It’s now so late in the hiking season that it’s not light until 6:30am and dark by 7:30pm. I’m definitely using my headtorch to make my coffee at 5:30am and continue using it until we leave at around 6:30 or 7:00am. We left Sonora Pass and climbed up the mountain while the sun was rising – what a stunning site! Even after more than 5 months I keep pinching myself at every sunrise, every stunning view and each sunset and feel so privileged to have the opportunity to be experiencing this amazing journey. At my age I’m really blessed to still be injury and mostly pain free after more than 2000 miles (3200kms). Although we had planned for 15 mile days (24kms) we in fact were still doing 20+ miles (33+kms). Part of this is because we need to camp each evening at lower altitudes and also because the weather can’t stay beautiful every day for much longer. In a couple of days it’s forecast to get a bit nasty, we need to make sure we’re camping lower when this comes.

Huge sweeping views after each climb are followed by tricky descents over rock and boulder strewn trails. In parts the trails are actually made of stone steps broken up by trail maintenance staff, especially as we crossed into Yosemite National Park. The rock formations tower above gorgeous valleys with creeks which must become raging rivers when the snow melts. All river/creek crossings to date have been easy with dry feet. Fingers crossed it stays this way. With the approaching storm we decided to have a shorter day and not push on over the next pass. Rather, we found a lovely campsite in the river valley early and set up camp. Crossing the pass earlier in the day we had seen the approaching front which appeared very dark from afar. Coffee, a snack and then we settled down for some early book reading for the rest of the afternoon.

Bang! 3:25pm and the rain started, proper big Fiordland sized drops and oops, our tent after 150 nights of use was no longer waterproof along some of the seams. Drips formed, puddles were mopped and our sense of trust in the Palace was diminished. The rain lasted for only 2 hours so we managed to have a dry’ish night. I built a fire once the rain stopped which we cooked besides, fires are great when you need a bit of a lift. With the rain came the cold snap and it got super cold. We were toastie in the Palace as we have pretty good gear – I felt sorry for the ultra-lights who don’t have quite as much gear as we do.

The following day (Day 174 on the trail) became a race to Tuolumne Meadows. 22 odd miles (35kms) to get out to the makeshift/seasonal cafe and store that feeds PCT, John Muir Trail (JMT) hikers, tourists and car-campers. We wanted a warm meal, a updated weather forecast and the chance to resupply for the next section. The weather was super cold but clear and sunny. A pass to climb – it seemed endless, then a descent and a long relatively level section all the way to the meadows. We also had the chance to see the Tuolumne Falls which in themselves are really stunning. We met paid trail maintenance staff – they work for the National Park service unlike the volunteers who work for the Forestry Service. We made it in time, had a warm meal, resupplied and then camped at the campground. Huge day!

The next morning we breakfasted at the Cafe and were about to leave when someone posted a new weather update onto the noticeboard……this could change our plans for the next couple of days…….who knows?

In Reno, while walking to the local “7-11” (Dairy), a man on a mountain bike carrying a crowbar on the handlebars decided I needed to buy a large bag of Marijuana because I looked like I was a stoner……he even offered a huge discount as I appeared to look a bit down and out…….after declining, which seemed to upset him, he eventually left to hassle some other homeless looking person. I’d even had a shower though I imagine I probably do look a bit like I’ve been living rough after 5 1/2 months on the trail :). The immigration service “walk-in” went fine, forms filled in, all ten digits scanned and rolled and a new photo taken. Took no time at all and they didn’t comment on the new stamps in our passports. They’re now “processing” our requests further. We even managed to get back onto trail a day before we thought we would by negotiating a cash job with our Uber driver that had taken us form the Motel to the Immigration offices. By lunch time we were back a Ebbets Pass and on our way southbound.

