The Baja Ha Ha

20th-27th October

When i woke this morning it took several seconds for me to remember where i was. I was infact in the main cabin bunk of Odissea. Odissea is a 33ft CSY Cutter Sailboat and is the boat I will be crewing on as part of the Baja Ha Ha cruising rally. The Baja Ha Ha is an annual cruising rally running from San Diego in Southern California, and ending in Cabo San Lucas, at the bottom of the Baja California penninsula. It has been running for about 20 years now and this year attracted about 170 boats. It should take about 10 days to sail the 700 or so miles with each boats speed depending on class, size, crew number and overall attitude. I have always wanted to do some ocean sailing, and i thought the Ha Ha would be a good way for me to continue travelling in a manner somewhat comparable to the PCT, in my mind at least. Given I was sleeping in the main cabin i was woken up by Odissea's captain, Shane, as he started getting up and about. Much like the hiking life, cruisers tend to live by the sun and so get up with the sun and sleep as soon as it is dark. The main reason for that, as i was to discover, is that it takes precious electricity to run lights during the dark hours, and once one gets used to it, it becomes the norm. I got up and began to take in my new surroundings. Odissea is a relatively old boat and looks the part. Shane aquired her relatively recently and has had her hauled out (get used to coprious amounts of nautical terminology reader) over the weeks prior to my arrival as part of a much needed overhaul and maintenance program. Shane assured me she is perfectly seaworthy and i was prepared to his word for it not really knowing how to work it out for myself at this stage. Over the next week, Shane's plan was to have the pair of us doing as much work as possible in order to get Odissea ready for the passage down Baja California. My main projects were the changing and cleaning of the engine's heat exchanger, the installation of the scuppers, autohelm, and water maker. All of which had seen better days.

First off, the heat exchanger : Marine diesel engines are internal combustion engines just like diesel engines that power millions of automobiles around the world, the only really difference between them being the fact that they are water-cooled, instead of air-cooled, so have a water based heat exchanger installed in place of an air based radiator. I uncovered the engine as best i could and started trying to uncouple the heat exchanger. This proved to be no easy task, primarily due to the fact that the engine was located under the galley, and was in dire need of tlc. The engine space was so tight it was not possible to work on the heat exchanger and look at it at the same time. Instead i had to work out what i needed to do by wriggling into the engine space and inspecting it, wriggling back out, and then fiddling around with one arm trying to remember which bolt attached to which bit of kit. It took me a while, but after about half a day i had managed to disassemble all the right hose connections, and pry the heat exchanger free, but not without first covering myself in heavy engine oil, as the oil filter was in the way and had to be removed first. Please with my labours i set about taking it apart and then cleaning it out with acid to disolve all the plated crud on the inside. Many hours later, the heat exchanger was installed back in its rightful place and i was proud of a good day's work getting Odissea ready for the voyage down to Mexico. I had thought at the time that with the heat exchanger serviced, we would have no problems with the engine, but alas that was not to be. Instead we had problems with it from start to finish. But after my day of heat exchanger maintenance i was blissfully unaware of all that.

The scuppers : Along with the heat exchanger the other major task which had been asigned to me was the installation of the scuppers. All boats, with the possible exception of dingys, have holes in then, all of which should be intentional. A boat needs to be able to take on water for various systems: engine cooling intakes, water-maker intakes, salt water pumps and more depending on size, and get rid of water coming from engine exhausts, hotel systems, bilges and scuppers. The scuppers are the piping system which removes water from the cockpit should the cockpit become flooded in heavy weather. Odissea had had new through-holes, the actual hull penetrations, put in when she was hauled out, but they needed connecting up to the cockpit before the seacocks, the valves the connect the through-holes to the scupper pipes, could be opened and the system become operational. As with the heat exchanger maintenance, the scupper piping installation required me become a contortionist as such speed i could have put the cirque du soleil to shame by the end of the day. Unlike with with the heat exhangers, the scupper installation dragged out over several days. This was primarily because after having installed all the piping the first time, i then realised the something else wold have to be installed in the same space therefore requiring me to re-route the scupper pipes. Consequently the scuppers didn't become fully operational until the day before we left San Diego, but such is life on a cruiser.

The Autohelm : The autohelm was one of the systems that kept stymying the installation of the scuppers. The function of the autohelm is pretty self explanatory, it allows the crew of a yacht to be lazy and not steer by hand. Infact, helming is not easy, and takes practice and constant attention to do well, so is difficult to do for more than an hour at a time without getting very tired. The autohelm is a relatively simple system consiting of a hydraulic ram attached to the the rudder arm, an electric pump to drive the ram, and an electrical interface allowing for a gps unit to control the course via the ram. Upon my arrival aboard Odissea, the autohelm was being repaired and not on board. This meant i was unable to see exactly where it would be installed, and so in the end had to undo a lot of my scupper pipe network to accomodate the autohelm once it was ready to go back in its place.

The water-maker : The water-maker is somewhat of a luxury on board a cruiser i have determined. Unless doing a several week passage, such as crossing the pacific or atlantic, a water-maker is a mostly unnecessary draw on finances and power, as it takes a lot of both to aquire and operate one. The water-maker onboard Odissea was mostly for show and never once became our principle source of water given as it uses a large amount of electricity and would not make more than about 3-4 litres of water in an hour.

A couple days into the work regime, Shane decided to put Odissea through her paces and take her out on the Ocean to see what should do following all the maintenance work. I didn't know at the time, but it turns out this was the first time Shane had sailed her folloing purchasing her a few months back, not a particularly confidence inspiring piece of information, but as i said i didn;t know at the time so was as happy as the proverbial clam to be out on the water. The shakedown sail would also be an opportunity for us to assess each others sailing abilities, and in my case, start re-learning everything i had once known about sailing. On the day of the sail there was obviously myself and Shane as the two established crew, Karlana, Shane's girlfriend who was looking to come along, and her friend Cherie who was just joining us for the day. Upon taking her out onto the ocean, i could see that Shane knew enough about sailing to be taking her out, and that i was remembering it all fast enough to be at ease with most of it. Cherie it turned out knew a lot about sailing as she was working as a deckhand and steward on a 125ft luxury sailing yacht moored in the marina next to us and so was good to have along, and Karlana, who i don't think had ever worked on  a boat before, was new to everything, and so was unsure of herself and the boat. With all our sailing abilities combined, we managed a great day out on the water giving us all confidence for the upcoming adventure of the Baja Ha Ha.

Post Hike Decompression

13th-19th October

My appologies for not posting anything for a while, over a month infact, but I just haven't wanted to. The trail journal i kept was definitely a chore. At first I had time to write every day before going to bed every night, but as soon as the mileage started to go up, i was mostly unable to write anything due to the overwhelming fatigue that would engulf me when i climbed into my sleeping bag. Often at the end of each day i would write one word notes about what had happened that to to jog my memory later on, but that would be all i would write. This meant that once in town i could and would spend many hours infront of a computer trying to keep the blog up to date, it became a chore like any other. It is mostly for this reason that I haven't blog since i finished, but I will be bringing it up to date over the next few days.

My PCT adventure ended at the Snoqualamie Summit Pancake house, and i was equally glad and sad that it was over. I have yet to work out my exact total mileage, 'yet' being the operative word here, but i will hazard a guess at 2700 miles. It has been the adventure of a lifetime, but by the time i got to Snoqualamie Pass my body was ready for it to be over.

After several celebratory photos at the finish, Frosty, Golidlocks and myself got in the car and headed down the pass towards Seattle away from the Cscades and the Pacific Crest Trail, it was weird. An hour or so later we arrived at the house of Nightcrawler whose parents, Bob and Kelley, were putting us up for the night. Nightcrawler, and her fella Hercules, had both finished the trail a week before with Frosty and Goldilocks in Manning Park, and had been slowly recuperating ever since. A thru hiker that becomes a successful thru hiker is unbelivably tough, and after a few days off trail looks on first appearnce as good as new. I know however, that true recovery will take me weeks if not months. That night was a great way to end the adventure among good friends, and trail angels, and after a shower, a hot meal and a couple beers i was feeling tired but content. Nightcrawler and co were heading south to Santa Barbara the night morning, a 20 hour plus drive, so we said our goodbyes before heading to bed for my first off trail sleep in over 5 months.

The next morning after a lazy start, Frosty, Goldielocks and myself got back in the car for the 3 hour drive down to Vancouver (the US one not Canadian one) where Goldielocks´parent would be putting us all up for a few days. Over the next few days I slowly came to terms with the reality of not being on the trail, and was glad to have other hikers around me as we went through it together. Vancouver is located on the north side of the Columbia river and is in the sate of Washington, but for all intents and purposes is an outer suburb of the much larger city of Portland on the south side of the river. A substantial number of my hiking friends come from, or else live in Portland, and over those few days I managed to meet up with them a couple time to reminisce about the trail, and talk about readjustment back into the real world . One morning, myself, Mark and Ashleigh (I feel that we are no longer hikers we should revert to their other names)  headed across the river to have breakfast with Portlanders T-Rex, Chick-Chack and Starfox (not technically a Portlander but he´s part of this group so i've included him as a Portlander), AKAThyra, Angela and Ben respectively.  Along with my fellow members of PRT, these five, along with Thyra´s absent fella Rocky/Ben I would count among the true friends I made on trail. I started on the same day as the Portlanders, and had shared some of my favourite PCT experiences with them, the pre trail couple of days at Scout and Frodo´s, as well as the Kick Off event a week into the trail. With Angel and Ben I shared the Sierra High Route and Yosemite National Park, and with Thyra and Ben I endured the hardship that was Northern California from Lake Britton to Ashland in Orgeon, celebrating with them as we crossed the border together. I didn´t do any hiking with Mark and Ashleigh that i can think of, but I bumped into them all the way up the trail. The first time i remember them was at the Deep Creek hot springs when i offered them some of a canteloupe melon that one of PRT had kindly added to my rucksack, and at the end of the trail these two had slacked me during my arduous 200 mile road walk.  Weirdly though, Mark and Ashleigh had never met the Portlanders, I was the link between them all. As we sat and ate breakfast we came to the conclusion that the closest the two groups had been been to one another was at Kennedy Meadows, with a gap of only a couple hours or so if my memory serves me, but that was it. I still struggle to comprehend this.

