Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
PCT 2002 - August31st
Day 130: Saturday 31st August Trout Creek – Gayle’s Brook Camp
I made an early start and took a short break at the Hemlock Lake Picnic Site,
before making a short detour to the Stabler Store where I had a supply package to pick
up. I’m not sure how a store in such small settlement could expect to make enough
money to survive. This was where hikers taking the big short cut along the roads would
rejoin the PCT. On the outskirts of the “town”, I had a second breakfast at a “mobile”
café, run by Delana in the front yard of her house. She had only started up the business
recently and I think she was doing it for something to do rather than in expectation of
making much money. The road wasn’t very busy and during the hour I spent chatting
with her she had no other customers.
I reached Panther Creek at about 10am and did my laundry and had a towel bath in
the cold water, before starting the 3000ft climb up to Big Huckleberry Mountain.
Huckleberries, which are edible berries similar to Bilberries, grew in profusion here and
on many hillsides in the remainder of Washington.
In this terrain good campsites are difficult to find so I was delighted to find an
improved wilderness site, with a picnic table, beside the trickling Gayle’s Brook. The
only thru-hikers I saw today were “Cantaloupe” and John.
Day 130: 15.5 miles 6.59 hours Camp: Gayle’s Brook Camp
I made an early start and took a short break at the Hemlock Lake Picnic Site,
before making a short detour to the Stabler Store where I had a supply package to pick
up. I’m not sure how a store in such small settlement could expect to make enough
money to survive. This was where hikers taking the big short cut along the roads would
rejoin the PCT. On the outskirts of the “town”, I had a second breakfast at a “mobile”
café, run by Delana in the front yard of her house. She had only started up the business
recently and I think she was doing it for something to do rather than in expectation of
making much money. The road wasn’t very busy and during the hour I spent chatting
with her she had no other customers.
I reached Panther Creek at about 10am and did my laundry and had a towel bath in
the cold water, before starting the 3000ft climb up to Big Huckleberry Mountain.
Huckleberries, which are edible berries similar to Bilberries, grew in profusion here and
on many hillsides in the remainder of Washington.
In this terrain good campsites are difficult to find so I was delighted to find an
improved wilderness site, with a picnic table, beside the trickling Gayle’s Brook. The
only thru-hikers I saw today were “Cantaloupe” and John.
Day 130: 15.5 miles 6.59 hours Camp: Gayle’s Brook Camp
Panther Creek
Bath-time in
Panther Creek
Panther Creek
SW ridge,
Huckleberry Mountain
Huckleberry Mountain
Mount Adams
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