While in Reno we had also managed to go to the outfitters and buy new shoes, I’d managed to do another 1000 miles (1600kms) in my Oboz shoes and bought another pair. Anna also replaced her’s but decided to carry the new ones a little longer. A quick 7 miles got us to Asu Lake where we decided to camp early. The area in the Higher Sierras is actually quite arid, the pine trees are not so dense and the passes are pretty clear with stunning views of the surrounding mountains. Plenty of lakes, especially around the higher passes with lush meadows in the valleys. We saw plenty of Squirrels and Chipmunks plus quite a number of Deer. The weather yet again was gorgeous each day though the nights are certainly getting cooler. We also have been feeling the higher altitudes with plenty of puffing on the uphills were the passes go over 10,000 feet (3050m).

We eventually got to Senora Pass and hitched into Kennedy Meadows (North) on the third morning. Had a huge 2nd breakfast just before lunch time, re-supplied at the store and took the shuttle back to the trail mid afternoon. With the weather becoming cooler, though still super sunny during the day, we really need to keep the momentum up or we’ll strike problems when we get further south at even higher altitude. We also met a lovely English couple we hadn’t seen since Oregon – was great to swap stories about our adventures in between. We camped soon after the shuttle dropped us off instead of trying to climb the mountain that evening – we didn’t want to carry the extra litres of water over the hill, a 10 mile dry section. Lovely evening, good campsite, great day!

Our next section would see us crossing multiple passes per day at even higher altitudes…….and eventually end up at Tuolumne Meadows situated in Yosemite National Park, a pretty cool place to go tramping if you haven’t already.

Thanks again Christina for having us stay at your place in Vancouver and then at sparrows fart taking us to the airport! Up super early and off to the airport. Packs wrapped in plastic, checked in, security (shoes off) and through US immigration. Showed the immigration official our PCT Canadian Entry permit and he didn’t care. Given our valid US Visas he stamped our passports with another 6 months. Our case for a Visa extension can’t have shown up on his screen. Finger prints taken, a new photo (smiling with closed mouth allowed) and we were through to Duty Free and the boarding gate. No issues! Strange clearing US customs in Vancouver but it meant we didn’t need to in Seattle for our 3 hour layover. Flight went fine, Seattle came and went after an additional 45 minute delay then onto Reno.

Reno, baggage claim, rental car and we were off to Redding, we had left gear there with our trail angel, Melissa. We somehow got a convertible for the price of compact and speed off on the interstate for the drive up to Redding. Arrived super late, pitched the tent in sweltering heat on Melissa’s patio and slept. Melissa came home sometime during the night and come morning made us coffee. We grabbed our gear, left quite a bit and raced to the US Postal service where we had also sent a box. All sorted! Raced back to Reno to try and talk to a US Immigration officials to find out if we needed to proceed given we had new 6 month stamps in our passports. Security wouldn’t let us in to talk to anyone but did say they accepted “walk-ins” on Wednesdays. Tried to call the helpline but they weren’t very helpful. Our only option was to do a small section of the trail and come back next Wednesday.

We had applied for Visa extensions in Cascade Locks at the end of July. Because of limited access, we didn’t realise until we were in Canada a month later that we were meant to go to San Diego on the 22th of August to have our biometrics done. Hence our visit to Reno for biometrics. Although a huge pain in the arse, it has been a fascinating experience dealing with the US Immigration services including the extra forms we’ve had to fill in and the questions asked (yes, a race question rather than ethnicity and I now have sandy hair instead of brown or blonde). Even the 0800 number was interesting especially once we talked to a real human being – the answer to every one of our questions was “while your case is pending you are allowed to remain in the US”. True but not very helpful.

Thankfully we hooked up with “Raven” our mate from the Czech Republic who walked with us in Northern California. She and her brother had a rental car so when we arrived in South Lake Tahoe from Reno, they took us to a supermarket to resupply and then joined us for the 70km section we could do before having to return to Reno. We parked at Ebbets pass and planned to walk back to Echo Lake near Lake Tahoe, thankfully we had Raven as it’s a long way to the trail head and not easy to hitch to. We only did 8kms the first afternoon, easy going and great to be back on the trail. This area is the beginning of the High Sierras and so is at a higher altitude than what we were doing in Washington. We started off at around 8700 feet at the pass and climbed over 9000 feet (2750m). This is part of our process to get used altitude without suffering from too many headaches.

