Hiked the PCT across the bridge of the gods up toward table mountain. I hiked to the road on the upper side of table mountain on the PCT (45.70155, -121.99928). The trail is in great condition! There are about a dozen blow downs but all are easy walk over/under/around. The lower part coming up from the Columbia is nice, feels like an urban fringe trail - less forest, more scrub re growth from past tree harvest. There is a gravel road up above Gillette Lake that is an active quarry road. I didn’t not fully hike up Table Mtn - but can confirm it’s snow free right now. 

Only saw two people at the end of the hike near the Bonneville cut off trail. 

Hiked NOBO from Cascade Locks to Panther Creek Campground June 27-30, 2024. Lots of poison oak and a downed utility line at the very beginning of the trail. Contacted City of Cascade Locks to notify them of the utility line so they could tell the responsible party. They said they would. Saw a bear bag tied around the base of a tree and torn into by a bear. Lots of water. More than online & book/map sources say. Probably because the hike was early season. Very little mosquitoes. Saw about 12 other section hikers and 1 thru hiker. Thru hiker did Oregon & parts of CA last year, already tackled the other part of CA this year and was now hitting WA.

Went only as far as Greenleaf Creek as an out-and-back day hike. Disappointing experience compared to hikes in nearby Beacon Rock State Park. After the pleasant forest in the first 1.5 miles or so, the huge, loose 6" broken basalt chunks the trail has been built/maintained with in many places make it impossible to hike without watching the trail every step (or risk a broken ankle). I'd much prefer mud. The gravel pit was busy, its trucks barreling and noisy (the trail crosses the road). At least Gillette Lake (and its creek) and Greenleaf Creek were lovely oases that saved the hike. Wouldn't do it again.

PCT Section H - Crest Camp to Potato Hill TH 4-Day Solo Trip, Aug. 18-21, 2023

In my continuing quest to complete section-hiking the Washington portion of the PCT this year, I hiked the next 53 miles of the WA portion from where I ended my last trip on Aug 2nd at Crest Camp (see my trip report of July 31-Aug 2, 2023 from the Bridge of the Gods to Crest Camp).   So after this trip, I now just have the final 30 miles from Hart’s Pass to the Canadian border remaining.

Since I was doing a solo trip, I planned to stash a bike at the Potato Hill TH and ride it back down at the end similar to what I did during the July 31 trip.  However, to avoid a 54-mile, 3,000 foot elevation gain bike ride back on the last day, I split my trip into two legs; Leg 1 (Days 1 & 2) is hiking from the Forest Road (FR) 23/521 Williams Mine TH to Potato Hill TH and Leg 2 (Days 3 & 4) is hiking from the Crest Camp TH to FR 521 Williams Mine TH.  As detailed in the main report write-up below, I did perform the bike ride at the end of Leg 1, but I utilized the friendly Trout Lake Trail Angel drivers at the end of Leg 2 in lieu of having to ride 32 miles and 2,000 feet of elevation gain, mostly over the very rough FR 60 gravel road.

Important Bits and Information

Road and Parking Report:

I followed The Google directions to get from Seattle to the Potato Hill TH (State Route (SR) 169 / SR 410 / SR 123 / SR 12 / FR 21 / FR 2160 (actually paved) / FR 56 / FR 2329 / FR 5603 (paved)).  Besides the short times that you are driving on the paved FRs 2160 & 5603 all of the Forest Roads were pretty washboardy and rough in general.  I didn’t have any issues with my compact FWD vehicle, but it is slow going on much of it.  Note that there is a long portion of FR 2329 that seems to be mostly dirt.  If this part is wet, it may be really difficult or impassable as evident by the large ruts in the road.  Plan on it taking about 3 1/2 hours from Seattle to the Potato Hill TH (especially if you make a stop in Packwood at the Mountain Goat Bakery for a latte and a blackberry muffin).  The Potato Hill TH has room for about 6 cars and requires a Northwest Forest Pass or applicable Interagency Pass.  There were no vehicles there when I arrived at 9:45 AM on a Friday.

The route from Potato Hill TH to the official PCT Williams Mine TH at FR 521 is via FR 5603 / FR 2329 / FR 23 / FR 521.  FR 2329 from the FR 5603 junction to the FR 23 junction is also mostly covered in washboards and rough rocky sections.  FR 2329 does have a short paved section near the Takhlakh Lake Campground.  FR 2329 ends at the junction with FR 23.  FR 23 is also a washboardy gravel road down to the junction with FR 90 and then FR 23 is paved the rest of the way to the FR 521 junction (and down to Trout Lake for that matter).  The PCT Williams Mine TH is a quarter mile up FR 521, which is also pretty rough going.  My car didn’t have any issues on this trip either.  The FR 521 TH has a large parking area and requires a Northwest Forest Pass or applicable Interagency Pass.  There were 4 vehicles there when I arrived at 11:15 AM on a Friday.

