Pushing Our Luck on Ptarmigan Ridge

 

Sammy is mad at me. Second time in a row I forgot to take him. I left my thermos of hot chocolate on the counter as well; but more importantly, I forgot to put my headlamp in my day pack. "No worries," I thought, "there's no way I'll need it." Tempting fate is a bad habit of mine. 

Debbie and I were not getting an early start, so I really wasn't expecting to get too many miles in. Though this being another "must do" hike, I was hoping to see as much of Ptarmigan Ridge as possible. I got a small taste of it on my very first backpack on Chain Lakes Loop 14 years ago, so it holds some nostalgia for me. Spending the night at another climber's camp would be AMAZING, but I knew it wasn't in the cards. Today was just about spending some time with one of my very best friends, so if we needed to turn around before getting to the end, that was totally fine. 

Expecting to find a parking spot in the Artist Point lot at 11am is a foolhardy plan. We kept circling anyway. Then, seeing that there was actually plenty of space at the end of a row where the traffic cone had been set, my rule follower friend suggested that the cone could be moved over just a smidge. Being a "is it a rule, or a suggestion" type of person, I was all about it. Then I put my "expired in September" forest road parking pass up (don't yell at me - I'll buy another one soon) and we were off to see how far we could get. 

It's been YEARS since I hiked with Debbie. (Stories here, here. here, here, here, here, and here. We've had some good times.) Therefore, I had forgotten what a go-getter she is. Apparently she had forgotten too - because she confessed on the drive there she was worried she was going to hold me back...me being such a pro now and all. OH BROTHER! 

I may hike a lot, but I'm not good at it. I'm slow, I'm clumsy (proof is coming later in story) I'm direction-ally challenged and worst of all, I take risks I shouldn't. My only "skills" are I'm stupid enough to love the suffering and I can easily sacrifice hygiene. 

Can you see the Ptarmigan? He's right on trail!

Anyway, you guessed it, I could barely keep up with Debbie. She kept going, and going, and going. This trail is particularly addicting...so we both couldn't help to continually say "just a little further." I kept checking my AllTrails app - and dang, we were actually getting close to the end. But the thing is, the AllTrails end point is "The Portals East"...a place we had no business going to. This is from the Washington Trail Association:

"At 4.5 miles and 5970 feet is a plateau suitable for camping, and what maps show as the end of the trail. Beyond the plateau, a primitive boot trail continues up the rocky hill to East Peak (also known as The Portals East)...The up-close views are outstanding, but the path requires route-finding skills and possibly mountaineering experience (depending on snow conditions). Each hiker must decide where their stopping point is, before returning the way they came."

So close...and yet so far away

We had actually made it to the end; except the trail was still beckoning us up further. "We need to turn around," I scolded, "neither of us have headlamps and it's almost 3:30." 

"You're right," Debbie agreed, "but just look up there...it's like it's the top of the world." (Video) Seeing those stars in her eyes - how could I say no? We may not have had headlamps, but we did have micro spikes. And it's going to be much faster going back. When is it dark? Around 7pm? Okay...just a little further.

Heading up!

Of course, once you're on top of the world, you can see there is still another top of the world "just a little further." We got to it at 3:41. Except you know it; another top of the world was still in sight. But even though we may be stupid, we're not complete idiots...we knew it was time to turn around.

It's hard to see with the snow, but in the middle is an awesome camp site surrounded by rock...I knew we should have brought my tent! ;)

We would have made it back before dark just fine if not for my fall. I've fallen MANY times during my "pro" hiking career, but I think this one hurt the worst. The adrenaline rush caused me to feel a little nauseous, and then VERY dizzy. It took a good 10 minutes of laying there before I could get up. But luckily, I could get up - and most importantly, I could still hike reasonably fast. An injury would have been "a situation," as Debbie put it. 

It was sobering. You can only push your luck so far before it catches up to you. It really is time to break my tempting fate ways. I would really prefer to not ever have to deal with "a situation" - but I know I need to be better prepared to face one need be. 

As it was, luck was still on my side, and we got to the car JUST as darkness fell. (With no ticket!) For future hikes I promise to buy another headlamp that always stays in my day pack. Happy "prepared for when luck runs out" trails!

It's pretty dang dark at 7:20!

And to whoever made this cute little guy - thank you! He made our night :)

 

Hidden Lake Lookout at Last

Those four miles were some of the most stressful of my life. At the end I was shaking, sweating and cursing. And I hadn't even started hiking yet.

Yeah, I'm not talking about the four miles up to lookout, though they were hard as well. I'm talking about FS 1540. It wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't have a giant Hummer type vehicle with all it's bright as hell headlights blazing in my rear view while it drove up my ass the entire way up. I suppose I could have squeezed over in a spot or two to let him pass, but I was too afraid he'd get the last parking spot. So I drove WAY too fast instead...though still not fast enough for him, apparently. But we both made it up none the less, and even with a few parking spots left to spare. 