The following days were lovely, getting reacquainted with Raven and spending time again in the Sierras. It’s certainly getting colder, one morning we had frost in the meadows. Hopefully the winter doesn’t come early, we’ve still got 3 weeks in the High Sierras before we venture at lower altitudes from Lake Tahoe northwards. The Visitor Centre at Carson Pass was lovely, as PCT Hikers we received, a boiled egg, a mini snickers bar, a brownie, an apple, a mandarin and a can of coke. On the one side this was fantastic, for us, on the other very sad for the US – almost all staff we’ve met at all Visitor Centres are volunteers – when I explained that in NZ we pay VC staff they were gobsmacked. It’s such a shame that these services appear really undervalued – I guess in America, if you don’t make money, you don’t get paid……..

To make sure we had transport at the trail exit, Raven hiked 25 miles back to the rental car on the 3rd morning while we continued, drove around the to next trailhead and hiked in to meet us. She arrived at about 4:30pm. Raven is super fit, has hiked around 2000 miles of the trail but sadly has to return home. We camped at a lovely spot by a large lake but it was definitely cold overnight. The final stretch to the car took only a couple of hours and we were in Lake Tahoe for 2nd breakfast by 10am. Sad goodbyes and we were again on the shuttle bus to Reno for our “walk-in” the following morning. Nice to have been back in the Sierras even if it was for such a short time.

Next up, our “walk-in”, Reno and our fortunate Uber lift back to Ebbets pass. Stay tuned!

OK, the title should read from “Leavenworth” instead of Stevens Pass as that’s where we ended up at the end of the last blog but it was actually Stevens Pass on the PCT. A zero day in Leavenworth was actually well deserved considering we planned to go all the way to the Canadian border without another substantial break. We also wanted to see this famous Bavarian town in the States……and oh boy is it Bavarian, or rather a super fake version. I now understand why so many Americans believe unicorns are real. At least we ate heaps, did our laundry and had showers, from that perspective it was great! We also found a lovely bakery that served Avocado on Sourdough bread and had great WiFi.

We bumped into a woman we had met right at the beginning in San Diego, “Stark-naked”, she had broken both her feet amongst other things and was trail angeling in town. She ended up giving us a lift to the trailhead so we could continue on our journey. We camped at a lovely lake then continued on, climbing higher with every zig-zag (switchback). The higher elevations intorduced us to more views and open alpine meadows – nice! Sadly by days end we were again traumitised – this time after meeting a Granddad, Son and Grandson, hunting Black Bear together (you can do so with a permit). No wonder we hadn’t seen any Black Bears. Coming from NZ where only introduced pests are hunted, this seemed shocking and barbaric. Sadly the following day we met another couple of Black Bear hunters……what are these people thinking?

The weather had become cooler, lots of low cloud and mist in the bottoms of the valleys. One pass we crossed almost had white-out conditions. Lucky we’re here a month earlier than we thought, it must be awful come late September. In fact, flipping northward and skipping the heavily snow clad Sierras was the best thing we could have done. Oregon was stunning in July, Washington had been beautiful during August. We still had plenty of flowers in the alpine meadows but the trees were slowly turning into their autumn colours. Days were spent climbing gently for hours, crossing saddles and passes and then gently dropping back down to river valleys – this was to be repeated each day till the Northern Terminus on the Canadian border.

