September 2025 – Mexico to Canada 2023 (and beyond)

PCT Section Hike 2025 – Day 3 Southbound – Lolo Pass to Ramona Falls 8/19/25

September 5, 2025December 12, 2025Ian

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

10 miles – PCT mile 2117.3 to 2110 + 3.5 mile hike out

Well, sometimes shit happens. I woke up on day 3 and the IT band on my left hip was super sore. This is the other first I was talking about earlier. I’ve never had that pain whilst hiking before. Pain is of course inevitable, but this seemed different. Here’s the video I made when I got back to Portland. Afterwards will be photos from Day 3 of my hike.

The day began with a big climb and my first Mt Hood view!

Trail – look at the edges of the trail and you can see the holes from all the hiking poles that most hikers walk with

I descended down another 1000 feet to Muddy Creek and crossed on a log. Right after this was when I started to realize my hip was getting worse.

The trail to Ramona Falls was slightly uphill, but my hip made it feel much steeper. It started to become apparent that I may need to bail out. Ramona Falls was beautiful though.

There were plenty of day hikers around. I scoped out who I thought might be a good mark to “yogi” a ride from (thru hiker term) and found Mike and his dog Rogue. He was with another couple as well and I could tell they were good people. The art of yogi-ing a ride is subtle. I started by asking how far it was back to the parking lot and if there was any cell signal there for me to call an Uber. I then explained my predicament and Mike volunteered to take me back to Portland, as his drive brought him near the airport anyway. Success!

Sadly, parking lot would be my destination

I was about 11 miles short of my intended stopping point of Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood, but I’ll come back another year. I think I may have undertrained a bit for this trip, compared to my hikes in the previous years and perhaps I also went too fast out of the gate. Regardless, it was a great hike and I got to check some more miles off my ultimate goal of finishing the entire PCT over the coming decades.

PCT Section Hike 2025 – Day 2 Southbound – Wahtum Lake to Lolo Pass 8/18/25

September 5, 2025December 12, 2025Ian

Monday, August 18, 2025

16 miles – PCT mile 2133.4 to 2117.3

I woke up in the fog and cold. I had expected lows in the 50s, but it was certainly in the 40s at least. I’ve got my sleep system down though, so I was nice and toasty in my tent and got a bit of a later start, around 9:30am.

I got to the spot where I was originally going to camp (before deciding to pivot to Wahtum Lake) and there were some beautiful views.

Most of today would be overcast and foggy. No mountain views, but pretty hiking and some amazing trail magic, both human and nature-made.

The trail provides is a phrase you often hear out there. It is amazingly true.

One thing I learned was that Pikas actually live down at this altitude. I thought they were always over 10,000 feet, but I saw and heard several among the rocks down here around 6,000 feet.

High voltage power lines are always crazy to me on trail.

I again pushed a little further than I was planning on, but it was mostly downhill, so I ended at Lolo Pass about 16 miles in.

PCT Section Hike 2025 – Day 1 Southbound – Cascade Locks to Wahtum Lake 8/17/25

September 5, 2025December 12, 2025Ian

Sunday, August 17, 2025

14 miles – PCT mile 2150 – 2133.4 (using Eagle Creek alternate)

Here’s an overview of my full journey, minus the last day. I brought the wrong cord to charge my Garmin InReach, which is my sattelite beacon that tracks my progress, so the last day wasn’t tracked. I actually ended at the Sandy River and Ramona Falls, for a total of just about 40 miles.

I woke up around 7am, packed up, said my goodbyes, and headed towards the Bridge of the Gods. Instead of heading up the actual PCT there, I continued west under the bridge on the historic Columbia River Highway State Trail. This would follow the highway to the Eagle Creek Trail Head, where I would start heading into the woods.

At the trail head there is a salmon hatchery that I found to be pretty cool.

I started up the trail and soon came to the first of several waterfalls. This is Punchbowl Falls.

More falls – didn’t know the name of this one.

The big highlight of this trail is Tunnel Falls. This was spectacular and is the main reason hikers do this alternate instead of the actual PCT.

After Tunnel Falls, I continued on and found a place to eat lunch and soak my feet in the creek.

It was still early in the day, so I decided to try and go a little further than planned to get a jump on the miles. This ended up being harder than anticipated.

I also remembered I had an app called Dual Gram that allows you to record from both sides of the phone, which is kinda cool.

As I continued up, I looked at the topo map and realized the trail I was originally going to take to meet up with the PCT basically went straight up the mountain with no switchbacks. There was also a question of water once I reached the top. There was another option, which I explain in this video.

This was a good decision in the end. The trail was much nicer and I got to end the day at a lake, which afforded me a brief (but cold) swim. I was also chafing really bad on my thighs, which was the first time in my hiking career that had happened. Luckily, I travel with Aquaphor, which would help me heal up quickly. There would be some other firsts on this trip as well, which I will expound upon later.

I got into camp with about an hour to spare before the sun went down and I was beat. I had my own spot on the edge of the lake and fell asleep quickly.

PCT Days in Cascade Locks

September 5, 2025December 12, 2025Ian

Fri-Sat, Aug 15-16, 2025

As I stepped off the train from the Portland airport, I immediately spied one of my people. You can spot the hiker trash a mile away. The grit and grime of their clothes, the backpacks, the PCT emblem clipped to their back if they are thru-hiking; the hiker uniform is unique.

The weather was typical PNW: chilly, foggy, and humid, with the smell of pines in the air. I joined my fellow hikers on the bus heading to the east on Hwy 84 along the Columbia River. I sat next to a hiker named Whiskey, who had gotten hurt in the Sierra and was just following his still-hiking buddies around at trail towns. When we got off in Cascade Locks 45 minutes later, he astutely asked, “well, now what?”. None of us really knew where to go, but we quickly found our way to the campground and park at Thunder Island.

I signed up to volunteer for the weekend, so I got to camp for free on Friday and Saturday nights. My volunteer role was to help out with running the sound, which basically consisted of turning the music down whenever someone needed to make an announcement on the microphone about the various events and gear demos throughout the day. The rest of the time I got to wander around and hang out with hikers and generally have a good time.

After setting up camp, I walked around the small town of Cascade Locks to get the lay of the land. The historic and iconic Bridge of the Gods spans the Columbia River here and is where the trail crosses from Oregon into Washington.

Cascade Locks is tiny and walkable and full of hikers.

Bridge of the Gods toll booth – hikers walk across here, along with traffic

Overnight on Friday it rained and we all woke up a bit soggy, but ready for another full day of gear, friends, and fun.

At the end of the day there was a raffle where thousands of dollars of gear were given away. I didn’t get any, but it worked out because I wouldn’t have had anywhere to keep it anyway, since I was hitting the trail the next morning.

Some of my internet hiking friends – The Codgers

The weather on Saturday night was much better and we all settled in for a nice sunset and the end of a great weekend. I hit the trail the next morning.