Pacific Crest Trail - Day 173 - Wenatchee National Forest

Start: Mile 2350.2 - Mike Urich Cabin
End: Mile 2373.9 - Backcountry campsite

Nailed it.

After an exhaustive search Travis Decker‘s remains were found - interestingly in an area above and with a line of sight to the crime scene identified by a psychologist as a likely place for him to be.

Nature is strange. This guy is thriving out here.

Mt. Rainier keeps popping up in the distance out of nowhere.

The color palette through here was amazing. The deep reds of the fall huckleberry bushes really pop against the greens and blues.

We took a forest road that ran parallel to the trail that gave us views to the north and spiky massifs of the North Cascades ahead.

It really feels like we should be able to manage and harvest forests sustainably, yet in 2025 we still find ourselves defending the minuscule amount of old growth forest remaining. We’re careening down a reckless unsustainable path for … what exactly? suburban sprawl?

I’m not a logger, but I think these patterns are where trees were dragged up with cable systems to the road above.

Forbidden potato.

These symbols reminded me of The Fifth Element, which is not only one of the best movies ever made, but feels incredibly prescient at the moment.

Something tells me we can’t count on either a supreme being or Bruce Willis to save us at this point.

Washington gets pretty damned remote.

We caught up to and passed a couple bow carrying Elk hunters through here. They had a side-by-side parked up the trail a half mile or so and I’m guessing they were the ones staying in the palace of a tent we saw earlier.