Riding The Crest 2009

WASHINGTON Section L:  Canada to Rainey Pass

August 9 -August 14

To get to Canada, Ralph and I, Ech and the horses had to drive north four days and then the horses and I had to ride north one day so we could start the second half traveling south. Rainey Pass was the furthest north trailhead that a trailer could get to (Harts Pass, further north, had a "no trailer" rule and once we saw the road we could see why.) so we headed there.

DRIVING Day 1: We had a wonderful stay at Shasta County Fairgrounds in Redding with William, Skywalker and Miles. Ralph made coffee that morning which Miles and I enjoyed. Skywalker does not drink it as it might “stunt his growth and he’s still growing” at 6 feet 11 and 15/16 inches, he says. Then Miles and Skywalker packed up and Ralph drove them to the Redding bus station so they could get over to Burney Falls and back on the PCT going north. Then we drove to Cottonwood Veterinary Clinic (Now that we decided to go to the Canadian border and ride south for the second half, I needed a health certificate on the horses to cross state lines.) and Dr. C. Ratliff examined Harmony and Jur. He said they looked good and were in “fine condition.” (It was great to hear from a professional as my first goal was to keep the horses in excellent condition.) William followed us up Interstate 5 into Oregon. In the capital we asked about fairgrounds (usually they allow overnight stays). When we got to the fairgrounds it was pitch dark and we were all tired and no one was in the office but the gate was open so we pulled in. We went looking for grass but it was all parking lot. We tied the horses to the trailer with hay bags and went straight to bed. In fifteen minutes there was a knock. The security man said we had to go and explained animals were not allowed according to city ordinances. (We later found out they hold four fairs a year and that is the ONLY time they are allowed to house livestock.) The nearest place he knew of was “quite a ways up Hwy 99.” But he relented and said we could stay as long as we promised to be gone by 5:30 as the regular crew arrives at 6am and we should not encounter them. He dummy locked the gate for us and we thankfully went back to bed. Once again, God had mercy on us. Day 2: We were up at 5:30 and moving like lightening! We loaded the horses, made sure William was following us, and drove out. At 10 o’clock we were in Portland, OR. We turned off I-5 at WA Hwy 12 and drove east up White Pass to White Pass Horse Camp. It was almost 6 o’clock when William pulled into a small site across from one we were pulling in. Ralph set up the horses on the high line while I made a dinner of finger foods: a vegetable platter, watermelon, Salmon, chicken, and summer sausage. My uncle and aunt, Jack and Elaine, from Bellevue, WA arrived right after 6 and we all enjoyed some food and conversation. After a little over an hour, Jack and Elaine had to head home, another two hour drive. It was so wonderful of them to drive so far and spend time with us. We would see them again. Day 3: At 7am William was at Ralph’s window saying, “Ralph, I have decided to go home,” and walking away while we were still gasping and grasping. Ralph jumped out of bed to go ask questions and I just laid there thinking of the changes it would make. William’s health had been very sporadic the whole trip. From the beginning he had breathing problems and that continued to be the biggest hindrance for him. At night he would have trouble breathing (especially at the higher altitudes) keeping him from getting good sleep. We discussed his options and in the end he decided to go from Washington State to Nashville, TN to his son’s home. So we packed up and he followed us to Yakima where he took Hwy 82 E and we took Hwy 82W. We were now a team of two and would miss him greatly. (Weeks later he found out his pace maker was not needed and turning it OFF put him back in optimum health.) At 2 o’clock we left Yakima with a SPOT, clean sheets and clothes, more food and less hair, and Philly steak sandwiches for lunch. It was after eight when came to the end of the road at Alta Lake. We were at Whistlin’ Pine Ranch and Brian V. greeted us. He had an RV park, cabins, riding stables and pack station. His family has lived on Alta Lake since 1944 running horses, sheep and cattle. We were blessed to spend a night there and get to meet some of the people. We pulled the trailer to a spot on the “back forty” and set the horses on their high line, ate our finger food, got showers and “hit the hay.” Day 4: At 8am we were packing things away and pulled out of the pasture. At 10:40 we started west on Hwy 20, The North Cascade Highway, and the last road we would be able to drive to an access point. At 2 we arrived at Rainy Pass with a cul-de-sac at the end we parked in. We put the horses on a high line between the parking lot and the highway. Ralph spread a mat behind the trailer so I could spread out my gear and start packing the panniers for tomorrow’s ride. Ralph packed horse feed while I packed gear. By five o’clock I had everything weighed and in the panniers. In the morning I would unpack them to load them on Jur and then repack them. We were talking to several hikers when I saw a woman with a huge tripod and said to Ralph, “Now there’s a serious photographer,” jokingly as I love my photography. I then noticed that the guy with her was carrying a video camera. Just as she passed us she turned back and asked, “Are any of you hiking the PCT?” I answered “I am. I am riding it.” She and the cameraman stopped and Katie C. introduced herself and the cameraman, Jeff with National Geographic. (NGS is doing a film on the PCT and were at the PCT Kickoff). They had just finished documenting one of the hikers they had been following throughout the trail. So we ended up talking and they ended up filming. We made arrangements for an interview and filming again in the morning and then the Canadian border in three days. After an hour Katie and Jeff left promising to be back at 5:30am and Ralph promising coffee.

