East Bank Trailhead to Deer Lick Camp
Today we hike on the East Bank Trail. We know we have about 33 miles to go and plan on doing about 20 today leaving only 13 to the border for tomorrow. The bad news is that we aren't on the actual PCT anymore. The good news is that the East Bank Trail runs along a beautiful lake and stays low down enough that we won't have to worry about snow and ice anymore. Since we aren't on the actual PCT we won't wind up at the traditional PCT terminus, but we will make it to the Canadian border. At this point that is all that matters. Oh, buy the way, I forgot my camera in the car, so I stole these photos from Brad...thanks Fixie!!
Do you notice the trail marker at the bottom left of the East Bank Trail sign? Part of todays hike takes us along the Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT) which is another long-distance backpacking trail that goes from Glacier National Park in Montana to the tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington for about 1,200 miles.
We got to camp just before dark and was able to find a couple of nice, flat spots next to each other. Brad went down to the stream to collect water and I filtered it when he returned. About 30 minutes later, Sunshine and Sherlock finally showed up. We were pretty happy to see her since we haven't seen her all day. Of course she was smiling and in a good mood. We quickly ate dinner and went to sleep. Tonight is our last night on the trail, so we are somewhat happy but somewhat sad. It's just one of those feelings that is hard to explain.