We made it! 

 Monday, August 31 ——–

We caught the two other buses in record time and made the town of “Concrete” on highway-20 by 9am. There was a bakery down the street and we had breakfast before standing in the rain to hitch. 

It took a while standing there watching cars go by and two hitches to make the trailhead before dark. The second hitch cost us $40 and almost our lives as this guy with no front teeth pulled up in a van and asked: ‘need a ride?’, ‘Yeah. To Rainy pass’, ‘Ya got gas money?’, ‘Yeah….’

He got us there in record time as those pesky speed limit signs didn’t apply to him, even on a rain slicked whindy road.  The ride was made more fun because he had removed the seats in the back and we shared the floor and two spare tires with a 90lb Labrador. 

It was…memorable. 

But we did arrive at the apply named Rainy Pass by 3:30pm, hiked 3 miles to the first campsite and called it a night. 

It rained or snowed all day Tuesday and Wednesday, making for a fun “Washington” hike.   

   
When we reached Harts Pass to spend the night it looked like it might clear up. Ha!

Thursday, September 3 ——-

It rained during the night, then the temps dropped turning the wet to ice, then it snowed.

But the day proved to be nice. The occasional snow or hail shower were light and usually with sunshine. (Yes, our standards are lower)

We did 16 miles with the border in 14 miles!  

    
 
Friday, September 4 ——–

It was a rough night as a herd of deer decided to party in and around our camp. 

All. Night. Long. Rutting season? Blagh. 😖

As we hiked it started to snow, then hail, then rain, depending on elevation, all day. We arrived wet but happy at the Canadian border. 😄

After hiking 15 miles, we just camped at the first campsite inside the border.  

    
The famous “Monument 78”

 Saturday, September 5 ——-

Mice. We hates those mieces to pieces!!  Both turtle and I left our tents open to improve airflow as everything was wet. Both of us had visitors in the night. Ugh!!!!

Neither of us got much sleep. 

The final eight mile hike to Manning Lodge was nice as the rain had finally ended.  

 We had three priorities:

1. Lunch
2. Shower
3. Wash clothes

Part of three was drying out our shoes. Five days of rain/wet trails made five days of soggy feet. 

We finished all three and are happy. 

On Sunday we will take the bus to Vancouver, BC then catch Amtrak to Seattle. From Seattle we will each fly home for rest and doctor visits. 

Turtle’s ankle is still bad and it may be a bone spur. He needs X-Rays to be sure. For me, I still have the occasional sharp pains in my abdomen and will see my doctor to discuss. 

We still have a teeny, tiny hole we haven’t hiked on the PCT: just under 900 miles from Donner Pass in California to northern Oregon. We will decide if we will continue the journey this year or finish in 2016. 

Either way, this has been an amazing year so far and I have been blessed to do it. 

More later!!!

-HalfFast