The driving directions and conditions from the FR 521 PCT TH to Crest Camp is: FR 521 / FR 23 / Mt. Adams Road / SR 141 (turns into FR 24) / FR 60 (aka Carson Guler Rd).  FR 23, Adams Rd, SR 141 are paved, but FR 60 is really really covered with harsh washboards and rough sections.  I still didn’t have any major issues with my compact car, but it’s very slow going. Plan on it taking about an hour and 20 minutes from the FR 521 TH or an hour from the town of Trout Lake.  Crest Camp TH has room for about 4 or 5 vehicles in the small lot but there are additional spots along the road.  There were 2 vehicles in the lot when I arrived at 7:30 PM on a Saturday.  It also requires a Northwest Forest Pass or applicable Interagency Pass (which is a new parking fee requirement for this TH since 8/1/2023).

Bug Report:

I experienced very few bugs during the 4 days I was out.  The only camp where I had some gnats and mossy issues was at the aptly-named Mosquito Camp where I did end up putting on some 30% DEET to keep them at bay in the early evening.  However, they disappeared about 9pm and they did not come out at all the next morning.  Note that occasionally I would get pestered from gnats and mosquitoes during the hike at various areas near lakes, but they weren’t that bad.  So, hopefully it’s looking like we may be getting close to the end of the bug season.

Trail and Blowdown Report:

The trail was in excellent condition.  The tread is mostly dirt or duff and even sandy in some locations.  It never gets too rocky or rooty and it doesn’t have any steep ascents/decent sections.  So, you can really burn through the miles.  I even made good time with these OMG knees.

There were several blowdowns, but they were either pretty easy step-overs or duck-unders.  The only blowdown worth mentioning is one that may be an issue for those with stock.  There is one blowdown on the southern slope of Berry Mountain about halfway up the second switchback that is bent down 90 degrees and is hanging about chest-high across the trail.  Note that the hillside above and below this tree is pretty steep.  It’s not a big deal for humans to limbo under it but it seems to me that it may be difficult to get a horse around this, but what do I know, I’m not a horse-ologist.

Water Report:

As noted on the National Geographic PCT maps, PCTA Halfmile water reports and in PCT Guide Books, there aren't any real water issues in this 53-mile section, i.e., you are usually within 6 miles or so of a water source.

Berry Report:

It is looking like it is peak blue/huckleberry season, especially along the trail on the ridge north of Berry Mountain.  The berries here are so plentiful here that you cannot keep from eating them since the plants are leaning across the trail in front of your mug.  Note that I didn’t see as many blue/huckleberries in the 2012 Cascade Creek large burn in the Mt. Adams Wilderness as I expected.  Also, I didn’t see much in regards to salmon berries or thimbleberries, so those may be done for this season at least in this portion of the PCT.

Wildflowers:

Many of the late summer wildflowers are still near their peaks.  A few are starting to go to seed however, such as the lupine.

Trout Lake Trail Angels:

The small town of Trout Lake is a mecca for PCT Thru-hikers (and Section hikers like me).  They really take care of hikers there.  The town itself basically has a gas station, cafe, espresso stand (all in one building) and a grocery store down the street.  The grocery store is fairly small, but it is well stocked including a specific section for restocking PCT hikers.

In lieu of repeating everything that is on the trail angel website, see PCT.TroutLake.org.  Note that the shuttle between Trout Lake and the FR 23 shuttle stop that I discuss in this write-up runs 4 times a day during July and August.  See the times on the website.  The site also has a list of Trail Angel drivers and their phone numbers that you can contact to pick you up or drop you off.  Have some cash on hand to provide them with a donation.

Main Trip Report

As stated above, I split my trip into two Legs.  Since I was coming from Seattle and was planning to stash my bike at the northern end of each leg and bike back south to the car, Leg 1 was the northern 21-mile section that I initially completed and Leg 2 was the southern 32-mile section, as follows:

Leg 1 (Days 1 & 2):

Day 1: Drive Seattle to Potato Hill TH / Stash bike / Drive to FR 521 Williams Mine TH / Hike 9.3 miles to Sheep Lake Camp (Just to clarify, this is the Sheep Lake in the Mt. Adams Wilderness, not the Sheep Lake that is about 2 miles north of Crest Camp).

