Summer Running – PCT Long Run

The PCT, going north from Snoqualmie Pass until whenever you choose to turn around, is quickly becoming one of my favorite runs. It’s beautiful ridge running with awesome views into the mountains and valleys of the central cascades.

Katy and I are still training for our upcoming races, and decided to run this one as a time/effort goal rather than a distance goal. We left early, with enough food for about 10-ish hours of running as well as a water filter. Water would end up being the only real challenge of the day.

We made excellent time up to Kendall Catwalk, despite the first two miles being pretty rough — my legs were just taking a while to wake up and find a rhythm. After that first third was finished, we picked up the pace past the catwalk, past Alaska lake, and up to the pass above Joe Lake.

We continued feeling great, but were starting to notice how dry the trail, and more importantly, the creeks were. To be precise, the creeks weren’t just dry, they were non-existent.

As we ran above Joe Lake, we decided to keep going and not drop to filter water. We were aiming for the camps before the 4-5 mile trudge over the pass at ~5700′. However, arriving at those campsites, we found that not only were those creeks dry as well, but the tarns they typically feed were looking like late August/September conditions: boggy, dried out, and gross looking. We decided to not filter, and with about half a liter each, kept moving along the trail, hoping we’d be alright getting over to Park Lakes, which were only a couple miles beyond the pass.

The part we overestimated was that those next 4ish miles we really about 6, and it was on rocky, exposed, south-facing hot trails, beneath Chikamin peak. It was about noon and temps were starting to reach their highs for the day — we were frying.

We got to the 5700′ pass just fine, but fatigue and thirst started to wear us down as we dropped to the other side. We lost some precious time and patience as got off the PCT too early, hoping to shortcut through some campsites to the south side of the lake, but decided the bush wacking wasn’t worth it. Running out of water, consistently parched, we backtracked and finally, slowly, made our way down to the north side of Park Lakes.

What a welcome sight. Cool water. We filtered and each drank about a liter before we pumped our 2L bladders full. We also cooled off and swam in the lake.  It was much needed rest not just for our bodies, but for our mental state as well.

This seemed as good of a place to turn around as any, so we began to make our way back south, over the pass, and towards the car.

The rest of the run was gorgeous and uneventful. We drank tons of water to combat the heat and sun, and refiltered once we got to ridge lake. The last 6 miles down to the car felt great — all downhill, decent speed, and feeling good.

We arrived at the car in high spirits. We tried out our food & water race strategies, plus got a solid 35 miles of running in. My legs are finally, after a lot of work this spring and early summer, feeling strong.

Cruising.

Awesome, fun, flowy trails.

This is what ultra running really looks like.

Stoked to be having a great run! This is after our water-heat misery fest.

Weather on the PCT didn’t disappoint, despite lack of water on the trails.