Day: October 1, 2016

Beautiful weather today, I hated making it a half day, but there are chores to be done.  This is my last night in civilization before Canada.  And the weather tommorow is supposed to be crap.  Let’s hope the forecast is wrong.

I slept in a little since I knew I had a short day today.  It was weird getting all packed up in sunlight.  I didn’t even wake until 7 am and was on the trail at 7:45.  No bear incidents, so that’s good.  I could only eat 3/4 of the sticky bun from the Stehekin bakery for breakfast.  But I ate the remainder on trail at about ten o’clock.

The climbing continued, but it was not difficult just as yesterday afternoon had not been difficult.  I was moving a tad slower, but still kept a good pace.  I passed several more campgrounds and several more streams.  Most of them had to be crossed on logs, which the forest service sawed the tops flat to make them easily navigable.

My cell phone ran out of power at about 11 am, and being my only maps, I felt a little naked.  I had the data book profiles, which I had not used since California, but I pulled the pertinent page out so I could keep up with where I was.  I kept the phone powered off last night and most of the morning, but it still lost its juice.  

That also meant very few pictures taken today.  As luck would have it, the canyon was so narrow that it would have been impossible to get good pictures anyway.  I was lucky to get one good one with the sunrise.

The profile map became very useful when I got to stage route 20 and the trail popped out to a trailhead.  It seemed to soon to be at the pass, and the data book profiles indicated another trailhead a mile and a half before rainy pass.  So back to the trail for thirty minutes and, voila!  Rainy pass trailhead and picnic area.

The temperatures were dropping all morning, and at the pass it was quite chilly, so I put on my down jacket and the next car to go by was a pickup truck that stopped to pick me up.  He didn’t speak English, but he understood Mazama, so I jumped in the back of the truck and away we went.  The 20 miles or so into town were absolutely beautiful.  And I got a great view from the open bed of a pickup truck.  And it was red, so it was like my own personal jammer bus.  This is definitely a place worth coming back to.  Perhaps tomorrow morning (tee hee hee).

He dropped me off at the road to town, which led about half a mile to town.  I went straight to the general store and bakery and got some premade sandwiches and a latte.  Two hikers from two nights ago campground were there packing up and ready to head out.  I ran over to the outfitter to get my last resupply box and came back to start packing.  I had almost two days of food still with me and one of the other hikers was low, so I gave him a whole days food bag.  That made his day, because this store is not cheap.  They have alot of neat things and a bulk section, but this is definitely not a Costco.

With the expectation of cold weather and snow, I also got a Balaclava and another fuel canister from the outfitter.  I will probably have to sleep in my hiking clothes if the temperature falls below freezing, so clean clothes would be nice.  I headed over to the Mazama Country Inn, and got a room and tokens for the laundromat.

Shower was first on the agenda.  Then call Karen.  Then do laundry.  Then when all of that is done, it’s finally time for dinner.  The inn has a restaurant that only serves dinner on Friday and Saturday, so lucky for me it’s Friday today.  Beer, steak, a loaf of bread with real butter, and ice cream.  Oh, that’s heaven.

I’m officially a day behind schedule, so I got ahold of Ken and arranged for pickup a day later than originally planned.  I should be able to make it back to Hart’s pass Tuesday night, but not by noon.  If things go well, I might be able to at least get there early enough to have time to hitch into Mazama to have a bite to eat and save Ken a treacherous mountain road.  Win-win, right?

A short day into Stehekin resort, an hour in town, then back on the trail.  I didn’t have to go into town, but I had the opportunity and the bakery calleth.

I was up before six and one of the other hikers was awake and starting to cook breakfast.  I got ready quickly and probably got on trail about 7 am, but I was not looking at my watch.  The other hiker was packed up when I left, but he was at the river getting water.  I was within striking distance of Stehekin, but still had not decided if I was going or not.

About an hour into the morning, I got passed by another hiker, Shortcut.  She knew that one of the shuttles arrived right at noon.  At my current pace, I was due to get there between 11:30 and 11:45.  Hmmmm, so the timing would be good.  And there would be two more shuttles coming out from town to get back to the trail.

