Day 9 (August 25)

Smoke over Pyramid Butte

A gorgeous morning, exciting views of the growing smoke plumes to our west and giant twin-rotor helicoptors dropping water bombs. Still no water for us, but more and more snow banks on the trail. Finally we come to a few high mountain snowmelt ponds that yield excellent water. Surprisingly, there are still no northbounders coming though. Maybe they're all waiting out the fire because they don't want to "cheat" the hike with the shuttle.

How do you get off this thing?

Deb enjoys the Breitenbush

As the snow gets thicker, the lack of clear northbound footprints presents a bit of a challenge, and we're soon staring at the map, GPS, compass, various cairns, and scratching our heads a bit. We've climbed to the top of the Jefferson Park butte, and can't find the trail down. It should be pretty much due south, but it's just not there. After a half hour of following presumed cairns and phantom footprints, it's clear that we're royally lost far offtrail, and we start the slow bushwack down the wrong side of the butte, trying to right ourselves with a steady southeast heading. It's great to see a different side of the landscape, but slow going -- what a difference a trail makes! Still, as descents down from a rugged butte go, it's not bad. We successfully connect with the Breitenbush River and, after a refreshing dip, follow it upstream to the trail.

Now THAT's a trail closure!

Southbound again, we're almost immediately greeted with a mess of red ribbons and signage. It's a large, very clear closure of the PCT -- and we're on the wrong side of it! Looks like the closure's been expanded, and northbound hikers are being diverted to the shuttle via the Breitenbush Trail instead of the PCT. So we spent last night in the forbidden zone -- well, that explains all the smoke and the lack of footprints.

Our heroes

Onwards -- the heat of the day and we're facing a nasty sunscreen shortage, rationed down to nose tips only. To our great fortune, a pair of generous campers named Jane & Tundra save the day with absolutely the best tube of sunscreen ever! Thanks a million, Jane & Tundra!

We camp at the south end of a small unnamed lake right on the trail. No other options in this steep area, but this is a pretty sweet spot. To the left of Mt. Jefferson, exactly in the direction of last night's camp, huge plumes of smoke are still billowing up, but here the air is fresh and the water's delicious.