A day or so later we met up again at the Kennedy School, a former secondary school in Portland that has been converted into a complex of bars and restaurants, it was very cool. We were joined at the Kennedy School by FunSize and Puppy, aka Grady and Caroline. I didn´t spend enough time hiking with Grady to know him well unfortunately, but he and Cuddles, the cellist who normally goes by the name Mark were among the most entertaining on trail. Caroline was definitely one of the most interesting person on trail by quite a long way. I met her first at Barrel Springs towards the end of the first week where I remember spending some time chattting to her as we waited out the hot hot sun of Southern California. I bumped into many times all the way up to Crater Lake in Oregon, where I hiked with her for a day before we parted ways on the rim of the former volcanoe. There are no 'weak' successful thru-hikers, but if i had to draw up a list of who i would consider the ´strongest' hikers she would certainly be in contention for the top spot, mentally and physically as there is no separation, in my mind at least, between male and female hikers, so I don´t make distinction, a strong hiker is a strong hiker. Puppy was living for the time being on a boat on the river, and was finding readjustment difficult. She was initially staying inside the boat, but found sleeping indoor to weird so now was sleeping on deck exposed to the elements. Such is the difficulty of readjustment. That evening I also managed to see Ben, formally Rocky, who hadn't been at the breakfast a couple of days before. The reason he hadn't been there is that he'd been at work. I literally could not fathom what that must have been like. Difficult, difficult lemon difficult i imagine. That evening was the last i spent with such a group of hikers, and i was racked by a bizarre mix of emotions as i fell to sleep back at Ashleigh's parents house later. Readjustment was going to be difficult for me too i had no doubt, but I was glad that i would be taking it slowly.

The next eveningI was set up to start the next leg of my adventure which would start out from San Diego, but in between Portland and there was a long, long bus ride. I said goodbye to Ashleigh and Mark, and was seen off at the Greyhound station by Angela and Ben as i got on the bus that would take me south. On the bus I slept as much as i could, and don´t remember a great deal of that first night, so i must have done a good job of sleeping through it. But I remember waking up sometime in the night to look out of the window and see the massive hulk that was Mt Shasta gleeming in the light of the moon. I tried to keep awake as we went past the sections of motorway that i passed all those weeksago, but I didn´t make i and sank back into inconsiousness lulled by the rhythmic rocking motion of the bus.

Later that day the bus made its way down through Southern California and as it did the terrain turned back into the scrub and chapparel that i remember so well. At some point on the outskirts of LA we must have been on section of it that i had already seen as i went on an excursion to an REI outlet from Agua Dulce the home of the Saufley´s and the Vasquez Rocks, but one piece of motorway and suburb looks much like the last so i don't remember. As we drove though I tried to crane my head back to get a glimpse of the San Gabriel mountains that I hiked through during that first month, but the low lying smog and haze obscured any such views unfortunately and i turned back to staring at the rivers of traffic snaking their way throughout the area like arteries pumping blood around the colossal urban area of LA.

Some more hours later I was off the bus in San Diego where it had all started for me. Before my bus journey i had thought about getting back in touch with Scout and Frodo to see if they would put me up for the night. I have no doubt that they would have done, but it wouldn´t have felt right somehow so i got a series of bus and trams across the city to the Shelter Island Marina, which would be my home for the next week as I prepared to start my next adventure.

Day 166 : Mexico to Canada

13th October 2013
Ironhorse trail to Snoqualamie Pass
Mileage : 32
I have hiked from Mexico to Canada. Over the last : 166 days i have hiked almost 2700 miles from Mexico to Canada. My hike ended at the Snoqualamie Pass Summit Inn Pancake House. My feet hurt.

Day 165 : The penultimate day

12th October 2013
Forest Road 7320 to the Iron Horse Trail
Mileage : 32

Today dragged on and on and on. The first 10 miles were spent hiking along a peaceful forest road tracing the former route through this section of the cascades. It was wonderful to be away from the noise of the traffic if only for a few short hours. Soon enough though I was back on the hard shoulder hiking along the hard tarmac. As if the hiking wasn't difficult enough I had to stop and deal with a blister. The last time I had a blister was over 2000 miles ago in Souther California as my feet slowly adapted to the rigors of the trail. Over the last few weeks though i have spent a considerable amount of time not on trail, and no doubt my feet started to soften up. With my blister popped and covered, I continued on my way until eventually, as the light was fading I made to the start of the Iron Horse trail which would lead me up all the way up to Snoqualamie Pass, tomorrow I would finish my hike!

Day 164 : Traffic

11th October 2013
Wenatchee to Forest Road 7320
Mileage : 30

Today was a harrowing day most of which was spent walking along the hard shoulder of heavily trafficed dual carriageway. For the most part the hard shoulder was about the width of a car, but the camber was such that it was actually quite hard to walk on without stressing my ankles repeatedly. The closer I was to the traffic, the more level the shoulder, so I walked as close as I dared keeping a close eye on each and every vehicle that zoomed towards me. If a large truck came close, I could step off to one side down the shoulder avoiding the worst of the buffeting that follows each truck, but then I would return back up close to the traffic where the going was easiest on my ankles. Every few miles or so the road would cross over the Wenatchee river, which is where things would get really hairy. The hard shoulder would be reduced to maybe a metre, with no pedestrian crossing resulting in me having to flatten myself against the barriers whenever a massive truck would come hurtling by, which happened more times than i cared to count. As well as the adrenaline inducing bridges spaced along the road, were stomach churning grotesquely contorted remains of deer that had met their end attempting to cross the road. It was a cruel and apt reminder of what would happen if i lost concentration on that rd for even a moment. I continued in this fashion for about 6 hours before I turned off the dual carriageway onto a single-laned road with a wide shoulder, less traffic, and fewer deer. Another 4 hours later and I was done for the day the junction of a forest road that would let me cut a few miles off the next day's hike, and also give me 10 miles of hiking along peaceful forest forest away from the noise and stress of the traffic. 2 days to go!

Day 163 : Scrumping

10th October 2013
Beebie Bridge to Wenatchee
Mileage : 30

I was determined to do a higher mile day today than i had done yesterday, but it was tough. The road walk was starting to take its toll on me, and i only managed 30 miles before the light was falling and Frosty picked me up again. I started off strong, but the pace was difficult to maintain, especially given the hot sun, and the complete lack of any cover whatsoever. The route was lined with apple orchards which were teaming with crews picking the autumn harvest, and given as the fruit was in such abundance, i helped myself to one or two apples surreptitiously when there was no-one around. Frosty and Goldielocks had left some soft drinks and water for me at about the halfway mark, but stupidly i missed it. While at the Winthrop hostel Goldenboy had given me the audiobooks to Game of Thrones, and although I've read the first two books and seen the show i listened to it anyway, and was so absorbed in the story i walked straight passed the little cairn marking the magic they had left without noticing. During the day I organised to stay with the parents of fellow hiker Rafiki who lived in Wenatchee, so after getting back into the car after another long day on the road we drove into Wenatchee proper to find our accommodation for the night. I am ashamed to say have completely forgotten Rafiki's parents names, but will edit this blog to include them as soon as I find them out, i did however get a picture of them which i will upload as soon as I have Internet connection strong enough to do so. Rafiki's parents held the angel bar high that night as they fed and watered the three of us before we bedded down for an early night. I am pushing myself as hard as I can on the road, and it shows, after about 9pm I can scarcely keep my eyes open, and fell asleep pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow, i slept for about 9 hours straight before the alarm went off for the third last day of my hike from Mexico to Canada.

Day 162 : Frosty and Goldielocks

9th October 2013
Pateros to Beebie Bridge
Mileage : 33
This morning i was picked up again by Jan who took me back to where i had gotten dropped off the day before, but instead of heading north back down to Winthrop, i was finally heading south towards Chelan, Wenatchee, Snoqualamie Pass and the end of my PCT adventure. After two days of slackpacking, my knees could feel the extra weight when i pulled on my pack that morning, but thankfully it wasn't for long. Frosty and Goldielocks, whom i had seen finish a few days before at Manning Park, had decided they would help me with logistics for the last part of my hike, and were due to slack me the entire way to Snoqualamie Pass. It was just after midday when i saw their car pull up in front of me on the hard shoulder of the highway. They had come prepared with soft drinks, doughnuts, chocolate, and much more, but more importantly, the had come with wheels. Having a car meant that a) I could slackpack, b) that they would be able to pick me up at the end of each day and whisk me off to whatever campsite they had found, and c) whisk me back to the road the next morning. I know I would have managed without them, but it would have been much, much more difficult, so I am incredibly grateful to have had them drive all the way from Vancouver (Washington not Canada) and provide logistical support for me. Soon after meeting Frosty and Glocks, I bumped into a group of thru-hikers in fancy dress coming the other way on their way to the Canadian border at Osoyoos, having started from Steven's Pass. It would have been good fun hiking with them, but they were not going my way, and were only covering about 20 miles a day and I didn't want to drag the road walk out any longer than was absolutely necessary, so i wished them all luck and carried on south. That evening Frosty and Glocks picked me up just after I crossed over the Mighty Columbia River as the light was starting to fade. They had purloined a High Vis vest for me to wear as I walked, and i was glad to have it as I walked along the hard shoulder a metre or so away from the traffic wizzing towards me. I had a sneeking suspicion that I hadn't gone as far as I would have liked, but it was far enough for today. We headed into Chelan for some calories before turning in for the night at a local campsite having closed the the gap by about another 30 miles, and by this time tomorrow I would have less than 100 miles til the end of the PCT.

