Sunday August 4, 23.2mi/37.3km

Northport (390.2/1355ft) to Taylor Lake (413.4/2185ft) (WA)

I packed up and said goodbye to Jami and Alison; Josh and Ryan were still sleeping. Sorry guys! On my way out of town, I hit the Mustang Grill for breakfast.

I ordered a ton of food, starting with first breakfast…

And then second breakfast.

An hour later, I left and began my daily miles. Crossing the Columbia River was fun, and even way upstream from Portland it’s still huge!

It was only 9:30am and already starting to get hot. I got out my umbrella (“chrome dome”) and that helped some. I also occasionally stepped into the stream that the trail was following.

The entire day was on a dirt road, which was actually kind of nice since there were no cars. But, there was also minimal shade.

I stopped for lunch at the 400-mile marker. Rollin along…

The were no big climbs or ridgewalks today, but still nice scenery.

Throughout the day, I had been seeing cows alongside the road. These cows were in the road, and only begrudgingly moved when I shooed them away.

I accidentally overshot my planned camp spot, since I was busy counting cows. Oops! I don’t walk backwards, so I continued on the dirt road.

Two miles later, I found a camp spot hidden in the pine trees, so it was shaded and safe from cows. Perfect!

Saturday August 3, 20.0mi/32.2km

Silver Creek Road camp (370.2/3130ft) to Northport (390.2/1355ft) (WA)

I had a great night’s sleep by Silver Creek, the sounds of water blocked out everything else. Today started out walking a dirt road, and there was plenty of wildlife.

After an hour, I turned onto a very deserted paved road.

Another nice morning, there were cows mooing but I didn’t see them.

After probably three hours of walking, the road approached and followed the Columbia River. Even this far upstream, it’s still a huge river.

I was getting bored of the paved roadwalk, now with almost no shade, so I jumped over to the adjacent railroad tracks.

After 20 miles of roadwalking, I arrived into town at 2pm. It was hot, so I went straight to the grocery store for an ice cream and cold beverage.

I cooled off, did my resupply for the next section, and walked to the house of local trail angels, Jami and Josh. They are super awesome people, and very entertaining to talk to. Ryan and Allison arrived just after I did, and we all had a meal from their huge garden!

After a big meal, we said goodnight to the dogs, chickens, and cats, and setup our tents in the yard.

Friday August 2, 23.1mi/37.2km

Metaline Falls (347.1) to Silver Creek Road camp (370.2) (WA)

I knew there was a big climb today, so I started early at 7:30am to get ahead of the mid-day heat. I crossed the Pend Oreille River leaving town, it was so calm and quiet in the early morning.

The climb started right away, and I climbed gradually on a dirt road for the next four hours. Nothing too exciting.

And then, a trail! The last couple of miles before the summit were in a sparse pine forest.

The view from the summit of Abercrombie Mountain (7300ft/2225m) was spectacular.

Uh oh, smoke! I called the Colville NF headquarters and alerted them.

I caught up to Alison and Ryan, whom I had first me a couple of days ago in town. We descended together, and it was fun to have other hikers to talk to!

As we got lower, the forest changed to an aspen (birch?) canopy.

I stopped at a camp spot at 5pm, after covering 23 miles today. Alison and Ryan continued for another three miles, so they would have fewer miles to do tomorrow, and get to the post office tomorrow before it closed. Theoretically, today was the last day in Grizzly bear territory, yay! Tomorrow, another town!

Thursday August 1, 0mi/0km

Today was my first Zero (zero-mileage) day of this hike, a much needed rest day. There isn’t much to say about today. Emily and I got a ride down to Ione, WA to entertain ourselves. The driver’s car had a funny drawing on it:

I mostly lounged around the little town of Metaline Falls, which is three blocks long. I’m almost caught up on calories, on emails, and some of my TV shows… life is good. Tomorrow, onward!

Wednesday July 31, 5.8mi/9.3km

Sullivan Lake campground (34.7alt/2631ft) to Metaline Falls (347.1/2077ft) (WA)

I packed up a dry tent (yay!), and started the couple hours of roadwalking into town.

It was a paved road the entire way, but very few cars, a nice quiet morning.

