To PCT mile 2571.9 (stats here).
The night did not promise anything good for the day. It rained hard and this discouraged me to get up. My original plan was to get up early so that I would get comfortably to Stehekin in time to visit the post office. 17 miles and hard, steep terrain from the hear say could take quite a while.
I finally got up 5:45am and started hiking 6:30am. This was one hour later than I had planned. Rain had stopped at that point and I felt like a wimp that I had let the weather hold me down. I was going to town after all, so even if getting totally soaked, it would be not that bad.
I walked through Holden Village and saw Two Pack coming from the hotel. It was way back in Cascade Locks when I saw him the last time so this was another surprise encounter. He told me that he zeroed quite many days in Portland where he lives. Here at Holden Village, he shared a room with Mango, Street Fighter and Caribou but was now the only one who wanted to do the fire detour. The rest of the gang stayed sleeping and planned to take a ferry over the lake, which was an intriguing option to go to a Stehekin now that the weather was less than perfect.
Talking to Two Pack made me miss the turn to the start of the fire detour even though I had checked it just before. I was irritated as I felt already being late. The first mile of the detour was extremely steep, and I felt exhausted. Two Pack was in a better hiking shape and soon disappeared from my view. The trail was not any easier after that. Yesterdays easy and pleasant going was just a memory. It seemed unlikely to me that I could make it in time to Stehekin for the post office. But I was determined to try. I kept no proper breaks and hurried. The trail was uneven and steep. It also started to rain a bit which made me to put on my rain gear.
I felt relieved when I finally got to the peak of the detour. The climb was hard. Even though going down with my troubled feet has been the biggest challenge lately, now they did not trouble me too much. My mood was happy. The trail was rugged and narrow, but nothing too bad. I was able to keep a good pace and my confidence to be able to get to the post office increased. As a backup plan, I thought that I could do the road walk to trail head of the actual PCT from Stehekin already today. Most of the people would take the bus, but I would walk, either today or the next day. The continuous footpath, you know.
After I had descended maybe to the half way point of the remaining trail to Stehekin, I encountered bigger stream and there seemed to be no way to get over with dry feet. Checking a bit downstream revealed that there were huge logs going over, and a familiar figure starting to do that on the other side. She was Early Bird. Surprising people in surprising places. She told me that she was doing side trails until she would reach 2000 miles of hiking. She had already visited the PCT monument at the border but could not return to the parts of the trail that she had skipped previously because of the closures and fires.
I took my first actual break a bit after I departed with Early Bird. I had started to feel something in my right foot and wanted to rest it out, now that I seemed not to be in a great hurry. It took a while before I found a proper spot to take the break, and finally ended up just sitting in a hole next to a stream. Here, the day took a bad turn. When I started walking again, the pain in my right foot was evident and getting worse. This reminded me of the pain that I had when I got the tendonitis on my left leg. The symptoms were the same. It had started the same way, after some strenuous hiking on uneven surfaces for extended period of time. I slowed down but this did not help. The more I walked the more it started to hurt. There was no alternative, though. I had to get to Stehekin anyway so I continued.
The fire detour should have been 17 miles according to the PCTA info, but my GPS measured 19.5 miles when I finally arrived to the road leading to Stehekin. I could not anymore get to the post office before it closed, and it made little sense anyway. The pain in the leg was so bad that I had decided to take a zero the next day. I could get my packages then. A stupid decision is bound to follow a wise one, though. I decided to hike the 7 miles on road to the trail head instead of just hitching to town the opposite direction, to reduce the miles from the coming days. It does not take much of a guess to figure out that the hiking was pure agony and the pain got much worse. The road was nice and even, but it took my about 3.5 hours to cover the 7 miles. Without the trouble, it would have taken maybe 2 hours.
When I got to the High Bridge Ranger Station, it was 6pm. Just in time to get the last bus back to Stehekin which departed 6:15pm. I felt like an idiot, though. Playing with my health. The feeling of being so close to the end of whole PCT and the worsening weather was just too strong and I wanted to eat the miles. Two Pack was there at the trail head but he had been so fast that he visited the town already for his resupply and was now returning to trail. The last bus brought also Caribou, Street Fighter and Mango to the trail head. They had taken the ferry and now the bus, so had zero miles hiking today since leaving Holden Village. I kind of felt proud that I had walked, but stupid doing it with such a possibly high cost.
I took the bus back to Stehekin and went to the hotel. It was closed. As was the store. Great. The restaurant was open so I went there and saw Facepalm and other familiar hikers. The food was expensive but the vegetarian pasta was pretty nice. I was lucky, as Simon, Angelika and Rocky were willing to share their small but super expensive hotel room with me. I did not want to camp with my hurting leg even though the campground was just next to the restaurant and free. Sleeping on a floor was way better, even as my share was 40 dollars.
I tried to massage and treat my leg the rest of the evening. Socialising with other hikers lifted my spirits. I really hope that having yet another totally unplanned zero the next day would minimise the damage I did to my leg. Fingers crossed.
