7 October 2013:
Today was my final day on the PCT, and the trail wasn’t going to let me have it easy for the remaining 14 miles to the Canadian border. I think it decided to save the best for last, and all I can say is I’m glad I started early before the weather really rolled in.
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Seeing the dark clouds ahead brought me some unease, but it hadn’t snowed on me all night, so I felt confident there’d still be plenty of footprints to follow up ahead. I also figured if it turned really bad I could always turn back and head to lower elevation, right? I spoke to the trail aloud as I’ve often done throughout this journey, ‘look after me trail, we’re nearly there, let’s do this!’
The trail to Woody Pass had relatively deep snow on the switchbacks, to the point where I actually couldn’t see where the footprints went and ended up breaking trail in my snowshoes after first attempting to cross the ridge in my yack tracks.
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I seemed to be on the same ridge line for hours because of the effort it was taking to move forward in the snow. The snow shoes worked well for a while, but even they started sinking, with one coming off my foot and getting buried in the snow. I took them off again when I hit the washouts, which slowed my progress down even further.
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Once off the never ending ridge the trail started climbing up to Woody Pass. I was sinking quite deeply up to my knees in the snow on the switchbacks, and found it easier to hike straight up the side of the mountain in some instances to avoid sinking into the existing footprints covered by freshly fallen snow. I expected to reach the 7000 foot peak and the Devil’s Staircase a lot sooner than I did. Deep snow, lack of footprints and near whiteout conditions started making me quite nervous, and when I finally got GPS signal on my apps, I realised I still had a fair distance to get to the top.
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The trail gods must have been watching out for me, because my Guthook’s app which hadn’t been showing my GPS location on the map page since before Washington, now suddenly worked. It helped me realise that those who walked ahead of me had often skipped the switchbacks, which was why the footsteps had disappeared so frequently. But there was so much fresh snow at this point, I couldn’t necessarily tell if I was following human or animal tracks as the imprints were so faint.
As I watched my blue GPS dot getting closer and closer to the peak, my emotions ran high. I almost burst into tears when I thought I’d reached the top, then saw one final climb, and scrambled up with all my strength as the snow started falling again.
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The climb down the Devil’s Staircase was a lot easier in fresh snow. Ice would have been hazardous, and I thanked the trail for cutting me some slack on this one. It was as if someone had their finger over the weather switch, because as soon as I was over the most treacherous section and heading down, down, down the switchbacks to the border, the heavy snow started falling. I looked back at the mountain I’d just climbed over, and could see nothing but cloud. All I could do was breathe a sigh of relief.
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I booked it all the way to the border from here, my poncho flapping in the breeze and snow blowing directly in my face. The trail was still tripping me up on roots and rocks, but in the last 3 miles I started thinking to myself, ‘I’m actually going to make it… I’m going to complete the Pacific Crest Trail.’ I had to push back premature tears which came gushing out when I finally did reach the monument.
I was in such a state of shock when I saw the northern terminus it’s hard to express exactly how I felt. I had heard some people experience an anticlimax on arrival, I wouldn’t say that was the case for me. I had so many raw emotions running through my veins it took me a while piece my thoughts together. It was deathly silent, with only the slight pitter patter of rain drops hitting the ground. I had imagined this moment in so many different ways, but I never thought it would just be me, standing there in a stunned silence, with no other hikers on trail.
Ok, so why has no one EVER talked about how HEAVY the border monument is? Otter told me where the register was, and to leave him any extra food in there as he’d be heading straight back to Harts Pass from the border. I scribbled a quick note in the register and saw that Bad Seed was the last person to arrive before me the previous day. I had meant to study the register, but the rain started falling heavier and I didn’t want the pages to get wet. I put it back in its ziplock bag and left my little celebratory bottle of champagne and snacks for Otter. Then I had to heave that monstrous piece of steel back onto its base. I almost did my worst back injury of the entire trip getting it back on, and I almost faced it the wrong way with the US pointing towards Canada and vice versa.
Fuller said the final 8 miles would fly by, and they actually did. The only break I had taken all day was the 45 minutes I spent at the monument. I’d been surviving off whatever food I could fit in my pockets and decided I could last another 8 miles to the trail head. What I didn’t realise was the Manning Park Lodge is another mile from the trail head, and by then I had truly run out of steam.
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When I reached the lodge I walked around like a zombie until I met a girl that worked there and asked vaguely, “ummm… when hikers finish the PCT, where do they usually go?” She congratulated me and directed me to the lodge building where I could access wifi and make a phone call. As I was crossing the road a huge van drove up. As it got nearer I could see hands frantically waving through the windows. I squinted to see who it was, and was overwhelmed when 5 of my wonderful friends from Vancouver jumped out, started hugging me and spraying me with champagne! I fell into yet another state of shock! They were all equipped with hiking gear to meet me on the trail but I’d beat them to it! I couldn’t have dreamed of a better reception as I wasn’t sure if anyone was going to be there at all. Thank you Sue, Lady Bug (my inspiration to hike the trail), BJ, Steph, and Janer! What a way to finish this epic journey. And it goes without saying but thank you to everyone who sent me comments of love, support and motivation; of wisdom, advice and care. I’m still completely speechless!
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