Day 2: Hike 12.1 miles from Sheep Lake to Potato Hill TH / Bike 22 miles via Forest Roads from Potato Hill TH to FR 521 Williams Mine TH (as noted in my daily write-up below, I did not stash my bike at the Williams Mine TH as originally planned) / Drive to Crest Camp TH / Car Camped at Crest Camp the evening of Day 2.

Leg 2 (Days 3 & 4):

Day 3: Hike 21 miles from Crest Camp to Mosquito Camp.

Day 4: Hike 11 miles from Mosquito Camp to FR 521 Williams Mine TH / Hike the 0.8 miles back south to the PCT trail crossing at FR 23 which is the Trout Lake Trail Angel Shuttle Stop.

The following daily details are written in the order that I hiked the trip as outlined above.  If you are hiking it in the typical NOBO fashion from Crest Camp to Potato Hill, read it in the order of Days 3, 4, 1, 2).  The daily mileages and elevation gain/loss (rounded to 100 ft.) listed are from Halfmile’s Pacific Crest Trail Notes and Elevation Profiles on pctmap.net - Thank you PCTA.

Day 1 - Aug 18, FR 521 Williams Mine TH to Sheep Lake Camp, 9.3 miles (+2,300 ft. / -600 ft.)

I departed the Seattle area at 6:15 AM and was ready to finally start my hike from the FR 521 Williams Mine TH at 11:45 by the time I drove down, stopped at the Potato Hill TH to lock my bike and helmet to a tree and stashed my pump, repair kit and biking pants (Yes, I learned from my July 31 trip that I should also stash biking pants… say no more).

You need to fill out a free Wilderness Pass at the FR 521 Williams Mine TH since the trail soon enters the Mt. Adams Wilderness.  Within 2 miles, the trail enters the 2012 Cascade Creek Fire Burn Area.  Note very pretty, but at least the fireweed and a few huckleberry plants were growing and you could see Mt. Adams, St. Helens and Rainier during many sections of the trail.  It was forecasted that smoke from the ongoing Sourdough and Blue Lake forest fires in the North Cascades would be moving into the Puget Sound area today.  You could already see the smoke coming south and starting to block the view of the lower slopes of Mt. Rainier and it gradually got worse.  This did make for a dramatic view of the west side of Mt. Adams from Sheep Lake camp (first photo).  The trail from FR 521 TH was basically uphill most of the way to Sheep Lake, but it was gradual, rising 2,100 feet over 7.5 miles.

The camp at Sheep Lake was pretty nice, room for at least 3 tents.  Sheep Lake is actually a small pond. I was the only one camping there.  Even though the camp was nice, there was a rather creaky tree in the site with a bunch of vertical cracks in it that was obviously leaning towards the tent sites, especially where I put my tent.  I did think about moving my tent, but figured - what’s the chance.  Well during the night, every time the wind blew even a little bit, the tree would creak some more.  As I laid there, I thought for sure that I would get awakened by a loud snap and the sound of a falling tree at some point during the night.  But apparently since I’m writing this report, I did not get crushed.

Day 2 - Aug 19, Sheep Lake Camp to Potato Hill, 12.1 miles (+900 ft. / -1,900 ft.) and 22-mile bike ride back to FR 521 Williams Mine TH

I got up about 6am and started on the trail about 7:15.  Eating and drinking a hot breakfast seems to take a lot of time.  I may need to end this morning coffee hot breakfast ritual at least on trips that I’m trying to pack in the miles.  However, it did get down to 41 degrees overnight and it was still chilly, so the coffee was extra satisfying this morning.  Note that I rarely see Thru-hikers firing up the stove in the morning.

The smoke was still coming in from the north, Rainier was getting more and more covered, see the 2nd photo that was taken at 6:40am. By mid morning, Rainier was basically non-existent.  The trail was fairly level for the first 5 miles from Sheep Lake then slowly descended to inviting looking Lava Spring camp and ascended a little to the Potato Hill TH.  The hiking today was pretty easy with the exception of a ford over Adams Creek about 3 miles north of Sheep Lake.  There looked to be a few crossing options. I decided to head upstream about 100 feet and use a pair of logs crossing the creek, with the upper log having a lot of branches that provide a lot of hand holds.  That made it much easier since the bottom log was still partially covered in ice (see the 3rd photo).

About 1.3 miles north of the Adams Creek ford, I saw a strange bump on the sign for High Camp Trail #10.  On closer look, it was a pika with a mouthful of goodies (see the 4th photo).  

