PNT day 50 – PNTA and first ocean views

Approx. 5 miles on the Rail Trail and 12 miles on primary route to Sketchy Camp (910.4)

Big surprise when I started packing this morning: Indie, Hummingbird and Rip showed up! It was great to see them again. They had stayed for a couple of days at Baker Lake. That’s how I could catch them.

Last night had been quite peaceful once I got used to some beaver activity in my neighborhood. These guys jumped into the water a few times during the night and it always sounded like a giant splash!

I started hiking again on the nice and flat Cascade Trail. It was about five miles to Sedro-Woolley where I wanted to pop into the the office of the Pacific Northwest Trail Association (PNTA). Hummingbird and the two guys had the same plan and so we all ended up walking through town to the office together.

Arriving there we met Eric as well as Sterling who I met before in Mazama. (You couldn’t read all about that because once again the app swallowed a full day of text)

We chatted for a while and Eric gave us some important information about the upcoming section in the Olympics and on the Wilderness Coast. I got to know that I only had to carry a bear can at the coast and not through the Olympics which was good news! Therefore I had to avoid camping in an area called the Seven Lakes Basin. Well, I could plan to not do that!

Sterling gave us a ride to Dairy Queen for lunch and there we sat together and ate some disgusting fast food. I had opted for a basket of fries and a small portion of cheese curds which had according to the information board 500 calories! Dipped into a huge amount of ketchup and washed down with a Pepsi I had a total intake of 1000 calories! Not bad, right?

After saying goodbye to Sterling the group decided to hike the seven something miles on Hwy 9 back to the main route. I decided to hitch. It took a while but half an hour later I could start climbing up the mountain on a forest road. The climb was hot but not too bad and once I was up on the mountain I had first views of the Pudget Sound. I was at the ocean!!!

Not quite, but close. It was pretty exciting to have these first views and I was a little proud. I have hiked from Crown to Coast. Well, not quite, but close! 🙂

Unfortunately I had to descend again. I was aiming for one of the trail camps shown on the map. I passed two already without any sign of a good campsite. How would it be further down the mountain?

It was the same. At the junction of the forest road with a paved road where the trail camp as well as water was supposed to be was nothing. I was close to the small town of Alger that had a motel as well but I didn’t want to spend so much money again. I backtracked to an open space in the forest I had seen earlier. It was right next to the forest road and it was a nice spot to camp. If it wasn’t for the obvious signs that this place was used to shoot with guns.

However, today’s shooting was over – I had heard it earlier – and not everyone shooting a gun was a serial killer. I pitched my tent a bit out of sight and started hoping for a quiet night…