PACKING NORTH: August 9 - I was awake long before we got up at 4:30. I woke up and my thoughts started and I could not sleep. I guess I was more excited about the National Geographic interview than I thought. When the alarm got us up, Ralph took Ech out to feed the horses and I made the bed and got dressed. Ralph made us grits and egg in a hole and then I started saddling the horses. I had Harmony saddled and Jur started when Jeff and Katie arrived at 6. They started filming while I put boots on Jur and  throughout the packing. After my kiss goodbye for Ralph (which was filmed) Katie & Jeff ran up the trail to film me riding out. I was amazed at how far they went. They were duplicating some of the sites they used to film a hiker the day before. (You'll have to watch the film at Thanksgiving of 2010 to see what they use.) We then said goodbye until Canada. The ride started as a beautiful forest ride with good hard surface and very little rock until it climbed Cutthroat Ridge and got very rocky; the views were incredible (Ralph thinks they are the best of the entire trip). At Methow Pass I fed the horses their lunch and let them graze while I ate mine. By 2 we were at the Methow River and then riding up to Glacier Pass. I passed a sign indicating Rainy Pass was 15 miles back and Harts Pass was 15 miles ahead; halfway there and it was 2:15. We went through an avalanche path with lots of trees and debris scattered up and down the slope. I rode along Brush Creek, very appropriately named as the trail there was extremely overgrown and the brush obscured most of it. Harmony did a great job of staying on it, even putting his head down in the brush to get a visual. At 4:15 we crossed Glacier Pass. Above South Fork Trout Creek there was a large snow bank over the trail and a by-pass trail below where there was water and a campsite. It was 6 o’clock and I made camp. I was five miles from Harts Pass but this was a good spot with water so I thought it best to stop while I had plenty of light. August 10 - The next morning the trail immediately went around another scree covered contour. Five miles later I arrived at Harts Pass and Ralph was there with my cousin Doug H. Ralph had come to surprise me again and Doug was there to hike this part of the trail with me there. Doug lives near Seattle and has always wanted to hike this trail section. I was thrilled to have others join me on this adventure and family made it even more special. (We later laughed that we had never had this much time together in our entire lives! It's a good thing we got along!) Doug: "I met Ralph for breakfast at his trailer at 2000 feet and then we drove 4000 feet up a primitive dirt road to Harts Pass guard station arriving at about 8:30am at 6000 feet.  Janice was coming up from Rainy pass … her first overnight in WA state.  We met her at about 11:30am and then she and I departed just after noon.  We had a terrific time joking about how in our wildest imagination we would have wound up hiking together, thinking back to the times we all slept in sleeping bags on the floor of the Calumet building [our grandparent's home in Minnesota]. At noon we  were hiking north on the PCT. We  immediately started a contour climb and I kept the horses behind Doug, slowing them down. There was a light mist, mostly from  the low clouds, but it never let up and occasionally became rain. At 5pm we passed a nice looking campsite and Doug mentioned that we should mark it on our GPS for our return. That reminded me to send an “ok” on the SPOT, only to find it missing. I had lost the darn thing! I had to go look for it. Doug stayed at that campsite with Jur. Then I rode Harmony back hoping to find it. I never did but I remembered I heard two whistles earlier in the day and had waved in return, that it was possible hikers found the SPOT and were trying to get our attention. (We later found they returned it to the Hart Pass Guard Station.) In the meantime, I  hoped Ralph did not worry (it was his only means of knowing where I was at). Doug had spent the time preparing two tent sites and we agreed we should camp there. It was 6 pm. We’d only covered 11 miles but we could