PCT Day 131 - 137

Welcome back dear followers! I have some great news, Canada is less than 200 miles away! Enjoy reading about the most remote section of Washington trail and all the fresh berries it provided us!

Subscribe

Day 131: 9/18/2025; mile 2456.4 - 2467.3

Today we would be hiking to Steven’s Pass to pick up our next resupply. Since Dennis and I hiked late into the night, we decided to sleep in and hadn’t rolled out of camp until 9:30 am. We were running dangerously low on food because we hadn’t anticipated how much we would be eating with the steep climbs in Washington. I only had a granola bar, four individual sour patch watermelon pieces, and a bag of freshly picked blueberries to sustain me for the next 15 miles.

Dennis had a similarly low amount of food. We decided to take a side trail to the highway because with 8 miles to go we were completely out of food. This was a result of semi poor planning on our part. We had plenty of food options when we had assembled our resupply, but didn’t think we would need all of it. When we made it to the trail junction a kind weekend backpacker named Keith told us he was hiking out and driving back home to Leavenworth, and yes, he could give us a ride! Dennis was utterly cooked and barely spoke, so I carried the conversation as we hiked out. Keith took us to the Steven’s Pass Ski Resort to pick up our resupply packages.

Mine was so big that the lady at the front desk asked if I had the kitchen sink in there! After another thirty minutes we arrived in the town of Leavenworth, a cute but weirdly out of place town in Washington.

Our driver told us that Leavenworth used to be a major railroad stop back in the day, but the railroad was eventually diverted from Leavenworth and they needed a way to keep commerce up. They decided to model their town after Bavaria, so the architecture looks like cute Germany, but with large parking lots. We took two back to back Nero’s in this town. We got coffee, free beers, and bratwurst.

Our first day we pretty much relaxed, took a nap, and ate as much town food as possible. We went out for ice cream with other hikers and went to bed fairly early. 

Day 132: 9/19/2025; mile 2467.3 - 2469.0

This morning we utilized all the time we could at our motel to repack our food and take final showers. Then we headed out in search of coffee, and stopped at the post office on the way.

Two kind individuals, Jim and Robin, gave us a ride to the coffee shop where we had mochas and a delicious biscuit.

We reunited with a hiker we hadn’t seen since Kennedy Meadows South, finished our drinks, and set off to explore Leavenworth. We left our bags at the front desk of the hotel in town while we meandered. We stopped to see the largest nutcracker collection in America, browsed in a few shops, and eventually devoured a pizza.

We used the free bus transportation to grab the last groceries we would need from Safeway, and eventually settled on some grass at the park to sit for a bit.

We ended up securing a hitchhike with two other hikers, Mo and Lilac. The car who offered us a ride was full, but they offered to come back after they dropped everyone off at the nearby campsite. We didn’t mind the wait because we ended up buying tickets for the little mountain coaster on the side of the highway. It was terrifying!

After this exciting side quest we were dropped back off on trail. We excitedly reunited with Sam and Sky who were getting off trail for their resupply. Then we only hiked 1.8 trail miles just before sunset. 

Day 133: 9/20/2025; mile 2469.0 - 2492.3

Today I left camp alone around 8:15 am and to my amazement realized we were extremely close to a second trailhead. I saw at least 50 day hikers, a dozen dogs, and a few toddlers waddling behind parents who carried all the backpacking supplies.

It was clear and sunny, with fantastic views, bright turquoise lakes, and thousands of wild blueberries. This section had to have been the most prolific blueberry stretch of the entire PCT. I stopped to gather a Talenti jar full of berries for my afternoon snack.

I stopped a few times to filter water, but Dennis didn’t catch up. I eventually had to eat all of my blueberries in order to free up my jar to cold soak ramen for lunch. The past two resupply packages from my parents have included bougie ramen toppings such as bone broth powder and freeze dried veggies making my meal a 10/10 delight.

About 17 miles in I waited by a lake for Dennis to catch up. Many of these Washington alpine lakes have little wooden toilets which has relieved my need to dig holes in the woods! Dennis caught up within an hour of sunset and we hiked another 4 miles into the dark until we found a perfect campsite.

The forecast showed rain starting in the middle of the night, so we wanted to be sure our site wouldn’t become a pool of water overnight. 

Day 134: 9/21/2025; mile 2492.3 - 2504.7

Today was by far the most miserable day on the PCT for me. The rain had begun around 4am, but didn’t pose a problem until we had to leave the sanctuary of our tent. For the first time on the PCT we managed to leave before the other 5 tents even emitted sounds of life.

We didn’t make it far however, because my Raynaud's Syndrome flared and my hands and feet were experiencing bursts of pain. At Sally Ann lake we decided to set up the tent and wait the rain out. I was in so much pain I didn’t protest. It took nearly an hour for me to warm up, even once I was in dry thermals and my sleeping bag. Thankfully once I was warm it was much better than being in the rain.

We packed up by 4pm when the rain stopped and it was still extremely chilly, with a low of 38 degrees that night. We hiked as far as we could manage and made it 12.5 miles for the day. We set up our tents just after the sun set and decided to actually get up with the sun the next day.

