Hiking Dude Blog

I finished hiking for today. You can check out my current location on the map and I'll post about my day when I am in coverage.

I finished hiking for today. You can check out my current location on the map and I'll post about my day when I am in coverage.

I walked 48668 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 24 miles today.
9/6/17 We're still on our way out of civilization. Today was a long day of roadwalks with a little beach hiking thrown in. We left the Happy House and walked the rocky beach at high tide so there wasn't much room but it was nice watching the birds and big boats go by.
We reached the ferry landing and took it across the sound to Port Townsend for our easiest miles of the trip. In PT, we had lunch at McDonald's and then resupplied at Safeway for our week through the mountains to Forks.
The us20 roadwalk before Discovery Bay was very thin and dangerous - I'm so glad that is over! As a reward, we ate dinner at Fat Smitty's - a very cool place inside.
We found our way to the last trail angels on the PNT, the Resecks, and set up our tent in their yard. Tomorrow, we're off for the mountains and probably no posting for a week.

I walked 51840 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 25 miles today.
9/5/17 When you leave most of your gear at a base camp, get a ride to your starting point, and hike all day with just the bare essentials back to your base camp, that is called slackpacking.  Rebecca dropped us on the trail where we ended yesterday on her way to work and we started our daily walk.
A short roadwalk brought us to a nice trail that we followed over holla for a few miles.  Before w knees or, we were at Deception Pass which was the highlight of the day.  Walking over the bridge high above the outgoing tide was very cool.  We then followed the western alternate so we could walk on the beach of Rosario Strait which looked and smelled like ocean.
More roadwalk to get around NAS Whidbey and all its very loud jet fighters brought us into Oak Harbor for a quick lunch at McDonald's.
More roadwalk over to the beach but high tide convinced us to stay on the road to our endpoint rather than spend lots of time scrambling over rocks between the sea and cliff.
My leg did well with only sporadic pain and a little swelling.  Encouraging!  Being able to rest here at the Happy House two nights has been a great help.  Rebecca and John are wonderful supporters of the PNT.

I finished hiking for today. You can check out my current location on the map and I'll post about my day when I am in coverage.

I walked 36288 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 18 miles today.
9/4/17 Kelly dropped us off a bit after noon where we had left the trail and we started walking west on us20 while she headed to the airport for her journey back home. Thousands of cars flew past as we hiked but a wide shoulder made the walk bearable if not enjoyable. We did meet a police officer who stopped to check on a disabled RV as we walked by. And we got our first real smell of sea water on the breeze.
Pounce picked us up and delivered us to the Happy House, home of Rebecca and John. The five of us had a very nice dinner and then it was time for bed since the walking resumes early in the morning.

9/3/17
What a nice day to rest! Josh got to visit with his ultimate team friends while Kelly and I visited old friends in Bellingham. I got to rest my leg most of the day. It's still sore and swollen but it feels a bit better. Tomorrow afternoon we'll be hiking again and see how it goes.

I walked 55430 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 22 miles today.
9/2/17 The primary PNT route traverses the hills north of the Skagit River valley. They are low hills with clearcuts and logging roads. We chose to head west on the Cascade Trail which is a bike path made from old train route. It isn't an exciting walk but the way was often shaded and we walked past pigs, chickens, goats, horses, geese, buffalo, longhorns cows, and even llamas.
Also, we snacked on awesome blackberries along the way and had internet all day. There was a distinct lack of water sources and I should have carried more. Lunch at McDonald's was a bonus.
We walked an extra 3 miles south of the trail to Mount Vernon because Josh's friends happen to be here this weekend playing an ultimate tournament. My wife flew out today so we're taking a couple days off which will hopefully give my leg a chance to rest and heal. Then, it's on to the ocean.

I walked 48230 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 23 miles today.
9/1/17 We started the day with no water having stopped at the first spot we found last night. Less than a quarter mile down the road after we began our hike, there was a nice clear stream so we filled our bottles. As soon as we rounded the next corner, there were two hikers sitting by the road in a very nice camping spot. They were Jetfighter and Caveman whose names we had seen earlier in trail registries.
We leapfrogged a couple times walking down the road as they stopped and then we stopped until we reached the Boulder Creek campground. There we noticed two more people that looked like thru-hikers so we stopped. Sure enough, it was Tickled Pink and Dust Bunny who we were hoping to run into one day soon.
The other two showed up a couple minutes later, so there were 6 PNT Hikers all together - huge from our point of view. We chatted a bit then continued our long roadwalk down from the mountains to civilization. Along the way, the trees became ever more covered in moss. This area receives lots of rain but none this summer.
We later saw Jetfighter and Caveman speeding down the road in the back of a pickup and we assume TP and DB also got a ride. We just kept walking all day until we reached us20 and the KOA campground. We spent a noisy night there but got showers and laundry done. We're now in the flatlands until we tackle the Olympic peninsula.

I walked 58370 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 25 miles today.
8/31/17 While set up at Hannigan campground, we got our first rain in such a long time!  It just got our tent wet so a perfect time for it.
From the campground, it was all roadwalk up to the Mt. Baker ski area which took all morning.  There was a small cell service up there so we wasted a little time and I posted a couple blog entries.
We were also surprised when one of the couple hundred cars that zoomed past on their way up the winding mountain road slowed and stopped.  It was Rebecca from the Happy House on Widby Island where we hope to stay in a few days.  She and a friend were on their way to hike the Swift Creek segment.
At the top of the pass, we hooked into the very popular Lake Anne trail which led us to the Swift Creek trail.  Through this area, there are beautiful mountain views everywhere. We had heard of this infamous Swift Creek for a long time - It can be very deep and tough.  After a very long, rough downhill on trail that had recently been well brushed out, we caught up to Rebecca and her friend and then the creek ford.  It was only knee high and pretty fun.
Getting towards the end of day, we needed to find a camp spot.  Baker hotsprings looked interesting and right off the trail so we walked there.  It was pretty gross - sulphur, dirt, beer bottles, and junk.  So, we skipped it and kept walking along our route which was a gravel road until we found a wide spot.  We were low on water so, when Rebecca and her friend drove by having finished their hike, we bummed some from them. We set up our tent and laid some logs in the road to keep cars from getting too close. And that's another day done.