But of course, thru-hiking is the big deal in the hiking world. (Not to be confused with climbing gnarly peaks in the mountaineer's world.) If you're not putting up big miles, are you really hiking? So this year the boy asked to do a section of the PCT.
Um... Do you know how big a section is? How about we start with a semi-section of 28 miles? First day we'll hike a few miles to join the PCT then turn south. Camp at a lake half way up. Second day we'll continue south around one of our favorite areas to a lake perched on the edge. Our final day will be a mellow exit, mostly downhill.
One of the benefits of kids getting older, but still on your insurance policy is you can guilt them into driving you places. Lilly drove us to the trailhead an hour and a half from home. It was hot and smoky, but such is life. At least the fires were far away.
I won't pretend the approach to the PCT was spectacular. It's all wooded with a slow climb to a nice little lake that marks the end of the approach. We crossed a creek in flippityflops (that's a technical hiker's term) and found the trail's character on the other side was much different. It was smaller, softer, more intimate. Wonderful.
Pretty soon we were cruising through the forest recovering from a fire several years ago. Shade was hard to find, but the fireweed's pink blossoms made is acceptable. The orange sun beat down relentlessly and the climb got steeper. Still, I'm glad it wasn't just more walking in the trees.
As we got higher, people were telling us it was worth it. We must have looked pretty rough. Well, I probably did. The boy was hardly sweating. Damn kids. We had to drop a couple hundred feet down to the lake, but yes, it was worth it.
Lots of exposed rock and a peninsula 100 feet wide dotted with camp sites extending into the lake. We got a good spot and dropped our packs. Whoa. We're floating! Well, not really. We did wade in a bit, but all that weight off our back made us truly light on our feet.
We woke to a sun that was a deep orange signaling we would get no break from the smoke. Honestly, I hardly smelled it, but my lungs felt a little raw. We packed up and were back on the trail early to beat the coming heat. Most of this day would be spent on south facing slopes with even less shade than the day before.
But first, we had to finish the previous day's climb. Happily, this was through some of the best terrain of the whole trip. We climbed through lush meadows sprinkled with narrow trees adapted to the deep snowpack. At the top, we could look down on our camp. And then... back down. Yeah. Lots of climb up, cross a ridge, climb down.
I'm not complaining, though. The basin we dropped into has big lakes in it and blueberries. The good kind. The ones that sort of taste like bananas or apples or something other than the blueberry you get in the store. A couple of hikers told us this was the last water for 10 miles so we filtered water and relaxed lakeside.
It wasn't far from the lake to the next ridge. We stopped for a quick view of the Stone Kingdom where Lilly and I spent a couple of days and then it was time for some fun in the sun. And by fun I mean sweating and swearing a bit as the trail went up and down and up and down. Sometimes it was avoiding cliffs, sure, but sometimes it felt like it was just for fun. We passed a few people going north (and a few of them were true thru-hikers that started in Mexico!). Most told us it was dry the way we were headed. We told them it was dry the way they were headed. We'd both sigh and continue on.
Along the way, the pika came out to play. Soooo many pika. Only a couple of marmots, but all the pika. In fact, as we rolled into camp for our second night, the pika reminded us it was their home and we were merely visiting. Into the water we went to scrub off some of the dirt tan we'd acquired. Dinner. Cocoa. Sleep.
In the morning, we ate under the orange sun and prepared for our exit. The GPS said we had a big climb, but I couldn't buy it. I'd been almost all the way to this location on a day hike and I didn't remember 2,000 feet of climbing. I wasn't wrong. We had just a little climb out of the lake basin and then it was mostly traverse along cliffs to the famous section of trail carved from the solid rock.
But before we got there, we were attacked by a marmot! Well, sort of. As we were hiking along a big, BIG marmot was about 30 feet above us on the steep cliff. It wasn't quite vertical, but it was pretty close. Mr. Marmot was out of control sliding down toward us. We watched as he fought to regain his footing and did so just 10 feet above us. The rock he kicked loose crashed onto the trail a foot in front of me before bounding down the hill on the other side.
The remainder of the hike was old hat for me. I've been up that way many times before. It's lovely, but after the new and amazing things we'd already seen, it paled in comparison. We made good time and met Lilly in the parking lot. She had cold Cokes for us for the 20 minute ride home.
So... did Henry love thru-hiking? Is he planning a longer hike on the PCT? Maybe? He's 16 and hard to pin down. He said he really liked getting to see so much different terrain. It was way better than an out and back, but carrying all our gear for three straight days wasn't his favorite. Next year? Hard to say. Maybe or maybe not.
Regardless of what he chooses, I'll be happy to be there with him.