Note I’m slowly becoming a believer in trekking poles. I’ve been avoiding using them in the past to save weight, but due to knee issues that I experienced during the July 31 trip, I figured I better try them to save my OMG knees so I could keep on truckin’.  They seemed to ease the pain a bit and I could keep moving pretty well, however the descents on this trip did not seem as steep or as plentiful as the July 31 trip.  So, the jury is still out.  I will test them again on the upcoming Hart’s Pass to Canada trip.

Once at Potato Hill, I retrieved my bike, switched to the biking pants and rode FR 2329 and FR 23 back to the FR 521 TH.  The initial part of FR 2329 went ok, but the road seemed to climb quite a bit more than I thought it would.  Note that The Google did state that there is a total of 1,000 feet of elevation gain during the ride south, but I seemed to be spending most of the time climbing.  Also, riding on washboard and loose gravel was not very pleasant.  Besides not having much traction on the loose gravel, the gravel really wanted to twist my front wheel sideways, nearly causing me to flip several times.  I finally hit some downhill sections, but still had to take it easy due to the washboards and loose gravel.  The ride near Takhlakh Lake campground was fun in that it was on pavement and was downhill.  Then I hit FR 23 where it turned back to gravel again.  Once I hit the paved portion of FR 23, it ascended another 400 feet before finally descending a bit until the FR 521 junction.  It ended up taking me 2 1/2 hours to ride from Potato Hill to my car at the FR 521 TH.  I guess it was still better than walking all of the way back.

At that point, I decided to not leave my bike at the FR 521 TH and just load it in the car for good.  For Leg 2, I decided to use the services of the Trail Angel shuttle bus and the Trail Angel drivers in order to get back to my car at Crest Camp.

So, I drove down to Trout Lake and initially stopped at the gas station since my car gave me a warning that one of my tires was low.  I filled it up at the free air station there.  The nice young guy there asked if I needed a gauge, but I had one.  I stopped at the grocery store and grabbed a burrito, a Deschutes Hazy brew and an ice cream sandwich.  The store has a microwave in which I could heat up the burrito.  They even had taco sauce packs.  The nice lady at the check out let me sign the PCT Hiker book even though I’m only a lowly Section hiker.  After departing the store, I ate the ice cream sandwich first, natch.

As mentioned in the road report above, FR 60 was pretty rough going.  After finally reaching Crest Camp, I set up camp at one of the sites, which even had a picnic table.  Also there is a privy at Crest Camp that actually had toilet paper, 16 rolls of it piled in the corner, I counted them.  Talk about lux.  I guess the Forest Service folks didn’t want to drive up that harsh road either to restock the privy.

Day 3 - Aug 20, Crest Camp to Mosquito Camp, 20.8 miles (+2,800 ft. / -2,400 ft.)

After a pleasant car camp at Crest Camp, I started hiking at about 7:40.  Again, you need to fill out a free Wilderness Pass at the Crest Camp TH since the trail soon enters the Indian Heavens Wilderness.  I wasn’t in much of a hurry since I was only planning on hiking 12.5 miles to a site near Wood Lake.  I could tell that the smoke was really settling in since I could barely see the fire lookout on top of Red Mountain that was only about a half a mile away.  The trail up Berry Mountain was a steady climb, but wasn’t too bad since it was just a 1,500 foot climb over about 5 miles.  And you get the award of tons of huckleberries once on top and along the ridge north of Berry Mt.

I stopped at lovely Blue Lake for lunch, which is 7.4 miles from Crest Camp.  Took a leisurely lunch break since, again, I wasn’t really in a hurry and I could see that I was way ahead of schedule.

I arrived at my intended camp 12.5 miles from Crest Camp near Wood Lake at 2pm.  Hmmm, it is way too early to stop today.  So, I decided to march on.  Note that the camps near Surprise Lakes, which are 4 miles further north, are only open to Native Americans during the summer berry picking season.  So I was then determined to make it to the next camp that has water.  This happened to be Mosquito Creek Camp that is 8 miles north of my original intended camp near Wood Lake.  The trail to Mosquito Camp was fairly level with just gentle ups and downs so it was pretty quick getting there.  I ended up arriving at Mosquito Creek Camp at 5:45pm.  The camp is huge, 10 or more tents could fit in it.  Note that the camp itself is about a 2 minute walk north of the actual creek.  I was the only one camped there that night… well, besides the gnats and mosquitoes.

Day 4 - Aug 21, Mosquito Camp to FR 521 Williams Mine TH and back to FR 23 Shuttle Stop, 11.8 miles (+2,100 ft. / -2,200 ft.)

