This is my second attempt at an overnighter on the PCT. This time, I packed up minimally, so I have food for only one day in a plastic bag, got rid of all electronics except my phone and an external power brick to recharge it once, with no change of clothes. I was able to get rid of the backpack lid altogether. I still have the tent, the sleeping bag and mattress, a fleece jacket, and a raincoat (this is Washington, after all). I drove from Troutdale to Trout Lake, then picked up my resupply package (three others were doing the same thing at the time), and stopped for a restroom break. They have a neat little campground with 5 min hot showers if I need to afterwards.
Then I drove up the 18 miles to the trail head, parked the car, and got a wilderness permit at the box.
Then off I went. It started as a slow climb in a forested area. Soon I passed a metal bridge over a creek, which gave me the chance to stock up on water after filtering it. Since most hikers are northbound like I was, I met very few people. Eventually the forest stopped, and I entered an extensive previously burned area (in 2000?). The ground cover has fully come back, so it is very green everywhere with chunks of colors, except for charred trunks sticking out straight out of the ground. The light was unreal as well since the sun barely shone through the haze caused by all the fires in Oregon giving the whole landscape an orange glow. Very aerie.
I reached the spot where I wanted to spend the night, described as a large 5 tent site, but in fact it was an even bigger meadow with a couple of fire rings which I had all by myself. Although to be fair, camping in green grass is considered high impact, and not recommended except on hard ground but the fire rings showed it was used before. One of the comments describes a pond as well, but it was all dried up. I had drunk all my water coming up in the sunshine, so I decided to turn back since it was not clear whether there was going to be flowing water on the trail ahead, and I had passed a reliable spring 2 miles back (I made the newbie mistake not to refill there when I had the chance).
In spite of not quite reaching my hiking goal of "Horseshoe Meadow" which supposedly gives you an even better view of Mt Adams, I was happy to have gone that far without aching too much. I walked the 2 miles back in about an hour, and met over 10 hikers going north. Some were going to spend the night at "my" campsite. When I arrived at the spring (which is also a small tent site), someone was there playing the violin (not that well, but so unexpected that I didn't mind) leaning on his backpack, and wearing a face net. It was buggy and the bugs had a way to find you too quickly (it wasn't so bad when hiking). But my first order of business was the water, and getting to it was tough because of tree debris, and soft ground poked with holes where you could see the water running underneath. I drank the first batch of filtered water, then a second before filling my water bottles. I slowly made it back up to the camping spot, and decided to stop there for the night. I set up the tent as quickly as possible since I wanted to crawl into it to avoid the many flyers. I left the awning opened, but closed the net, and it stayed that way through the night. It felt good to stop, lie down, and rest my achy feet. A group of 3 arrived a bit later, and set up 2 other tents, the last sleeping cowboy style. Our violinist left shortly after. But except for some giggles, they were all tucked in as soon as it was dark. I also heard them eat and have breakfast after it got light, and leaving shortly thereafter. I packed myself around 7:30, and walked on down. Curiously I was not hungry, mostly thirsty. I made it back down to the trail head in about 2 hours.
I hesitated whether to stop in Trout Lake, but I didn't and drove down to Hood City. I found a diner with wifi to start searching for a place to stay for the next few days. Labor day is coming up, and most reasonable places are already booked. I finally found a cheap motel in Yakima which I will used for day trips to places where the PCT crosses various highways such as White Pass, Chinook Pass, Snoqualmie Pass, then Stevens Pass, and return to Santa Cruz via Seattle. Complicating the matter is that Washington has now some forest fires which is closing the PCT where I had plan to hike.