Fire threatens finish line for 'Zombie' on the Pacific Crest Trail
From Campo Calif. to Cascade Locks, these four - Sandals, Zombie, Micky D and Fizz - are now on their last leg of the 2,650-mile odyssey called the Pacific Crest Trail. Tattered but not torn. In their fifth month, they are pushing 20-mile hiking days as they close in on the Canadian border.
By Tom Peterson
Photos and Video by Sandals
Alpine strawberries provide a lot of flavor in a little package.
Emily Peterson is closing in on the Canadian border as she hit Snoqualmie Pass in Washington on Friday, Sept. 9, surpassing the 2,383-mile mark along the Pacific Crest Trail.
There are just 267 miles between the TDHS Grad and the Northern Terminus 30 miles north of Harts Pass in Washington.
She celebrated on Friday night with her cousin Christine Walenceus who drove from Auburn to Snoqualmie to deliver some fresh socks. Christine gave Emily and her hiking pal Sandals a ride to North Bend where they had all-you-can-eat sushi.
The restaurant lost on that sale. Send donations to Trapper’s Sushi.
Cousin Christine Walenceus, center, provided the ride in an attempt to bankrupt an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant in North Bend. Sandals at right, Zombie on left.
Fun Fact: the record for all-you-can-eat at Trapper’s is 28 rolls.
Rumor has it, that Christine may have also been packing some IPA.
Known as Zombie, Peterson is hiking with three others - Sandals, Fizz and Micky D.
Their next leg is a 75-mile stretch to Stevens Pass where they will hitch to Leavenworth where they plan to rent a bed & breakfast and float the Wenatchee River on tubes.
The foursome who started the trail in Campo, California near the Mexican border in April, walked across the Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks on Aug. 29
“It’s very green and lush,” Peterson said of Washington, noting the days are growing shorter and the nights a bit cooler.
“The creeks are crystal clear, and we’re in what seemed to be old growth on the hike before Trout Lake.”
Peterson loved Goat Rocks Wilderness near White Pass.
Hiking the Knife’s Edge in the Goat Rocks Wilderness in Washington near White Pass. This is in our own backyard and “easy” for a day hike.
Waterfall in Goat Rocks Wilderness
“It’s the best part of the trail in Washington so far,” Peterson said. “We should go over there and day hike. It’s like the Sierra. It had super rocky peaks, lakes, streams and waterfalls. There was a section there called Knife’s Edge and you're walking a ridgeline with cliffs on both sides. The views were insane.”
“Oh yeah, we saw a goat.”
Peterson said they are crossing one to two passes per day with elevation gains of about 3,000 feet. They hiked 100 miles in the last four, with a one-day record of 28 miles.
“The hiking is not that bad, and I got another pair of new shoes when we got to the Kracker Barrel store in White Pass,” she said, noting she can handle longer miles. “But it's not so much fun setting up camp after dark,” as longer miles keep them moving until 8:30 p.m.
“We could have taken more time and done less.”
Shoot - that’s not a good sign. Short for norovirus, otherwise known as the doubleheaded dragon. Similar stomach problems sidelined Peterson back in the California Desert - thus her trail name Zombie - she came back from the dead.
Peterson said Hikers ahead of them had been reporting getting a stomach bug, possibly a norovirus, but so far she had avoided it.
“We just passed that last area where it was being reported,” she said.
Peterson is staying informed of trail conditions using an app called Far Out. It allows hikers to comment on trail conditions, water sources and even health issues.
The intestinal sickness had spread around a bubble of hikers who are about a week in front of Peterson and her three hiking partners.
With their final destination within a few weeks, news of the fires burning at Harts Pass, Washington has put a damper on things for her and her pals.
The fire is currently forcing a closure on the PCT just 30 miles from the northern terminus or finish line for the trail.
Washington has had its surprises along the way. Peterson said they were within 100 feet when they saw this thunder paw on trail.
“Fizz and Micky D are pretty distraught,” Peterson said of two of her hiking pals. The couple has obligations back in Texas and must get back near the end of September. So, if the trail is still closed, they will not be able to touch the northern terminus and pop a bottle of champagne.
It is the grand finish they have all been hiking toward.
And it may not happen.
That would be a real disappointment, Peterson said.
If it doesn’t happen, she said she could live with it. “2,300 miles is still a good celebration.”
Somtimes, there’ll be days like this.
But she is not giving up yet. Zombie is planning her strategy with Sandals.
She said if the fire blocks them, they may go back to Mt. Etna in California and hike the 300 miles they had to skip because of the Oregon and California fires back in July.
She could hike those miles and then go back to Harts Pass in Washington to finish the trail in October if it reopens.
“I want to go back and finish it all,” she said. “Yeah, there’s a greater sense of determination.”
It’s common for hikers to miss portions of the trail. The vast stretch of 2,650 miles lays the PCT open to many natural impediments such as snow and fire. It has been years since the PCT has had a hiking season that did not see trail closures due to conflagrations.
So, many return in later years to catch a 50-mile stretch here and there to finally put the entire trail in their log.
Peterson plans on returning to The Dalles after finishing. And we’re badgering her to do a presentation on the trail - we’ll see.
She said she did not know how she was going to adjust back to civilization.
“I was thinking I could hike up to Sorosis Park in the morning and then hike downtown for a coffee and hike home,” she said. “You should join me.”
“Maybe I could do a marathon because there’s no backpack,” she said. “Maybe a triathlon. I could climb Mount Hood. And there are other mountains I have not summited.”