Day 161 : Back to Winthrop

8th October 2013
Pateros to Winthrop
Mileage : 35

Teresa wasn't able to give me a ride this morning unfortunately, but instead she had arranged for two of her neighbours, Paul and Jan, to give me ride.  As Teresa had promised at 7am there was a car outside the hostel waiting to take me off towards Pateros. The plan today was to hike back to Winthrop one more time in order for me to take advantage of the hostel, and avoid having to stealth camp by the side of the road, and also to enable me to slack pack and therefore cover more miles. After a quick stop at a local coffeeshop/ bakery i was speeding down the road towards Pateros chatting with Paul and Jan about the trail. As i sat there sipping my coffee and eating my pastry in the warmth of the car, i reflected that, although in some ways my hike has gone pear-shaped in the past few weeks, in others i have been fortunate to the point where it beggars belief. Here i was sitting in the car of two complete strangers who had agreed to help me out on the insistence of their neighbour. It was incredible, and no less so when i thought about it from their perspective, agreeing to pick up a single guy from a hostel that they'd never met and agree to drive him 35 miles down the road at 7 in the morning. The way the trail provides is downright spooky at times. I realised very early on during my hike that although i enjoy the nature and wilderness element more than i know how to describe, i enjoy the human element even more than that, an this morning was the perfect example of that. I could have sat in the car chatting to Paul and Jan all day, but all too soon it was time to get out and start the long hike back to Winthrop. I thanked the couple for their help that morning, watched them drive away, and then set off. Most of the day was spent listening to an audiobook, Game of Thrones if anyone is interested, and the time passed quickly as i lost myself in the story. For a good portion of the day i managed to walk along quiet country roads enabling me to lose myself in the book without too much fear of getting run over line the many deer that unfortunately were dotted along the route every few miles. After what seemed like only a couple hours i was walking, if not hobbling after 35 road miles, back into Winthrop. Going passed the town supermarket i decided pop in and get some stuff for dinner whereupon i was surrounded by several guys about my age that had overtaken me in their car a little while earlier, and couldn't quite believe their ears when i told tten i was finishing up a Mexico to Canada thru-hike. After much insistence on my part, the finally agreed i must be telling the truth and all.wanted.to have their pictures taken with me. I am now a minor celebrity it would seem. My 15 minutes over i covered the final few hundred metres back to the hostel slowly as i began to seize up from the cold of the supermarket's air-conditioning and reflected that it had been a good day, and i hoped the next would be similar.

Day 160 : The road walk begins

7th October 2013
Rainy Pass to Winthrop
mileage : 35

Today i started the 225 mile hike from Rainy Pass to Snoqualamie Pass. My alarm went off just after 6am and i gathered what i needed for the day before jumping in he car for the ride up to the pass. My ride today was thanks to Teresa, a local trail angel who has been living in Winthrop for a few years now and has been acting as an angel for some time. After a quick stop at the local coffee shop we were climbing up into the mountains once again. I was deposited safe and sound at the top of the pass and after having thanked Teresa profusely for her kindness started along the the road back towards Winthrop. Although i easy on the road and not the trail, it felt great to be hiking once again, and finally on my way toward the finish line. Since making my decision to continue the hike my morale has had a huge boost. Unfortunately i won't be finishing the hike as i had originally anticipated, but at least i would finish on my own terms, and crucially i would have my continuous Mexico to Canada thru-hike. It took 10 hours exactly to hike the 35 miles to Winthrop, and by the end of it my feet and and leg muscles were hot, tired and sore, yet i felt good. About 2 miles from the end i called out to a passing cyclist to ask him how far i still had to go, and to my surprise an english accented voice replied. The cyclist,whose name was Derek, was slowly touring round the Northwest on his bike and was doing a short day cycle up the road and back. His company helped distract me from the pain in my feet and we swapped stories for a while as we entered the town before having dinner together at a local Mexican restaurant where i went to fill.up on homemade guacamole among other tasty treats. After so many miles i was struggling to stay awake, and finally had to makey way back to the hostel and get some rest before  doing it all.again tomorrow.

Day 159 : The hike continues

6th October 2013
No miles

Today i set about planning the final leg of my PCT hike. Having arrived last night in Winthrop at silly o'clock in the morning i didn't get a full nights sleep, but nevertheless was up early planning my road walk. Google maps informed me the totally.distance was 225 miles. A long way, but i was committed to doing it. It felt better than i had in weeks as i planned out my route, knowing that in a week's time I'd finally completed my hike. Given how unpleasant road walking is i wanted to slackpack as much as possible thus reducing the pain on my feet so planned for me first day to leave my rucksack and most of my stuff at the hostel, get a ride up to the pass, and hike back to the hostel. At the hostel i tracked down a number for a local trail angel, and very soon had my ride sorted. Logistics planning complete i spent the rest of the day catching up with some north bound hikers informing them as best i could about the conditions up on the trail. I also caught up with my blog, which i know has suffered over the last few days, and had time to read the comments and words of encouragement so many of you have been writing on my blog and Facebook. My thanks to you all for these comments, the last few days have been very difficult, but the encouraging comments you've all left help make up my mind to join up the missing dots and finally finish my PCT hike.

Day 158 : A return to Winthrop

5th October 2013
No miles

To all my readers who have been following my blog over the last 5.5 months i want to first thank you all for reading it, and  apologise for my erratic behaviour over the last few weeks. I have no doubt that the quality of what i have been writing over the last few weeks has suffered greatly as a result the emotional rollercoaster i have been riding since i got back on trail at White Pass. I don't tend to articulate my feelings well at the best of times, and have really struggled to keep up the entries while the events the past couple of weeks unfolded. In a month or two i will try and re-write some of them, but for the moment all i can do is apologise and hope you understand.

After a lazy morning Peter Pan, Hoop Dreams, Dishcloth and myself packed up or stuff and checked out of the motel. They were all headed north into Canada for a few days, and i was headed back to Seattle before continuing back down to San Diego, from where a new adventure would begin for me (more on this later). Yesterday i had bumped into Bob and Kelley, Jess' parents, at Manning Park who were there to meet Jess as she came of the trail. Being the wonderful people that they are they immediately offered me a ride back to Seattle so all i had to do was hitch back across to Manning Park and meet up with them. Hitch complete i was back in the lobby of the lodge milling about and chatting to various family members of hikers that were due in that evening. It was here that i bumped into Chosen One, and had my all my plans turned on their head. Chosen one had hiked on his own from Hart's Pass through waist deep snow to finish his PCT odyssey and was close to tears as he came to terms with it all. He had broken trail for 3 days in waist deep snow all on his own in an attempt to get to the monument i time to meet up with a friend who had been filming him all the way up. His friend, whose name i forget, told me that they were headed back to Winthrop that evening and that I'd be welcome to join them if i wanted a ride. As he said this i decided my PCT was not quite over. One reason i had decided that it was over was that logistically it would have been a nightmare to get back to Winthrop, from where i could continue hiking south to connect the dots from Rainy Pass to Snoqualamie Pass and finally finish my hike from Mexico to Canada. These guys however, had just provided me with a way to get some real closure. Right from outset my goal has always been to hike a continuous line from Mexico to Canada, not worrying too much if i missed little bits of the PCT as long as a line of footprints remained intact. From Snoqualamie Pass, i skipped first up to White Pass and the Dinsmore's, and then up to Winthrop and Rainy Pass from where i hiked into Canada. So in order to connect the dots i would need to road walk over 200 miles, a daunting prospect, but there and then i resolved to do it. Before heading back down to the US a big group arrived from the border including Jess and Hercules, and also Goldielocks and Frosty. They all looked totally done in by their experience out in the snow, but i was thoroughly jealous. Seeing them finish successfully hardened my resolve to do the road miles and finally finish the PCT. Having said goodbye to everyone, Chosen One, his friend, Rafiki and myself started the long drive south to the border arriving back at the Winthrop hostel sometime just after 3am. i was unbelievably tired when i finally climbed into and fell asleep almost instantly content to at last being on course to finish my continuous hike from Mexico to Canada.