push on the next day. For once, I set up my tent first so I could get the gear out of the rain. The horse saddles and gear I covered with Tyvek (whole house wrap). Both horses stayed dry under their Iron Horse Blankets. While we were getting our dinners another hiker came. Melissa was a day away from finishing Washington State on the PCT. I invited her to camp with us and she gladly accepted. She had done most of the state alone but preferred to be with others. We all were anxious to get in our tents and get warm and dry from the continuing rain. First Doug and I had to dig trenches from the drips our tents were making to divert the water away from under our tents. We were in our sleeping bags at 9pm. Doug: "We learned a lot about each other talking most of the time on the trail.  We had good weather for most of the day and enjoyed the vistas and wild flowers … and “making good water” with her filtration system.  After sending just one “fix” with her brand new GPS “spot” (it tells Ralph her location and condition via satellite), she noticed it had somehow become detached from her saddle at about 2pm.  She turned back for an hour or so leaving me with the pack horse (and my first chance ever to care for a horse on my own).  She was concerned about Ralph, knowing that he would worry about the lack of updates for the remainder of our hike.  We encountered rain that turned fairly heavy later in the day and decided to make camp north of Shaw Creek after hiking only about 11 miles.  As the sun was going down, Melissa, a school teacher of about 27, hiking alone, wondered into our campsite a bit disoriented and wet.  Janice and I both insisted that she camp with us … even though she was reluctant to … adding a third tent and personality to our site.  Melissa was hiking the WA PCT segment from Oregon to Canada.  She was the first of many people we were to meet which added another really positive aspect to our hike." August 11 - It rained all night. No soft drizzle, it had saturated everything. I woke at 5:30 and heard Doug moving soon too. I told him what time it was and not to hurry or rush because it would take a while for me to get packed up. Fortunately the rain had lightened back to the drizzle of the afternoon before. Still, it would be messy packing everything up wet. I got dressed warmly with my gortex pants and socks on. The gortex socks would protect me from my wet boots. The gortex pants would repel the rain. I would wear my oilskin duster over all. I saddled Harmony first and then  I got Jur saddled, booted and packed with the panniers. I told Doug to go ahead and I would catch up. He left at 8 and I was about 25 minutes behind him and caught up to him at Holman Pass.  We got to the first sign indicating the US Border at Castle Pass after 5 and Doug was ready to stop. It was a nice campsite with a clean area for the horses so we agreed to camp here, better than crossing the border at dusk. We shared a chicken dinner and a Mounds Bar. Doug was in his sleeping bag at 9 but I stayed up an hour writing my journal. Doug: "This was a very long day with some tremendous vistas “up and downs” of 1000 feet … lots of work to be sure, but very enjoyable.  Janice proved her skill in riding the horses and making decisions as we traversed several “contours” (long stretches across a steep incline where there is no stopping or turnaround points for the horses … and I followed as to not be in the way).  Janice was very excited in anticipation of making Canada that day, but after about 21 miles we decided we couldn’t make Canada with enough daylight to make camp.  So we decided to set up a “base camp” 3-4 miles south of the border at Castle Pass.  This was our favorite site because it was flat, open and had a great spot for the horses.  Plus it was at a trail intersection so we met people we had seen before and that Janice had seen before (quite the hiking community out there).  The weather was dry both nights and the stars at night were amazing.  We continued to tell camping stories while sitting on plastic trash bags eating dried dinner packets that Janice amped up with canned chicken.  Excellent trail food …"

