This post originally appeared on The Trek, which you can read here.

If you want to see more from my 2025 PCT thru hike, make sure to check out my Instagram (@annamckinney22) and TikTok (@magicinthemountains) for daily vlogs!

*these posts are coming straight from trail, I apologize in advance for typos!*

Day 139: August 24, 2025

Location: Southern Washington
Start: – 2298.1
End: Snow Lake – 2307.9
Miles: 9.8
Ascent: 1444 | Descent: 894
Sleep: Tent

Nero out of “town”! The camping area behind the gas station was close by to the hotel and there were external lights that stayed on all night. That paired with a sprinkler constantly running had me worried I wouldn’t sleep well, but thanks to my ear plugs and Buff over my eyes I slept fine. It was nice to sleep in this morning. The store opened at 8am and I got up around 7am to pack up and start sorting through Truffles and I’s resupply box.

We mailed ourselves this resupply back in Bend, OR and it feels like an eternity ago that we put together our boxes. I hadn’t remembered anything I’d packed and it was hard to figure out what was meant for me and what was meant for Truffles. With everything laid out on a picnic table jt was easier to comb through, and after a while I had my stuff in my food bag and Truffle’s stuff was organized for him.

As soon as the store opened I went inside to pay for a shower. $10 for a shower and towel feels pretty steep, but it was one of the best showers I’ve taken on trail! That could just be because the majority of our recent showers have been in campgrounds, but the shower today felt like a spa treatment. There was a separate bathhouse on the White Pass property. Inside the bathroom were individual bathrooms complete with a sink, toilet, and shower. I wasn’t expecting anything so civilized so that could contribute to my raving review. There was two in one shampoo/conditioner and body wash, I didn’t have to use my Dr. Bronner’s soap! I had 30 minutes to return the bathroom key, so that meant I could take as long of a shower as I wanted. That also felt like a treat compared to the standard 5 minute showers at the campgrounds. I even had time to put lotion on once I was dried off, something I haven’t bothered with since Bend.

Feeling refreshed and clean after my shower, I walked back to the hiker hang out area to find my friends up and about. Truffles and I went in the store to order breakfast. I got a coffee, French toast sticks, and hash browns and Truffles got a breakfast sandwich and a drink. Truffles got to work on organizing his food while I called home.

The only other chore we needed to do was to call Lisa, my mother in law, with our list of final resupply items. She mailed us several other resupplies earlier on the trail so we figured she could use the last of the items to mail us our last resupply to Stehiken. We wrote out what items we’d like and Truffles gave her a call. While we were doing this, Pinky, Hangman, and Pimento were charging their electrics, showering, and just hanging out.

Just like any other time leaving town, the morning got away from us and before we knew it, it was nearly noon. We got some lunch snacks from the store to fuel us for the afternoon and were finally hiking out on the road around 12:30pm. Thankfully we didn’t plan to go very far so it didn’t matter that we were getting such a late start.

The hiking today wasn’t anything extraordinary. We had some elevation gain, but it was graded well and I cruised uphill even with 5 days worth of food in my pack. We were mostly in the forest which reminded me of the green tunnel. Today was Sunday so we saw plenty of day hikers out and about. I even ran into several groups that were out berry picking, they were looking for huckleberries and blueberries. There were tons of little ponds scattered amongst the trees today, some larger than others. They made for a nice change of scenery from all the trees.

I mostly hiked in the front by myself today. I stopped at the top of the hill when I had cell signal and everyone else caught up to me. Pimento and I hiked together for the rest of the day and the time went by quickly as we were chatting. We arrived at the Snow Lake Tentsite around 4pm. There were several other campsites within the next few miles and I figured we’d all reconvene and then push further, but Pinky felt tired and wanted to call it early. The campsite by the lake was beautiful so it was easy to agree to stop for the day.