As I got closer to town, I picked up phone signal and made some calls and organized some logistics for the next section. Just before town was an old mill!

I arrived into Metaline Falls at 9:30am, and went straight to the Cafe for 2nd breakfast.

Mmmm… second breakfast. Milkshakes!

I went across the street to the Post office to get my new socks, and then checked into the Washington hotel at 11am. Tiffany was so nice, and let me check in early!

I spent the rest of the day eating and relaxing. I met a couple of other Thru-hikers, Ryan & Alison. And Emily arrived later in the afternoon! (I had last seen her in the bushwhack three days ago). It was a fun evening of socializing with all the hikers in the hotel’s lounge/living room. And tomorrow I’ve decided to take my first zero day of this trail!

Tuesday July 30, 24.0mi/38.6km

Shedroof Divide Jct (10.7alt/5551ft) to Sullivan Lake campground (34.7alt /2631ft) (WA)

I was woken by the sounds of a large animal crashing through the brush, it was just a deer! I packed up, retrieved my bear bag, and hiked up the last bit of the climb. I love being up on the ridges.

The trail wound its way thru passes and around small mountains, and the morning flew by.

I came to a dirt road crossing, and I was expecting to see a PNTA trail crew, but sadly they weren’t around.

The road cut thru the pass in a rocky area, so I hung out for a few minutes, and the marmots came out of hiding!

I returned to the trail and savored a couple more hours of the blissful ridgewalk hiking.

It’s just so good!

Even in the burn areas, the contrast of new greenery and charred black stumps is cool.

Finally, near mid-afternoon, I started descending towards Sullivan Lake.

Three thousand vertical feet later, I was down at the lake. I stopped at a campground to refill my water and empty my trash, and continued the walk along the four-mile long lake.

Along the lake, I crossed paths with Patch, who is a PNTA trail crew volunteer, and also a former AT and CDT thru-hiker. We talked for a bit, and he gave me advice on a good camping spot a couple miles past where I was planning to camp. So, I went an extra two miles, past the end of the lake, to a spot near the Sullivan Lake campground.

I washed up in a nearby river, made dinner, and got into bed by 8pm. Tomorrow is a town day!

Monday July 29, 23.8mi/38.3km

Lion Creek campsite ID (283.0/2522ft) to Shedroof Divide Jct WA (10.7alt /5551ft)

The others were still sleeping, so I packed up quietly and hiked back to the spot they picked me up from, 1.5miles up the road. Then, I ate breakfast and started my mileage for the day. It was tempting to swim in Priest Lake, but it wasn’t very warm at 9am.

The forests in this part are full of green, it feels like a wetter climate than before.

I hiked around the eastern side of Upper Priest Lake too, and there were frequently views of the water.

I decided to stop early for lunch, so I could also have a swim. I definitely didn’t wait 30 minutes after eating, I’m not even sure what that “rule” was supposed to prevent anyway.

At the lunch spit, there was also a surprise cave! It turns out it’s actually an old mineshaft, but either way I didn’t go in..

For a couple hours after lunch, I walked thru a forest with huge trees, and it felt very ancient.

This section is also part of another long trail, the Idaho Centennial trail. It runs from thru Idaho north to south for 1000+ miles.

After leaving the forest and the Centennial trail, I was on a hot dirt road for an hour. Then, back in the forest! I’m not sure why this trail had a speed limit.. I’m certainly not exceeding 5mi/hour!

This part was all uphill, hiking up to the Shedroof Divide, a low mountain range on the Idaho-Washington border. Halfway up, I hit the border!

The last hour into camp was slow, as this part of the trail was overgrown. I setup camp at 7pm, and enjoyed the nice views of the sun setting on the valley below.

Hello, Washington!

Sunday July 28, 18.9mi/30.4km

Parker Mountain campsite (264.1/6640ft) to Lion Creek campsite (283.0/2522ft) (ID)

I watched the sun rise up over the granite peaks, and when it got high enough to shine into my tent, I packed up.

The morning hiking was up on a high granite ridgeline, and the first part was a slab traverse! Fortunately there was a thin trail sliced into the rock.

The scenery in this area is surprising, it looks almost like the Sierra in California.

With alpine meadows for miles…

And of course, no ridgeline traverse is complete without a talus field to negotiate. It was very short, and I had fun with it.