Finally the moment came that we had hoped for…….an encounter with a Black Bear……woohoo! Leaving a forested section, we came out into a wide and steep alpine meadow. I saw a black shape below the trail and stopped Anna in her tracks. The Bear was grazing on berries and having noticed us slowly grazed his way up and across the trail ahead of us. We were so transfixed and excited! He/she carried on up the meadow but seemed in no hurry and continued grazing. We continued along the trail to the other end of the meadow and stopped again to watch – wonderful! After meeting bloody idiots trying to kill them we enjoyed the experience even more. We’ve seen Marmots, Chipmunks, Squirrels, Deer, Pica, gigantic Frogs and many bird species but this was super special – like seeing a Kiwi in your backyard in Wellington.

The weather eventually cleared and the following days were picture perfect and full of sunshine. By now we were heading around the backside of Glacier Peak, a stunning piece of mountain with hanging glaciers. We took a little alternative route which made us cross a raging Glacier fed river, we crossed it safely after finding the right spot and had a lovely lunch on the other side. Back on the PCT proper we climbed up another huge climb but again the going was relatively easy – the PCT is basically a “Great Walk” standard track with a maximum 10 degree gradient, super gentle especially with the huge number of zig-zags. We camped at a lovely spot and a few kilometres next morning we had come to the intersection with another alternative route. This route was used the previous year to go around a massive fire on the trail -we didn’t really fancy walking through a long burn area so we took the trail down to a place called Holden. An old Copper mining village, converted into a large christian retreat had accommodation and food – and showers…..so we stayed there the night – nice!

The following day we took the School Bus to Lake Chelan where we took the boat to Stehekin and picked up our resupply box from the post office. Had a huge feed at the famous bakery and then took the forestry bus to the trailhead. We are so happy to take these alternate routes, it gives us a chance to see so much more than just sticking to the main trail. A walk along a disused road and we were happily back on the trail. Beautiful campsite, a few old huts and shelters, a longdrop (privy) and an overly friendly Deer. Nice night and no longer quite as cold as it had been.

Another climb and descent took us to a trailhead – we opted to hitch into the settlement nearby so we could check messages. No network connectivity up here. We got a lift really quickly – strange – then had to sit outside the place with WiFi as they were closed in the afternoon. Got my messages and thankfully arranged to stay at Christina’s place in Vancouver, who also offered to pick us up from the border (ex-DOC staff are awesome!). Messages checked and replied to, a feed at the Cafe and we were off hitching again back to the trailhead. Although we had competition from a homeless guy we eventually got a lift (again in a Subaru) and walked a few miles before we camped.

The following day was huge, 23.1 miles (37.1kms). Across open tops once we reached them then another climb across to Glacier Pass followed by another climb of more than 800 metres got us to our destination by a mountain spring and water for the night and morning. The following day was slightly shorter but included a couple of rain showers which have been really rare. We camped at Holman Pass and were joined by 3 hikers who had made it through the Sierras and were finishing the following day. An English woman had completed the Te Araroa Trail just before starting the PCT and had loved the trail in NZ. Nice!

Day 158 dawned beautifully, the other hikers left before us and we had the trail to ourselves. 17 miles (27.35kms) and we would be finished with Washington, visiting the Northern Terminus and crossing into Canada. A lovely lunch along the way and the final descent to the border. All a bit anti-climatic as we still need to return to California and complete the Sierras. We’ve walked 3170kms, 1030kms to go to complete the trail. Washington has been fantastic, the weather cooler and mistier than Oregon but relatively bug free. Lots of views, also plenty of “Green Tunnel” through the pine forests. All-in-all it’s been great. We’re both still injury free and still pumped after 5 months on the trail.

We took photos and videos at the terminus, reflected on our good fortunes to date and carried onto a lovely campsite just on the Canadian side of the border. The following day we walked the 8 miles (13kms) into Manning Park, had a huge 2nd breakfast, showered and were picked up by Christina and Clement as arranged at noon. So fantastic to be picked up by a Kiwi friend in Canada. 225kms later and we were at Christina’s place in Vancouver. Thank you so much for picking us up and letting us stay a few days! Hugs to you both!

Next up……back to the US, immigration, what happened to our Visa extension application?