Got up at 5:15 and got moving by 6:45.  Again, it was a pretty easy hiking day.  There is a 1,000 foot climb up from Trout Lake Creek, but it has a 500 ft/mile accent rate, so it wasn’t too bad.  It then descends gently down to FR 23.  I arrived at the FR 23 shuttle stop at 11am.  The shuttle down to the town of Trout Lake was at 11:30, but I still had to hike up to FR 521 TH where I originally started on Friday.  I’m a perfectionist in this regard, I didn’t even think about not completing this 0.8 miles.  I knew that I couldn’t complete this 1.6 mile round trip in a half an hour, so I took my time finishing this up.  Besides, I was thinking that I would call one of the Trail Angels and have them drive me directly from the FR 23 shuttle stop to Crest Camp anyways.

When I returned to the FR 23 shuttle stop, some Trail Angels were handing out food.  They had sandwich fixins, candy, drinks and fruit.  They let me, a Section hiker, grab a peach.  Really, they don’t care if you are a thru-hiker, section hiker or day hiker.  They support any hiker.  But it is still good to ask first if you are not a thru-hiker in case they have limited supplies.  A few Thru-hikers were having snacks.

After a few minutes, a guy in a pickup drove by and asked if we were the 3 hikers who had called him for a ride, but apparently, they hadn’t arrived yet.  I went over and talked to him and he said that he is one of the Trail Angel drivers.  He let me and a Thru-hiker also ride down to Trout Lake with the original 3 that called him.  He didn’t seem too interested in taking me up to Crest Camp due to the FR 60 road condition.  After arriving at the grocery store in Trout Lake, I tried contacting some other trail angel drivers, but I ran out of luck.  The Trail Angel who brought us down was still at the grocery store, so I talked him into taking me up to Crest Camp (well, the cold hard cash I offered may have done most of the talking).

On arriving at Crest Camp, more Trail Angels were handing out hot dogs and such.  I grabbed a hot dog.  My car tire had basically gone flat.  I could have slowly blown it up with the mini bike pump I had, but I asked the Trail Angels if they happened to have a larger bike pump or an air compressor.  By luck, one of them did have an air compressor.  Super.  So, I pumped up the tire and was on my way back home.  Those Angels have everything.

After the PCT hike, I headed back to Seattle via State Route 14 along the Columbia River.  I had had enough of driving on those forest roads.  Also, I would have more options to stop to fill or fix my tire if the need arises.  I stopped at Beacon Rock State Park and hiked up the short but impressive trail built into the rock back in 1918.  I guess I didn't get enough hiking in today.  I’ve been wanting to check this out for quite awhile.  Besides I wanted to delay the drive an hour-ish anyways so that I didn’t end up in the Seattle rush hour(s).  If you have time, I recommend doing this hike to check out the great views up and down the Columbia River and for experiencing the trail itself.  There are some information boards near the base giving some geological and human history including Lewis & Clark’s assessment of the rock.  Beacon Rock requires the WA State Park Discover Day Pass or a $5 day-use fee which you can purchase at the trailhead.

Also, as I mention in my July 31 trip report, I recommend stopping at the Bonneville Dam Visitors Center on either or both the WA and OR side.  They are pretty interesting.  Note that the OR side has an interesting fish hatchery too near the Visitor Center.  It’s $3 to cross the Bridge of the Gods, which is also fun.

Final Thoughts

If you are hiking solo, there are many possible itineraries that may work out better than what I did.  One option that I was strongly considering was to keep my car at the FR 521 TH after the bike portion of Leg 1 and then just hike southbound to Crest Camp.  Then catch a ride from somebody already heading down to Trout Lake, take the Trail Angel shuttle back up to the FR 23 shuttle stop and walk back to the car at FR 521 TH.  Another option to avoid any biking is to park at about the halfway point, e.g., at the FR 88 TH, and do a round trip hike south, restock and do a roundtrip hike north.  Or a combo of these.

It was another pretty good backpack trip.  Too bad that the forest fire smoke obscured everything more than a half mile away on Days 3 and 4, but I did obtain some nice pictures of Mt. Adams on Days 1 and 2 when I was actually closer to the mountain.  And if you are going solo, the biking option was a fairly literal and figurative pain, but it was still a manageable pain at least for the roads I rode on during Leg 1.  But I would suggest using the friendly Trail Angels like I did for those areas that they cover, but please give them a nice donation to cover gas and to compensate for their time and wear and tear on their vehicles.  I was really impressed how much the tiny town of Trout Lake opens up to hikers.  That was really inspiring to see and experience.

