PCT WA Day 7 – Mt. Adams Wilderness

Forest Road 23 (2229.9) to Killen Creek Camp (2245.4)

15.5 miles

I took the shuttle at 8 am and left my loved little mountain town Trout Lake. Bryan and his little dog Poppie gave us a ride up the mountain. Everything was well organized by the volunteers of Trout Lake.

At the trailhead I got ready and started climbing. Today I was entering a new section of trail. Mount Adams Wilderness. The trail climbed gently up the mountain and led me very soon through a burned area. I have hiked through many burned areas before. Fresh ones and old ones. The damage from fires is visible for years if not decades. Without knowing I estimated that the fire around Mt Adams must have been a few years ago. Vegetation was coming back.

The giant mountain came into view and it was great to hike through this landscape. The views of Mt Adams got more ad more stunning as the trail went around the mountain. In the afternoon I hiked through a lava field and got to see some picas. Do you know them?

The hidden highlight of the afternoon was a crossing of Adams creek. The comments of hikers who had done it before were mixed. In general I would say that I am good with River crossings. Usually it was great fun. Crossing a stony mountainside and hiking towards the creek I could already hear the roaring of the water. The creek obviously fed by a glacier on the mountain was flowing fast and it looked more like white water. Three older women came towards me and they told me how they had done their crossing. It was a combination of going into the water itself and balancing on logs.

I decided to do the same and holding on to a log I stepped into the freezing cold water. one more step and the water was nearly up to my knee. I held on to the log and over I was. First part done. Second part seemed to be a tricky balancing over a couple of conjuncted logs. I started and right in the middle wanted to be on the safe side. I bend forward and…. Something slid out of my pocket. There was no way. My small water bottle was gone. I made another step and was on the other side. Disappointed about my loss. I checked the creek if my bottle was stuck somewhere but no chance.

I already thought about what my loss of one water bottle meant for the rest of my hike. Meanwhile I watched a guy after me crossing the creek. I wanted to make sure he was safely across before I would hike on. He came towards me and said that he had seen me loosing my bottle. And that’s when true magic happened. He asked if I was a PCT Hiker and he offered me his water bottle as he had just another night before he went home. I took the offer and as if it was the biggest treasure in the world I took his one liter smart water bottle.

After this very impressive example of kindness I hiked onwards towards Killen Creek which was my goal for the day. from the river crossing I already had wet feet and Washington weather did it’s best to make the rest of me wet too. Dressed in my rain jacket (which isn’t really waterproof) and my rain skirt I made my way through the wilderness. Short before Killen Creek it stopped raining and when I set up camp there around 4:30 I could somehow spread my gear to dry. WhenI pitched my tent there was only a couple more tents around. But when I ate dinner there were more than ten tents and I found myself right in the middle of a big chatty Hiker group.