Route: Pacific Crest Trail through WA (WA)

Location
Washington, US
Distance
431.4 mi
Description

There have been a few reports of times for each of the 3 states through which the PCT passes (CA, OR, WA).  Some PCT thru-hikes/runs might have resulted in faster state times?  What's posted here is what we know for Washington.

Comments

Me and my friend David Mitchell are going for the unsupported WA FKT attempt.

On the old site it was discussed that Heather Anderson did it 11 days 3 hrs. We will be using this as our goal for time to beat. 

We will start on the Washington/Oregon line on the bridge of the Gods on July 27th and hope to reach the Northern terminus in 10 days (Aug 5th). I will be using a spot tracker to validate the attempt.

For anyone who would like to follow along I will be posting when I can on my Instagram: @willruspnw. On there I will also have a link to the Spot tracker share page that will be updating our location every hour. 

-Will Rice

Just for clarification we will actaully be going for the self supported record. Which we believe is 11 days 3hrs. We will walk to our 3 ressuply stops; white pass, snoqulamie and Stevens pass

I plan to make a northbound attempt on this route starting Monday, July 8, 2019.   This will be a solo, self-supported attempt.   I will start at the Oregon border on the Bridge of the Gods and follow the PCT to it's northern terminus (Monument 78), hopefully arriving within 10 days.  I will use a garmin inreach for live tracking and documentation.  You can follow my progress here: 

https://share.garmin.com/HawkesTony

Congrats to Chistof.  I was unable to better his mark.   I gave up my attempt after completing section H (Bridge of The Gods to White Pass).   Surprisingly, both my garmin inreach and suunto watch had trouble locating me on this route.  Following are some stats from my trek through Section H that may be of interest to others attempting the route.

Distance: 148 miles

Elevation gain +28,424 feet,

Elevation loss -24,240 feet 

Start Time: July 8, 2019 4:47 AM

Finish Time: July 10, 2019 7:58 PM

Elapsed Time: 2 days, 15 hrs, 11 minutes

Day 1:

- 53 miles: Bridge of Gods (PCT Mile 2147.6; Mileage from  GutHook App) to Green Lake (Mile 2201.1)

- A lot of elevation gain and loss but much of the trail surface is smooth and conducive to running

Day 2: 

- 53 miles: Green Lake to Midway (Mile 2253.9)

- Less elevation gain and loss, but perhaps more challenging due to rocky surface as you circle around Mt Adams. 

Day 3:

- 42 miles: Midway to White Pass (mile 2295.4)

- Spectacular area traveling through the goat rocks wilderness.  First 10 miles good pace to be had.   On the advice of SOBO hiker, I took the "safer" higher elevation alternate route near Old Snowy to avoid the steep snow traverse.  This option requires scrambling up and down some steep rocky slopes.  In retrospect, I think it would have been much quicker, easier, and probably safer to cut straight across on the standard route.  I watched some hikers cruise quickly through the traverse from high above.  Of course, conditions vary from day to day and the higher elevation option may indeed be safer depending on the day, your comfort with snow traverses, and your gear. 

While I gave up on the FKT, the WA PCT is amazing and I don't want to miss any of it.  I continued hiking up to Chinook Pass and plan to finish off the rest of it over the next several weeks.  

 

 

Hello! At the beginning of August I am going to attempt to set a new self supported fkt through WA. I will post a tracker once I have it. Thank you to Christof for setting such a formidable challenge!

John Maxwell and I intend to pursue the PCT Washington FKT in the north to south direction starting on August 31st. We will hike in to the Canada boarder from Harts Pass and begin from the northern terminus and end at Bridge of the Gods at the southern terminus in Oregon. We are planning to do this effort in a fully supported style and will be utilizing a Garmin inReach and Spot device. We are both also likely to have our GPS watches to retrospectively add our data from the run. 

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I plan to attempt the self-supported fkt of the Washington portion of the PCT (heading south from the terminus at the CA border), beginning either Friday or Saturday morning of this week. I have my inreach mini with a public link share.garmin.com/thetrailiswhereiwalk . Additionally, I will track my attempt using a Coros Pace wrist watch that can be viewed on Strava. I'm carrying a DJI Osmo Pocket to record the attempt along the way. You can check out the first installment of the video project from my attempt of the Oregon PCT self-supported (last year) on my instagram @jonathanpatrickthomas. I will also try to post story updates as possible to this handle along the way. My original intention was to re-attempt the Oregon section fkt, but changed my plan due to the recent trail closure from the fire burning in the Jefferson Wilderness. 

 

I've reached out to Christof to inform him of my intent to start this weekend to challenge his record.

 

 

Jonathan Thomas 

"Janis Joplin"

 

Hello! I'm attempting a supported southbound hike through the Washington section of the PCT with the goal to hike as fast as possible. I'll be crewed by my husband in our car with hiking support from several friends for various parts of the trail. As there are no women represented on this leaderboard, I'm aiming to break the time set by Heather Anderson on her self-supported record for the entire trail (11 days, 3 hours). Regardless of the outcome, I hope my attempt inspires more women to tackle an FKT on this section of the PCT.

My hike will start on Friday, July 16th from the Canadian border/Monument 78 with plans to finish at the Washington/Oregon border on Bridge of the Gods. For my personal safety, tracker info will only be shared with the FKT site organizers. Progress updates will be posted via email newsletter at tinyletter.com/trailnotes.

See you on the other side! 

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On Monday July 17th, I will attempt to set the Unsupported FKT for this section of the PCT. I will be going NOBO, starting from the bridge of the gods and following the Pct to the northern terminus. I will follow the same ethic as Jason describes in his trip report, as well as strict adherence to the Unsupported guidelines described on this website. 

I’ll post updates if and when I can on my instagram @w__barrett