August 25

Distance: 28.2 miles | Ascent: 5340′ | Descent: 5850′

Mile marker: 1075.2

Lunch: J&A – blueberry walnut oatmeal (A-, A+)

Dinner: J – Indian curry (A), A – sausage stuffing (A+)

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We rose in the dark and had coffee on the ridge. The thunderstorms that were threatening last night had dissipated and we had a great sunrise as we coffeed up.

The trail was pretty cruisey. We bobbed up and over some ridges before finding ourselves at the Etna Summit trailhead. This is the typical pickup point to get into Etna. We are shooting for another highway further south. When planning, we followed a guide someone else had made and didn’t do a lot of research on all these specifics (life was just a tad chaotic with apartment packing, job searching, and training). Fortunately, we have a special personal trail angel to give us a ride into Etna from Highway 3. Otherwise, we would’ve stopped here.

We crossed a “1600” marker on the trailside. Maybe northbound miles? It feels like we’ve gone more than 50 miles since our 1000-mile mark. But we also learned that the trail mileage changes constantly. As the path changes due to trail erosion or rerouting or a bevy of other things, the total length shortens or extends just a bit. That’s why there are no permanent mileage markers along the way. And why the signs that point to Canada and Mexico never add up the same number nor add up to 2650. In essence, we don’t know exactly how far we’re walking. Fun!

After our climb up from the Etna Summit trailhead, there was some beautiful trail work with stairs that overlooked a lake. It was quite spectacular! Many thanks to the unknown trail crew that installed those stairs – it must’ve been exhausting work.

We scooted on down trail, through some burn scars, and towards a ridgeline. Thunderstorms formed again, bringing some much appreciated cloud cover but also some much despised concern about lightning strikes. From our experience last night, we assumed it wouldn’t be a quick afternoon event and could last all evening. So we hastened our pace to make it up and over a ridge before it got too worrisome. Fortunately, it didn’t get as bad as yesterday. Very soft raindrops fell, but nothing that required rain gear.

On the other side of the ridge, bells rang out across the land. A giant windchime maybe? No, it was a herd of cows! We politely asked them if we could squeeze by them, and they begrudgingly let us.

Our chosen campsite was by a small river. By the time we reached it, the clouds had parted and we got a gorgeous pink sunsetting sky. We shared the campsite with two other hikers we had occasionally crossed paths with. We actually last camped with them all the way back at Hart’s Pass in northern Washington! 

Tomorrow will be an early start to make it to Highway 3 and our ride into Etna by early afternoon.