Marmot and Jade Lake with Sara

 

"Wow, I'll be able to revisit some of the PCT's section J on this hike," was what I was thinking when I started reading up on this trail we decided on. "I wonder if I'll remember it?" I pondered. 

I had never met Sara, but I have had nothing but good luck making friends from Facebook hiking groups. She contacted me saying she would be visiting Seattle, and would I be interested in a backpacking trip. "Does the Pope wear a funny hat?" is what I always think when someone asks me that question, but I just told her yes. 

We settled on going to Jade Lake for a few reasons, but mainly because we could meet at the trailhead after I got off work Friday and get a jump on the miles by going in to camp at Hyas Lake. It's only a couple easy miles, and it meant we could get an early start on the next day's more difficult numbers.

It also made sense for us to meet in the nearest town of Roslyn and leave one of our cars. It's an extra hour to the trailhead from there, most of it on a forest road, and I warned her that I really wasn't sure if Reba was up to the task; being she is still taped together. (You'd have to read about my California road trip to understand what that's all about.) 

So we agreed on the Coal Mines Trailhead that was near town to leave my car at, since it seemed an easy, legal and safe place to do so. It was so strange that my GPS navigation could absolutely not get me there; but thankfully I was able to call Sara and we changed it to the nearby Safeway. (Turns out you can leave a car there as long as you talk to customer service. I would have just chosen to meet there in the first place had I known.)

I've said before that I have a hard time saying "things happen for a reason" even though I do hang on to that belief. Meeting Twig was one of those crazy coincidences that felt like fate, and wouldn't you know, she contacted me letting me know she was doing the PCT (again, as a SOBO) and somehow it all worked out for me to drop off her resupply because I'd be driving right past the place she wanted to pick it up at. 

So when Sara and I got to the PCT intersection of our trail on Saturday (all 30 feet of it, haha...not so much reminiscing happening there) I thought it would be fun to leave Twig a "twig a gram" - though unfortunately it was already trampled upon by Sunday. I should have known it could never last with the amount of hikers going through there.

At least I got a picture of it

I know I'm not giving any helpful info about the hike, I'll do that below as always, but I wanted to wrap this part up saying it was a good thing we were parked at Safeway. Exhausted and famished, we headed there to pick up my car on Sunday and noticed a bunch of smoke VERY nearby. I was telling Sara how I am now always paranoid of finding Reba with a flat (after it happened twice last year! Here and here if you want those stories) but as we got closer I joked that maybe this time she was actually on fire! 

But no, the fire was probably about a quarter mile away on I-90, which was just one left turn out of the Safeway parking lot. We opted to hold our bladders and get the hell out of dodge - barely making it past the flames before the fire engines turned up. (It did get contained after burning about 5 acres, thanks to all the amazing people who labor so hard doing that invaluable work.)

Fate? Providence? Just coincidence? We will never know for sure. But I'll continue to hold on to the hope there will be answers on the other side. (My spiritual blog is here if you are interested, and video of hike is here.) Happy "serendipitous" trails! 

TRAIL LOG: 

Day 1: Finding parking at 6:30 pm on a Friday was not too difficult, though there were plenty of cars in the 3 (I think?) lots. Many different hiking options here, so thankfully not everyone is going to the same place. I had read that any car could make it, but we did pass someone who was turning around at a place where a considerable amount of water was crossing the road. Like I already mentioned above, we only had to hike a couple miles where we set up at the first site we came to. FYI, the best campsite is the third one (I think? Right next to the sign for the toilet) and the largest ones are about 3 miles in, right before you start to go up.

Hyas Lake from our campsite

Day 2) It was about a mile from our camp before the trail started gaining elevation, and then it gains about 1K in the couple miles to the intersection with the PCT. I was surprised to see people using a couple stealth spots on way which looked not so great; but Sara said she heard people hiking in ALL night, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. After revisiting the PCT for two minutes we made our turn onto the Marmot Lake Trail. It's easy breezy for the next 2 miles; I was surprised to even loose quite a few feet in elevation, which I knew we'd pay for on the way out.

There's a really nice water source before you start gaining again, which we took full advantage of. Then it's another nearly 2 miles of steady up to Marmot, but it's very gradual. We got there around 1 pm and found a great spot. We left for Jade around 4 pm and it took us almost 2 hours to get there. It's about a 700 ft gain, but it's all in the rock scramble. It reminded me a lot of my last hike, except it wasn't as bad. Still didn't love it though. But Jade was worth it.

Fun times climbing rocks

 

Worth it

The mile back was much faster of course. I am pretty sure every single site was taken by then. Maybe not the first one which is before you get to the lake as you are coming in. It's away from all the others, so if you are coming in late on a weekend and that one is empty, I'd take it if I were you. Anyway, around 9 miles total with about 3k of gain. 

Day 3) I was kind of annoyed I packed my own DIY wag bags (because I had read you needed them) when I saw there are toilets at all 3 of the lakes. But on this morning I figured out why...waiting your turn for the toilet could be disastrous. I mean when the coffee hits, it hits everyone. Plus the toilet (box with no sides) is right next to a bog; so the mosquitoes, which were bad enough everywhere else, were "you can't breath without sucking in a mouthful" bad. Good luck pooping in that situation! (I was desperate enough to make it happen, but not recommended!)

Overall we were bit up pretty bad, even after we used a whole can of deet! There is a blood sacrifice required for this experience in July, but I honestly didn't really notice most the bites until I got home. The beauty really is an amazing distraction from the pain.

See me in the corner, not noticing I am being eaten alive

 

We hiked the 9-ish miles out with that 900 foot of gain we lost the day before, dripping sweat the whole way. It must of been approaching 90 degrees, so we were very grateful to be heading out instead of in. I know most people want to go all the way to Dip Top Gap on this hike, but we were both just fine skipping it. I'm very thankful to Sara for reaching out, and for rolling with all the punches. My lucky streak with Facebook friendships continues!