To avoid all this anxiety, you really should plan on getting to the Hidden Lake trailhead earlier than 9am. (And don't even bother if you don't have a moderately high clearance vehicle. That road is seriously bad.) This is one of the most popular hikes in the North Cascades - #9 in my "Classic Hikes in Washington" book that I mentioned last post. I was saving it all these years, contemplating trying to actually stay in the lookout. An overnight in a lookout is a big bucket list item for me, as it is for many hikers. Including Rachel Lakoduk. 

When she went missing over five years ago, I don't think I've ever been so emotional over someone's disappearance. It was all so overwhelmingly tragic. Therefore, Hidden Lake Trail got put on further hold as it felt like hollowed ground to me. But in case you didn't know, she was miraculously found in 2021 - two whole years after her heartbreaking death. (Article here.) 

And so I felt ready to finally cross this one off the list, even without a lookout stay. I'm actually really thankfully I let go of that idea, because WOW...that last boulder scramble to the top is something else. And you really need to have your full backpack with you if your intention is to stay; because chances are it'll be full and you'll have to climb back down and find somewhere else to lay your head. And it won't be at Hidden Lake unless you have a coveted permit - thus staying a Hidden Lake Lookout is a complected and risky endeavor. 

If you zoom in hard, you can see the lookout precariously perked atop...yikes

Day hiking it is hard enough. The instructions in my book were to expect to be hiking for 8 hours, which I foolishly thought I could beat, even with my slow speed. It took me exactly 8 hours, and I spent very little time in the lookout. (Though I did spent a bit of time picking berries - SO many next to the trail!) So I guess I'm not exactly the "slowesthiker" (another way to find this blog) but just your very average hiker. But I'm an alive hiker, and for that I'm very grateful. Happy "and also mixed with sadness" trails.

Heliotrope Ridge the Second Time Around

 

Heliotrope Ridge is hike #1 in "100 Classic Hikes in Washington." I've had that book for a dozen years at least. When I first started backpacking, it was pretty much my go to for planning. I would joke it was my "Sears catalog for hiking" (you have to be pretty old to appreciate that reference) because I spent so much time looking through it - circling, underlining and dreaming. 

So of course I day hiked it years ago, but I never wrote about it back then because I knew I had to go back. The glacier overlook was great and all...but what about this mysterious "climbers route" veering off from the main trail? I'm no climber; but I am curious. And if the trail is going up, I know that's where it gets good. 

Good, and hard. Which is why it's taken me so long to go back. And also because the road has been washed out for years. But once I saw the road was back in commission, I knew it was time.

Even with so many years and miles of experience under my belt, I still felt a little intimidated by this adventure. Thankfully the first couple miles are very straight forward and well trodden, so the only thing to worry about there is over crowding.  So even though this trail is known for it's stream crossings, which can be pretty intense early season, you can always count on having company.

It's just past the 2 mile mark and the sign saying "climbers trail" where things change. I always feel a little out of my element when I'm on another sport enthusiast's turf. But I saw not another soul that day once I made the turn.

It's really not that far to get to the first climbers camp - maybe a mile at most. But I'm glad I waited until late season when my legs are feeling strong, because it really is a push. And just before you get to Hogsback, the trail pretty much disappears. I think there has been a washout of sorts there, because it's very hard to see. I made my way around the side, while my AllTrails kept telling me I was a dufus. 

Once I crested the top, I saw my first tent area and knew I had made it. Looking up even further I saw a tent, and was glad I wasn't alone. There really wasn't a trail, so I wandered around looking for a bigger site that would fit my Durston tent.

This is where I made a really stupid, mindless mistake. I went to cross a very small stream, and stepped right on the wet, flat rock bottom. It was a miracle I didn't go down hard. (Thank you trekking poles!) I'm getting to an age where falling like that is a real worry; I get wrecked just using my gardening pruner too aggressively! (Literally...like a few days before. My shoulder would not have survived a forceful impact. I shudder thinking about it.)

Anyway, I found a great spot and enjoyed my first night solo in almost a year. For those of you who have tried a solo backpack and feel like something is wrong with you because you were terrified and couldn't sleep, let me assure you that you are 100% normal. It took me SO LONG to be comfortable with it; but I honestly love it so much now and totally think it was worth all the suffering. 

In the morning I left my tent and went wandering upwards to see how far I could get. Once I got to the upper level, I saw that the one tent I could see was actually part of a large group, and I was really grateful they were all gone and most likely half way up to the summit already so I didn't have to feel like the outsider roaming through their camp. 