THE RIDE NORTH TO SOUTH: August 12 - Doug and I woke at 7 and did not rush to get out of our sleeping bags because it was raining. It slowly turned to a drizzle and, fortunately, stopped by the time I packed the horses. I made oatmeal and coffee for both of us and passed it between the tent flaps. We had decided to hike/ride to the border and come back to the same camp for the night. Doug started out before me as I finished packing Jur (minus much of the camping gear weight) and mounted Harmony. I passed Doug after the first two miles and let the horses graze while I waited for him. A half mile from the border, I was out front when Katie “woohooed” and jumped in front of me and I nearly jumped out of my oilskin! I’m surprised the horses did not spook! She apologized saying she was just so excited. She yelled to Jeff (down below somewhere on the trail) that “Janice had arrived” and he “whoohooed” too. Doug came up and I introduced him. Katie asked me to wait while she got the radio mike and wired me up. It took over 10 minutes and I struggled to keep the horses from eating all the plants along the trail. They asked me to come out of the woods, pause, and look to the left and say whatever came to mind. I did. It took me a moment to see what I was suppose to, the swath of clear cut that delineates the border. It struck me. Wow, I was there. I had made it. It was a bigger moment than I imagined! I said something like “That must be the border. We made it!” and hugged Harmony’s neck and got teary-eyed. It really was overwhelming (others I have talked to say the same thing-its bigger to us at that moment than we imagined). I was hugging Harmony and just slid out of the saddle still hugging his neck and Jur came around and stuck his head in with Harmony and I and it became a group hug. I said, “Wow, a group hug at the Canadian border. How cool is that?” It was quite a moment realizing we had made over 1500 miles with ten legs intact. After the filming we walked to the border camp with Jeff filming Doug walking Jur. The camp has a new toilet and a wonderful log corral for the horses. The ground was covered in clover, which was candy to the horses. What a treat for them! Doug and I sat with Ryan (the hiker they had filmed), Jeff and Katie and ate lunch. Then we all went back up the trail to finish the interview and then I said a fond farewell to Jeff and Katie. It had been fun and  interesting to be interviewed. It helped me process some of my own thoughts. Back at camp, a hiker arrived and asked about camping near us and we welcomed him. I got the horses settled for the night with their blankets on and set up for dinner. I had parmesan noodles with chicken and a cup of tea. Doug: "This was a very exciting day.  We left our camp in tact and headed for Canada.  About 100 yards from the border Janice encountered Katie of the National Geographic and her film crew.  We spent about an hour filming her Canada arrival and another hour having lunch … thus we had a group of five for lunch which was really fun.  Janice and I posed for many photos at the border.  Plus there was an excellent corral for the horses there.  Janice used Katie’s Satellite phone to contact Ralph and provide an update (and he was to relay this to Margie and other family that were probably wondering why no spots were being sent).  We returned to our base camp to meet Art, a professional tree planter, who joined us for that one night." As the sun went down it got cooler and Doug and I sat in our respective tents talking as I worked on the computer, occasionally sending the small laptop computer to him to see a picture. At almost 8:30 we heard voices. Obviously, someone was hiking the trail in the near dark. They were walking past and I asked who they were and one replied “Scott Williamson, and I have hiked from Mexico and am hiking to Canada tonight.” And I'm sure he did. (He has hiked the trail several times and in 2009 hiked it in 66 days.) 