Have fun out there,
OMG

PCT Section H from Bridge of the Gods to Crest Camp 3-Day Solo Trip, July 31-Aug 2, 2023

Original Release: August 3, 2023

Updated: August 6, 2023 (additional details added to the daily report and added 3 pictures)

In my quest to finally complete section-hiking the Washington portion of the PCT this year, I hiked the first 51 miles of the WA portion from the Bridge of the Gods to Crest Camp at Forest Road 60.  Note that over the past several years, I had section-hiked the PCT from the Potato Hill trailhead just south of the Goat Rocks Wilderness up to Hart’s Pass with the majority of them being solo trips (other trips were with my cousin, his daughter and son-in-law).  So before this trip, I still had the first 104 miles and the last 30 miles of Washington State remaining.

For this trip, since I was doing a solo trip, I stashed a bike at Crest Camp the day before my hike and rode it back to the Bridge of the Gods trailhead on my last day.

Important Bits and Information

Road and Parking Report:

There really isn’t any parking available at the PCT trailhead on the Washington side along State Route 14.  So if you are leaving a car, you will need to start on the south side of the Columbia River at the Bridge of the Gods trailhead.  The Bridge of the Gods trailhead is just off of US I-84 at the small but fun little town of Cascade Locks.  The main parking lot is near the Tollbooth, but it only has 9 parking spots.  I actually found a spot even at 1:00pm on a sunny Sunday when I stopped off to check out the trailhead and the bridge.  However, if these spots are taken, there is an alternate brand spanking new parking lot just on the other side of US I-84 off of Moody Street.  The PCT goes under I-84 between these two lots. Note that the satellite view on Google Maps just shows a wide gravel shoulder as this alternate lot, but there is now a nice new 30-spot lot (including 2 Disabled spots) located on the north side of Moody St.  The typical $5 / day fee, Northwest Forest Parking pass or other Interagency Annual or Lifetime Pass (like an America the Beautiful Pass) is required for either lot.

Note that if you are driving over the bridge, there is a $3 toll for cars and pickups, but it is free for pedestrians and bicycles.  Note that there is no sidewalk on the bridge, so you are sharing the bridge with traffic including trucks, which makes the bridge shimmy a bit.  Also, this is a grated bridge, so if you are a little queasy of heights, just don’t look down at your feet.

The roads to Crest Camp (WA State Route 14 / Wind River Road / Panther Creek Rd / Forest Road 65 / Forest Road 60) are paved except for the approximate 2-mile section of FR 60 which was in good shape save for some washboardy spots.  Note that if you are leaving a car at Crest Camp, the $5 / Day or Northwest Forest Pass or other Interagency Pass is now required there.  This fee was just implemented on August 1, 2023 at Crest Camp per a sign I saw there when I stashed my bike on July 30th.

Bug Report:

I experienced very few bugs during the 3 days I was out.  Just a few gnats and mosquitoes near Panther Creek camp, but they were not very aggressive and I didn’t get bit at all.  I was absolutely shocked since I usually get eaten alive during late July / early August hikes, but I had not been this far south on the PCT.  The furthest south I’ve been on the PCT is the Goat Rocks area.  However, I did hear from a Southbounder thru-hiker on my 3rd day that the bugs were indeed horrible in the Goat Rocks area (he said that he even had to set up his tent just to eat lunch).  Ok, now the world makes more sense.  So, I don’t know if the bugs are moving south or north.  It would be interesting to see future trail reports for this southern section of the PCT.

Trail and Blowdown Report:

The trail was in pretty good condition.  Only a few areas where it sloughed off a bit, but nothing that caused any issues.

There were several blowdowns, but they were either pretty easy step-overs or duck-unders.  There were a couple blowdowns about a mile south of Rock Creek camp that took a little more effort, but they still weren’t too difficult.

Water Report:

As noted on the National Geographic PCT maps, PCTA Halfmile water reports and in PCT Guide Books, there is an 11.4 mile dry section between the tributary to Cedar Creek and Rock Creek camp (see my Day 1 report below for details) and an 11 mile dry section between Panther Creek camp and a spring about 2 miles north of the Grassy Knoll Trail junction (see my Day 3 report below).  So, make sure you fill up your bottles.

Berry Report:

It is still pretty early for blue/huckleberries, salmon berries or thimbleberries, but I did discover one little location south of the Rock Creek camp where the thimbleberries were already ripe and ready for the picking.  Apparently the conditions were perfect at that location for them to ripen, but what do I know, I’m not a thimbleberryologist.

Wildflowers:

Many of the summer wildflowers are at their peaks. Most of these are seen in the lovely clear-cuts that you cross.

