Day 24: Blue Lake to Trout Creek. 28 miles.

July 30.

Got up before my alarm at 6 and didn’t have much trouble doing my business first thing which seems to be my new routine now.

Barefoot Kid took off a bit before me as it always takes me a while to pack up and move. I knew that the next short section had a lot of little lakes and ponds which meant mosquitoes so I put on my bug suit and powered through it as best I could. Make it past the third Sheep Lake after which I started climbing up to berry mountain. Had a little service so I messaged Mup again about my resupply. Asked her to mail some food as well as the gaiters and leukotape to Timberline Lodge. Since I had told her the night before to only send the gaiters and tape, she didn’t have the food and is going to have to do it tomorrow. It should be fine though I did have a minor moment of panic about not getting my stuff in time until I got service again and looked up the priority rate mail times. It should be fine. Should be.

Anyway, Berry Mountain had some nice views of the mountains around me though I could see there was a haze in the air. There’s a apparently a fire north of here and Rainy Pass has been closed so the nobos and some of the late sobos are going to have to skip. Weird to think an area I passed by a few weeks ago is now on fire.

The climb up and down Berry Mountain was mostly bug free thank fuck. I actually managed to stop at one point and take a little break on the trail which is something I haven’t been able to do in feels like weeks.

Ended up catching up to BK at a little spring 13 miles in and we had lunch and talked some more. Found out he’s actually 17! He literally has a note from his parents saying he can hike. For a 17 year old he’s very worldly though and knowledable. People keep surprising me on this trail.

We leapfrogged each other up the little climb before a long dry 10 mile descent. It was so hot and dry which was nice because it meant there were no bugs but it was tiring hiking downhill for so long. At a dirt road I came across an animal skeleton that had been arranged to look like a human which was neat and creepy.

On the way down I ended up stopping again to rest and enjoy the views from the ridge I was on. BK passed me again as I was resting.

Finally made it down to Panther Creek were I was originally planning on camping. Had some snacks at panther creek and drank a ton of water to make up for the dry 10 mile stretch. BK caught up after stopping at a tiny stream to get water.

We got water and soaked our feet and ate some food and I lost my glove and cleaned up the petroleum jelly which had spilled all over my pack.

After Panther Creek we decided to keep going since it was early and we weren’t really tired since the day had been mostly flat or downhill.

Ended up hiking the last 5.5 miles with barefoot kid who it turns out also likes Midori and had also done some backpacking in Montana where his grandparents are from.

The stretch between panther creek and Trout Creek was so hot and humid. We hiked after 6 and it was still so hot. But we pushed hard and made it to the creek by 815. On the way we hiked through really verdant forest, almost like jungle or rainforest. It was also really hot and humid. We hiked next to some private property which I think was almost closed off to PCT hikers at one point.

We crossed a big beautiful golden meadow close to sunset before entering back into the wild green humid forest. The scenery changes so much in just a few miles.

We made it to Trout Creek and camped next to the bridge. There’s another pair here though no sign of salty and Potter. We either passed them at some point, maybe at panther creek or they’re still ahead which is possible. We thought we might see them here but didn’t. Decided to cowboy camp since the bugs weren’t bad though there might be nice. I hung my food so it should be okay.

Tomorrow is a big day, the last full day in Washington but also a day with over 5k of climbing. Ouch. Then one very short nero to Cascade Locks and Portland!