Pacific Crest Trail: PCT Trail Days

Hello all – for the last few posts about the trail, things get a little chaotic, so I’ve outlined more below.

The remainder of the trail is split up out of mileage order so I will be posting things out of chronological order. Surprise (and not to ruin the ending for anyone) but I ended up completing the trail!

There were a few things working against us relating to timing and were the reasons for our pivot out of order.

There was a fire near the Canadian border on the Canada side that grew quickly. We heard about this at White Pass and this was the plan we came up with to ensure we could touch the border.
PCT Trail days, an annual outdoor expo, was being held at Cascade Locks, Oregon within this 10 day period. Several friends from throughout my time on trail would be going, so we wanted to make sure we went to this. This even including friends flying there from Southern California!
A 150 mile section, Oregon & Washington Section K and Section L, were fully closed or at least partially closed which shortened our time in Washington anyway.

With these items in mind, Prick, Bags, and I flipped around our schedule for the remaining time on trail. Here is the outline below:

Day 145: Section L
Day 146: Section L
Day 147: Section L
Day 148: PCT Trail Days
Day 149: PCT Trail Days
Day 150: Section J
Day 151: Section J
Day 152: Section J
Day 153: Section J
Day 154: Section J

I will be keeping Section L, aka the finish, for the last blog post even though I officially finished at a different point (Steven’s Pass).

Day 147 Part 2:

Referencing the timeline above, we left our spot near the border at Hart’s Pass to drive to Cascade Locks, Oregon to attend PCT Trail Days. It was a 7-8 hour drive from Hart’s Pass (near the Canadian border) to Cascade Locks, Oregon.

I arrived back to Hart’s Pass first, before Prick and Bags, and I waited in the car for them. Unfortunately we did not have any cell phone service and my satellite communicator messages were massively delayed. Prick and Bags didn’t remember exactly where we parked the car as there are several parking lots and spots that the car (and therefore myself) could have been. In a comedy of communication errors, we were waiting for each other in different spots for an extended period of time.

Eventually another hiker, Dash, tapped on the car window and asked if I was Kanga. He had been waiting with Prick and Bags at a different spot and finally ventured out to find me. Once all reunited, we laughed at the miscommunication and began our way back to Oregon!

When we were originally driving to the border, there had been a mudslide on Highway 20, our most direct route and this had added ~ 2 hours to our already long drive. As Highway 20 was still closed, we had to go around through east Washington (past Leavenworth). This was an easy drive once we got out of the high Cascade mountains and down to the flats of eastern Washington. We stopped at a grocery store in Leavenworth and eventually a Taco Bell along the way.

Our goal was to camp near Cascade Locks that night, but we were arriving in the dark which added a layer of complexity to our search of a campsite. Prick’s friend HandJob (who I will refer to as HJ henceforth) was visiting for PCT Trail Days from Utah. He had previously visited Prick (and us!) in South Lake Tahoe so it was great to see him again.

He arrived in the Cascade Locks area before we did and his searching for a quick, free campsite worked! We met him late and camped in one of the funniest camp spots along the whole trail. Bags and I were tucked in on a partially used forest road, while the boys slept in the cars.

Day 148: PCT Trail Days

We got up early as was our typical schedule and went to figure out the layout of PCT Trail Days. As mentioned, we arrived in the dark and did not know exactly what our surroundings looked like and were treated to a berry bonanza. It was breakfast before real breakfast – what an absolute delight!

Because we had camped only 10 minutes from the Marine Park where the event was to be located, we got great parking and great campsites on Thunder Island. Though there were some activities the Thursday night prior, the official expo didn’t start until Friday, August 16th. Even at the start of Friday morning, we were amazed at how many hikers were already camped out on Thunder Island!

Though there was a ‘Thru-Hiker Breakfast’ at the officially PCT Trail Days, it was already busy and was going to be a sincere wait. We all went to Bridgeside Diner instead to get a more substantial breakfast. The official PCT Trail Days expo did not open until late morning/early afternoon so we spent a lot of time relaxing and catching up with friends.

We made our way through the expo and were delighted to see how many hikers we all had met before that were there! It was a reunion of sorts and hearing everyone’s stories from the trail lifted spirits. This was also a great reminder of how far we all had come and that this journey was unfortunately nearing its end. I also met my name counterpart, a kind Australian man named ‘Roo’! We had heard about each other for hundreds (thousands?) of miles on trail so it was by happenstance we sat at the same picnic table with our drinks.

