White Pass to Chinook Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail

14 October 2017

White Pass to Chinook Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail

How do you turn a six-hour run into an eight-hour run? Add 2' of snow.

Two new friends and I went for a "run" from White Pass to Chinook Pass and guess what, the seasons have changed in the mountains.

Friday I posted in the Seattle Mountain Running Group that I was looking for a group to tag along with for a run Saturday and within minutes Ghislain Devouthon invited me on this adventure. I love community. We met his friend Christophe Fiessinger and hit the road.

This piece of the PCT is the beginning of "Section I" and under normal/summer conditions would be very runnable. On this day we had to walk/hike/posthole for roughly 10 miles. Let's just say it's a good thing I have gotten into the habit of carrying extra food/water/clothing. And that the day turned out perfect. Nasty weather would have made this a horrible death march. As it was, the worst we had to deal with was some mild dehydration and muscle cramps. Not because there wasn't enough water, just because we didn't drink enough...

We started out all smiles and full of enthusiasm.

And we were able to run (slowly) the first 10 or so miles. Then we hit a big climb. And then the snow got deep. 16 miles in our pace was about 25:00/mile and we joked lightheartedly about what time we were going ot finish. By mile 23, and realizing that our pace had not sped up appreciably, the jokes got a little dryer.

In a nutshell? WE COULDN'T STOP TAKING PICTURES! There were so many amazing sights. Here are a few highlights.

I need to come back here in the summer!

I'll say this, we got lucky. This is not a short run and had the weather not cooperated, this would have been much, MUCH less fun. Dangerous even. As it was, the sun was out all day and in spite of the ambient temperature being cold, as long as you were in the sunlight you were quite warm.

There is plenty of water on this route but you need a filter or something to purify the water.

For most of the run we were making first tracks in the snow. The exceptions were when we met a group of equestrian campers and as we got closer to Chinook Pass, it seems lots of people start to hike from there and do an out-and-back to their cars.

If you look at my Strava track below, you will see there is a significant climb about halfway into this run. Because of the steepness of the trail and the snow, this was pretty much one, long hike. Plan on slowing down here.

The Pacific Crest Trail is well marked and even in the snow we did not have a problem finding our way.

My Sealskinz socks saved my feet! I usually get very cold hands and feet and when they are wet it's terrible. My feet were in the snow all day long and were fine. So great!

Here are all my pictures.

Nutrition (during)