Pacific Northwest Trail: Yaak, MT to Northport, WA

We got a hitch out of Yaak.

Spiff and I hiked up to Northwest peak. There was a cabin on top of the mountain. We stayed up here but I didn't sleep much. The winds were howling all night.    

We had some ridge walking to do.

It was an exciting knife edge ridge walk with some steep drop offs. 

Look at all those stars.

At Feist Creek there was a little resort and restaurant.

And just as we were about to hike out after lunch, the owner came over to introduce himself and invited us to stay the night. We showered and camped out next to the pond. The owner gave us the keys to the building so we could make ourselves breakfast in the morning. Hikers Bevo and Sharky were there with us too.

This place was a true hiker's oasis complete with its own waterfall.

Bean said goodbye to us in Bonners Ferry. He's from England and has a return deadline. We camped at the fairgrounds in town. The sprinkler system gave us a nice early morning wake up call. 

Here we are hanging around outside the library. Free wifi.

Some nice vender gave us lemonade at the farmers market.

We got a hitch out of town from who also turned out to be our tour guide, stopping every few minutes to get out and tell us about the local history. 

We took an alternate that Lynne recommend. She dropped us of at the Long Canyon Trail and we took that until it meet up with the primary route.

We soon started the dreaded 7 mile bushwack which started off with a nice ridge walk.

But at some point we had to descend from the ridge. The guidebook says that this would be the worst spot on the entire trail to get injured. 

"In my opinion that plunge off the top would be the very worst place on the whole trail to hurt yourself. With the indistinct route location, the vertical terrain and the dense brush/forest you'd never be found if incapacated there."

We didn't even make it out of the bushwack that night. We were trying to walk through thick brush, over downed trees, and along the stream. 

It was very frustrating. But you cans really get too frustrated out here. There are so many huckleberries. Just take a break and eat the berries!

It got late and Fitty found a nice little rock to camp on. Sometimes when faced with terrible bushwacks, the best thing to do is set up camp and deal with it in the morning.

Spiff made it out of the bushwack way before we did. Since Fitty has a tracking device, Spiff was tracking our progress and met us at a road with large cans of iced tea for us. Spiff found a camp store and knew exactly when we were going to arrive. You can track us as well by following this link.

https://share.delorme.com/FittyShrimp

We made it to Priest Lake. Here's Spiff on the sandy beach.

In Metaline Falls, 11 hikers were in town and Trail Angel Mary had us over her house for a cookout.

Mary is a PNT board member and let's hikers camp in her garden. 

Mary did my laundry and drove our crew to Northport. We were planning on hiking the 40 miles but unfortunately the trail was closed due to a nearby forest fire. We could see the fire from town. Money Shot got the photo. 

This is where Mary dropped us off in Northport.

We ended up staying at a local organic farm in Northport. Trail angels Bruce and Shirley own this sweet farm. We picked lots of delicious fruits- apples strawberries, apricots, plums, and blackberries.

And of course we got to sit in their little pool outside.

That's all for now. We'll have some more bushwacking coming up and as Fitty says, this bush isn't going to whack itself.

Pacific Northwest Trail: East Glacier to Yaak, MT

This is the Pacific Northwest Trail. It goes from the Contintental Divide to the Pacific Ocean, 1200 miles through 3 national parks and 7 national forests. The PNT has the designation of being a national scenic trail but it's really just a route that connects a myriad of preexisting trails. It's mostly unmarked and requires a fair amount of road walking and bushwacking. There is a primary PNT route but there are many alternative routes to choose from along the way. The PNT was created in the 70s by a guy named Ron Strickland. I had to contact Li Brannfors directly to get the maps for the trail. Why am I hiking this trail? Mostly because the PNT is arguably the most scenic trail in the country. But also because I need to get back in shape. I gained 25 lbs since I finished the AT. And well, now I have a fupa. 

My fupa:

My gear setup is pretty much exactly same as I had on the AT except now I have a new Buff and carry a can of bear spray. I'm currently using my 40° sleeping bag but I'll get my 15° back in Washington. It gets cold here at night. I might buy myself a new backpack. I'm using the ULA ohm 2.0 backpack but will be upgrading to the ULA Circuit soon.

The PNT starts at Cheif Mountain at the top of east Glacier by the Canadian border. Glacier is an amazing place. There are mountains everywhere, pristine glacial lakes, epic waterfalls, and more wildflowers than I've ever seen in my life. We started as a group of five. I met Spaceman Spiff and Fitty Shrimp on the AT last year and it wasn't difficult to talk them into hiking this trail with me. I met Money Shot on the PNT Facebook page and Bean just tagged along. Fitty gave Money Shot his name because Money is a photographer and is doing most of the photography within our group. He plans on making a documentary after the hike is over. I named Bean because he is British and acts like Mr. Bean.

Spaceman Spiff:

Fitty Shrimp:

Money Shot:

Bean:

Although not many people hike this trail and there is almost no trail community out here, we do see other hikers on occasion. Here we have Honey Bee and Stumbling Norwegian at Stoney Indian Pass:

Stoney Indian Pass was pretty sweet but so was every other spot in Glacier. Hole in the Wall was awesome except for this marmot that ate my trekking pole. I forgave him though. 

Here are some more photos:

This year Glacier experienced record snow melt. Any other year at this time, we would need crampons and ice axes. There was a little bit of snow. I made snow angels. 

It was really hot during the day. After we left, Glacier caught on fire. The bugs were pretty dad too. Mosquitoes at Watertown Lake were the worst I've ever experienced. It's the stuff of nightmares. I'll write a horror film called The Flies where mosquitoes swarm me for 2 hrs. 

When we finished with Glacier we got a ride to Polebridge, home of the famous Polebridge Mercentile, the best bakery on trail. Spiff was already waiting there for us. We ate dinner there with a couple girls that were just finishing up their eastbound hike. 

We stayed a second night too. This was the night Spiff farted on the waitress. We were sitting outside waiting for our food when Spiff leaned to one side and farted audibly. Unbeknownst to Spiff, the waitress was right behind him and about to deliver our food. We felt it was unjust that this beautiful and innocent waitress get farted upon so we made spiff apologize to her the next time she came around. Well, Spiff apologized. The waitress said that she neither heard it nor smelt it and then quickly removed herself from perhaps the most awkward situation ever. 

Here we are at Red Meadows campground.

We stayed a night in a cabin on Stahl Mountain. This was after an epic sunset in the rain.

Money Shot got the sunrise in the morning:

I didn't sleep much. Huge pack rats were scurrying around all night and gnawing on the wooden cabin. One chewed through Money Shot's hat.

We hiked into the town of Eureka and shared a motel room for the night. We

hiked out of town but only got as far as the next town, Rexford, about 5 miles away. Rexford had a bar and we stopped in for drinks but then an someone put $100 towards our bill.

Rexford is a summer community for many wealthy Canadians. There is Canadian oil up here. Well, we ended up staying at the bar until 2am. Here I am eating my toe.

The next day we all hung out by the marina and befriended Laura, the girl working the camp store. After her shift she took us to a little swimming hole and then back to the trail.

Money Shot jumped in.

When we made it to Yaak, there was a music festival going on. With over 300 people in town, this was most people this town has ever had!

Money shot and I got in late. The rest of the crew found a ride. Money and I had to walk the 7 miles to town. It was alright though because look at these crazy skies! 

When we finally made it, people were talking to us about our hike and buying us drinks. The crowd cleared out and the next day was spent in town sitting in front of the Mercentile for hours watching the same people drive back and forth. Naps were also taken. 

Well that it for now. As Fitty says, this trail is not going to hike itself.