18 September - Day 148 - Up into North Cascades National Park

From High Bridge (Mile 2580.3) to campsite below Cutthroat Pass in Mt Baker National Forest (Mile 2603.2) at elevation 6162 ft.

Total PCT Miles today: 22.9

Left Stehekin today.

The Gay Caballeros at the trailhead with Hallmark (left) and her husband Yankee Son (right). Snausage, sporting a dapper kilt, looks on from the photo's edge.

At the trailhead with Golden Ray.

Temps in high 80s. Rubbish of autumn. Thimbleberries & salmonberries as hedge -- we in the trough. Grand fir, White pine, smoke from Agnes Creek fire.

Raced ahead of the "Love Train" pack of hikers (whom we adore) and the fabulous troika (Fierce Melon, Jugs, and Tailgate). Got campsite about 6:30. So many people on the trail now (nearly 20 in our stretch of the trail).

Then end of the day Western Larch! Red leaves of mountain ash, fireweed, huckleberry.

It was a bit of a race for Dionysus who got out ahead of the pack to try to secure us a campsite. He ended up hurting his foot quite a bit more.

Camped by Chili & Pepper in a high grove of larches -- the paths winding all around us through heath.


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