Day 157 : The monument

4th October 2013
Manning Park to the northern terminus of the PCT on the US-Mexican border, and back again
Mileage : 16

I made up my mind this morning to accept that my PCT adventure was over. I have hiked about 2460 miles over the course of about 5.5 months, and should feel proud of my accomplishment. The final thing we had left.to do was to go to the border monument and have our pictures taken at the border, so we got up early, drove to Manning Park and started the final hike on the PCT. The PCT terminates at the Canadian border, but as the border crossing is in the wilderness there is an eight mile hike from there to Manning Park in British Columbia, but obviously for US it was an out and back hike starting and finishing at Manning Park. The weather was absolutely gorgeous for that final hike. Cold and clear, with stunning views of the snow-capped Cascade Mountains it was the perfect way to say goodbye to the trail. We covered the 8 miles to the border and soon enough arrived at the monument. It was a bittersweet moment when saw it. I have seen the monument so many times in countless blogs that i read prior to my hike, and couldn't quite believe that i was there. I didn't know if my mixed emotions were due to how i finished my hike, or simply due to the fact that my adventure was over. Nevertheless i was glad to have gotten there at all and to be done with it all. Many photos later it was time leave it all behind and return to Manning Park, and the next adventure, whatever that might be. Arriving back in Manning Park we had dinner with Cuddles, Atlas, Aloha and Toots and enjoyed a final dinner among friends. Before long though it was time to head back to Hope, and say goodbye to Manning Park, and that night i slept better as i slowly started to accept that my hike was truly over.

Day 156 : Canada

3rd October 2013
May Creek to Canada
Mileage : 27

Today i hiked from the USA into Canada. My day started late as i only had about 25ish miles to the border and knew i would make it before dark. Eventhough i didn't get moving til 9am i didn't see anyone come past me, which i thought was weird. I didn't see anyone all day as i made my way through the forest towards the border until finally appearing almost right on the border to find a back country ranger, and a pair of hikers Two Bad Dogs, that i hadn't seen since Tehachapi. The three of them told me the only hikers they'd seen were Cuddles and Atlas who were about an hour ahead of me, so i guessed all the others were behind me, which was plausible given how late i hiked the night before. The ranger told me the border was technically closed, but seemed totally perturbed that i would cross anyway. I continued up a gravel road to the head of Ross Lake and the border, and crossed into Canada at 6:30pm. The crossing was decidedly nondescript, with just one sign saying i was crossing an international boundary and that was it. The whole experience was weirdly anticlimatic. On the other side of the crossing sat Aloha who had driven almost 400 miles to pick up hikers crossing the border. After a few congratulatory hugs he explained what had happened with the rangers at the road the day before, and it was not good. The rangers had indeed been there to stop us hikers from crossing the border, and i was the last of only 5 hikers to make it through. I felt gutted for the others, to have gotten all the way from Mexico to Rainy Pass and then get turned back  30 miles from the border. On the way back to Hope, where PRT was staying we passed Cuddles and Atlas road walking out from the border into Canada. These two were determined to hike from monument to monument, and so had another 50 more road miles to do to get back to the actual PCT monument, i though was content to have just made it to Canada, and had no intention of hiking a step farther into Canada than was absolutely necessary. A while later i met up with Diahcloth, Peter Pan and Hoopdreams in the motel they'd gotten in order to find out their plans. They had decided not to go back qjd do any road walking, so for them the PCT was over. For me though, i was in two minds. A large part of me was totally done with the PCT, the emotional and physical rollercoaster which i had endured over the previous 10 days had taken its toll.on me, and i had little to no desire to hike even one more mile of the PCT. But another, much smaller part of me knew that i would regret not hiking those final road miles, regardless of the pain would entail. I tried ti put i from my mind and had a few beers with the others reminiscing about our adventure over the last 5 months. Falling asleep that night i tried to feel pour of my accomplishment, but that feeling didn't really surface. Mostly i felt robbed and drained, robbed of the feeling of accomplishment that i should have been feeling and drained of any emotion with which to feel robbed. I mostly just felt tired. It was not the end that i had envisaged.

Day 155 : The border push

2nd October 2013
Rainy Pass to May Creek
Mileage : 27

We were all up early today doing final preparations for the push to the Canadian border. Having arrived so late last night i didn't know what the plan was so assumed.id be out for about 4 days and packed accordingly. It turned out the plan was to take an alternate route into Canada from Rainy Pass along Ross Lake, for a total distance of 50 miles. Nobody was really happy about doing this alternate, but it seemed like the only option, and for.me with my plethora of injuries it was definitely my only option. A convoy of cars left that.morning taking about 25 people up to Rainy Pass from where we would start. The snowline was pretty much at the pass where there was 3 inches of snow, but thankfully ir would mean that as soon as we started the road walk we'd be out of it. The group headed down the road was about 15 strong with the remainder out to try their luck out on the trail. Although a small.part of me was glad not to be going out there into the snow, i was mostly envious of them for giving it a go. I'd like to think if my body was in better shape, i would have gone with them, but i knew the alternate was the right decision for me given my particular circumstances. After many hugs and photos, with groups went their.separate ways, with me bringing up the rear of the road group. The road walk, although only 20 miles, was tough, but at least it was fast. I tried to distract myself with music and podcasts, but it was still tough. Many hours later i was done with the road walk and was sorting out my rucksack in the shelter of a small outhouse with a couple of other hikers including Kazu and and Shedder. Just as i had packed up everything a couple of park rangers pulled up and started talking to people at the cars just out of earshot. I think it was Shedder who was standing right next to me and said "i wonder if they're here to stop us hiking". I panicked. For those readers that don't know, the US government at the moment is closed for business, and that includes the national parks. There are a great many things that i like very much about the US, a couple things that i don't, and one or two things that i just don't get, and this includes the US political system. I will spare you all further ramblings on this, but the shutdown for us hikers meant that trails in national parks are closed. 30 seconds after Shedder had spoken i had my rucksack on and was disappearing down the trail into the forest and away from the rangers before they spotted me. For the rest of the day i headed on my own through the rain and wet forest along the edge of Ross Lake towards Canada. I was trying to catch Cuddles and Atlas, who were only a little way ahead of me, but i never did as my.pace was.slowed by my knee. The dark enveloped me more quickly that i was expecting and had to finish in the pitch dark getting my feet drenched in the last 100 metres fording a ranging river at my campsite. I set up my camp in through rain and crawled into my tent perhaps for the last time before i crossed the border the next day into Canada.

Day 154 : Compromise

1st October 2013
No miles

I decided today upon a compromise that should allow me to finish my hike. Over the last few days the weather conditions have gotten worse and worse, with so sign of improvement. Information fact the weather is supposed to start to clear from about wednesday, but that actually that does not change.much. Weather aside, the snow is probably.too deep up there.to be crossed in hiking gear in time to escape the next front. Andrew Dinsmore told the hikers.today that someone.from.the local Search and Rescue would be coming to speak to us all on Wednesday to tell us not to hike outstanding  from Steven's Pass/Skykomish. Have decides.already that.i won't do that, for several reasons: a) my knee, although improving slightly, is nowhere near 100% and so i might struggle more than the average hiker and so could put myself.in real danger; b) the window probably wouldn't be long enough to make it to the border so I'd be stuck again but this time closer to the border; and finally d) the conditions are very bad out there, and to go out into them thinking i am an invincible hiker and then to call for help would mean putting other people at risk due to my own arrogance. The other none hiking reason I've decided to not hike from.Steven's Pass that it is driving me crazy sitting here doing nothing having the same cyclical conversation again and again and again with all through assembled hikers. I have therefore decided to hitch up towards Winthrop, a small.town close.to the Canadian border on Hwy 20 which leads up to the trail at Rainy Pass. I have heard that there are two lower route options being considered by the multitude of hikers encamped at this town, and i plan on tagging along with one if these groups. I said goodbye to Jerry and Andrea Dinsmore thanking them profusely for everything they had done, and set about hitching across the mountains towards Winthrop. It took all day to get to a place called Chelan, at the bottom of a lake of the same name. The town and lake are of little consequence, except.for the fact that at the other end of the lake lies Stehekin. Stehekin is the last town on the trail before Canada. It is only accessible by trail, plane, or by a 4 hour boat ride up the lake. It is supposed to be a beautiful place, but i won't be going there so i am trying not to think about it. Many hours later i had made it to Winthrop, thanks largely to DishCloth who came to pick me up from Chelan. Winthrop, being the closest town to the trail accessible by road was full of hikers waiting out the weather. The weather showed no real signs of abating, with groups of hikers being turned back everyday, today being no exception. Arriving so late i didn't really have an opportunity to influence plans, so just decided to.go along with whatever was planned.for tomorrow as i started the push to the Canadian border.

Days 150 to 153 : The Dinsmore's Hiker Haven

27th-30th September 2013
No miles

I have lumped all these posts together as there has been little change from day to day. The weather is poor, and morale is dropping with more and more hikers calling it quits every day. Sykomish, the closest small town to the trail had 8 inches of rain over the weekend, and there is no end to the rain in sight. I do not know what to do. Most of those hikers that live relatively close to the trail are planning to come back and do these sections when there is better weather, but that is not an option for me, I wish it were. There is no easy solution to the problems at hand. All the locals agree this is unseasonably bad weather, setting records for precipitation in Seattle for the month of September, and that the weather should improve in about a week. But most of us, and myself included, can't wait a week. Firstly it costs money to wait, secondly I only have so long left on my visa, and thirdly I have other commitments after the trail, so there is a limit on how long i can wait. The weather reports suggest that there could be as much as 2 foot of snow in the high mountains, for which no-one is really prepared. The snow on its own is problem enough, even if the conditions were perfect the snow would slow things down and make navigation an issue, but the blizzard conditions on the trail right now are making things dangerous. Hiker numbers at the Dinsmore's are growing as people are forced to turn back and seek shelter, but some are trying to brave it out there still, most notably Shotput and Pepperflake. They are still out there and no-one has heard from them in 3 days, i hope they are ok. It doesn't seem like the trail will be passable for at least a few more days. So again i have a tough decision to make. I can wait out the weather and then start back out from Steven's Pass and hope the trail isn't too tough, I can skip to Stehekin and hope the trail is passable there, I can skip farther to Rainy or Hart's Pass and just do the final few miles just to get a picture of me at the border, or I can give up. I don't like the idea of giving up, but also I don't know if a picture of me at the border will have less value if i haven't hiked the whole way. I do not know what to do.

