July 10.
Started off with two hikers named Storyteller and Brian. Fog everywhere, everything wet from the night before. Hard to leave knowing I probably wasn’t going to see most of them again.
So much fog everywhere. Little visibility most of the morning. Some sketchy patches of snow but nothing too bad. My time in Tahoe prepared me for this.
Hiked with Storyteller and Brian for a bit but pushed ahead of them. Met up with them again after a few hours and we hiked up to Methow Pass together. They charged up the hill and I actually had a hard time keeping up. Still waiting for my trail runner legs to come back. We made it to the top of Methow Pass where we had some amazing views. It looked stormy and the top of the pass was too exposed so I decided I keep going to a spot on other side of the next pass, Cutthroat.
Hiker along a steep slope with some sketchy snow sections. Gorgeous views of the valleys below.
Right before Cutthroat, I slipped on a snow ridge and slid down 60 feet. Kept falling but halfway through I realized I was going to be okay, that I was either going to stop by self arresting or by landing on some rocks. I put my leg down and stuck my hiking pole into the snow and managed to stop my descent.
I sat in the snow for a minute while I tried to catch my breath. My ass was wet and I was covered in snow blowback and a little frazzled but physically I was okay. Was glad to be wearing full pants which seemed to protect my legs. Still scared tf out of me.
I looked up where I slid and saw that there was another set of slide marks next to mine. Seems someone else had the same experience. At least it wasn’t just me.
I did not enjoy climbing back up to the trail. It was slow going back up and I almost slipped and fell again a few times. Turns out I don’t really like hiking in snow. I finally made it to the top and saw that the trail went back down a different direction than I thought. It was covered in snow so hard to tell exactly where it went. I saw a lot of footprints going that way so I started following them before checking guthooks. I was right and the way the prints went was actually the wrong way. Glad I checked.
I was feeling really frazzled from the slow hiking on the snow and being soaked and falling down that steep section. Thankfully I made it to the top of the pass and started a windy descent down to where I was planning on camping.
There was a switchback section where I could see some glissade marks where people slid straight down instead of going through the switchbacks. Normally I would take the switchbacks but I was not feeling like taking the extra time to pothole my way down so i sat down and glissaded down to the bottom. It did actually make me feel better too, like I was in control this time. That didn’t last long.
I got to the campsite I saw on guthooks. I found a hiker named Twig from the night before there and a new guy, Taylor. They took the two good spots at the site and I had to look around for another. I found a big spot but it was drenched with lots of pools of snow melt. I finally found another spot near the trail and set up my tent on an awkward slope right next to some trees. Not the best site but by then said fuck it and just set up
Plants Outside 