The German Town of Leavenworth & Hiking in Beauty – PCT 2017: A Hiking Story [49]
Previous Post:
Part 48 ‘The Beautiful Deception Lake & Loving the New Trail Family!’
Day 153 (04/09) – The ‘German’ Town of Leavenworth
After waking up a million times due to the loud music from the RV in the carpark, the traffic on the highway, someone chainsawing at 5am, and the ongoing stench of horse piss…. it seemed I was destined to get up! Our unceremoniously chosen camp in the isolated carpark was pretty shitty, but better than paying for expensive lodging haha.
Rise, Shine, Snakebite, Mammal, Wolf and myself all headed back to the lodge for some charging and internet. Shine and Snakebite played an amusing giant game of Jenga on the table – it was close, but Snakebite came out victorious.
We spontaneously came up with the decision to hitch into the town of Leavenworth, over thirty miles away, for coffee and breakfast. With five of us, it could be a tough hitch. It did take at least half an hour, but an old guy named Jim picked us up, and we crammed in his small sedan. The three sisters and I somehow squeezed into the back, with my pack laying on us all. Mammal was in the front (the rest of the packs in the boot).
Once getting to town, we realised why people talked about it. It was a German-themed tourist town. Every store used the stereotype Bavarian font – even big chains like Subway and Wells Fargo! It was surprisingly cool and actually felt European (in a stereotypical touristy way).
We visited the Brats (sausage) restaurant and got some beers there too. After several hours of chilling out there, we got hungry again and went to get pizza – a delicious chicken, bacon, and ranch pizza! The final stop was the essential ice cream. We found a Cold Stone, and all had a good sugar hit. We were pretty full after all that 😛
Finally, we decided we should get back to the trail and headed off. On the way out, I found an equipment store and changed out my Darn Tough socks for new ones. The guy was so chill and didn’t care they hadn’t been clean. Awesome – new socks for free again!
We got a hitch back in a truck with a young guy, which was thankfully a bit roomier than our previous hitch. Mammal had to stay at Stevens Pass to wait for his package to arrive, but we arranged he’d catch up in a couple of days.
So Rise, Shine, Snakebite and I started out on the trail a few miles before it got dark. We didn’t camp too far in.
Distance hiked: 2.5 miles
Total PCT hiked: 2464 miles
Day 154 (05/09) – Red Sun Rising
The girls and I swiftly packed up and had breakfast, all in 40 minutes – a vast improvement. The light after 6am was dim, but only because of the smoke. We didn’t know where the smoke came from, but it was thick! Not long into hiking, and we saw the sun as a red glowing sphere – reminding me of a red giant star. Was I still on Earth?
Sadly the smoke ruined most of the views, and although we knew it should be pretty, it was a little dull. At around lunchtime, we came to Pear Lake and had a long break. We brewed tea for the first time in forever – it was super refreshing. Rise and Shine both pulled out their sleeping quilts and attempted to nap. We ended up staying there for an hour and a half – oops!
After the long break, we hauled ass and hiked the remaining 11 miles to our designated campsite fast. We had a break where Shine and Snakebite were doing chiropractic operations on each other, and we all ended up getting our backs cracked – it felt good. This generally involved Snakebite standing on our backs, crushing us haha 😛
We arrived at Lake Sally Ann with the last light around 8pm. It was a gorgeous lake propped high in the steep cliff face. We cooked up dinner and prepared for bed. The moon was super red like the sun was this morning from the smoke.
Distance hiked: 27 miles
Total PCT hiked: 2491 miles
Day 155 (06/09) – The Beauty of Washington Forests
I brewed up coffee for myself and the girls at 6am, and we hiked out from the beautiful lake. It was a morning of steep uphill climbing. We entered Glacier Peak Wilderness, and could just barely see the mountains through the smoke haze.
Down, down, down to the bottom of the valley we then went, through some of the most spectacular forest of the whole trail so far. There was beautiful moss and ferns surrounding a cascading stream that occasionally broke out into waterfalls.
At the very end of the valley was a broken bridge, luckily it still somewhat functioned! We then had another steep (and I mean steep!) uphill section. It was brutal, especially after the taxing downhill previously.
We ended up arriving at Mica Lake just as it turned dark after 8pm. All the good campsites were taken, so we made do and camped on a shitty section atop a rock. The lake looked amazing as a silhouette in the dark – we couldn’t wait to see it in the morning.
Distance hiked: 27.5 miles
Total PCT hiked: 2518.5 miles
Next Post:
Part 50 ‘Mica Lake, Suiattle River & the Final Push into Stehekin’
In order to support the travelling and hiking community, I spend many hours per week or month to adequately document all information and advice for prospective visitors, accompanied by a (hopefully) entertaining insight into my personal experiences. This service is and will remain free. However, if you voluntarily want to make a contribution and support my travels and thus the creation of new stories and hiking information, here is the button you’re looking for:
Thank you for reading 🙂