Day 149 : A tough decision

26th September 2013
Mile 2393 to mile 2402 : Miller Lake to Snoqualamie Pass
Mileage : 9
My ankle felt better today, my wrist and knee did not. The first couple of miles went well, and my mood was the highest it had been since Chinook Pass thanks in part to the patchy blue sky overhead. Perhaps the weather was going to break just as predicted. My good mood ebbed fairly quickly as the pain in my knee increased with each mile that i hiked. It took about 5 hours to hike the 9 miles into Snoqualamine Pass, but finally i got there. I hobbled straight across to the Snoqualamie Summit Inn to find Peter Pan, Hoop Dreams and Bob, Hoop Dreams' dad preparing to leave. We were all glad to see each other and discussed our hiking options for the next section. It appeared that there would be no let up in the weather for the foreseeable future, infact it would be very bad for as long as anyone could tell. This coupled with my bad knee meant i would not be hiking out that day. Peter Pan and Hoop Dreams however were determined to hike however, so Bob took them up to the nearby trailhead leaving me to have lunch with Fireball, who was staying at the Inn. We talked about our hiking prospects for the next few days and the only thing that we could reasonably conclude is that there was no easy answer. I made the difficult decision to skip up to at least Steven's Pass, cutting out the next immediate section of about 75 miles. I did not feel good about this decision. From the Mexican border up to my present PCT mileage of 2402 miles there is an unbroken line of my footprints, but no farther. With my knee injured to continue up the trail would be very painful, even in ideal hiking conditions, but in the current conditions however it could be very dangerous indeed. The only to keep warm in bad conditions is to keep moving, and i would struggle to do that with my knee and would therefore risk hypothermia. Given that i thought my knee pain was ligament or tendon based, it would take days if not weeks to heal properly, and to spend days and days waiting at the hostel for an injury that might not heal is not financially viable. I decided there therefor that skipping the section was the only way i would stay on the trail. Bob very kindly offered to take me up to a trail angel's house in the small town of Baring, where some trail angels are located about 20 miles west of the trail, so off we went after wishing Hoop Dreams and Peter Pan all the best for their hike out from Snoqualamie Pass. I wished i was wish them.
About 2 hours later Bob dropped me off at the Dinsmore's Hiker Haven, and i was introduced fairly quickly to Andrea and Jerry, the extremely kind trail angels who many years ago turned their expansive garage into a hostel for hikers preparing for the last sections of the trail. At the Dinsmore's i reunited with Chick-Chack, Starfox and Mr Green, all of whom had been there since they left White Pass about 4 days ago. They, along with many other hikers had made themselves at home in the very cosy hikers and made the best of the bad situation. Andrea Dinsmore, aka Mama Dinsmore, did not have good news about the weather. As i was given the form, she stressed the importance of me filling out a next of kin form with all my contact details, along with descriptions of all my equipment and clothing so I could be identified if the worst happened. The form was enough to scare us all, and if it wasn't enough she kept retelling a scare story about a hiker a few years back who went out with 5 days worth of food, and finally made it into Stehekin after 17 days. It did not make everyone feel good. As the weather report was not good at all i resigned myself to staying for a couple days at least, and therefore tried to relax and not get too stressed about the whole situation, there would be plenty of time for that over the next few days.

Day 148 : An equally bad day

25th September 2013
Mile 2372 to mile 2393 : Tacoma Pass to Miller Lake
Mileage : 21

I wish i could say that today was better than the day before, but it wasn't really. I wasn't really motivated when i got up, but knew the only way i was going to get off the trail was to continue down it, and that was still 30 miles farther down the trail. So off i went as fast as my ankle and and knee would allow me to move. I surprised myself by managing a full 21 miles before deciding to call a halt on the far shore of Miller Lake, 9 miles.short of Snoqualamie Pass. Perhaps i could have pushed harder and gotten the miles done, but my priority was not doing more damage than was already done, and i wanted to stop in time to set up camp and my shelter in the light, and was pleased with my progress today eventhough i did a lot less than i should have done.

Day 147 : The worst day

24th September 2013
Mile 2356 to mile 2372 : Urich Cabin to Tacoma Pass
Mileage : 16
What should have been a night of deep restorative sleep was not, due to a female hiker who shall remain nameless who arrived after us and then snored more loudly than anyone i have ever encountered in my life, ever. There are few things in life which affect my morale as acutely as someone depriving me of sleep when i too am trying to sleep. I did not sleep well. Thanks to the presence of the fire though, all my things were dry in the morning when i finally got up and about, but that was about the only positive thing about the day. I didn't get hiking until just after 9am, and pretty much straight away the pain in my left ankle and right knee was severe. After about a mile i had to stop on a forest road and decide what to do. The pain was so much i could not manage more than about 1 mile per hour, and i had no idea if that could be sustained. Snoqualamie Pass was 45 miles along the trail, and that is along way at 1 mile per hour. I decided first to tape up my ankle, as that was giving the most pain. Not having a razor i had to snip the hairs of my leg off so that the tape would stick properly and i wouldn't have to do it a second time. The tape helped massively, but there wasn't enough to do my knee, so the only thing to do was to carry on and hope it was managable. It was not. Another couple of miles farther up the trail i had to stop again and sort out my knee. It hurt mostly on descents when swinging the knee forward before placing my foot with the pain mostly concentrating on the lower, inner face of the kneecap. Luckily i was carrying a fair amount of duct-tape with me, so decided to use that in lieu of proper medical tape. So again i sat a carefully snipped all the hairs off my knee before applying the tape. As i have not experienced this pain before, i don't know if any of what i was doing actually had any effect at all, but i had to hope that it did. After mummifying my knee as best i could, i hobbled on. I was fortunate that day thahat there was no rain, well not torential rain at least. Late in the afternoon i had come about 12 miles when i just had to stop, and just as i did i met two south boundrs who told me there was some magic at the bottom of the next hill. I resolved to make it to the magic, stop there for the night and re-evaluate my situation in the morning. Unfortuantely for me, the hiking gods weren't finished me and had more injuries to throw my way. This time though it was my upper bodies time to sufffer, specifically my right wrist. My hiking poles today were invaluable in helping me avoid putting weight on my ankle and knee, and clearly the gods were not happy with me escaping pain that easily, and so they contrived to make life even more difficult. My right wrist began to hurt and swell massively as i gripped the hiking pole, and before long i was unable to grip it at all. This meant i had to hobble down the last descent with only my left pole, and un able to give my knee the extra support it needed. It took a long time to get down. About halfway down, i saw a note from Peter Pan and HoopDreams to say they were stopping at an abandoned weather station that night just over 10 miles farther up the trail. There was absolutely no chance i'd be joining them. Eventually the descent was over and I rested at the base of the climb looking for somewhere to string up my tarp. I did so and started my evening routine, grateful for the lack of rain. About half an hour after stopping, Fireball turned up. He was sad to hear of my woes, but there was little he could do about it save give me some extra strapping tape as mine was running out. I was feeling pretty defeated at this stage and was glad of someone to talk to. His advice was 'kiss the monument'. He said in his view we had all come so far up the trail that skipping up to the monument section would not be the end of the world. I seem to be one of the few hikers bent on a continuous hike, which he well knew, and he said i would have to accept that this was no longer possible. He said i should take some time off, wait for my knee to heal up enough to make it to the border and get there any way i could. It was sage advice, but i wasn't ready to hear it. At the same time though i was tempted to put a sign by the road in the hope it would be seen by a passing car, of which there were few, and jump in it regardless of where it was going. Fireball had a couple more miles to do before stopping, so left me to my thoughts as he disappeared up the trail. All I could do was hope that everything would be feeling up to another long day on the PCT tomorrow.

