this was not the greatest day in my memory. i didn't sleep very much at all, not because i was cold, but my first couple nights out are always the hardest for me, so i remember waking up all night. when it finally got light, i packed up, had some leftovers for breakfast and headed out knowing that i have hiked this section of trail and have wonderful memories of it being beautiful views and diverse landscape. unfortunately i was in snow pretty much all day and didn't recognize hardly anything. i did a lot of postholing along hillsides and some sliding down steep sections.
the first place i really recognized was the descent down to pass creek from cady pass. i got down to the creek and decided that i deserved a break and was going to make lunch. i found a boulder on the other side of the creek, put my back down, reached to my back pocket to pull out the guidebook and there was no guidebook. we use erik the black's pct atlas and i keep it in a ziplock in my back pocket for easy access. i panicked and reached back two or three times hoping that it was in there, i looked all around the boulder, nothing. i left my pack there, and prayed that the guidebook was somewhere up the long descent that i had just come down. i think i was partially in shock, i couldn't believe that i had lost it, why was this happening, why me, why now?
i spent an hour and a half following my foot steps hoping that i would find it laying on the snow. at one point i postholed and fell completely forward so that my pack came over my head, i was really hoping that it was there. it wasn't. i never found it. honestly, i shed some tears wondering what i was going to do now and came to the conclusion that i would just keep going trusting in the gps.
so if you are out hiking around the cady pass area, keep an eye out for a washington pct atlas in a zip lock and i would love to get it back, i spent many hours turning the topos into shaded topos. so if any of you are feeling adventurous...
the first place i really recognized was the descent down to pass creek from cady pass. i got down to the creek and decided that i deserved a break and was going to make lunch. i found a boulder on the other side of the creek, put my back down, reached to my back pocket to pull out the guidebook and there was no guidebook. we use erik the black's pct atlas and i keep it in a ziplock in my back pocket for easy access. i panicked and reached back two or three times hoping that it was in there, i looked all around the boulder, nothing. i left my pack there, and prayed that the guidebook was somewhere up the long descent that i had just come down. i think i was partially in shock, i couldn't believe that i had lost it, why was this happening, why me, why now?
i spent an hour and a half following my foot steps hoping that i would find it laying on the snow. at one point i postholed and fell completely forward so that my pack came over my head, i was really hoping that it was there. it wasn't. i never found it. honestly, i shed some tears wondering what i was going to do now and came to the conclusion that i would just keep going trusting in the gps.
so if you are out hiking around the cady pass area, keep an eye out for a washington pct atlas in a zip lock and i would love to get it back, i spent many hours turning the topos into shaded topos. so if any of you are feeling adventurous...
i figured that i just had to continue on and that God wouldn't give me more than i could handle and of course its all part of the adventure. the trail continued to not bring back any memories and i was kind of shocked when i got to lake sally ann, which is one of my favorite places. unfortunately the weather never cleared up and i didn't get to see glacier peak at all.
i reached the indian pass sign around dinner time and was really hoping that there would be a map showing the detour and some of the mileage, but no. there was an old lamenated crumpled up sign that said pct detour and that was it. i pushed on through the snow heading out on the old pct, not knowing what passes where coming up or how far i had to go. i slept on a bare spot of trail near a pass where i actually saw some footprints, but never saw the people.