Main Trip Report

Even though I had the first 104 miles of the PCT to complete yet in the WA State, I only had time to tackle the first half of this due to obligations I had later in the week.  Since this was a solo hike, I was trying to determine the best way to get back to my car from Crest Camp.  Either rely on a Trail Angel that may never come by Crest Camp, do a round trip hike like I did last year when I did the PCT - Rainy Pass to Hart’s Pass roundtrip (see my Sept 20-22, 2022 trip report) thus turning a 51-mile hike into a 102-mile hike (Ugh!) or stash my cross bike at Crest Camp and ride it back on the last day.  I finally decided on the latter, especially since the ride was going to be mostly downhill.

So, this required me to come down a day early and stash my bike at Crest Camp.  I locked it and my helmet to a tree about a 100 feet from the camp and stashed my pump and repair kit in a nearby tree root cavity.

I ended up getting a hotel room the night before my trip and explored the Cascade Locks, OR and Stevenson, WA  areas.  To limit my pack weight, I wanted to complete these 51 miles in 3 days.  I decided to do 19.3 miles the first day since that would get me through the 11.4 mile dry section.  I didn’t want to camp in the dry section which would require me to carry much more water or only get in a few miles the first day which would require me to carry more food.  This then gave me more reasonable distances of 15.9 and 15.8 miles on Days 2 and 3 and campsite stays with easy water access, Rock Creek and Panther Creek.

The following are details of each day.  The daily mileages and elevation gain/loss (rounded to 100 ft.) in the following daily report are from Halfmile’s Pacific Crest Trail Notes and Elevation Profiles on pctmap.net.

Day 1 - July 31, The Bridge of the Gods to Rock Creek Camp, 19.3 miles (+5,000 ft. / -3,800 ft.)

After parking and walking across the bobbing and see-thru bridge, the trail goes along WA State Route 14 for about a quarter mile before it heads into the trees at the big green PCT sign.  You will be hiking low in the trees, brushing against multiple pointy blackberry bushes and walking by private properties for quite awhile. After about 4 miles, keep looking toward the Columbia River to the south to spot a peekaboo view of the Bonneville dam and the mist from its spillway.  There’s not much more to look at until you get much higher.  By the way, if you have time to visit the Bonneville Dam before or after your hike, do plan to fit this in since it’s pretty interesting (and it’s free).  

If you are heading north, make sure to fill up your water bottles at the tributary of Cedar Creek at about 8.5 miles from the trailhead (Southbounders, fill up at Rock Creek).  Note that this tributary to Cedar Creek is not very big and you may dismiss it at first, which I almost did.  So if you just walk by it and then see a big wooden sign (described as an Info Kiosk on the National Geographic PCT map) that states “Welcome to Table Mountain NRCA,” you walked about 3 minutes too far.  Note that the sign is tipped over, but you still can’t miss it.  So, if you see this sign, turn around and filler-up.

Then, keep your head on a swivel to keep an eye out for Mt. Hood behind you.  Soon after after you make a turn towards the east, Mt. Adams will appear in the distance.  Then eventually Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainer way in the distance when you turn more north.  The mountain views come and go behind ridges and trees.  At one section of trail where it heads northwest, you get to see St. Helens, Rainier and Adams all in one view.  Get your fill of these mountain views, because you are not going to see any of these on Day 2.

The trail eventually tops off at about 3,500 feet then drops a few hundred feet and then undulates for the next few miles.  When the trail first started to descend after about 10 miles of hiking, my right knee started giving me grief and then my left knee a few miles later.  I had experienced some knee pain in the past but this was different.  I did bring a neoprene brace which kind of helped.  I had purchased trekking poles last year mainly for gnarly creek crossings, but since this hike didn’t have any of those, I left them at home.  This pretty much continued during the whole trip.  Next time I’ll bring the poles.  I did pick up a walking stick later which kind of helped with the steeper ups and downs.

The Rock Creek camp area was pretty nice.  You first come to a site with spots for at least 3 small-ish tents to the right between the trail and the creek.  After crossing the bridge, there’s a larger single tent site right along the trail.  Water is easy to get to.

Note that I saw several southbounders and only a few northbounders all day and during the whole trip in fact.  I had heard from a SOBO thru-hiker that he had just started seeing NOBOs.  It must be the timing since my previous PCT section hikes had been later in August or in September.  So, most SOBOs had already gone through WA and many of the NOBOs were in WA during my previous trips.

Day 2 - Aug 1, Rock Creek Camp to Panther Creek Camp, 15.9 miles (+3,200 ft. / -3,800 ft.)

