Washington - Pasayten Wilderness - Bushwhacking To Canada

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 After topping off my food bag for the last time I left Mazama and started the 33.5 miles of hiking along dirt roads to get to the far eastern part of Pasayten Wilderness that wasn't impacted by active wildfires.

Walking The Long Road

The scenery wasn't too spectacular and I focused on hiking these miles quickly. I was able to get almost all of the road walk done within a day.

Semi-Wild Life

The next morning I finally reached the Billy Goat Trailhead and entered the Pasayten Wilderness for the last 20 miles to the border. The first part of the trail was badly burned in 2017, but was beginning to recover.

Larch Creek Trail

After Larch Pass the burn zone ended and the landscape changed to beautiful open rolling meadows and ridges above timberline with wide open views.

Pasayten Wilderness

I found a nice campsite in the late afternoon and set up my tent. I wanted to cover the last four miles to the border in the morning, but was too excited to wait another day. After a small break I packed some food, warm clothes and my headlight and started hiking north. 

After Peeves Pass the trail was no longer maintained. I entered another burn zone with many downed logs where the trail was overgrown and washed out in some areas and really hard to follow. It clearly hadn't seen much use in recent years, but I saw a few fresh footprints. The last mile didn't have much of a trail at all. As there were no trees it was easy to bushwhack and I reached the border just before sunset. To my delight I found a group of four happy PCT hikers who had gotten there just before me. No monument or sign indicated that we were at an international border, there were no border guards or fences, but we could see a clear cut through the trees in the distance and of course our GPS showed that we had finally arrived.

We congratulated each other and celebrated for a while. The others decided to camp right by the border as it was quickly getting dark.

US to my right, Canada to my left!

I started to hike back to my tent. The light was fading and the stars started to come out. Then it finally hit me. I turned off my headlight and sat down in the dark, watching the stars. I had completed my quest and made it from the Mexican border all the way to the Canadian border.

I sat there for a long time until I got too cold. I felt immensely grateful, satisfied, and free.

Last Sunset On Trail


Comments

  1. Alex BOctober 3, 2022 at 9:05 AM

    Took your time....Congratulations, I can now proudly say I know a guy who walked the PCT.....

    ReplyDelete
  2. PTOctober 4, 2022 at 12:03 AM

    CONGRATULATION!!! You made it! I followed your trip from the very south to the very north.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dan HuffOctober 10, 2022 at 10:15 AM

    Congrats Michael!!! Such a great adventure; we sure enjoyed your pictures and following along too. Looking forward to hearing some stories next time you're at MHUS.

    ReplyDelete

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