Glacier Peak Wilderness Miles 2500-2550

Almost Awesome trying to summon more blue skies. She was not very successful!

One thing you can say about the PCT is they are not afraid to put in some switchbacks!...... and we are SO grateful!

It was hard for us to envision the Suiattle River being so rowdy that it could move rocks like this! This was at least 50 feet from the now shallow water.

It is amazing to encounter what water can do! Frozen or liquid, it moves mountains!

It still works.  There is an old Washington saying that goes " if your bridge is broken don't try to fix it because a raging river will just break it again."... or something like that.

Finally!  Beautiful weather near some glaciers.  This is Glacier Peak and it was really beautiful to see after we were trapped in the grey and white fog/cloud/rain that seems to accompany most of the glaciers we have been around.  Thank you blue skies!

Not a bad place to eat lunch and to dry all of our gear.  It was SO good to be in the warm sun!

Somebody took the time to count the rings on this blow-down and they counted 650!  

So how old do you think Almost Awesome's new friend is?

It's official.  Possum is a tree-hugger.

These trees were in a place called "The Grove" which miraculously avoided the saws of logging.  It was amazing to be in the presence of these living giants!

Walking through The Grove made us feel ridiculously small and we now know the plight of the Hobbits.  

Good friends! Miles 2330-2500

What are you doing behind that tree?  Both AA and MT. Rainier are hiding from the camera.

Trail Magic! Almost Awesome diving into a root beer float provided by our trail angel friend, Coppertone.  The guys on the left are Bomber, Big Boots, and Siesta and they were entertaining the idea of trying to summit Mt. Rainier while they were next to it.  They were a little nervous, as it is a little more mountaineering than hiking, but of course Coppertone, in all of his coolness, was there to calm their nerves because he had done it 2 weeks earlier and reassured them that they would be fine.  We later heard that they did summit Rainier on a beautiful day and had an incredible time.

The APE Team and Coppertone.  Two people in this picture do not smell good!

This may look like fire but it was our last glimps of the sun's rays for 2+days. 

We usually don't drink beer at 9 am but we happened to come across this cooler of trail magic at a logging road on our second REALLY gross day. If there were ever a time to drink beer then this was it!

A great reunion at Snoqualmie Pass! Our friends Grams, Knief, and Blue Skies had finished the trail a few days earlier and drove from Seattle to see us and share stories and laughs.  It was great and it did our souls good!

Snow Lake on the Goldmeyer Alternate trail.

     We had heard that there was an alternate that would take us to the beautiful Goldmeyer hot spring and we were glad that we took it because it was amazing!  Not only was the hot spring great but we got to see some really cool stuff along this trail.

Big trees?  Where?

Goldmeyer hot spring.  This place was amazing!  The bottom pool (where the water is pouring into) could hold 5 or 6 people.  The middle pool (where the water is pouring from) could hold 2 or 3 and the black hole at the top is the cave. About 5-10 people could relax in the cave where the water got more hot the further back we went.  The caretakers kept the place immaculate and the spring was crystal clear.  We weren't much for hiking after spending time here with some friends!

Looking back at Ivanhoe Lake.  This lake was beautiful with waterfalls feeding it's brilliantly clear, blue-green water.

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*** If waking up at home meant getting to see stuff like this then we wouldn't need a snooze button.

To Canada!

Yeah, Possum is into rock.

AA has re-joined the dark(meat) side! Miles 2132 - 2290ish

Almost Awesome with a beautiful panorama of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams in the background.

Possum on his way behind Tunnel Falls which was really cool! Too tall to even get in a photo. Not only is the waterfall just amazing but we got to walk behind the thing!

Too cool!

So Almost Awesome has been a vegetarian for 8 years but for about a week before we got here to Cascade Locks she has been talking non-stop about meat products! A switch had been flipped and she now desperately craved something she had never missed. On our walk in, the first building we came to was a place called Char Burger and she kind of lost her mind.  Watching her order a hamburger was like taking Oliver Twist to a candy store and saying "Dear boy, get anything you want.".  She couldn't remember where to start!  Since then ALL hoofed animals should watch their backs because she has been unleashed!

"I'm sorry there must have been some confusion. I ordered the large ice cream cone."   

