September 18
I booked my ticket to fly home and I am rolling the dice that I will be there on time. I booked for September 28 a Thursday in the morning. I must be at Mannining Park by 2 PM on Wednesday if I wish to catch the bus. I headed out this morning much later than I would like, I was on the trail at 7:45. I had trouble booking my airline ticket because I had an old credit card not the current one but I was able to work it out. It did rain a little last night and there is a light sprinkle/mist in the air right now. Hopefully it will clear up and not get any worse.
After a brief up hill, I enter the Henry M Jackson Wilderness area. Soon cross a very calm stream.
So far this morning’s hike has been very peaceful. I’ve been in a wooded area with a light mist in the sky. It’s very quiet and calming. I pass through another beautiful meadow, and cross over a small stream.
I continue to enjoy beautiful views along the trail
I’ve come to another pretty stream that the trail crosses with a small pool at the bottom of a water Cascade
I pass by side trails that lead to Lake James. Washington has a lot of really beautiful places to hike and Camp on weekend trips.
This little guy took his snack and ran off the trail. He sat on this branch I was able to get a picture.
I find myself on a very pretty section of trail with lots of different colors and amazing views
I came to an area on the other side of the mountain that has a lot of moss growing on rocks which has caught my eye
The Trail takes me through the edge of another very pretty meadow. It’s got some neat granite rocks on one end and forest trees on the other.
The PCT almost always wraps around the bottom, or mid slope of a Summit. Even Mount Whitney is a side trail, and not part of the PCT. In a rare occurrence, the PCT passes over the top of a mountain peak, the 5560 foot Grizzly Peak.
As I descend off grizzly Peak, I have a beautiful view of a lake to my right, and a very colorful hillside directly in front of me
The trail winds its way down the left side of this pointed peak in front of me.
As I begin up another Mountainside I again am given another beautiful view
The lake views do not get old
I thought this was kind of a random boulder field. That looked interesting.
After coming around the corner, it seems it’s not so random after all.
The mountain across the valley is beautiful. It just looks painted in reds, tans, and greens.
Strength and perseverance exemplified
amongst all of these large boulders I feel so small.
I’ve climbed uphill to a saddle. As I Crest, the saddle, I looked back at the amazing view, and forward to realize the trail turns goes another half mile uphill along the backside of the mountain.
As I near the top of the second saddle, the landscape is incredible with the red and green foliage and small pine trees
I crest the Final hill, it’s not as much of a saddle as it is a knob, but again, what an incredible view. Looking across the valley to another hillside, I can see where I believe the trail leads. I have zoomed in on the hillside.
I am getting close to that section of trail that I zoomed in on before first I must duck into one section in the Valley, before I round back out to it.
I have reached the section of trail that I saw from the opposite ridge and had zoomed in on
I Cross another mountain saddle with another amazing view of colorful pointed mountains
I dropped down into a valley crossed a river, not pictured, and then made my final large ascent for the day. 3 miles. At the top I have a couple small ups and downs over the next mile and a half until I reach Lake Sally Ann where I will camp for the night.
I have arrived at lake Sally Ann and it is much smaller than I had expected. I found a location and set up my tent got cleaned up as my dinner was cooking.(soaking in hot water to rehydrate.) I made up the inside of my tent and was feeling cold so I climbed in with my dinner put my feet in my sleeping quilt and ate.
Today’s PCT miles hiked 28.0
Total PCT Miles hiked to date 2494.5
Miles left: 159.1
