national forest

Slack packing is a term used to describe hiking part of a trail with a near-empty pack. Even though we had 17 miles to hike, our fourth day was light and fast. Plus we had a bath and a bed to comfort us at the end of the day.

Ask nearly anyone in the northwest corner of Washington about Yellow Aster Butte and you’ll hear about how incredible, beautiful, and amazing the trail is. It seemed that everyone but me had visited this trail. With another day of amazing fall weather predicted, I decided to check off this trail and find out exactly what was so amazing about it. 

More excitement awaited me after crossing the Knife’s Edge in Goat Rocks Wilderness. I had a detour to face and decisions to make to get me to the trailhead and the end of my 500-mile adventure.

My most exhilarating day on the PCT in Washington was hiking through Goat Rocks. My day was full of epic views, mountain peaks, and steep terrain.

The PCT through the Mount Adams Wilderness is a spectacular section of trail. I only had 10 miles to hike along the PCT and threw in a two-mile detour to get closer to the Adams Glacier.

After a few weeks’ delay due to smoke I was back on the PCT in Washington. I had 65 miles to hike through the Mount Adams and Goat Rocks Wildernesses to complete the trail.

My last full day on the Pacific Crest Trail. I hiked through a variety of terrain and a variety of weather to reach the famous monument at the northern border.