September 24 - New trail to Suiattle Bridge

End: little creek on the new part of the PCT!
Daily: ummm about 27.4
Total: we left the old PCT at 2545.5 and then did about a mile and a half here?

Micah Lake

Sorry about all the confusion with the miles lately. Things are weird around here.

The first few miles of the day went reallyfast... But then the real day started. We crossed a glacial creek or two (you can tell cuz they're cloudy) and then started up and up and up to the top of a ridge. I love the ridges around here - you can see jagged peaks on every part of the horizon that's visible. Our Glacier Peak map has a blurb about how some guy came scouting for a place to put the Northern Pacific Railroad and said "no more difficult route has ever fell to man's lot." I can just imagine some dude crawling to the top of some ridge and thinking 'holy crap, there's no way.' The map says they eventually relocated to Stampede Pass, which happens to be where we met the crazy trail magic/thru hiking (?) people with the cookies and giant deli sandwich before Snoqualmie Pass.

Anyway, the second 2000 foot climb of the day kicked my butt. And just when you thought it was done it wasn't. I threw a minor hissy fit when the trail didn't stop climbing when I wanted it to ("Sure taught the trail a lesson, didn't you?" said Chris when I read him this line).

Then we dropped down to Vista Creek and then to the junction between the old PCT and the new route to the brand new bridge! So this last 40 miles or so of the PCT has been closed since 2003, when floods caused major damage to the trail and took out some bridges, the most famous of which was the bridge over the Suiattle River. People have been disregarding the closure and braving the poor trail conditions and lack of bridges for a few years, but as of a few weeks ago, all the new bridges are up and there's a new length of trail that brings you to the new Suiattle Bridge. It's so nice to walk on brand new trail. In some places I could hold my trekking  poles out on either side and not touch anything, not even a shrub. After miles and miles of brushy, cupped tread, it was such a luxury.

A couple of interesting things about being on brand new trail: we have no idea how long this section is, but we know it adds miles, and there aren't any established campsites. So when it started to get dark we found a spot by this stream, the first one we've passed, and cleared a space. I wonder if this will become the established campsite. Probably way more likely if we'd built a fire ring.

Hot chocolate goodnight time!