I hiked on and kept thinking about town and the bakery.  There really wasn’t anything in town that I needed except to charge my phone.  But the bakery was a big draw.  I probably need to take half a day in Mazama tomorrow anyway since it is my last town and last resupply and it has been nearly a week since I showered and did laundry.  Stehekin has showers and laundry, hmmm.  If the bad weather comes in, I might need an extra day and will need to get ahold of Ken to change my pickup day.

I got to the ranger station right at 11:45 and shortcut was already there.  At this point, a three hour delay getting into Mazama had no impact. There’s no way I could do 32 miles to get in today, and whether I get there at 11 am or 2 PM makes no difference at all.  Bakery it is.

The shuttle arrived at 12:15 and was due to leave again at 12:30.  About ten hikers got off the bus, so there were plenty of people to interrogate.  And they had bakery food with them, so I got to see first hand that it was worth the stop.  

I was originally planning on only going to the bakery, and waiting for the return bus from there.  But after reading signs at the ranger station that the next 16 miles of campsites were by reservation only, it looks like I had to go all the way into town to go to the information center to get a camping permit.  If I was to get on the 2 PM return bus, I would not get hiking until 3 and there’s no way I could make 16 miles starting that late in the day.  Plus, from Stehekin to Rainy pass where I hitch to Mazama from is a sustained 4000 ft climb.

I get on the bus and the driver sayas he stops at the bakery for five or ten minutes.  Perfect, I can hit both the bakery and town on the same shuttle.  The scenery is gorgeous along lake Chelan and private homes are scattered about. I see my first bear of the trip from the bus.  A mother and two cubs.

We make our stop at the bakery, and I get a chicken pocket, a slice of.pizza, a cup of broccoli salad and a root beer.  We’re allowed to bring it and eat it on the bus.  Score.  I only have time to eat the chicken pocket.  We arrive at Stehekin at 1:15.  Only 45 minutes until the next shuttle leaves.  There is also a ferry there that will leave at 2:00 to take guests back to their cars.  The only way to this place is by ferry or boat plane.  I don’t think the dirt road the shuttle takes leads anywhere useful.

I make a beeline for the information center to get my permit.  I learn that the forecast begining Friday night calls for rain turning to snow, then snow for the next three days.  Joy.  Next up is to look for an outlet.  After trying two outdoor outlets that are dead, I find a live one in the bathroom.  I leave the phone and battery charging while I go to the balcony to eat.  By the time I am done, it’s 1:50, only ten minutes until the bus leaves.

I run to the gift shop to see what they have.  They have very little food, but they do have bandaids.  My left heel is healed, and the right one is close to healing, but if weather turns sour, I will need more bandaids.  I think about getting ice cream, but their selection is poor, so I pass.  I run back to the bathroom to get my electronics and head to the bus.

These buses are special built for the National Park Service.  Karen and I first saw them on our honeymoon in Glacier National Park where they call them jammer busses.  They are cute on the outside, but just regular city buses on the inside.  They get the job done.  Their roofs have windows in them so you can see the mountains above.

On the trip back, we stop at the bakery again, so of course I have to go in.  This time it’s blueberry pie and a sticky bun for tomorrow.  I eat the pie on the bus.  We make another stop at the Stehekin guest ranch.  I thought it was farm on the trip in.  This place has hiker tent cabins, three meals, and laundry for $110.  Sounds like alot, but three meals in town would be well over $70.  The lodge in town was $150 a night.  My permit and campsite was $0, not including $14 in fare to ride the bus both ways.  The free camping permits are not free if you have to ride their bus to get them.

When I get back to the trailhead, ten more hikers are waiting to go into town, Including the rest of the hikers I camped with last night.  I give them the lowdown then head up the trail.  My campsite is 8 miles, so that should take me to within an hour of dark.

The trail is not a continuous climb like I thought it was going to be, but it more or less is, but they manage to sneak in a 100 ft descent in every once in a while.  After which you have to climb back up, of course.  The trail is climbing the gorge with bridge creek flowing through it.

