Meet Mama Walker

In my last post I said I hated the saying, "everything happens for a reason." I assume you know why; stuff like the holocaust sort of messes that belief up. But to view life as totally random...that nothing happens for a reason...well, that can mess with you too. While discussing such things with Mary as we drove to pick up her car that we left at the Deer Creek Summit Campground she said, "The older I get, the one thing I know, is that I don't know anything." That is truth! I have let go of the need to know as well. That does not mean I have let go of faith; in fact, I think it takes more faith to embrace uncertainty...but this is talk more suited for my other blog. So, back to Mary. 

Meeting Mary was one of those "this feels like it is happening for a reason" moments. I met Twig in one of those moments, and then she led me to Mary. "Mama Walker" (as she's known to the hikers) is a trail angel extraordinaire, letting any PNT'er crash her home, eat her food, use her stuff...whatever they need. But Mary had hiked very little of the Pacific Northwest Trail herself. That will change next year when she does her own thru hike - fingers crossed!

Though Mary was wanting some "Pre-PNT" experience, therefore hiking together made a lot of sense. I had yet another Friday off of work, so a trip back to the east side was in order. The North Kettle Crest Trail is a perfect two car point to point hike, and this was the perfect time to do it. The stars aligned, and another 29 miles has been added to my total. I only have 70 miles left to my 500 mile goal. Will I lose faith in life, faith, meaning and God if it all falls apart with tragedy, illness, or crisis? I hope not! But if there's one thing I know, it's that I don't know. Happy "uncertain yet still hopeful" trails. 

TRAIL LOG

Day 1: Another "just driving" day, but I had another serendipitous experience with my travels back and forth in this area that I want to mention. Stopping at the Winthrop Mountain Store on my previous trip, I had forgotten my sunglasses, so on the way back I forced myself to bring my book in see if they would be interested in buying it (I HATE self promotion) but what are the chances anyone would be there who had any say in that? Except the owner was there! And she seemed interested; though totally non-committal and only gave me her email. So on this trip, I stopped again...why not? Lo and behold, there she was - and this time she bought a couple books; probably just to get rid of me, ha ha - but I'll take it! So go buy my book in Winthrop so she'll see she made a good choice. :) Anyway, I met Mary there, and then we caravaned to Sherman Pass to drop my car, then drove together to our starting point at Deer Creek. She had the foresight to set her car up to be able to just sleep in the back, which was a great plan considering how late we finally got there. Six hours of driving? Ugh, I'm over it! I'll find closer miles until I get to 450, and then I plan on finishing in Glacier. We shall see.

PNT trail crew set up here - so grateful for all they do!

Day 2: The first lesson of the day was "check your FarOut app often" as we missed a turn pretty early on, though thankfully no more than a half mile was wasted. We loaded up on water when we came to the only noted water source at 4 miles, just in case we couldn't make our 15 mile goal to the next one. At the 10 mile mark and spot where we could make a "camp," I didn't know if I had it in me to keep going; but Mama Walker pushed me, and it was the better choice. FYI, this portion of trail is heavily overgrown, but it is logged out. Anyway, at just about a half mile before the Neff Spring Camp there was a sign posted as "Lambert Mountain Trail" instead of Kettle Crest. Was it just changing names, or were we supposed to turn? We could see another trail going off, though a very undefined one. This was lesson #2: you can't always rely on an app to help you - especially on a slope. (It's very hard for satellite to pinpoint you in that situation...you can keep going down, but it will read you in the same location; or further up or down than you are. It's frustrating.) After farting around for quite a while trying to find the non-descript trail, we decided following the main, obvious trail - even if it was the wrong one - was our best bet. Before long it became clear it was indeed the right trail; ugh, I hate confusing signs and when my FarOut wonks out. Then when we arrived at camp we found a group of the cutest older ladies (one had just turned 79- inspiring!) with no place left to put our tents; though we made do.

Not ideal

"This sign says Kettle Crest!"...no shit Sammy ;)

Day 3: The 15 mile day set us up to have fresh legs for the Copper Butte climb, which is no joke. The bugs on top are no joke either, so we didn't stay long. The trail from that point on is a dream...completely clear with no serious climbs. (Though certainly not flat!) BEAUTIFUL ridge walking for about a mile before the very nice "Piped Spring and Trail Camp." Expect bugs though - it is what it is with the swampy area close by. A total of 7.4 miles for this day.

Much better

Day 4: A relatively easy 6.6 miles out to my awaiting car. Lots of threatening thunder this day, but thankfully the deluge didn't strike until we were driving home. (I pulled over it was so bad!) The brunch at 18 North Kitchen and Bar is fabulous, and if you like Eggs Benedict -- THE BEST!

Here we go...

We did it - thanks Mama Walker!

Blessed on the PNT

"A mistake is often serendipity in disguise." I'm going to amend this quote from my birthday hike to include mistakes AND disasters. Here's why...

My hiking support crew, Anita and Chris, had once again agreed to help with a drop off, but this time I'd be hiking back to my car. We agreed to meet for dinner in Tonasket on Friday, after they had secured a camping spot somewhere in the area. Then we'd caravan 40 minutes outside of town to a trail angel's house where I was going to leave my car. After that, they would drive me another hour to Sweat Creek. I planned on making a stealth camp there, so I could get up super early to get my 15 miles in - a requirement because as far as I knew, there were no opportunities to make camp within that distance. 

