Cathedral
Moose, Bugs, and I all started stirring around the same time. Light was streaming in through the dusty cabin windows, illuminating the years and years of graffiti on the walls.
We opened the cabin door to an incredible gorgeous morning. Yesterday’s fog had cleared out, and the amphitheater-shaped Apex Mountain towered grandly over the forest. Our spirits were high as we ate breakfast and set off for Cathedral Pass, the highest point on the PNT at 7580 feet.
The Boundary Trail continued to be pristine and delightful to hike on. I hiked ahead of Bugs and Moose through a thin fir forest with incredible views of the mountains to the west. Snow from the winter was still visible in some deep gorges in the tallest mountains, places where sunlight probably never reached. As I climbed the final 300 feet up to the pass, a butterfly flitted around me, seemingly enjoying the hike as much as I was.
I stopped at the pass for a long break and a trail selfie (an ordeal which involved 10 minutes of balancing my camera on rocks and awkwardly posing). Down in the meadow on the other side of the pass, three people were walking with a horse. I watched them climb up toward the pass as I dug into my bag of trail mix.
Once they got closer, I saw their familiar greenish-brown USFS ranger uniforms. The horse was loaded up with all manner of ropes and carabiners. We chatted for a while and they told me they were taking the day off to climb some peaks, starting with the one directly adjacent to the pass. I felt a tiny bit jealous, but I had my own thing to do. After they set off for the peak, I packed up and headed over the pass to collect water from one of the many streams crisscrossing the meadow.
Bugs and Moose caught up to me while I was filtering water, and I leapfrogged them again at a confusing trail junction (one of many). The trails here had no signage, just horse-trampled dirt paths wandering through the meadow. I guessed the right path with a little map/compass work and kept moving onward.
I had been warned that the next 40 or so miles of the trail had burned a few years back, but I’d also heard that PNT trail crews had cleared out most of the wreckage. The burn became immediately apparent once I entered the forest – red and black husks towered over rampant wildflower growth. It was beautiful in its own way.
Unfortunately, the burnt trees didn’t provide much cover for popping a squat, and I really had to go. I squatted under a partially-burnt spruce as fast as I could and hoped no one would catch up to me.
After a long 2000-foot descent (0653P), I started noticing Cookie Monster and Morning Star’s footprints in the dirt – Cookie Monster’s were curved and oval-shaped, and Morning Star’s had big diamond-shaped studs. I hoped I would catch up to them soon.
I took off my socks and shoes and hung them on my pack to carefully ford a creek at the bottom of the descent, walking barefoot until I found a good place to sit for a late lunch while my feet dried off.
The rest of my day was a bit tougher, at least mentally – My legs were achy and I couldn’t wait to rest. I climbed through more burnt forest, over a small mountain, and into a series of bowl-shaped meadows. The meadow was laced with streams, and the trail was cut deep into the grass from years of erosion. It was tough to walk down the deep, narrow chute without tripping over my feet.
After another descent following CM and MS’s footprints through some burnt forest, I reached the meadow that I had planned to camp in. The trail guidebook described it as “calendar-worthy”, but I suspect that was written before the burn happened. It was still a nice camping spot. The ground was covered in squishy moss, and I tried my best not to trample on what hadn’t already been thoroughly trampled.
I camped alone, but kept my hopes up that Moose and Bugs would catch up to me. I’m not sure why I kept voluntarily hiking so fast and then camping alone, and making myself feel lonely. I guess part of me found it easier to be alone, and it also felt really good to hike fast. Nevertheless, the meadow was a really pleasant spot to eat dinner and I got a good night of sleep on the soft ground.