Day 146 : Injury

23rd September 2013
Mile 2333 to mile 2356 : Chinook Pass to Urich Shelter
Mileage : 23
I was annoyed this morning that my sleeping bag hadn't dried out overnight from my body heat. I was too tired to be annoyed when i discovered it was wet in the first place as i got ready for bed last night, but now i was annoyed. My sleeping bag was wet because a) my rucksack cover is useless , and b) my rucksack liner is also useless. I bought these two items with the express purpose that they keep my stuff dry, but the are patently failing miserably. My warm kit, including my.sleeping bag has a goose down fill as the insulating material, which is superb when dry, and dangerous when wet as it loses all its heat retention properties. Survival in the mountains during bad weather is therefore dependant on keeping this warm kit dry, and last night my sleeping bag, the key lifesaving bit of kit in an emergency, was more than a little damp. As is often the case in mountaineering/hiking equipment, low tech, low cost solutions often out-perform the latest and greatest offering from the big brand names. For my sleeping bag i triple wrapped it in standard shopping bags, and then lined my rurucksack with 2 thick bin bags. It certainly isn't chic, but it works. On a similar note, Shotput and Pepperflake, whom i would see in a couple days for the first time since the Californian border bad solved the wet glove problem. Again it appears that waterproof gloves are rarely so with prolonged exposure to the elements, with my perhaps frostnipped fingers proving the qualities of my own gloves. Shotput and Pepperflake therefore decided an outer layer of household cleaning gloves would help keep their hands dry and therefore warm. Another example of low tech beating high tech. Although i would adopt this in the future, for the coming section i would have to put up with perenially cold and wet hands. Dishcloth dropped Peter Pan, HoopDreams and myself off at the pass and after a small amount of procrastinating, wet set off up the trail. Thankfully it didn't rain too hard today, but even so the constant drizzle, mist, cold an.occasional wind made for unpleasant hiking. For my part, the unpleasantness descended into misery rapidly from the get go. The ankle issue i had felt the night before had not gone away, infact.it.had gotten much, much worse. I must have turned/strained/sprained/twisted it pretty badly yesterday, and for whatever reason was taking its time to surface. But surface it did during the hike today getting worse and worse with each passing mile. I tried to console myself by remembering my.previous ankle issues in the desert 2000 miles ago that as long as i treated it gently, and didn't subject it to too much stress, it would get better in a few days. These thoughts did little to comfort me in the short term however. One thing i have learned about my body when it comes to pain is that it is unable to multi-task, and so my ankle pain actually went away for a lot of the day as it was replaced by something much, much worse : knee pain. About 15 miles in to the hike all was sort of going well, when suddenly my right knee started to hurt. To be specific it was the outward face.if the kneecap that hurt whenever i would bend the knee. For the first few miles after i noticed the pain there was mere discomfort, no great problem as discomfort is all to often the name of the game when it comes to thru-hiking. Soon though, the pain became really noticeable and i became seriously worried. Had the weather been better i would have slowed the pace down, but had i gone any slower i would not have been able to stat warm. Also, the finishline for the day was an actual shelter with a rumoured wood burning stove, i would just have to put up with the pain til i got there. Get i did just after sundown, and it was worth all the fast hiking with my two injuries. The fire was roaring when i arrived, and before long Pan, Hoopdreams and I were thawing out in front of the fire chatting about the day while watching the.steam rising from all our wet hiking clothes strewn all around the fire. We were pretty unaltered andbhit the hay early for some well deserved rest prior to doing it all again the next day, only this time without the cosy cabin at the end of it.

Day 145 : The beginning of the end

22nd September 2013
Mile 2304 to mile 2333 : White Pass to Chinook Pass
Mileage : 29
Although i am already 150 miles into the state, it feels like i am.starting Washington today. I wanted to get an early start and finish the day's hike in the light but it was not to be. It took a while pack up as the rain was still coming down hard, and just as i was ready to go i thought I'd check i had my brand new head torch close to hand, so i wouldn't have to explode my pack later to get it. I was very glad that i did this check, as i couldn't find it anywhere. I checked inside of everything i owned and turned everything inside-out and upside-down looking for it in vain until finally i retraced my steps that morning and found it by the lake where i had gotten water that morning. At 9:30 i eventually hit the trail and hiked as fast as i could until i got to Chinook Pass 29 miles later. I think that day i stopped for a total of 20 minutes, but although i didn't take many breaks, my hiking speed was slow and i didn't get to the pass until well after dark and by that time i was cold, wet and miserable. At Chinook Pass i stook my thumb out and started waving at every passing car in the hope they were going back to Packwood and the motel room that PRT had there. Every car that passed stopped, which was good, but none were going to Packwood, so i was there a while standing by the side of the road seeing lights coming up the pass in the cold, wet, dark and hoping they were cars going my way. I was 2 cars away from giving up when Jenny stopped. Jenny was on her way to Enumclaw, but when she saw what a state i was in she took pity on me and decided to take me to Packwood and for that kindness I am extremely grateful. Upon arrival into Packwood it took a while to find the motel at PRT was staying, the whole place was badly lit and the owner badly tempered. I couldn't get hold of anyone by phone but recognised the array of hiker equipment outside one of the doors, and knocked on the door the stuff was closest to, and luckily Dishcloth answered the door. The first thing i did was get.straight in the shower and get clean and warm. I didn't actually have much dirt on me having only been out hiking for 1 day, but it did take almost 20 minutes to feel properly warm again. Some time later i was ensconced in my sleeping bag drifting of to sleep when i noticed two things. The first was.a pain in my left ankle, and the second was that my fingers were numb. I'd actually noticed this before I'd gotten in the shower, but assumed.it would go away when i warmed up, it didn't, and so i added it to my list of body parts that have gone numb. This list now includes : the balls of my feet, my left hip/waist area, which is due to my pulling the hip strap of my rucksack in really tight and it pressing hard on my hips now that i have so little fat on me, and now my finger tips. All four on my right hand are numb, and the middle two of my left hand. I understand why my feet and hips are numb, but can't explain the fingers. Starfox, who has mountaineering experience, later suspected that i could have been frost-nip, the first stage of frostbite, this seems unlikely, but not impossible, given how cold, wet and windy it was today.

Day 144 : The calm before the storm

21st September 2013
No miles
I woke up again in a bed for what i would guess as the last time in aanother month as up the trail in one final push up the trail to the Canadian border. As Bob and Kelley hadn't done enough for me already, Kelley said she would drive me back up to White Pass to save me a difficult set of hitches. The morning as spent resupplying and send boxes, but by mid afternoon we were on our way and speeding back through Mt Rainier National Park. Kelley dropped me right at the little.petrol station at the top of the pass where i had gotten off trail over ten days ago now, and so i was exactly where i needed to be to carry on hiking. I thanked Kelley for she and Bob had done for me, and she headed back home to Seattle, and i headed inside to see if there were any hikers about. Inside i found a couple hikers i didn't know, but also a couple i did : Fireball and Busted with whom i had crossed the halfway mark almost exactly 1000 miles ago. We swapped stories for a few minutes before they told me that all of PRT, and also Starfox and Chick-Chack, were at the pass. I couldn't believe it, i had done it. I had spent almost 2 months clawing myself a ten day lead.on them all so that i could catch them.all.when i got back trail after my holiday, and i had done it uncannyily well. All the assembled hikers in the petrol station were due to head out that evening, and as i thought my lot might all do the same i headed half a mile down the road to the campsite to find them. I needn't have worried, i found Starfox, Chick-Chack and Mr Green doing what PRT does best : resting. As much as i was surprised to get back on trail just as they were passing through, they were more surprised. After a heartfelt reunion they gave me the skinny on the rest of PRT  and the hiking coming up over the next few days.Peter Pan was the only one hiking that day, and was on her way southbound from Chinook Pass back to White Pass,.and Dishcloth and Hoop Dreams were driving up to the campground to pick her up and take her back to Packwood, a little town they were staying in a few miles down from the pass. It turned out that Dishcloth was no longer on trail. His feet were hurting too much for him to continue so he had gotten of trail halfway through Oregon at Shelter Cove. Once getting off trail he had flown back to his native Texas, gotten in his car, and then drove back to the trail to act as a mobile trail angel for PRT. Incredible! A little while later Dishcloth and Kate arrived by car, and Peter Pan appeared from.out of the forest. It was a good moment, the last time we had all seen each other at the same time was at Sierra City, some 1100 miles ago when we were all enduring the intense heat of Northern California, well no longer. The weather forecast said to expect rain, wind and cold for the foreseeable future. The forecast was so bad that Mr Green, Starfox and Chick-Chack were not going to hike on tomorrow, but instead were going to skip up 2 sections and wait out the weather at the Dinsmore's hiker Haven near Steven's Pass, some 170 miles up the trail. Skipping is never on my agenda, so i knew i would be facing the weather. Thankfully Pan and HoopDreams were of a similar mindset to me. They were going to zero tomorrow, and then hike north from Chinook Pass, a day's hike away. I then, would hike up to Chinook Pass tomorrow on my own and hike with them after that. With plans laid Dishcloth, Hoopdreams and Peter Pan headed back to Packwood leaving the rest of us to endure the weather that night. I did so under my new shelter, a massive sheet of Tyvek tarpaulin which i spread over a picnic table. I was glad of the opportunity to test it out before hitting the trail for real the next day.

The holiday

This morning i woke up firmly off trail for the first time since he Mexican border all those months ago. For the next 10 days i will be a tourist with Sophie while we do our best to explore a small be of the American Northwest. I have decided that as this is not part of the trail, i will not be sharing it on the blog. The next blog post will be after Sophie has left and i am on my way back to the trail.

