Day 171 (7 October) - Mile 2491.02 - 2500.00 + 8.5 miles

Lake Sally Ann to Arlington, WA

It rained all night, but I slept well. When I heard the rain I thought I should do some inventory to assure that the tent was staying dry, but I felt warm and dry so didn't bother. When we woke it we still raining but everything in my tent seemed dry. Share Bear on the other hand had a terrible night trying to keep a river dammed in her tent and Free Lunch was up trying to keep his tent from blowing over. What?!?  The weather  was that bad?  I didn't notice any of it...well, except for the rain...and I slept very well. 

I got dressed quickly because I had to use the toilet...yes, there is a toilet nearby. When I walked to it I noticed snow on the grassy areas....what the?!?

We packed up our stuff and lastly our soaking wet tents. Share Bear was miserable. She didn't sleep last night and her tent is wet as is one of her sleeping bags. It is 100% chance of rain tonight and she is not confident her tent will keep her dry. This is when she suggests we get off trail because of the weather. 

This getting off trail business would  never have come up if it wasn't for a statement in our PCT guidebook that there is an "escape route" coming up in 8 miles. If we pass this "escape route" then we would be committing to another 4 days on trail.  Let's hike some first before making this decision. We were ready to hike at 7:49 AM.

Ready to hike

I thought that hiking will put everyone in a better mood, but as we climbed it got colder and colder and then there was suddenly snow on the ground and the trail. 

Entering Glacier Peak Wilderness

Needless to say, we were not too happy about the snow.

Self-portrait "Snow makes me sad"

Once we saw snow we texted Tim and told him out plan and that we needed an extraction from the trail. We decided it was best for us to get off and watch the weather and then return after this system passes. 

The one good thing about the day was that the side trail we are taking to exit the PCT is right at mile 2,500!

Proof I'm standing at PCT mile 2,500

My 2,500 mile pose

Then we started down the North Fork Sauk Trail. 3 steep miles down to the river and then 5.5 more miles to the trailhead. It was pretty somber as we hiked away from the PCT. Were we going to return or is this the end of the trail...literally?  I didn't want to believe we were doing this. The trail was beautiful, but I didn't want to take any photographs. I didn't want to record this exit in any way.  

Just before 4:00 PM we saw this sign that made me even sadder that we were headed away from the PCT instead of towards it.

We are going the wrong way!

We finally made it to the North Fork Sauk trailhead where Free Lunch was waiting for us.  Tim showed up about 45 minutes later.  We drove to town and of course stopped at a pizza place for some food.  By the time we made it to the hotel, Share Bear had arranged a ride to Seattle where she will catch the morning ferry back to Vancouver Island.  WOW...is this really happening? What the heck?!?  Is this the end of our thru-hike, only 150 miles from the end?

When Share Bear left everyone was pretty down.  When Share Bear got a ride, Free Lunch got on the phone and arranged his flight back to New Jersey as well.  I can't believe this.  I know that I am not ready to give up, and Brad is with me on that.  Our plan for now is to wait and see what the weather does during the next few days.  Until then we will just have to wait and see.