for this, but going downhill a bit revealed a good spot. I timed my act perfectly as the forthcoming fire detour once again proved to be a bit more challenging than the ordinary well maintained PCT.
For once, the scenery on the fire detour was magnificent and probably much better than on the actual PCT. You could see the still raging forest fire, or the smoke from it, from high up. After this, the mountain ranges were impressive. Seeing an alpine lake surrounded by pine trees, a range of snow covered mountain range acting as a backdrop, was truly something. After that followed a long descend to the valley where Holden Village was.
Surprisingly, Happy overtake me when descending. I had a decent pace the whole day so I did not anticipate this. We hiked together and talked for a while, but then he blazed forward. I tried stupidly keep up but then realised that this was not wise as my feet were still far from being well.
I arrived at the edge of Holden Village around 6:30pm. Happy had told me that the hotel there stopped serving dinner 5:45pm and as I had no reasonable chance to get there by then, I did not even try. The next day I was going to Stehekin anyway, so getting a ready proper cooked was not necessity. Later I learned that the dinner would have been amazing.
There was a campground just before the village with some familiar hikers. They told me that there were no camping in the village and most likely no possibility to camp for the next 6 miles. I decided to stay there. I would have wanted to continue further to shorten the distance to Stehekin for the next day. But it was nice to have the dinner with company. Just after it got dark, also Simon and Angelika arrived at the campground and stayed there.
I enjoyed the PCT today. Being somewhat trouble free from health issues made this possible. The old adage is true, simplifying a bit: being healthy is a basic requirement for all enjoyment.
I felt good waking up 5:30am. The weather seemed not to be that wet. I still put my full rain gear on learning from previous days mistakes and got underway 6:30am. I did not know how much vegetation there would be when ascending from the valley.
 |
| This is the most uneven and difficult portion of the trail today, otherwise it was wide and even. |
The terrain was great for hiking. The trail was wide and even. The climb was over 3000 feet but it was gradual and long. The weather was fine, the sun glimpsed through the clearing clouds every now and then and I was able to ditch my rain gear on my first break. I got an almost 3 mph pace in the beginning. I met the group of the three hikers that I encountered the previous day. They turned out to be from New Zealand and were unaware that today the trail contained the start of a fire detour that would lead us to Holden Village. The detour meant that there would be not many PCT miles, but instead lot of extra descends and ascends.
The good quality trail made it easy for my legs. Even having higher pace did not make them hurt that much. I was happy. Just after my second break, I encountered the German couple, Simon and Angelika. I was surprised as I thought they would be long gone. We had a nice chat and kept seeing each other for the rest of the day. It is great to see people that you have met many times before. You do not need to go through the same basic talk and introductions, and can build on top of common history.
After I departed with the Germans, I needed to poop. The previous day I did not perform such a feat at all, so today the performance was quite something. The terrain was not the best possible for this, but going downhill a bit revealed a good spot. I timed my act perfectly as the forthcoming fire detour once again proved to be a bit more challenging than the ordinary well maintained PCT.
 |
| This fire has been going on more than a month and caused a longish fire detour. |
For once, the scenery on the fire detour was magnificent and probably much better than on the actual PCT. You could see the still raging forest fire, or the smoke from it, from high up. After this, the mountain ranges were impressive. Seeing an alpine lake surrounded by pine trees, a range of snow covered mountain range acting as a backdrop, was truly something. After that followed a long descend to the valley where Holden Village was.
Surprisingly, Happy overtake me when descending. I had a decent pace the whole day so I did not anticipate this. We hiked together and talked for a while, but then he blazed forward. I tried stupidly keep up but then realised that this was not wise as my feet were still far from being well.
 |
| At the top of the detour, a picture does not do justice for the view. |
I arrived at the edge of Holden Village around 6:30pm. Happy had told me that the hotel there stopped serving dinner 5:45pm and as I had no reasonable chance to get there by then, I did not even try. The next day I was going to Stehekin anyway, so getting a ready proper cooked was not necessity. Later I learned that the dinner would have been amazing.
There was a campground just before the village with some familiar hikers. They told me that there were no camping in the village and most likely no possibility to camp for the next 6 miles. I decided to stay there. I would have wanted to continue further to shorten the distance to Stehekin for the next day. But it was nice to have the dinner with company. Just after it got dark, also Simon and Angelika arrived at the campground and stayed there.
I enjoyed the PCT today. Being somewhat trouble free from health issues made this possible. The old adage is true, simplifying a bit: being healthy is a basic requirement for all enjoyment.
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