On Thursday morning Doug helped me take down the highline and then he went ahead. I left Jur hobbled in the grass while I saddled Harmony. When I finished packing Jur I took down my tent, hoping it would dry more. It was very muddy and wet. The day was overcast but not raining - yet. It was 34 degrees at 6am and 43 degrees at 7:30; it was not warming up a lot. I rode a close to a mile when I came to a good water flow and stopped to fill one water bottle and wash clothes (that would never dry). I caught up to Doug just above the lake. I got off to put on my oilskin duster. I was chilly even with long underwear, a knit top and a North Face Diad Jacket. I also added my knit cap and scarf. I then led the way across a long, level traverse from Holman Pass to Woody Pass (which is not woody but very rocky). It started to rain lightly. At the top of Woody Pass it was very windy at 1pm. So I descended to the south side of Woody Pass to await Doug. I pulled out lunch for the horses and then for myself. Doug joined us and after lunch Doug started down first and I followed with the horses. We were about to do another long traverse with a climb so I took the lead. By the time I was half way up it was raining hard with some sleet. I started looking for Doug to be sure he was coming and okay. He was but he had to stop to add his jacket. I continued to the top and expected to wait Doug there. But when I got to the top there was a clap of thunder and Harmony leap forward about 10’ with Jur climbing the mountainside. After I calmed them down, I dismounted and tied Jur to Harmony’s saddle and lead Harmony down the other side. This was another long, descending traverse to a large meadow area, which was to be our camp for the night. It was raining hard and another clap of thunder (Doug said there was lightening too) sent the horses lunging again. I reassured them while moving forward and down off that mountain. I was now very anxious to get there. I was praying Doug was okay. (Doug said later he did panic a bit when he got to the top and I wasn’t there. The climb down was so long in the rain he grew unsure if he was on the correct trail.) By the time I reached the meadow with clusters of trees we had agreed o camp at, my boots were soaked and I was COLD! My duster was wet but had protected me as had my hat. I had thrown the poncho over Harmony to protect the gear on him. The panniers and H-pack kept that gear dry. I picked out the highest campsite because it was draining the water. There were some spots that were totally dry and I put the horses there while I unpacked them and covered everything with the Tyvek. I set up my tent as quickly as I could to get things out of the rain and to have for Doug if he needed it when he arrived. He arrived a half hour later and the top of his pack had a layer of ice. I helped him quickly set up his tent. We were both wanting to get inside to get dry and warm. It was 37 degrees and four o’clock. Doug: "We had lots of fun in the morning passing breakfast food and laptop computers (to see pictures we had taken) back and forth between our tents which were very close to each other (she especially enjoyed some special tea I had brought for her).  We ate very well (I had eggs, granola and blueberries) preparing for a very long hiking day back to our already selected site (we chose it on the way north) on our return home (this site was to be just southwest of Holman Peak). Little did we know that our wonderful weather would turn to a biting cold winter.  At about 3pm on our way south at about Rock Pass, Janice pointed to clouds that “looked like snow” and I agreed.  Lightning, thunder and heavy hail set in and I added my Gortex pants for the first time.  Janice and I were not panicked in part because we had each other and we knew where our camp site was already.  Janice arrived ahead of me (because she could climb much faster with the horses) to start setting up the camp and had already prepped my tent site when I arrived.  I set up my tent in driving hail and snow while she tended to the horses.  Thinking alike we agreed our top priority was staying dry and getting warm.  So we said good night at about 4:30 and agreed we would start as early as possible the next day (we were up at about 6am).  I spent a lot of time drying my tent interior with a priceless rag I had brought, put every bit of clothing I had on, put a trash bag over 1/3 of my sleeping bag to stay dry and watched the temp fall (on my GPS unit) to 30 degrees.  Wind was about 20 mph and we both new this weather was nothing to fool around with (later I was to learn local cites like Spokane came close to setting record low temperatures for that date and another hiker perished that night on the PCT trail south of where were camping due to the weather).  This weather was unusual but not unexpected.  Thank god Janice and I had packed for the contingency of snowy conditions.  If we didn’t have gloves, wool hats, great socks, etc … it would have been very tough going." At about five we heard horse hoofs and the horses whinnied. A single woman riding a horse and packing another was at our camp. Her name was Heidi and she was four days into two weeks packing with her dog. All she had was tarp for this awful weather. I invited her to make camp with us but she went to one of the sites below us so she had a better place for her horses. (In the morning she told me she was heading out since the weather was so cold.) At 6pm I put my gortex pants back on and went out to feed my horses. I stayed out in the drizzle while they ate so I could be done and not come out again. I tried to heat hot water for hot tea and found the second canister of fuel I had brought was also running out. Thank God the next night I met Ralph. The rain had made just about everything wet and it would be a tough ride of sixteen miles the next day.

