PCT Day 159, Mile 2619 to Castle Pass (mile 2646)

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Day 159

Mile 2619 to 2646, 27 miles

  • Miles to monument: 3.6
  • Miles to Manning Park, Canada: 12.5

Cost: Camped at Castle Pass, free

Up 5311 feet, down 6037

Rainbow was up early and left just after 6. I went back to sleep and ended up leaving just after 8:30am, with a wet tent… One more night!

It was a cold, grey morning but the trail was easy enough. 

I stopped on top of one of the passes to eat my savoury ham and cheese roll that I had bought back at the bakery in Stehekin (anything that had turned stale from that bakery would still be better than a tortilla!) 

3 hikers came past me on their way back from the monument. One had a DUI from 35 years ago and couldn’t enter Canada, I’m not sure why the other 2 weren’t entering.. But some people don’t go in because they don’t have a passport, didn’t apply for the permission to enter, have some kind of criminal record or simply don’t want to. Each person that came past said congratulations  for almost making it and I was getting quite emotional each time. I wonder what I’ll be like at the monument tomorrow…?

I got water from a creek on a switchback and laid my tent out to dry. I thought about how all this was going to be ending…

The last 4 miles to the campsite I had in mind (Castle Pass) was steep switchbacks and it was pouring with rain. I arrived at Castle Pass just after 7pm and Rainbow, Sticky Buns & Milkshake were all camped there too. The rain was unrelenting as I set up my tent and I realised that I didn’t have my sunglasses anymore… They must have fallen off my shoulder strap somewhere today. They weren’t expensive or anything but they were with me for 159 days and I came to have a sentimental attachment to them… I hope someone behind me finds them and picks them up. 

   
  

See the grouse?

  
    
    
  

I thought this rock was really cool with its different colours

  
  

I ended up eating my last dinner on the trail inside my tent again. Dinner was a delicious Mountain House lasagna and red wine 🙂  

Last night dinner on the PCT

 

11 responses to “PCT Day 159, Mile 2619 to Castle Pass (mile 2646)”

  1. Kat, I like to follow PCT blogs, as I plan to hike it some day. Your comments and experiences help me prepare. Thank you for sharing! Really. Your photos are incredible and transport me to the trail. Saying “Congratulations!” doesn’t seem adequate, and there should be another word for what you just accomplished. It’s such a triumph of the human spirit. “O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” comes to mind, but not that either. Congratulations still the same!

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Congratulations!! I think you are amazing for having the stamina to start and finish the PCT. I have looked forward to your posts and beautiful pictures. I would worry when I hadn’t heard from you in a while. I will miss your emails. Good luck to you, and please included me if you blog your next adventure. If you ever do the AT, let me know and you can stay with us when you are in the neighborhood. Also there is a lovely trail call the Long Trail, 280 miles through Vermont. We just returned from our walk in France, from Toulouse to the Spanish border, very nice but not many pilgrims. Thank you for sharing your trip with us. Best Regards, Nancy and Sam

    Sent from my iPad

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    Liked by 1 person

  8. Kat,
    Like many others, I was tremendously inspired by your energy and determination. I read a lot of PCT blogs this year, but thought yours was well-written and nicely balanced — a good dose of realism, yet very positive.

    I started following your blog when you were in the southern Sierra. In August, I hiked a stretch of the PCT over Forester Pass with a group of long-time buddies, recreating a trip that some of us had done 40+ years ago when teenagers.
    Congrats and good luck on your future adventures,
    Gary, Boulder, CO

    Liked by 1 person

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