Day 135: 9/22/2025; mile 2504.7 - 2531.9

Today the most fabulous weather graced us with its presence. The sun was shining without a cloud in the sky! It was still about 39 degrees farenheit, but at least the sun was shining. It had taken a while to warm up in the tent last night with temps in the mid thirties, but somehow our tent managed to dry out. We were packed up and hiking by 7:30 am which is a rarity these days! After the terribly cold weather yesterday we decided we would attempt to utilize every bit of sunshine we got.

Today’s hike was exceptionally scenic with views of Mount Rainier, Glacier peak, mountain ranges all around us, a little intermission of the mossiest green forest we’ve yet to see on trail, and more blueberries! I also saw so many cool mushrooms today!!

Lately Dennis has been obsessed with calling tuna by its rightful name as advertised on the star kiss packaging of chicken of the sea. I similarly have become fascinated with coral of the land.

We took a lovely lunch break at a stream under Glacier peak and played Durak for a while. I left before Dennis and didn’t reunite with him until the sun began to set.

We chatted with some other hikers at Micah Lake before beginning our descent to Milk Creek. We ate dinner on the bridge at Milk Creek so we wouldn’t have to do a large water carry. The next four miles of trail were straight uphill on a cliffside with no tent spots until the top of the climb. I barely held it together, and thankfully we found a spot to sleep by 11:30pm.

Day 136: 9/23/2025; mile 2531.9 - 2560.2

This morning I woke up with an extremely tired body. I had practically collapsed into the tent by the time we finished our 4 mile climb out of Milk Creek last night. I took the morning slow as there were endless switchbacks downhill. When I ran cross country in high school I was taught not to run fast downhill, and the same feeling applies when I walk downhill.

I stopped to eat oatmeal and some berries, enjoying the view from the descent. Dennis was waiting for me at the bottom of the climb where we took a lovely mocha break. He had been looking at the map and wanted a bit of an adventure. There were also a ton of blowdowns today which made for lots of walking across fallen logs.

The PCT used to cut straight across the river at a bridge in a more linear fashion, but the newly instructed bridge took the long way around. We decided to bushwhack our way down the hillside and find a log to cross the river. I wasn’t very keen on this idea, nor was I the happiest camper. After a lot of descent and pushing our way through thick shrubbery, we were across the river. We had a disorienting log crossing and then FINALLY we were across the river.

We ate lunch right there on the trail, played some Durak (Russian card game), and then Dennis and I met at the top of a 7 mile climb. The climb itself wasn’t too bad, but I really don’t like hiking in the dark. It started to get really dark and dusky with 1.5 miles to go, so I played some Lainey Wilson out loud while hiking. When I finally reached Dennis, I had another late night break down (hallmark of me getting tired of being on trail).

We pushed another 5 miles so we would be close enough to catch our shuttle bus to the town of Stehekin tomorrow. We eventually found a spot right on the trail and 15 miles from the Shuttle. I was so tired I didn’t want to cook dinner, so I ended up just eating straight from my bag of chickpeas.

Day 137: 9/24/2025; mile 2560.2 - 2575.1

We woke up quite early this morning and hit the trail by 6:50am. It was pretty much all downhill from here to Stehekin, but we had to maintain a quick pace of almost 3 miles an hour to catch the 12:30pm shuttle. Dennis and I jointly listened to a podcast for a while, and eventually split apart in the final push to the shuttle stop. We officially entered North Cascades National Park today, our second NP in Washington.

Even though it was entirely downhill, there were still some random punchy climbs. By noon I had arrived at the shuttle stop! I couldn’t believe I made it in time. There was a crowd standing over the bridge and I learned that there was a big salmon migration! 

I stood watching the bright red salmon swim upstream for a while. Eventually we got on the shuttle with Rocky as our driver. It was $10 each way with a stop halfway through for the bakery. We had heard excellent things about this bakery and knew they were extremely efficient when it came to hikers. After a 30 minute ride, Dennis and I were the first to get off the shuttle and enjoy the bakery. We ordered mocha’s, a brownie, a scone, a slice of chicken bake, and two pieces of pizza. WE WERE HUNGRY! Within 15 minutes the bus departed the bakery and left for Stehekin. As you can imagine Stehekin was a classic day of town chores with a side of relaxation. First things first, we set up our tent in the hiker area. We then picked up our packages from the post office and I had so much mail! Thank you to Frannie, Sabrina, Grandma, Nonie, Auntie Kathy, Ms Heidi, and my parents for amazing notes and goodies!!

What an epic way to finish the PCT. Next I headed to the laundromat that had only two washers and dryers for the whole town. A kind lady let me borrow her detergent, so I decided to hand wash our clothes to bypass some time. I definitely got an arm workout, but the clothes got into the dryer before the other washers were done. We celebrated with a hot meal and bottle of wine before hanging out with the other hikers for the night. We ended up not getting the best sleep, but still rose early to catch the shuttle back to trail.