Rainy Pass to Stevens Pass, 1979, page 12

Waterfall off the Milk Creek trail

The Milk Creek trailhead sign read “11 miles PCT.” Crap! That's two more miles than my maps had indicated. The sign also said 21-miles to Kennedy Hot Springs But I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to just keeping hiking up the Milk Creek trail until I came to an acceptable campsite.

I found a suitable small campsite about 1 1/2 miles up the trail and opted to set up housekeeping for the night. It's really not too bad – a nice flat spot for my tent and water only 20 feet away. But it is kind of dark and dreary, especially in comparison to the high ridges I just left. And you can tell it gets a lot of rain.

I saw two sets of horseback hunters on the way up this trail. The first set consisted of two men who passed me shortly after I started up the trail. They were headed down so I asked them, “Where's the next campsite?” They laughed and told me I was almost to it. And sure enough no more than a quarter of a mile later I was here. The second group came by while I was fixing dinner. One guy told me they had come over Suiattle Pass, then along the new PCT trail up over Vista Ridge, and then down Milk Creek. Deer hunting had been bad, he said.

Score one for the deer, I thought.

Most importantly, he had spoke to a trail crew and they told him that the weather forecast was for nine more days of fair skies! But, as the woman at Miners Ridge said, you never know. The wind had been coming from the east, but now it's coming from the west. That's not particularly a good indicator.

Geez, there were just two squirrels copulating across the trail from me. Brazen little varmints!

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