I could see many alpine lakes below me, I think this one is Pyramid Lake.

And I walked right by Ball Lake. This was a nice lunch spot, before I started the 5mi/8km bushwhack.

And then, the bushwhack! This is the first of several bushwhack sections on the PNT, and they are slow going. I expected to average about 1mi/hour, and it was pretty close to that. It started out in pretty open terrain, nice and easy.

And as I descended towards Lion Creek, the vegetation became very thick. I was using fallen logs as passageways thru the bushes!

After four hours of that type-2 fun, I finally emerged onto a nice dirt path at 4:30pm.

I stopped for a nice swim break at Lion Creek slides, a natural water slide in the granite rock of the creek. There were probably a dozen locals there too, as there is a road nearby.

I ended the day on a short roadwalk, and a nice couple from Spokane offered me a ride to their campsite. I went with them, and Brandon and Miranda drove around the state park and gave me a tour! Then, we got to their campsite, I setup my tent, and had the first campfire of this trip!

Saturday July 27, 18.1mi/29.1km

Hwy 95/ Bonners Ferry (246.0/2531ft) to Parker Peak campsite (264.1/6640ft) (ID)

I was almost packed up, and a man in a van pulls up to our camp spot. Apparently Emily had arranged a ride back to the trail, and I asked the man if he had room for one more. He did, and at 8am, we were on our way!The first nine miles were easy roadwalk, and Ghost and I had some good conversations along the way. It was nice having another hiker around.

We crossed the Kootenay River, our lowest elevation for the day.

At lunchtime, we left the road, and took a break at the last water source for 5mi/8km, Parker Creek.

And then, the climb UP ! 5000ft uphill over 7mi/11km, most of it exposed to the sun.

And shortly after, the injuries started. There was a fallen log across the trail, and I vaulted over it as usual. I cut my hand, and dug out the first aid kit to clean and bandage it. This is the view from my first spot:

Then, the burn area continued, with lots of fallen branches to step over and around.

I cut up the back of my legs a bit, as sticks kept getting caught in between. There were so many trees and sticks, I started bushwhacking straight up the hill, cutting all the switchbacks. Of course, I tripped multiple times, and now my arms had dozens of bleeding scratches too.

There was a spring near the top of the climb, where I washed off the dried blood, charcoal dust, and pollen. My arms and legs had layers!

The trail left the burn area, and became much nicer after the spring. But I didn’t trust the improvement would last, so I kept my first aid kit in an outside pocket!I got to my planned campsite at 6pm, setup my tent, and admired the view before passing out.

Friday July 26, 15.8mi/25.4km

Fiest Creek Restaurant (230.2/2520ft) to Hwy 95/Bonners Ferry (246.0/2536ft) (ID)

It felt strange to be camping, but also next to a restaurant. I wanted to get up the big climb early in the morning while it was still cool, so I headed out at 7:30am. I passed a big fish pond and the waterfall as I left the restaurant.

For the next 5mi/8km and two hours, I climbed UP 3400 feet, ouch! The trail was nicely switchbacked , but it was tiring nonetheless.

At the top of this monster climb was Brussard Mt, and it was perfect weather to be up there. Looking south, down into the valley with Bonners Ferry:

And Northwest:

The next three hours was easy downhill, all the way to the highway. It had some really nice bridges, and someone had left handprints on one of them.

The handprints reminded me of the PCT, and “bridge push-ups”, a game that Cheshire Cat and Bonus Miles had invented. Ha!

One part of the descent trail was pretty trashed by dirtbikes, fortunately this was short-lived.

And the last few miles were on a dirt Forest Service road, with zero cars. Nice!

I got to the highway at 2:45pm, spent about 25 minutes hitching, and got picked up by a rather entertaining fellow with a passion for religion. It’s a topic I usually ardently avoid, but he was my ride for 15 miles into the town of Bonners Ferry. The town is very spread out, so I opted to camp at the RV park across from the Safeway (grocery store here). I even met two other PNT thru-hikers, Ghost and Emily. Other hikers do exist! We socialized after dinner over ice cream and… 2nd dinner? Meals are hard to classify on these hikes! So, food. And then bed!