In fact, it was 22 miles to get to an actual campsite - miles thru hikers have no problem with. But the "slowest hiker" had to make arrangements with yet another trail angel to camp in their yard. A yard that was a full 15 miles from Sweat Creek. So an early start on Saturday morning was very necessary. 

Bonaparte Lake

Disaster #1 was Chris and Anita getting a flat tire. This part is too much to explain, but the only solution to this disaster was for me do drive them up to their campsite, 45 minutes in the opposite direction, then back in the morning to Tonasket Tire where hopefully their car would be ready to go. I still had the delusion I could get in 15 miles the next day, until...

Disaster #2 of losing my car key. After having had this happen in the past (story) I was not the least bit surprised, though obviously still extremely distraught. We were on BLM land, miles from ANYTHING, so it was a real problem. You know how when you lose something, you start looking in every ridiculous spot just because you are in such a panic? It was a situation, for sure.

I had to really wonder if God was keeping me from the trail to protect me. I do hate the saying "everything happens for a reason"... and yet, I still cling to it. I actually prayed, "if I find the key, I won't do the hike. I just don't want to ruin Chris and Anita's trip." 

Did I feel guilty still hiking after finding the key (in the pocket I checked at least three times...I mean, seriously?) even though I made that promise and clearly my hiking plans were shot to hell? Not really. God is surely a subject far too big to go into here; but whatever you believe God is or is not, all I could imagine was an eye roll and sly smile, with an "of course I knew you'd still do it." 

So many free roaming cows in this area

And would you believe that after it was all said and done, my late start on Saturday actually set me up for a much more enjoyable and dare I say "blessed" adventure?(Details below for those interested.) Whether that was divine providence or dumb luck, I still received it with great thankfulness. May your happy trails be as fortunate, even if you are as stubborn as me. 

Sammy says, "I didn't make no promise."

HIKING LOG

Day 1: My original plan of setting up camp late on Friday would have been fine for me, but for Anita and family (granddaughter included) it would have meant getting back to their camp at around 10 pm, which is another reason I'm thankful for the flat tire "disaster." Plus it gave me the chance to get to know Linda, the trial angel who let me park my car at her house and ended up being the one to drive me to Sweat Creek. She was also going to come rescue us when I couldn't find my key - which would have taken up her whole day. So much sacrifice for complete strangers. A true angel for sure. 

I left Linda a copy of my book and a sticker because
she would not accept money

Day 2: Got on trail close to noon, but took at least a half hour deciding which trail was the right one. Signage here would have been super helpful, being my FarOut app was being wonky.

Would it be so hard to add "PNT"?

Two miles in and I knew 15 miles was out of the question, as there was quite a bit more elevation than I anticipated. (Meaning I wasn't paying close enough attention to that in planning; per usual ;)) I found some notes on my app I had previously missed mentioning stealth camping opportunities, and sure enough, a great spot at around 5 miles that even had cell service.

My first attempt at a bear hang...
I think I should stick with the canister ;)

Day 3: I think I did close to 18 miles, which is almost a record for me. Most of my worry about this trip was centered on the up coming road, which had all kinds of warnings from other hikers (on the previously mentioned app) like "weird uni-bomber/militia vibes," "no trespassing signs that include gun sights," and "skull mask and rudimentary attempt at fencing." And though it was indeed creepy, I was grateful to be hitting it in the morning when it seemed everyone was still in bed; plus whatever "stay away" fencing had been taken down. When I finally made it where I had originally planned to camp, I wanted to find Matt the trail angel to tell him I was okay in case he was worried, but he ended up finding me. What a super sweet guy. 

thanks Matt

Another six miles left, and not all of it road walking- surprisingly nice old dirt bike/ATV paths to walk on. It was so wonderful being around people once I got to the Bonaparte Lake State Campground, as I had not seen a soul on trail. The camp host let me set up on a "non-site" which he didn't charge me for, and he informed me about the trail washout ahead, which was vital info. Also, I got a free hot shower in the bathroom across from the resort restaurant. So yeah, my headstrong self was feeling not just forgiven, but indeed blessed. 

God knows I love free ;)

Day 4: When I got to the washout, just around the other side of the lake, I knew my hopes of scooting down and climbing out of it were a no go. The camp host had let me know others were scrambling up the mountain until they hit the first switchback, which I'm not sure I would have attempted without that suggestion. I could not see the trail at all until I was on top of it. From there it wasn't too hard to follow, until I merged onto the South Side Trail #308. A mile or so into this trail and it completely disappeared with yet another washout. Thankfully I was able to locate it again, but the next couple of miles were quite stressful with a very overgrown and then suddenly burnt out trail. Reaching the "blue line" (alternative route to the official PNT red line on FarOut) was like making it to the freeway after suffering miles of a pothole clogged forest road. I LOVED meeting the Fire Lookout staff person at the top and also looking up at the tower from my tent. None of this was in the "plan," but I was there for it.  

Sammy making a friend...this is Winter

Day 5: A very uneventful 7-ish miles to my awaiting car, but that last mile has brought my total up to 401! I'm almost to my 500 mile goal, woo hoo! Anyway, I again expected all road miles once I got down from Bonaparte, but was pleasantly surprised to find the forest road had been abandoned and turned into a trail. I did encounter hikers this day, a couple with their 3 dogs. The biggest dog seemed hyper focused on my backpack - so much so that the owner finally said, "you got a bunch of beef jerky in there or what?" My food was completely gone, so I couldn't figure it out...until I remembered Samsquatch! He is a dog toy after all, and surely would have been disemboweled if I wasn't protecting him. I got you Sammy! 

Paws off !!