Doug: "We got up a bit stunned to feel 4-6 inches of snow on our tents.  We agreed we needed to move fast after getting out of our tents so we weren’t standing around in the cold.  We packed up, checked on another woman riding horses on her own that had settled near us after we were in our tents the night before … and headed out hoping to find the trail. After less than ¼ mile of generally heading in the right direction we were very thankful for yet another pair of hikers we never met, that apparently had camped south of us, rose earlier than us, and had skillfully found the trail.  For hours I followed their footprints in the snow and slush (and boots that were not very water tight).  Janice and I were both determined to stay warm and to keep moving. We had about a 15 mile journey back to Harts Pass.  It was a long day for me because of the snow.  We occasionally checked GPS fixes and compass headings to make sure the footprints were guiding us back to where we wanted to go.  We were thrilled to meet Ralph at about 4pm … who reliably was there with hot cider, some terrific beef soup / stew and a warm truck.  And Janice was thrilled that the rangers had recovered her GPS spot.  She knew they would. We all decided that instead of camping at the top of this mountain Friday night that I would drive Janice to her trailer at the 2000 foot level and Ralph would stay overnight with the horses and his truck at the 6000 foot level.  It was too late for me to drive home anyway.  So I checked into a local lodge and stayed overnight." The rain had turned to snow in the night and I had tapped my tent several times to keep it from accumulating. When I opened the tent fly to check on my horses at 6 am I was shocked to see about six inches of snow on everything except us! The trees I had set us under had protected us from the accumulation. With no stove for hot food, I ate two cereal bars and started packing things while still wrapped in the sleeping bag. Doug said it was 30 degrees. It was still snowing and I continued popping the tent sides to keep the snow from collapsing the tent. I put on the last of my clean, dry clothes, thankful for every piece of clothing that I had packed. (When I was packing for this section I was afraid I was over packing.) When I finally ventured outside I put my oilskin duster on too. I had two knit caps on with a hood over them and then my oilskin hat atop them all! From the top of my head to my mid calfs I was comfortable. My feet even with dry socks inside gortex socks were cold. My boots were all wet. My hands were really cold as I was missing one of my knit gloves and my leather gloves were totally wet. I wore the leather gloves anyway and was glad for them. I had cold hands all day. I fed the horses and started packing them. Now all the weight was increased with the water weight all the gear was holding. I did not want to remove their blankets until I had to. Both were shaking until we got moving on the trail. When Doug was packed, he helped me pack my tent and get the horses onto the trail so we would not be separated. We both thought it important to stay together in the snow. It was hard to find the trail but we did and shortly found two sets of footprints in front of us. We were able to follow them the rest of the day. That just left us with the cold and occasional snowfall to deal with. Some of the areas we had already traveled were turned into winter wonderlands (some of the lower areas had only a couple of inches of sparse snow). I was taking as many pictures as my frozen hands would allow and asking Doug to take some of us as well. One hiker plowing through snow is slow going but even 8 horse legs are greatly slowed by that much snow. We got to a white covered Harts Pass at almost 5 o'clock and Ralph was there with beef stew he managed to keep hot. We were very glad to see him, Ech and the stew! After caring for the horses Ralph suggested Doug drive me back to the trailer (in Mazama 18 miles down Road 5400) and he would stay with the horses and sleep in the truck up at the pass. Though I was still willing to sleep in the tent I was blessed to be able to say "yes" and thankful I'd get warm and dry. So Doug dropped me at the trailer before going to his accommodations. We both enjoyed HOT showers and a real bed. The next morning Doug would drive me back up to Ralph and I would take a couple of days off. Doug: "Janice and I met for morning coffee in her trailer and to view the hundreds of photos we had taken.  Then we got gas and lattes (and some free cheese) and drove Janice and her dog back up the mountain to Ralph and the horses at about 10am.  After visiting with Ralph and the park rangers there I headed home at about noon, arriving home in Woodinville at about 7pm. Overall, I had a terrific time and was thrilled to be part of Janice’s adventure.  I told Janice how much I respected her skill and determination in her endeavor and wished her good luck for the remainder of her journey."

NEXT: From Dream to Disaster

So many trails - So little time!

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