Hiking Section H of the PCT: Days 5 & 6

Day 5: Mt. Adams

• Woke feeling well rested after sleeping next to the white noise of the river. 
• Begin gentle upward hike towards Adams, getting our first good views!

• Views continue to improve including... Looking back to the Northwest we can finally see Mt. Rainier!
• Scenery is wonderful, idyllic sub-alpine terrain, w/ rolling hills, babbling streams and stumpy trees. 
• Always Adams towering above. 
• Take our first break on boulders, with view of field and Adams. Below a trio of hikers does yoga.
• Further walking takes us to a "difficult water crossing." A rough-shod bridge made of a dozen branches, over a roiling, grey river.

• Further on, we reach a lava field which is a sea of black boulders. See our first horses. 

• Take our lunch next to a nice, little stream, which we cross to move on.

• Afternoon break is at Sheep Lake (another Sheep Lake) where we talk at length with a mysterious, mournful man. Beyond that is a death march through a lovely but sad tree graveyard. The result of a forest fire. ("Death march" in only that it was hot, we were getting tired and it seemed to go on forever.)
• Rainier fades from view, but we can now see St. Helens and even (Mt.) Hood. 

• Hoping for water, we diverge from the PCT a few hundred yards, onto Horseshoe Meadows, and set up camp next to a silty creek. Next to Adam and Margie, a talkative couple we met earlier and who are hiking around Adams. (This campsite highlighted something about thru hikers. They are all using an app called Gut Hook to get their information about the trail. But, it only provides info about things on the trail itself, so we found that, if you located a camp site or water source that was even a few hundred yards off the trail, the thru hikers would be completely unaware of it. Like trail tunnel vision. Trail Vision.)

Day 6: Halfway There! Restocking Food & Supplies

• Woke up this morning sooooo cold. "The ice planet of Hoth!"
• Then stove broke, so no hot breakfast. 
• We all cheer when the sun crests Mt. Adams. (Heat!)

• Quickly make our way down, down, down. Through more old forest fire damage. Snacking on berries. 

• Make good time, barely breaking and arrive at the road we were planning on meeting Joe. 
• Hang out, talking to the man who is parked there, giving out fruit and snacks to the hikers. Waiting for his son & friend to come along... which the eventually, heartwarmingly do. 
• Joe arrives! Photos of the kids are shared. Then we ask him to give us a ride down to Trout Creek to get supplies & a new stove. 
• First stop a small general store where we sort through our food (in the stores parking lot). We are sending a lot back. with him.
• Then head on to a Hardware store, where -even to the owners surprise- Sarah finds a tiny camp stove. We are back in business!
• Joe gives us a ride back to the trail, we split a beer, say goodbye and start hiking up the trail.

• Lots of ups and downs. 
• Late lunch in a sunny field, making awkward conversation with a hiker.
• My right knee starts acting up. 
• Find our camping spot, wedged between to streams. 
• Sadly! Sarah gets stung by a yellow jacket.