With thoughts of my near fall the day before on my mind, I turned around when the trail got to steep and scrambley. Best not to push my luck, as I climber I am not. I felt like I was going extra, extra slow on the way down, but surprisingly I was back at my car in just two hours. Another hour of driving (count on that forest road taking a full half hour at least - it's a doozy!) and I was at the North Fork Brewery at exactly noon as they opened their doors. Happy "worth coming back to" trails!

Glacier National Park's Highline Trail Bonus Hike

 

Heidi was amped to hike. As I mentioned in my last post, she did not go with us on our Bowman-Kintla loop because of injury. She had trained her knee right into a stress fracture when preparing for her Mount Rainier summit attempt. (She got within a couple miles but then the weather said no. Ugh, she's had a tough year.) But after several weeks of rest, her doctor said she could hike three miles if they weren't too challenging.

Heidi had sent me info on the Highline Trail with a Google screenshot saying it was a PNT alternative route because we needed lots of substitute plans in case our walk up permits fell through. It's a 12 mile point to point, which was great because I was never going to get my last 40 miles in doing up and backs with only four full days to hike. (Being I can only count those miles one way towards my 500 mile goal.) 

See the cable for people with Acrophobia? You're not going far if you need it.

You can't always trust Google, because after doing the Highline I'm pretty certain it has nothing to do with the Pacific Northwest Trail. And that's fine, because we got the loop done. It may not have gotten me ALL the way to 40, but SO close at 35.8 miles. I suppose I could have walked 4.2 miles on the road that is still considered PNT miles to be completely official, but who in their right mind would choose a road and miss out on this...

Though we did almost miss out anyway. There's a new system at Glacier National Park that requires you to have a reservation to drive on the Going to the Sun road...the only way to said hike. But like all reservations in this extremely popular park, they are near impossible to get. SO lots of folks beat the system by going through the gate before 6 am when the reservations start. Us included.

Granite Park Chalet is right on trail! You can only hike to it.

Except because there is this surge of cars going up to Logan's Pass (which is the highest elevation you can drive to, has a massive visitor center and is also where the hike starts) the parking lot is guaranteed full at 7 am. So that means we needed to get there at 6:30, which means we needed to leave before sunrise at 5:30 and NO later.

Our morning selfie at Hole in the Wall camp. BRRRR

Janet uses a nalgene that says "BUT FIRST COFFEE" (above) and it is a motto she lives by. But this was a "drive first" day, so Janet was not a happy camper. Consequently, she was even grumpier when we asked if she could change a flat tire when we discovered that was our situation before even turning out of our KOA campground.

Janet gets er done! Plus I think she might make a great break dancer ;)

BUT SHE STEPPED UP! I wouldn't say Heidi and I are helpless women by any stretch...but this is not our realm. I really thought the day was shot, and I saw utter disappointment in Heidi's eyes. But because we had the extra time set aside for finding a parking spot, Heidi threw out our only hope option by saying "if one of you can change this tire in 30 minutes, we can still make it through the gate." 

Heidi IS a happy camper

Janet grumbled, "I can do it if one of you can figure out the jack," and then it was ON. We were like a NASCAR pit crew! I guarded the bolts like a mother hen until head surgeon Janet threw out her hand and ordered, "BOLT!" I'm pretty sure it was done in 15.

So we had enough time to make the gate, but not enough to find a parking spot. Thankfully we fit into an "unofficial" spot on the road, but I think they are really cracking down on that because we got a warning. Though even a ticket would have been worth seeing the light in Heidi's eyes as she got to hike her first few miles in weeks.

Time for Heidi (and little Sunni) to turn around :(

And a group shot of Rocky, Sammy and Sunni too

Poor Heidi did NOT want to stop hiking - we practically had to threaten to tell her doctor if she didn't turn around. So we took our group pic and she went back to get the car to drive down to the "Loop Trailhead" and wait for us. We were thankful for her, and sad for her, and also totally sure she'd be back to do it herself someday. I hope everyone reading this finds a friend like her. Happy "teamwork makes the dream work" trails!

To see video of this deer licking Janet's pack click here

My 500-ish Mile Trauma Bond with the PNT

I'm a hiking cheater. When I did my 500 miles on the Appalachian Trail I counted a few miles that were not exactly on trail...because I got lost. (Buy my book here!) So I'm saying "close enough" for my 500 miles on the Pacific Northwest Trail too.

This trail has been the most challenging yet (I've also done 500 on the PCT) not only because much of the PNT is a flippin' mess * but also because I did most of it in small chunks. SO much driving, so many miles hiked on other trails just to get to it, and many up and backs where I could only count half my miles. Therefore I know I did WAY more than 500 miles just to say I've completed my goal on official trail.

I really wanted to hike my final 40 mile section to the Eastern Terminus at the Canadian Port of Entry in Glacier National Park. I've seen the end at the Pacific Ocean...seemed like I should also see the beginning. But even with an airplane ride to the Glacier International Airport, there would still be a LOT of driving to get this done.