You are in the trees or behind ridges most of the day and don’t get any views of the mountains.  Just be content to at least see some wildflowers in the multiple clearcuts that you will cross.  Yeah, this isn’t the prettiest section of the PCT. However, there is a nice viewpoint of the Trout Creek valley about 8 or 9 miles from Rock Creek camp.  A short spur trail to the viewpoint is at a sharp switchback to the right where it first approaches Trout Creek as shown on the map, however Trout Creek is about 800 feet directly below the viewpoint.  After dropping down and crossing Trout Creek, the remaining 5 miles is pretty level.  Note that there is one little tricky part about 0.8 mile after crossing Trout Creek where the trail hits a gravel road.  The way to go isn’t immediately obvious.  I eventually saw a diamond blaze high up on a tree to the left.  You follow the road left for about 0.2 miles then take a left on another gravel road and then the PCT sign appears.  The Nat Geo map does show this little gravel road joggle if you look closely.

Once you cross Panther Creek Road (Forest Road 65), there are a few free camps between the road and the big steel Panther Creek bridge.  If these are taken, you may be able to find a site at the Panther Creek pay campground just north of the PCT ($22 per site).  You get there by either walking the road about 0.1 mile north or taking a spur trail from the PCT that is just west of the bridge.  I did find a nice spot along the PCT.  For curiosity sake, I took the spur trail to the campground to check it out.  There was a sign at the end of the spur trail at the campground road stating that PCT hikers can use the restroom in the campground.  I ran into the nice campground host who confirmed this and also stated that hikers can also obtain potable water at the campground.  I wish the folks who used the site I was staying at along the PCT had used the restroom in lieu of using the campsite as a toilet or at least followed the LNT rules and did their business away from campsites.

I did see a few more mosquitoes at this site, but they seemed kind of tentative on biting me and disappeared in what I imagine was mosquito shame by 7pm.

Day 3 - Aug 2, Panther Creek Camp to Crest Camp, 15.8 miles (+4,300 ft. / -1,800 ft.)

Plus a 27-mile bike ride back to the Bridge of the Gods Trailhead

Fill up your water bottles before you leave Panther Camp since the next reliable water isn’t until you arrive at a spring 11 miles later - details to follow.  After crossing the bridge over Panther creek, the trail immediately starts climbing and maintains this accent rate for about 3 miles, levels off for a mile then continues up another 5 miles and tops off at the junction with the Grassy Knoll Trail (Trail #146) and about 10 yards further, the junction with the trail up Big Huckleberry Mtn.  The trail up to the summit of Big Huckleberry Mtn. is 0.2 miles and fairly steep.  But the summit provides some nice views of Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams.  It made for a nice lunch spot.

Now back to the spring water source - the spur trail to the spring is about 2 miles north of the Grassy Knoll Trail (#146) / Big Huckleberry Mtn. trail.  Note that the spur trail to the spring may be easy to miss if you are blindly trudging along on the PCT.  So, in the odd event that nobody is actually hanging out at this spur trail junction, keep an eye out for a flat area with the appearance of campsites in the time it usually takes you to hike 2 miles.  The spring spur trail is to the left (west) over a couple of fallen logs and then to the left and downhill of some more obvious campsites.  The spring is about 100 feet from the PCT and downhill about 15 feet or so.  It looks to be the only water source for miles since every bee and butterfly are also drinking up.

The trail continues on and in 2.3 miles there is a piped spring just to the left of the trail.  There’s a white plastic pipe stuck in the steep hillside and the water just magically flows out.  It wasn’t flowing very fast when I was there, but it will fill a liter bottle in about a minute.  The remainder of the trail to Crest camp is fairly level but it does go through a large lava bed, pretty interesting.

After arriving at Crest Camp, I located my bike and got it ready for the ride down.  The first 2 miles on FR 60 was rather washboardy.  If you think driving a car over a washboard is bad, it doesn’t compare with biking over it.  I believe it knocked all my fillings out.  After getting on the paved section, it was much more comfortable and fast since it was mostly downhill.  But I still had to watch out for some potholes and places on the pavement that seemed to be sloughing off, which were difficult to see with the mix of light and shadows on the pavement.  Watch for these if driving too in case you are stashing a car or bike at Crest Camp.  I hit one pretty hard driving up.  This forced me to basically ride my brakes on my bike during most of the descent.  If I ever do a hike up and bike down again, I think I will stash some biking shorts with the pump/repair kit since there was a bit of chafing going on.  Also, I will stash some regular shoes since there was quite a bit of gnashing and grinding of my ankles riding in my hiking boots.  If you do decide to bike back down on that last day, I suggest you reserve a hotel room for that night in lieu of driving home that night like I did - you will thank me later.

All in all, it was a pretty good backpack trip.  And if you are going solo, the biking option worked pretty well at least for this first 51-mile section.  The weather (and forest fires) cooperated and I got to explore different areas of Washington and Oregon including some fun little towns.

Have fun out there,
OMG