Day 143 : The Goat Rocks

9th September 2013
Mile 2285 to mile 2304 : The Goat Rocks to White Pass
Mileage : 19

Today there were two objectives, reach White.Pass.via the Goat Rocks, and hitch off trail to Seattle. Sophie, my better half, is coming out to the US for ten days to see me, and together we're going to be tourists and lots of things unrelated to the trail. Most people i know have had friends and family visit at least once on the trail, and i have been jealous everytime someone tells me of some real RnR away from the trail. Tomorrow it will be my turn with me meeting Sophie at the airport after a long flight from the UK. Between now and then however is the Goat Rocks wilderness. The Goal Rocks is the first real wilderness on Washington, and i have been looking forward to them for some time as their beauty is well known among the hiker community and so i was itching to get started when i awoke this morning. As i was breaking my trailside camp Cartwheel showed up, and it was with hikers that i shared the Goat Rocks that day. I think it is fair to say that Cartwheel is a bit of an oddball, with some hikers liking him and others finding him a bit, well, odd. I am definitely of the 'like' camp and remember his hospitality at Timberline Lodge well. Together we hiked up.a.steep climb towards the summit of Old Snowy, a prominent summit from.which we sat and admired the staggering views of Washington. The views of Mt Rainier in particular were simply jaw dropping. Unfortunately as i needed to getto White Pass with enough time to hitch into Seattle i couldn't dawdle, but that just meant i was playing with fire, or more correctly vertical drops of several hundred feet, as i descended along a knife edge ridge back down towards White Pass. It was by far my favourite few miles of trail since the Sierras over 1000 miles ago. The Goat Rocks wilderness was alas too short, and by the middle White Pass with my thumb out Seattle bound. I am a little ashamed to sat i have neither photos nor names of any of the occupants of the three cars that took me into Seattle but for some reason it just didn't cross.my.mind. My.first ride was from a group of 3 girls and a guy about my age just coming back from doing the Wonderland Trail, which goes all the way around the circumference of Mt Rainier much like the Timberline Trail does Mt Hood. I did wonder why then they were picking me.up at White Pass, as the pass is no where near the Wonderland Trail, but in my experience it is bad manners to argue with someone offering you  ride, so i just nodded politely. At the bottom of the pass, and at the southern entrance to Mt Rainier National Park i we.parted ways and i was left once again on the side of the road with my thumb out trying to flag down passing cars as best i could. An hour later i was still there, and getting a bit worried. The southern entrance of the park is in a deep valley and was already losing the light even though it was barely 5pm. I also had no mobile phone reception to call my angels in Seattle who were putting me up for the night. Not good. Finally ny.luck changed and a couple picked me up and took me up to through park's northern entrance where again i was left by the side if the road. This time however, i got a ride almost instantly from a naturalised German woman was up in the park for the day. I allayed her fears that i was a crazed murderer looking for my next victim by informing her i was a stranded British hiker/tourist on my way to Seattle to pick my girlfriend from the airport, and that seemed to do the trick. Before long we were speeding towards Seattle, and not just to he city in general, but actually to where i was going, right to the door. It turned out thus woman lived only a few streets away from where i was going, an incredible but of luck on my part given the vastness of the Seattle metropolitan area. About 90 minutes later i was once again ejected from a car, byte this time at the house of Bob and Kelley Kiel. Bob and Kelley are the parents of Nightcrawler, aka Jess who live in south Seattle and who often help out hikers in need. I am very grateful to them. My luck continued as i arrived just in time for dinner, and so i sat down to a delicious homecooked meal if corn on the cob, spicy chicken and rice, salad, and glass or two of wine  it was sublime, if not a bit surreal given my hitching fortune, and the fact that only a few hours before i had been in the wilderness of the Cascade mountains. A good end to a.great day.

Day 142 : The green tunnel

8th September 2013
Mile 2256 to mile 2285 : Mt Adams to the Goat Rocks
Mileage : 29

I was hoping today for some stunning views of Mt Adams today, but views today were elusive. I arrived in camp last night just as he light was fading, and i still don't have a head lamp so i couldn't see how close to a nearby waterfall i was sleeping. I woke up at dawn to discover my sleeping bag was soaking wet from condensation, so i was pretty close. I tried to look on the bright side which was that the white noise from the falls meant i had slept the whole night without waking up once. I broke camp at speed so as to get moving and start warming up as quickly as possible. I waved good morning to Frosty and Goldie, with whom i had arrived in camp the night before and set off down the side of the mountain. The day proved more difficult than it should have been given the good weather and relatively easy terrain. For some reason i just didn't have much energy, and i struggled all day. I stopped on an exposed hill top at lunch to let my sleeping bag dry, and took in one of the few views of the day, before plunging back into the forest below me. Just after lunch Goldie and Frosty caught me, testament to how fast they were moving, and how i was moving as i left camp at least 45 minutes before them, and i leap frogged with them later.in the day as we climbed into the Goat Rocks wilderness. It was good to be above treeline again and to finally have good weather long enough to enjoys the views, and views there were. The setting sun set Mt Adamsalight and even illuminated the brown ruin of a volcanoe that is Mt StHelens. I arrived at my camp spot, as indicated by the map, to find a marshy meadow, and no good looking spots for me to sleep on. By this time the light was almost totally gone so i had to make do with a trailside patch yet again, but i didn't mind, at least my commute to work in the morning would be short! The final hurdle of the day involved my stove. From the outset i have been using a homemade pop can stove which uses as its fuel either denatured alcohol, or an antifreeze called HEET. At my last trail stop i couldn't find either, so i compromised with buying isopropylalcohol, which does work if it is pure, but i didn't see that the stuff i bought was only 70%, with the remainder being water. This stuff just didn't work. Usually my pot sits right on the stove and it does its thing in the evening quite happily unattended leaving me free to do other chores. Tonight though it took forever to boil the water i needed for my dehydrated rice, to the point where i almost lost my temper and threw it away. I persevered though and was finally rewarded with some tepid aldente rice that i ate in the dark ensconced in my sleeping bag, at least there was no condensation so far that night.

Day 141 : Mt Adams

7th September 2013
Mile n/a to mile 2356 : Trout Lake to the base of Mt Adams.
Mileage : 33

My hike in to Trout Lake was 18 miles downhill, my hike out was 15 miles uphill towards Mt Adams. The weather had cleared up overnight and i was treated to glorious sunshine, and stunning views of Mt Adams, as i hiked up the road towards the mountain. I was further treated to a slack pack, ie a hike with no rucksack, courtesy of Cuddles and Funsize, who had a car and had spotted me hiking past where they were staying. The kindly took my rucksack up to the trailhead and hid it in some bushes so i wouldn't have to hike with it. The last time i slack packed was over 1500 miles ago at Tehachapi, so i didn't feel bad about doing it here, especially as i was road walking. Several hours later i was back at the trail having completed my detour to Trout Lake having only lost one or two hiking hours, a small price to pay considering what I'd gotten from the town. It did mean that that i had to keep pushing hard in order to keep on schedule. The trail ascended the mountain on its west flank, before contourbig around it clockwise before heading down the north face of it. I set up camp by a small stream just before the descent and watched the lightshow of the sunset on the glaciated sides of Mt Adams, a good end to a good day.

Day 140 : Trout Lake

6th September 2013
Mile 2208 to mile n/a : Horse Camp to Trout Lake
Mileage : 18

I woke up.several times during the night to find there was no let up from the rain, and at dawn there was no change. My decision to sleep on the outhouse porch was a good one, as i was the most dry among the hikers camped around the angel's RV. Dry though in this instance was a relative term. Anything that wasn't inside my sleeping bag with me, or inside one of my dry stuff sacks was completely wet through even though i had had complete shelter from the rain. The angels had put on a heart warming breakfast of pancakes and coffee for everyone, and we stood around under the RV awning each discussing hiking options for the day. The weather was supposed to improve by the afternoon so those that weren't too wet decided to hike on. Others decided instead to head to the town of Trout Lake some 18 miles o the east of the trail. I joined husband group as i worried about another night in wet if the weather did not infact improve. Most of the hikers heading in to town did so via four wheeled transport of some kind, i however did not as to do would have broken my continuous hike. I was due to get off trail to spend 10 days with Sophie being tourists in and around Seattle, and had 4 days, including today, to get to White Pass, from where i would hitch into Seattle. This meant i would not have time to go back to the horse camp if i stayed in Trout Lake that night. I could however hike into Trout Lake, and then hike out to meet the trail father on, which is what i decided to do. So i replaced 33 trail miles with 33 road miles, 18 of which i did today. If any of you readers assume road miles are somehow cheating let me tell you husband is not the case at all. Road miles are more difficult that trail miles, by a long way, and the reason for this is the pounding one's feet receive on the unforgiving road surface, mostly tarmac but sometimes concrete, which is even worse. The only way to make it stop ia to go faster and get it over with, but this just intensifies the pounding. 18 miles later i made it into the hamlet of a town which is Trout Lake. I recuperated with a diner cheeseburger and a huckleberry milkshake, and considered my next move. It turned out that a Jonah Christian group welcomed hikers to stay with them at a former school, so i headed there. At the old school i found about 20 hikers all seeking shelter from the elements, and being amazed by the hospitality of our hosts. There were beds for all, hot showers, washers and driers, a sports hall to dry out all our kit in, and to top it all off, dinner had been laid on for us all. It was heaven. If all this hospitality wasn't enough Cuddles, a cellist by occupation, was putting on a concert with his wife who is supporting him on the trail. Cuddles has been giving concerts all the way up he trail as a way to stay in shape, and i have been lucky enough to attend 3 of them, and all by chance rather than design. By the end of the concert i was crashing pretty hard and heads back to the old school to get some rest in preparation for the second half of my road walk back to the PCT and Mt Adams.

