We woke up next to the river and headed out of camp at 6:30 just before we left I noticed these fun guys. There’s a large shield mushroom and couple smaller ones growing on a tree and some logs.
We immediately started uphill and climbed 1530 feet. We did see one pretty stream on the way up and at the top bumped into Walking Home and Polar Bear. I had met them back in Chester.
We came to a vista where we could look back on the north base of Mount Hood. We can also see those sand cliffs that we were on yesterday looking down at the waterfalls on the other side of the valley. It still amazes me with the distance you cover in a day, it’s phenomenal. The trail today is beautiful.
There are lots of butterflies on this section of trail. Some are the golden ones with black spots like I had in a previous post a while back, others are white with the black spots like this one pictured. These ones are not as docile as the ones in my previous post, they’re a little harder to get pictures of.
Haven’t seen any lakes in the last couple days, this one is off trail but pretty.
Looking off the side of the trail, you can see deep down multiple valleys
I was actually able to capture a few more pictures of butterflies, these ones were a little more helpful
Mount hood is not quite ready to say goodbye. It keeps showing itself every now and then, now from the northern side.
It’s a ways away, but mount Saint Helens is visible from the trail at this point.
Not to be out done by Mount Saint Helens, Mount Rainier is also showing itself in the forefront.
Mount Adams is now showing itself.
From left to right we have mount Saint Helens, Mount Rainier in the center and Mount Adams to the right.
We reached the Junction for the Eagle Creek alternate trail, and have opted to take it. This will take us to Tunnel Falls, this is considered one of the most popular alternates. As we went down the steep trail we came to this large exposed rock section.
Our trail is going straight down the spine of this Ridgeline.
One of the things we have been waiting for is berries. We have some thimbleberries which are the bigger leaf, bright, red berries and then we have some blackberries on a typical vine. They’re small, but they’re starting to produce and they make a nice trail snack. We’re never gonna get to camp tonight!
We are only 1.3 miles from camp, but this stream is so gorgeous I could not help but stop get some water and just listen to the tranquil flow of water coming down the rocks.
Tonight, we are camping alongside Eagle Creek. The trail to get here was definitely not to the grade standards of the PCT. The PCT is an equestrian Trail, therefor the percentage of grade that you go up or down is typically fairly mild. This alternate was pretty steep with a lot of rocks and blowdowns. It was a beautiful Trail for the scenery, and Eagle Creek was a great place to camp and rinse off. There was a good swimming hole on the side protected by rocks.
We set up camp and ate. Miles is another hiker we met and camped by.
Today’s PCT miles hiked 23.2
Total PCT Miles hiked to date 1593.1
PCT mile marker 2133.2
(Flipped over 542.8 miles)