We set up our tents and played around until it felt like it was late enough to cook dinner. After we ate we played several rounds of Phase 10 before crawling into our tents just after 8pm. I’ll be happy to go to bed early again tonight. We hit 2300 miles today! Hard to believe we only have about 350 to go now…

Day 140: August 25, 2025

Location: Southern Washington
Start: Snow Lake – 2307.9
End: Sheep Lake – 2328.9
Miles: 21.0
Ascent: 4101 | Descent: 3301
Sleep: Tent

Too tired for full journal. Enjoy these short blurbs:

Slept in and didn’t get moving until 8am

Flat and downhill all morning, talked with Truffles

Uphill after Bumping River, started listening to Gone with the Wind

Long uphill, stopped halfway at stream to get water

Crossed into Mt. Rainier NP at top of climb, would go in and out of park boundary rest of the day, views of Rainier around every turn

Choppy up and down most of the afternoon

Caught Hangman, Pinky, and Pimento having lunch around American Lake Junction, joined them for lunch

Stopped at Anderson Lake and got into a huge fight with Truffles

More choppy up and down, pretty views along Dewy Lake, stopped at the inlet for water

Short but steep climb up to Tipsoo Lake

Scenic hike down towards Chinook Pass

Epic trail magic from Tom and Beth, stayed with them for several hours and helped them pack up, hiked out around 8:30

Night hiked to Sheep Lake, set up in the dark and went to sleep

Day 141: August 26, 2025

Location: Southern Washington
Start: Sheep Lake – 2328.9
End: Mike Urich Cabin – 2350.2
Miles: 21.3
Ascent: 3013 | Descent: 4010
Sleep: Tent

Another fine day on trail. The morning started off great when I saw how beautiful the campsite was in daylight! I hate setting up in the dark, but then it’s a surprise to see what everything looks like in the light. Sheep Lake was small but stunning as it was surrounded by jutting and rocky peaks with conifer trees dotting the landscape. I had taken a coconut water for the road from trail magic last night, and drank it while watching the lake in the early morning light.

When we finally got moving it was just before 8am and we had to climb up to Sourdough Gap. It was short and steep but afforded beautiful views into the distance. We paused at the top of the hill to take in the view and chatted briefly with Two Things before beginning the descent.

We trended down for several miles before once again climbing uphill. We stopped for a while at Bear Gap where we had cell phone signal before climbing up past several trail junctions. As I rounded one turn I was faced with another view of Mount Rainier. It’s such a beautiful mountain and looks like an absolute behemoth with all the glaciers.

The trail continued climbing up and down throughout the day and I fell into the rhythm of hiking. Just after 11am I made it to the piped spring where I caught Pinky and Hangman. I sat with them to filter my water and prepare my lunch while snacking. I stayed out even after Pinky and Hangman left and before too long Truffles and Pimento joined me. I ended up stayed at the water source tucked in beneath the shade for newly 2 hours. We all ate lunch and enjoyed being out of the oppressive sun for a few hours.

The rest of the day was a series of ups and downs in and out of burnt areas. Climbing in the hot sun is tough. Thinking back to that being the norm in the desert feels bonkers to me, like how did I suffer through this all the time? In a lot of ways the earlier sections of the trail feel like another lifetime ago. I have to question whether or not it was actually me in the desert and Sierra or someone else.

Pimento, Truffles, and I all stopped at Airplane Meadow to venture off trail to find a crashed plane.!& was expecting to see a modern plane in ruins, but what we found was a rusted engine that didn’t look plane like at all to me. Pimento and Truffles thought it was cool at least.

From the meadow to our next water source was mostly downhill and it went by fairly quickly. My energy was lacking and I was glad when we finally made it to water and could take a break. The water source was a barely trickling stream with stagnant pools, but we found a decent flow and were able to collect from there. We even found a frog in the water!

We were conflicted about how much water we should carry out. The next water source was our campsite at the cabin, but FarOut comments advised against drinking the water because of noro outbreak. The cabin is allegedly a breading ground for noro and numerous comments talked about people getting violently ill after drinking water there and staying inside the cabin. Common sense won out and we decided to carry extra water in order to not have to drink the cabin water.

We had one final hill between us and the cabin. With 4 liters of water my pack hurt and I was tired and grumpy, I was ready to be done for the day. Since I was having my own pity party, it started to rain just to spite me. Thankfully it was just a passing shower and it stopped by the time we arrived at the cabin.

The cabin was honestly pretty sweet in a large open meadow. It was huge and had a big covered porch and privy. Fearful of noro I kept walking past it and found the rest of our group setting up their tents a little ways down the trail. We pitched our tents started on dinner. Thankfully the rain held off and we stayed dry all night.