It made much more sense to do the Bowman-Kintla Loop. This utilizes the "red" line up to Brown Pass (main trail) then the "blue line" (alternative route) back down Boulder Pass. If you don't mind walking 12 road miles between trailheads this makes a loop, but we were lucky enough to have Heidi as our drop off/pick up driver. (Not lucky for her - she wasn't hiking with us because of an injury.)

Speaking of luck, you'll need a ton of it to get these permits; it's what the ranger explained to me as "very competitive" when I called to ask about it. And the most sought after spot - The Hole in the Wall - well, you can pretty much forget about it. 

But the thing is, even though the PNT has tried to kill me a couple times, it also loves me. We are trauma bonded. 

And so, I ended up getting my dream trip - INCLUDING my dream spot - and all I had to do was accept I'd be 4.2 miles shy of 500 miles. And for a cheater like me, that wasn't too hard to do.

Now just two more trails to hike 500-ish miles on for my "500 on 5 National Trails" goal. The itinerary for this trip is below as always. Happy "you can always round up" trails! ;)

*The Pacific Northwest Trail has only been a National Scenic Trail since 2009, so it does not have the notoriety or the funds and support that the other long distance hikes have. I did donate $500 to the trail in celebration of my goal (maybe I should have made it $496 haha) and if you would like to give something as well - or just find out more about it - you can do so here.

 TRAIL LOG:

Day One: Zero miles. We did have a permit for Kintla Lake and had planned on hiking 6 miles this day, but that didn't happen. I had five different itineraries written up because we needed options knowing we didn't have all the permits we needed and therefore had to fill in with walk ups. The ranger lady...let's just say she was not thrilled with us.  "You don't know what we have going on here, do you?" That was the second time I had a ranger say that exact thing to me. (Story here) But anyway, no...we did not know that the following night 3-6 inches of snow were expected in the higher elevations. After pleading my "I just need 40 more miles" case, she softened and figured a way for us to hike the loop without the use of any of our hard fought for online permits.  But she really grilled us - "You'll have to camp at Hawksbill, which will give you close to 14 miles to get to the only available spot the next day. And you will have to go over two passes. Are you in that kind of shape?" Heidi chimed in "Oh yes, they do stuff like that all the time!" while Janet and I gave each other the side eye. Ugh...yes we could do it, but it would be hell. "Do you have micro spikes?" the ranger quizzed some more. More side eye. The ranger relented and issued us our permits when we promised to buy some.

We did have our bear spray!

Then we had to watch the video about bear safety where we were informed that, "when the bear starts to eat you, fight back." (I'm not kidding. We all laughed, which I'm sure just made the ranger lady even madder.) Now it was time to drive an hour away to buy our micro spikes, then the hour back - but at least we didn't have to hike that day. We just had to deal with a little rain the next day is all, right?

Who doesn't want to wake up to a slug on their shoe?

 

Day Two: 7 miles from the Bowman Campground to Head Bowman Lake Camp. This only has about 200 feet elevation, so we got er done FAST. Good thing, because it was POURING. We threw our tents up and got in them ASAP to get dry stuff on and try to warm up. And that's where we stayed...for 17 hours straight. (video) No, we didn't hang our food. Anyone who wants to yell at us can kiss my ass. Hypothermia was a greater concern, as we could not afford to get our only dry clothes wet. We agreed that if it was raining in the morning, we would turn around. But I believed that even with this rough start, the PNT was still on my side. 

Sun is coming out! Hurry and dry out the stuff!

Day Three: 8 miles to Hole in the Wall with close to 3K elevation. How did we get the elusive permit you ask? Well, because of the foot of snow up there! We passed a group retreating because of the horrible night they had, and when they informed us they were supposed to stay at Hole in the Wall that night we asked, "Ummmm...you think we can have that?" Score!! Not only did we get the optimal spot, but we avoided the extra 4 miles and near thousand feet of gain that would have been added to the next day. I told you the trail loves me! 

Give me!! Haha, it was soaking wet!

 

Day Four: 9 miles to Upper Kintla Lake. The snow was pretty much melted from Hole in the Wall Camp, but we were nervous about the high traverse above the basin where we could see some snow still hanging on. (video) Even with our spikes, we thought we might have to turn around. But thankfully we were looking at it wrong, and the big snow fields were not part of the trail, so we were golden.

We stopped at Boulder Camp for lunch before heading down the final brushy miles. (The PNT will always have a blow down waiting for you!)

Boulder Camp's famous toilet - learn about Sammy here

Day Five: 11.8 miles to Kintla Lake Campground. I knew Heidi would be waiting for us, but I didn't know she had a surprise planned. (video) Not only do I have a trail that loves me, I have friends that love me too. I think I may be the luckiest girl alive.

I sure love these gals!!