Possum crossing the Bridge of the Gods from Oregon into Washington.  That is a pretty impressive name for a bridge built in the 20's!

Almost Awesome with our best view of Mt. Adams.  It was great we got this view  for the day because as we walked around the base of Adams, which we heard is so beautiful, we were in a cloud of grey and white.  

Evidently we aren't the only ones looking for it.

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These next shots are of our time in The Goat Rocks Wilderness.  Again, we heard this was amazing but our views were limited and the 50 mph wind gusts kept us moving but we did get a few windows of clear skies and those moments were AWESOME!  

We were optimistic when we saw this sunrise.

The valley below Goat Rocks looked pretty good as well.  The gnarly mountains in the background are where we are headed.

When we crossed this glacier we knew this might be a dreary day.  The guys in picture are fellow thru-hikers, Masshole and Z-Sous.

But then it would open up like this.

And this!

Woooaaaaahhhhhh!

These incredible moments would come and disappear in minutes but we were grateful!

Almost Awesome hiking into the sky.

The mountain in the background (the white point above the clouds) is Mt. Rainier....... which is gigantic!

Almost Awesome was sure there was another glacier around here somewhe.......... and there it is.

Damp and wind-battered, we savored and recounted every view as we descended the knifes edge of Goat Rocks and hiked further into Washington.

Miles 2000-2118

Our first view of Mt. Jefferson.  We're not sure if it is named after George or Weezie.

Almost Awesome doing a tribute song and dance to Three-Fingered Jack!  What a cool name for a mountain ........ and an even better name for a pirate!

This is how we get to experience some of our mornings and it never gets old.

This is way too cool! Mt. Jefferson is beautiful.

We saw this sign at a road crossing in the -middle-of-nowhere Oregon and as we read it Almost Awesome said, "that looks like something Red Bandit would write" so we decided to check it out..........

...... and guess who it was?  Our buddy Red Bandit!  He had to get off of the trail in Northern California due to an Achilles problem but he has been doing some trail magic up north!  We love this guy and it doesn't hurt that he makes incredible sandwiches!  He uses bread and ingredients like Da Vinci uses paints!

This is our feet 3 hours after we cleaned them in a creek.  This is a typical dusty day.  What isn't typical is the size of our feet.  AA's feet are1 1/2 sizes bigger and Possum's grew 1 size!

Our first view of Mt. Hood!

On our way to Mt. Hood and more importantly the Timberline Lodge breakfast buffet!  When we asked our friends, the Noodleheads, for any advice about hiking the PCT the only thing they said was "DO NOT miss the breakfast buffet at Timberline Lodge!".  Well, we almost did just that!  Due to some bad math, we had to make some serious adjustments to our hiking schedule and we hiked 40 miles the day before and 10 miles the morning of our glorious rendezvous with the "Buffet of the Gods"!   We only had one problem.  We smelled especially bad!  We hadn't had a shower in a few hundred miles (only baths in creeks and lakes) and we knew this place was REALLY nice so we knew we HAD to get cleaned up.  Unfortunately, the last creek we came to just happened to be runoff from snow and glaciers on Mt. Hood.  We didn't even notice the pain and cold because we knew that in mere minutes we would be elbows deep in breakfast buffet!

Teddy Rose, Trail Candy, and Possum with his sleep shirt on.  That's his nice, going out shirt!  And the food?! Ridiculously wonderful!

Possum is ecstatic that:  A. He ate 5 plates of food, B. He just completed a 2 1/2 day resupply completely out of the hiker box, and C. He just ate enough fresh, home-made whip cream to fill a punch bowl and is still alive!  

     Interesting fact: Timberline Lodge was used for the exterior scenes in The Shining.  Interesting Fact #2:  If they'd had the breakfast buffet in The Shining then everything would had been OK.

We're just lucky we got her to this chair.  She almost just laid down on the lobby couch and passed out.

Mt. Hood 

Almost Awesome and Halfmile!  Halfmile is the guy who puts together a PCT data book that we use and he is called Halfmile because he takes GPS data every halfmile.  He is a super nice guy!

Almost Awesome soaking dinner at Ramona Falls which was only slightly beautiful.