Trip 11 started their base camp trip today. We changed the base camp location from Hozzbizz Lake to Pete Lake because of weather, with heat predicted for Trip 11 and possible rain for Trip 12, Pete Lake offers more shade and trees. Karin, trip leader will like that for her hammock!

Assistant Trip Leader, Eric reported ” We arrived at camp at 2:30 after hiking 4.4 miles with a cumulative elevation gain of 400 feet. It was hot and a bit smoky. Everyone is in good spirits.”

We welcome a range of PD hikers and support hikers on our trips and Trip 11 is a bit unusual for the range of experience. While this is trip leader Karin’s first PtP trip as leader, she is an accomplished long- distance thru- hiker of many trails. Eric is one of our repeat hiker/leaders. He is in the top 3 hikers for his number of PtP hikes since 2019, often hiking on multiple trips each year. Two of our support hikers are backpacking for the first time and they were happy to accept advice from fellow hikers as they packed up. Eric also reported that Bill Meyer, founder, felt good after some recent hip therapy and he joined the group . Barney (support) and Sandy (PD) backpack around the world and have been advocates for trails for years. Barney has been on the PCTA board and writes books and articles about trails. Eric says ” he has lots a stories and what a treat. Chris, the PCTA director of communications arrived last night and hiked out with the team for the first hour this morning as he documented the llama loading and talked with the hikers.”

Charley, our beloved llama wrangler/ owner, welcomed the hikers to his ranch on Teanaway River the night before Trip 11 started . Some camped on the fertile meadow and some set up their tent in the horse arena and our Trail Angels (Tony and Gail) who moved the gear trailer from Packwood to Teanaway, enjoyed a spot on the river. Everyone enjoyed the welcome as they rolled in from across the country- New York, Maryland and locally from Seattle area and Spokane.

Packing the panniers on the llamas is a smooth operation and it shows the large amount of gear that the llamas take off the PD hikers backs. We are so fortunate to have a team contributing so many skills to our trips.