This was also a great time to connect directly with the gear brands that we had learned to know and love. Specifically, I geeked out with ZenBivy, the team responsible for my sleep on the trail. I will sing their design praises to anyone who will hear it. Here is a quick video of me doing a tour of my gear with them!

A large group of us went to Thunder Island Brewing for a late lunch and I was once again treated to gluten free goodies that I do not normally get. This brewery has a great set up for hikers and we all felt welcomed there.

Some of our desert crew came in town specifically for this expo – Links and Wavy arrived from Southern California! Our dear HardStart also arrived and we spent the majority of the remainder of the evening/night catching up around the tents.

Day 149: PCT Trail Days

With our whole Desert crew in town, we went out to breakfast together. The last time this group was all together was way back in Agua Dolce at Serenity’s Oasis. Though it was only a few months prior, I felt like it was a lifetime ago.

We spent the majority of the day wandering around the outdoor expo visiting the booths that we had missed the day prior. There were some funny activities planned including a fan favorite – a watermelon opening and eating contest. This was much more entertaining than I originally thought as there was a race for the “tools” to open the watermelon which varied from a camp chair, ice axe, and ski. We also had a few close trail friends doing it so there were lots of folks to root for!

After the expo time, we went back to our tents and I had a nap. After being quite solitary for the majority of the trail, going to an expo with hundreds (more than a thousand?) people was a bit overwhelming.

During dinner, a wild thunderstorm rolled through. This was the hardest rain and most intense storm we had had on the entire trail, so we were lucky to be inside. I sent out a tiny prayer to my tent and hoped that I had staked it out correctly and substantially enough. With both HJ and Prick in town, they had another friend that completed the Appalachian Trail with them in 2018 visit because she lived in the area! It was great to have Prick’s trail group from the AT join up with his trail group from the PCT. It is always a gift to meet other thru-hikers, hear about their hikes, and gather intel for a potential next thru-hike.

By the time we were done with dinner, it was still storming, but we needed to leave to make room for the hundreds of hikers also seeking shelter and food. There was a small arcade bar in town that was hosting karaoke that night as well. Bags and I had joked about karaoke for months so it was our time to finally do it!

As Cascade Locks is a very small town with limited after typical business hours businesses, to say this arcade bar filled up would be a sincere understatement. Links had never done karaoke before so seeing him and Wavy do some duets and jump in to other’s performances was an absolute delight. Bags and I sang a Sabrina Carpenter song (this is very on brand). The bar filled up to capacity with terrible smelling hikers. This was felt even more because the humidity was so high from the continuing storm. A full hiker trash experience.

The night took a strange turn when the hiker from previous posts that had made me uncomfortable (read more here) was also there. They tried to talk to me several times and I respectfully declined a conversation. This person had obviously been drinking and would not take ‘no’ for an answer. At one point, this person grabbed my arm forcefully to get my attention. This was when Bags and I determined it was time to go. They tried following me down the road back to the tents, but Links and Wavy became my lovely protective parents in that moment. This escalated into a near bar fight, while I stood and watched on from the sidewalk.

Bags and I ran back to Thunder Island giggling at the absurdity of the situation. It felt like a mix of summer camp and high school.

Day 150 Part 1: Leaving PCT Trail Days

We woke up early and began packing up relatively quickly as there was a long day ahead of us for both groups (Prick, Bags, and I & HJ). Our group’s goal for the day was to drive back to the Seattle airport, drop off the rental car, get picked up by Broncé and Rosa (bless them!), and be dropped back off at Snoqualmie Pass. This is where they had picked us up from only 5 days prior, but now we would continue north in our last section of the trail for OR & WA Section J.

Everything went smoothly during the first half of the day. We stopped to fill in any resupply gaps for the next section. After dropping off the rental car, Bronce and Rosa picked us up and dropped us off at Snoqualmie Pass. As mentioned before, they had accepted resupply boxes for us before but they also accepted new shoes for both Bags and myself. As my shoes were many miles past their prime, I rejoiced in proper support and comfort for my last few days on the trail!

Please enjoy these photos from PCT Trail Days!

xoxo Kanga/Leeann