The night did not promise anything good for the day. It rained hard and this discouraged me to get up. My original plan was to get up early so that I would get comfortably to Stehekin in time to visit the post office. 17 miles and hard, steep terrain from the hear say could take quite a while.
 |
| I felt sad that I could not use the services in Holden Village. The food was plenty, great and cheap, I heard later. |
I finally got up 5:45am and started hiking 6:30am. This was one hour later than I had planned. Rain had stopped at that point and I felt like a wimp that I had let the weather hold me down. I was going to town after all, so even if getting totally soaked, it would be not that bad.
I walked through Holden Village and saw Two Pack coming from the hotel. It was way back in Cascade Locks when I saw him the last time so this was another surprise encounter. He told me that he zeroed quite many days in Portland where he lives. Here at Holden Village, he shared a room with Mango, Street Fighter and Caribou but was now the only one who wanted to do the fire detour. The rest of the gang stayed sleeping and planned to take a ferry over the lake, which was an intriguing option to go to a Stehekin now that the weather was less than perfect.
Talking to Two Pack made me miss the turn to the start of the fire detour even though I had checked it just before. I was irritated as I felt already being late. The first mile of the detour was extremely steep, and I felt exhausted. Two Pack was in a better hiking shape and soon disappeared from my view. The trail was not any easier after that. Yesterdays easy and pleasant going was just a memory. It seemed unlikely to me that I could make it in time to Stehekin for the post office. But I was determined to try. I kept no proper breaks and hurried. The trail was uneven and steep. It also started to rain a bit which made me to put on my rain gear.
I felt relieved when I finally got to the peak of the detour. The climb was hard. Even though going down with my troubled feet has been the biggest challenge lately, now they did not trouble me too much. My mood was happy. The trail was rugged and narrow, but nothing too bad. I was able to keep a good pace and my confidence to be able to get to the post office increased. As a backup plan, I thought that I could do the road walk to trail head of the actual PCT from Stehekin already today. Most of the people would take the bus, but I would walk, either today or the next day. The continuous footpath, you know.
 |
| At least looking back the first 1/3 of the detour offered nice views. |
After I had descended maybe to the half way point of the remaining trail to Stehekin, I encountered bigger stream and there seemed to be no way to get over with dry feet. Checking a bit downstream revealed that there were huge logs going over, and a familiar figure starting to do that on the other side. She was Early Bird. Surprising people in surprising places. She told me that she was doing side trails until she would reach 2000 miles of hiking. She had already visited the PCT monument at the border but could not return to the parts of the trail that she had skipped previously because of the closures and fires.
I took my first actual break a bit after I departed with Early Bird. I had started to feel something in my right foot and wanted to rest it out, now that I seemed not to be in a great hurry. It took a while before I found a proper spot to take the break, and finally ended up just sitting in a hole next to a stream. Here, the day took a bad turn. When I started walking again, the pain in my right foot was evident and getting worse. This reminded me of the pain that I had when I got the tendonitis on my left leg. The symptoms were the same. It had started the same way, after some strenuous hiking on uneven surfaces for extended period of time. I slowed down but this did not help. The more I walked the more it started to hurt. There was no alternative, though. I had to get to Stehekin anyway so I continued.
 |
| At the top, there is always a rainbow. Well, at least this time. At least for a while. |
The fire detour should have been 17 miles according to the PCTA info, but my GPS measured 19.5 miles when I finally arrived to the road leading to Stehekin. I could not anymore get to the post office before it closed, and it made little sense anyway. The pain in the leg was so bad that I had decided to take a zero the next day. I could get my packages then. A stupid decision is bound to follow a wise one, though. I decided to hike the 7 miles on road to the trail head instead of just hitching to town the opposite direction, to reduce the miles from the coming days. It does not take much of a guess to figure out that the hiking was pure agony and the pain got much worse. The road was nice and even, but it took my about 3.5 hours to cover the 7 miles. Without the trouble, it would have taken maybe 2 hours.
 |
| A nice and easy road but a stupid and hard walk. |
When I got to the High Bridge Ranger Station, it was 6pm. Just in time to get the last bus back to Stehekin which departed 6:15pm. I felt like an idiot, though. Playing with my health. The feeling of being so close to the end of whole PCT and the worsening weather was just too strong and I wanted to eat the miles. Two Pack was there at the trail head but he had been so fast that he visited the town already for his resupply and was now returning to trail. The last bus brought also Caribou, Street Fighter and Mango to the trail head. They had taken the ferry and now the bus, so had zero miles hiking today since leaving Holden Village. I kind of felt proud that I had walked, but stupid doing it with such a possibly high cost.
I took the bus back to Stehekin and went to the hotel. It was closed. As was the store. Great. The restaurant was open so I went there and saw Facepalm and other familiar hikers. The food was expensive but the vegetarian pasta was pretty nice. I was lucky, as Simon, Angelika and Rocky were willing to share their small but super expensive hotel room with me. I did not want to camp with my hurting leg even though the campground was just next to the restaurant and free. Sleeping on a floor was way better, even as my share was 40 dollars.
I tried to massage and treat my leg the rest of the evening. Socialising with other hikers lifted my spirits. I really hope that having yet another totally unplanned zero the next day would minimise the damage I did to my leg. Fingers crossed.
I also tried to make it from Holden Village to Stehekin in one morning, before the post office closed. I made it with only a few hours to spare, and I was hiking fast! Definitely not something I'd want to do with a foot injury. Good to hear you made it to Stehekin in the end, even if it was rough!
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