Matt's PCT Trip

Day 4-1: nothing going to plan but started earlier than expected and hiked 17. It was hot but should be in 70s rest of week. Low appetite, hopefully improves View the location or send a reply to Matthew Hall: https://inreachlink.com/gO21GP7fJejZAi4GBF6sZ4g Do not reply directly to this message. This message was sent to you using the inReach two-way satellite communicator with GPS. To learn more, visit http://explore.garmin.com/inreach.

Trip 4 begins! View the location or send a reply to Matthew Hall: https://inreachlink.com/gSbTCsnUj9LA12lXSQV5Ldg Matthew Hall sent this message from: Lat 39.323084 Lon -120.228077 Do not reply directly to this message. This message was sent to you using the inReach two-way satellite communicator with GPS. To learn more, visit http://explore.garmin.com/inreach.

Washington ✅ 

Last day in Washington! Great night sleep and although I'm feeling sad to be done with the trail, I'm excited to have unlimited access to hot food and coffee ☺️

AM: On trail a little before 7. 13 to Harts Pass and Eve's car, then I'll try to make it another 13-16mi tonight. Excited for some ice cold sodas in Eve's car. PM: Hiked 29 mi leaving just 15 to my finish at Rainy Pass; should finish around 2pm. Anyone want to give me a ride? 😅 Hopefully will be an easy hitch back to I-5. 

Much dryer day. Reached the border around 9:30 and started heading back to Hart's Pass. 23 miles again today leaving 44.5 to my finish line at Rainy Pass. 

Officially Reached Canada! 🇨🇦

Rained all night and still drizzling when we started hiking this AM. Made it 23.5 Leaving us just 6.5 from Canada 🇨🇦! Should be dry but cold rest of week.

Hiked the 11 miles to Rainy Pass and hitched a ride into Mazama where I feasted on some food and drinks. Looking forward to camping at Hart's Pass with my friend Eve tonight and yo-yo'ing out to the border! 

Am: Best night's sleep of this trip. My watch said restorative with a sleep score of 90; never seen that before. 10 mi to Stehekin bus. Afternoon: Was able to stop at the Stehekin Bakery which was wonderful! They had a GF/Vegan bar along with a Thai Noodle Salad which was incredible. The town of Stehekin is very small but cute. Unfortunately the restaurant is closed until the after the bus leaves so I'll miss the hot meal but I did buy an extra backpacking meal to cook. PM: I enjoyed the 1 hour of WiFi while it lasted 😅 Made it an extra 8 miles out of Stehekin for a daily total of 18. Only 11 miles to Rainy Pass

AM: On the trail at 6:45 today; I have another big afternoon climb so I'm hoping to beat the worst of the heat. 56 mi to Rainy Pass. Afternoon: Reached highest remaining peak of K, and highest remaining until Hart's Pass. Going to try and hike a marathon today so I can get lunch in Stehekin tomorrow. PM: 5125ft gained in 26.9 miles. Should make the noon bus into Stehekin where I might even get WiFi! Night ✌️

AM: On trail at 7:23. Did not sleep well last night the stream was loud and I kept rolling around in my tent. Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day. Noon: Today's been hot, steep, and overgrown; FarOut says 515ft/mi avg. Would love to take a long break but there hasn't been any shade 😭 PM: Climbed 4700ft today in 21 mi; that hill was brutal. Much better second half of day after water. Tomorrow will be 4900ft but hopefully not as hot and exposed. 

AM: Got a good night's sleep. My watch phone and Garmin all say a different time so I woke up sometime between 5 and 9 😅 I think it's currently 8:24 and I just started hiking. PM: 25.3 miles today with 6184ft of vert. All the good campsites were taken here so I'm on rocks and at a slight angle :'D Beautiful views of meadows all day.

AM: On the trail around 7:50 today. Campsites to choose from at Mile 21 and 25, so we'll see how today goes. Today is my heavy pack day; 7 days of food.  PM: Super humid today. Took a nice swim in a lake around 1pm. Stuck with the camp at 21.4 miles with 5080ft ascent. Made some friends at camp. More miles tomorrow!

Officially and fully back on the trail. Left Steven's pass around 7:30 and will be arriving at my campsite shortly. Already being greeted by the pica and marmots that I've missed in California. Happy trails! 

After a few days in town I'm now all packed and ready to get back on the trail Saturday night; I just have to help put on the Larabee Lakes 50K first!  I do not expect to get any cell service during the next 14 days but I should be able to send 160 character updates via my Garmin inreach which will show up here! I have the feed set to auto refresh a few times during the day at 8am, 10am, 2pm, and 10pm. If I set up my website correctly, either Sunday or tomorrow's post should be titled Day 3-14. Happy trails! 😊

This is a test post sent from the app at 6:56 View the location or send a reply to Matthew Hall: https://explore.garmin.com/textmessage/txtmsg?extId=08ddd555-a3c4-dfab-6045-bd7ce4180000&adr=themattghall.post-pct-update%40blogger.com Do not reply directly to this message. This message was sent to you using the inReach two-way satellite communicator with GPS. To learn more, visit http://explore.garmin.com/inreach .

Made it to mount Etna around 1:00 p.m. I was able to hitch a ride into town after about half an hour. Tried to hitchhike up to Medford unsuccessfully so ended up needing to book a shuttle from Mount Shasta. 2 hours later I made it to Medford where I stayed in a hotel before flying back to Seattle. Hopefully get back on the trail Saturday night.

Deer kept harassing us all night but I put in my ear plugs and slept through it. Beautiful morning, big bonus of being up at 7,000 ft now is it feels a lot cooler. I think forecast was for another 80 plus day but in the mountains it's definitely less knock on wood. I saw some more dear and lots of chipmunk friends today. Finally found some self-service about 2 mi into my hike so I stop for 20 minutes to download some podcasts and upload some video.  I thought California was supposed to be a civilized place. Where's all the cell service? Today ended up being climbing up and over mountain pass after mountain pass; way more fun than anything in Oregon 😅 It ended up getting pretty stormy lately in the afternoon with lots of thunder and lightning. It did rain briefly but the real damage came from all the bushes that hang over the trail being wet; they totally drenched my pants. Fortunately it stopped shortly before I went to set up camp and I found a place under trees that didn...