Day 158 (24 September) - Mile 2241.83 - 2266.84

Killen Creek, wooden bridge to Sheep Lake

It was a very cold night. Probably one of the coldest on the trail. I heard Brad's alarm go off which meant I had 15 minutes till I had to wake at 6:00 AM. At this point I was tucked way inside my sleeping bag and didn't want to even poke my head out. Finally, at 6:05 AM I knew it was time to poke my head out. Yep...it's as cold as I suspected it to be, but I had to get moving. 

I was skeptical about getting out of camp by 7:30 AM since we had Kate & Max joining us. It's not that they won't be ready by then, it's just that the bigger the crowd, the harder it is to get everyone on the same page. Surprisingly we were all ready to hike by 7:40 AM.

Ready to hike

As soon as we left the tree cover of our campsite we saw this incredible view of Mount Adams. When we got to the campsite yesterday it was raining, so we had no idea of what an amazing view was here.

Great morning view

Today we have to hike 25 miles, but the terrain doesn't look too bad...only about 3,000 feet up and down. The good news is that the sky is blue, so it looks like the rain has past. The bad news is that it is pretty cold and at the start of the hike my hands and feet were hurting. We hiked fast and eventually they thawed out and the hike got more pleasant. 

Check out Brad's new shirt he is now hiking with. At least now we can see him coming.

Brad's new orange shirt

Today we entered into Goat Rocks Wilderness. This area is supposed to be amazing and is our first taste of the Cascades and of what's to come.

Welcome to Goat Rocks Wilderness

Pretty much most of our hike today was under the cover of a forest.

Typical PCT during today's hike

It wasn't until the last 4 miles that we had incredible views of Mount Adams.

Amazing Mount Adams

Mount Adams at sunset

I came across another cool old PCT sign today:

PCT sign of the day

We all hiked a bit separated from each other today, but met about 5 miles from our planned campsite. When we left it was after 5:45 PM. Since I hate hiking at night I rushed to get there before 7:30 PM. I made pretty good timing and got to the side trail to Sheep Lake by 7:20 PM. I really wanted to head right to the lake, but the side trail was small and I was worried the others wouldn't see it, so I waited. Share Bear showed up and really wanted to head down to the lake, so I left my hiking pole planted in the ground for the others to see and we headed down. 
There was many paths to take to try to find a campsite, so we just randomly picked one and came upon a couple that showed us a site we all may be able to fit in. We then saw a light on the other side of the lake and called out hoping it was Jazzman who said he was gong to meet us here. It was him and he said there were sites where he was. We headed to him and then he was kind enough to go back up trail to point Brad, Max, and Kate this way. 

I setup my tent, made spicy ramen soup for dinner, and got inside my tent to get warm in the sleeping bag. It doesn't feel quite as cold as last night, but it is still pretty cold. 

Tomorrow we have another 25 mile day, but with much more climbing and descending. Because it took us 12 hours to make the 25 mile today, I am nervous about making the 25 miles tomorrow, so I suggested we get on trail by 7:00 AM meaning we all wake up at 5:30 AM. So, I better get to bed because the alarm will be going off way to early. Until tomorrow...

My home for the night