Lolo Pass to Wahtum Lake and back on the PCT

I drove to the Lolo Pass Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) trailhead on Wednesday morning and started hiking north at 9 AM.  The weather was like porridge for Goldilocks (not too hot; not too cold).  The trail started out well maintained.  A beautiful wilderness experience...except for the bright yellow Bull Run Watershed warning signs telling you to remain on the trail or pay a $5000 fine and go to jail for 6 months.  Bull Run is the water source for Portland, Oregon and only two trails allow passage; the PCT and a side trail to Huckleberry Mountain / Lost Lake.  After about 5 miles, the trail headed up into the snow.  I had to traverse over 100 patches of snow.  Some were pretty nasty with a greater than 45-degree slope of snow covering the trail and extending over 100 feet below the trail.  Ice Axe and Crampons would have been nice.  I proceeded slowly and the snow was soft enough to level a nice path for each step.  I made it to Wahtum Lake in 7 hours (about 2.25 miles per hour). I saw three people on the trail; a couple of women who were taking a break with their solar panels charging their electronics, and a guy just starting a southbound (SOBO) thru-hike of the Oregon section of the PCT.  I camped at the west end of Wahtum Lake again.  Some good samaritan(s) cleaned up the site from the last time I camped there.  I saw a few more people at Wahtum Lake, but had the campsite to myself again.  I slept in my bug bivy with no tarp overhead.  Good view of the stars.  During the night, a rodent decided my camping gear looked delicious and I could hear him/her gnawing at it.  I would yell, which worked for 30 minutes or so.  Eventually yelling didn't work, so I had to turn on my light.  Around 3 AM, I spread out my gear so it wasn't in a big pile and this seemed to work, so I got a couple of hours of sleep.

Thursday, I got up at 5:30 AM, did the morning chores (remove and wash my sleep apnea oral appliance, eat my delicious pop tart breakfast, brush teeth, pack, etc.) and I started hiking at 6:30 AM.  I decided to take the road to Indian Springs campground instead of the trail.  The road branched and I (of course) followed the wrong one.  But I didn't go too far out of the way; just climbed a little more than I needed to.  The "three of us" soon found the trail again (me, my printed maps, my "Halfmile PCT" iPhone app).  The hike back was uneventful.  Thanks to the SOBO hikers ahead of me, there were some nice foot platforms to follow over the snow and I made it back in under 7 hours.

I got to my car just before 1:30 PM and headed back towards Portland to beat rush hour traffic.  I stopped at a McDonalds drive-thru to get a chicken sandwich meal.  Back on Highway 26 in Gresham, I was about two car lengths from an intersection when a lady turned right in front of me.  I had to squeal the brakes and my food slid off my lap onto the floor.  I think I said "golly gee that's upsetting" or something similar.  After getting home, I did my unpacking first before I ran out of energy.  Then I heated up some leftovers.  I was pretty hungry by this point.  As I ate my first bite, two people from Environment Oregon knocked at the door.  I said I was sorry, I couldn't talk to them at the moment as I was eating dinner.  As they continued to prattle on, I came to the conclusion that they were more concerned with my money than with me so I shut the door on them.  But I didn't release the pit bull, so maybe I'm not such a bad person after all.  I'm not sure where they fell on Maslow's hierarchy of needs but I'm pretty sure my physiological need for food was my focus at the moment.

All in all, a great two-day trip.  I feel like I'm getting in better shape and will be prepared for my 165-mile Lake Tahoe trip coming up in September.  I have lost 25 pounds since January.

Mount Hood from Lolo Pass

The Trillium are in bloom

Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams

Much of the trail was flat and well maintained.  Thanks Trail Workers!!!