Day 139 : A wet, windy Washington welcome

5th September 2013
Mile 2178 to mile 2208 : Trailside camp to horsecamp
Mileage : 30

An hour or so before dawn i awoke to raindrops landing on my face. I had anticipated rainand had my tent ready to pull over me to keep me dry. This actually worked quite well, and during a short lull as the forest lightened i packed up quickly eating breakfast on the hoof to speed things up. The first half of the day passed as normal, although with a short magic stop provided by Sagegirl. While sitting having a cup of coffee and an apple with Sagegirl with a couple other hikers conversation turned to another magic 20 miles farther up the trail. I resolved to push on to this next magic hoping for some shelter there a major storm was forecast for the next 48 hours. The forecast didn't disappoint and sure enough the rain started as predicted in the middle of the afternoon. At first i hoped the precipitation was due to the fact the i was walking in a cloud and that ut would.stop.who i descended out of it, but soon it became clear that this rain was here to stay. I raced on as fast as i could determined not to spend one minute longer in the rain than i had to. As i hiked i realised i had a conumdrum on my hands courtesy to my lack of headtorch. Should i stop while there was light and resign myself to a night of torential rain, or should i press on as fast as possible hoping to make it to the magic before the losing the light altogether. This option included the risks of my tripping over unseen roots and rocks in the dark, and losing the trail in the dark. I decided to risk it and picked uo the pace pace to the point where i was practically running down the trail, my path illuminated regularly by the huge flashes of lightning that thankfully stayed far enough away from me to not be a concern. It was pitch black when i finally made it to the magic, but made it. There i found about 15 hikers huddled around around a roaring fire eating hot soup provided by a husband and wife team whose names escape me as i write this. After warming up with fire, soup and dinner i began thinking about sleep. The ground was becoming saturated and slowly becoming one giant lake, and i could see anyone sleeping on the ground, regardless.of the tent used, was.going to get very wet. I decided therefore, to sleep on the porch of the outhouse, a good idea, as it turned out.

Day 138 : The bridge of the gods

4th September 2013
Mile 2155  to mile 2178 : Cascade Locks to a trailside camp
Mileage : 23

I was up early today and escaped the cascade locks vortex before i met anyone who could entice me to stay. The day started with a crossing of the Bridge of the Gods, a fairly ugly trust bridge which someone told me proudly was the third oldest bridge across the Columbia river. The grandiose names refers to a more ancient bridge. Native American legends tell of a cataclysmic landslide eons ago that dammed the river creating a huge lake. The pent up.water eventually burst through leaving behind the Bridge of the Gods. The current bridge is built at the site where the original is supposed to have been. After several inadequate photos taken in between annoyed passing motorists i crossed over and entered Washington. After more photos this time of the 'You are entering Washington, the Evergreen State' sign, i started the long, long climb back into the mountains. The Columbia river that i just crossed is only a couple hundred feet above sea level, meaning there would be  a lot of elevation gain over the next couple days to take me back into the Cascades. The effects of 3 days of RnR made the climb more difficult than a normal climb would be 3 or 4 days into a stretch. The effect of even 1 or 2 beers the night before is noticeable, as is the lack of caffeine on that first day out of town. But mostly it is the rest that takes the biggest toll. A break of 1 or 2 days is welcome, but i find that any more than that, even just 1 more day, tends to have a detrimental rather than restorative effect on my body as more body stiffens up considerably, and it takes a while to get back into the groove. Many hours later, as.the light was fading, called it day at a one person sized cowboy camping spot right next to the trail. As i set about my evening routine i realised i had left a crucial bit of.kit in Cascade Locks : my headtorch. I was too tired to be angry at myself, and sat in the darkening forest trying not to feel.too down about this. One of the key things i have learned on the trail is that have only myself to blame when things go wrong : Only PCT myself in danger through my actions twice so far on the trail, once coming out of Tehachapi when i ran out of water, and once when i climbed mt Whitney and came close to getting hypothermia. A lack of a headtorch wasn't about to put me in any danger, but it was a major inconvenience. It would mean stopping well before nightfall from now on in order to set up camp while the light lasts, this would take up to an hour off my evening hike depending on late evening light conditions. Annoyed and depressed at the same time i finished my routine as quickly as i could and tried to get.some sleep.

Days 135, 136 & 137 : A well deserved triple zero

1st, 2nd & 3rd September
No miles

I think the last time i took this many zeros in one go was in Mammoth, 1400 miles ago. I hadn't originally intended on taking more than one, but thats the way it turned out. At arriving Cascade Locks on Saturday evening i was on course to get all the way to Snoqualamie Pass by the 9th and from there it would be an easy hitch into Seattle. Unfortunately, i had forgotten about Labour Day, that coming Monday and so was immediately faced with a double zero as i would have to wait til Tuesday morning to pick up my boxes from the post office. As it happened it took me pretty much two whole days to update my blog, so it wasn't as if i had nothing to do. Although when i have to i will write ny blog from my little phone sized tablet, in is much simpler using a desktop computer, so in the morning after arriving i went across to the Best Western motel, where they provide computers for guests, and pretty much sat there for two days straight with breaks every once in a while to catch up with fellow hikers as they passed by. Although many hikers stay at the various motels.in town, i was staying,along with many other hikers, at Shrek's Swamp, the residence of the local trail angel Shrek. It was a great place to relax with other hikers swapping stories with other hikers about our escapades in Oregon, and speculating about the weather ahead. Many rounds of eating, drinking, sleeping and blogging later i found my way to the post office morning to pick up my bounce box, and 2 surprise care.packages from Mum and Maggie, thanks guys! Among other delights, Mum had sent me a brand new hiking shirt, spookily just in time as my old one was falling apart at the seams. Among Maggie's presents were some cumbrian mint cakes, which Edmund Hillary is supposed to have taken up Everest with him all those years ago. With all my chores complete, i could have gotten in a few afternoon miles, but at this stage the power of the town vortex became too strong and i ended up staying be more night enjoying the company of Rocks, Rusty, and KaZu, all of whom i hadn't seen in a long while.  Apart from enjoying the company of the other hikers, the other reason i didn't mind taking an extra day off was that i knew now that i wouldst have to push myself too hard to get to White Pass, where i would be getting off trail for 10 days o have a short holiday with Sophie, whom i haven't seen since i left Paris in April.

Photo updates for the last 14 days on their way!

Day 134 : The Eagle Creek Trail

31st August 2013 Mile 2120 to mile 2153 : Sandy River to Cascade Locks Mileage 33 Average mileage since day 101 : Today I finished to Oregon section of the PCT completing the 450 miles of Oregon in 18 days for an average mileage of 25 miles per day, and that includes 2 zeros in Ashland! Most of the day was spent on a more scenic side trail called the Eagle Creek Trail, which is probably taken by 95% of hikers. The highlight of this side trail is the famous tunnel falls, as the name suggests is a waterfall behind which the trail passes. The downside of this side trail was unfortunately it was very rocky underfoot, and that took its toll on my feet and my time. Before long though I had made it to a carpark at the trailhead just as the light was fading. To get to the actual town of Cascade Locks I still had a 2 mile road walk to do, and I didn't feel up to it that night, so I yogied a ride from Bob whom I met at the trailhead and a few minutes later I was back standing on the road trying to figure out how to get the house of the local trail angel Shrek. Thankfully it wasn't too difficult to find and soon enough I was sitting in a local brewery having pizza and beer with Fink, Israh and Astrid celebrating being done with Oregon. As thru-hikers we were able to 'party' up to hiker midnight at 9pm after which point heads were starting to nod and we headed back round the corner to Shrek's Swamp where we all passed out at speed as only thru-hikers can.

Day 133 : Timberline Lodge

30th August 2013 Mile 2107.5 to mile 2120 : Timberline Lodge to Sandy River Mileage : 12.5 Average Mileage since day 101 :

All of us were up early today with one thought one our minds: buffet breakfast. I remember growing up in Dubai one of my favourite treats was to go to the buffet brunch at the Jebel Ali Hotel and it still sets the bar for any buffet experiences subsequent to my childhood, massively infrequent as they are even on the trail. The Timberline Lodge has reset the bar. It has become the breakfast buffet against which all others will be measured, and in all probability they will be found wanting. Waffles and pancakes with fresh cream and berries and actual maple syrup. A huge leg of Spanish ham that took me instantly back to tapas bars in Barcelona when i tried it. Mountains of fresh fruit that actually had flavour, a full range of cooked breakfast options and much, much more. Breakfast was served from 7:30 to 10:30 and i pretty much sat and ate continuously for the duration of the breakfast service. I had intended to eat with my fellow roommates, but as i sat down at the table a minute or two before the rest of them two middleaged gents asked if they could join me. I smelled an opportunity to yogi breakfast off them and of course welcomed them to my table. I tried my hardest to yogi a meal of them.discreetly, but to no available, but i wasn't bothered as they turned out to be very good company. A couple hours later I was about ready to leave and get back on the trail when I ended up bumping into Funsize and Cuddles, who gave me the Pinata to take to Oregon border Funsize, Goldie and Frosty, and Shedder and Roo, all of whom, with the exception of Cuddles whom I'm saw briefly in Shasta City, I hadn't seen in more than a thousand miles. Meeting up with all of them put paid to my plan to get some major miles today, and decided to stay for lunch. The lunch buffet was almost as good as breakfast, and after several more hours of eating I finally got back on the trail and struggled down the trail. Some days on the trail are easy, and some are difficult, today's hiking was difficult due to the enormous amounts of very good food i'd consumed that day. Nevertheless I managed almost 13 miles that afternoon before I lost the light and stopped. I wished I could have stopped earlier, but I wanted to make it to Cascade Locks the next day and so needed to bring the distance down as much as possible. So I camped just before the last big climb in Oregon, and went to bed early as I had need nor desire to eat again that day.