I get to camp right at 6:30 and find a perfect site for the hammock.  I set it up quickly, and find a cable in the trees for a bear bag, so I get that going quickly.  They have signs all over warning of recent bear activity.  And I did see the family.of three from the bus, so safety first.  I cook quickly, hang the rest of my food, then head to bed.  I do not have to get up too early tomorrow, as it is less than 12 miles to the road to hitch to town.  I get to sleep in until sunrise, but not much later, because the trail is more climbing and will be much slower than this morning.

A great weather day today for some big climbs.  Lots of streams today, fewer big open views, but fewer blowdowns for sure made it a good travel day.

I was able to wake up early and get on trail at 6:30.  I had gone downhill from a switchback, so instead of going back uphill, I just kept going downhill and intercepted the next switchback.  The slope was about 45 degrees, so downhill both ways was the best choice.

The plants were hardly dewey, so I did not get wet at all.  About two miles down the slope I found the hikers from yesterday camped out and stirring to head out.  

The next six miles were a very shallow downhill as we went downhill along the Suiattle river to cross it, then come back up the river on the other side.  There is a shortcut that bypassed this six mile stretch, but it requires fording the river and then bushwhacking back to the trail.  At best case, it should save an hour, but having to deal with the river when everything is dry did not sound like fun, so  I stuck to the trail.  And it was a very nice walk, so I don’t regret my choice.

After crossing the river, it was a steady climb for about three hours.  I had intended on getting to the top before eating,  but I only made it about three quarters of the way before getting hungry and stopping for tuna wraps.  I saw two southbounders and recognized one from northern California. He was flip flopping to avoid weather.  I also ran across one day hiker who was a talker.

Once the climb was over, we dropped on to the north side of another canyon and it was a similar Alpine feel to the last two or three days.  Big open meadows with blueberries, big snow covered peaks, and streams everywhere.

This area still had some blowdowns, but most of them had been cut clean through.  There were still some that had to be climbed over, but they looked newer, and not years old like the previous day’s hike.

Toward the end of the day I located a campsite on the map that was six miles away that I would hit just before dark.  It sounded perfect, and had water close by.  I was running.low on water, but could last another two hours until getting to the campsite.

When I got close to the water source just before my intended campsite, I began to realize that the trail crossed the stream.  The intended crossing site had lots of stones to try to make a bridge across it,  but it was thirty yards wide and was not completely covered by continuous stones.  It was obvious that to cross it meant getting wet.  I could easily switch into the flips to cross, then just go on to camp in the flips.

But there was another option.  A very tall tree had fallen across the river 100 yards downstream.  It was eight inches around at the top fifteen feet above the water, and eighteen inches at the base four feet above the water.  It was pretty high up for such a skinny tree, and it was after 7:00 and light was failing fast.

I decided the tree would be my route.  Just getting to where I could climb up to the tree high over the river was challenging.  But I made it, and tested out the strength of the tree to be sure it would hold me.  I started across the tree, using my poles to steady myself.  I looked at the tree, and not the rushing water below.  If I was to fall, I would surely break something, so falling was not an option.  Everything went smoothly until about half way across, when the tree began to bounce and sway sideways like a tightrope.  This tree was over forty feet long from bank to bank..  I just paused and let the tree calm down, then kept proceeding.  It took about three minutes to cross, and then I was on my way to the campsite.  

All the other hikers were already there and had a fire going, so I went and set up my hammock quickly and grabbed my food and went and cooked by the fire.  Two others showed up and cooked as well.  It was nice to interact with other hikers for a while.  I don’t get that chance very often on the PCT.  Two other hikers have also done the AT, and three others have not.  Alot of the talk was about the AT and the similarities and differences from the PCT.  We also talked about the upcoming towns and what each had to offer. 

I think I will bypass Stehekin which is only 12 miles away and head straight for Mazama which is 31 miles away.  I will probably nearo there, depending on the forecast.  Everyone else is stopping in Stehekin.  I just don’t have the extra time and have plenty of food.  I am short on phone power, though.  Well see how much juice we have in the morning.

Today was a real mixed bag.  It was raining very gently before I woke up and soaked every leaf until about 11 am, then the clouds began to disperse and were mostly gone by 5 PM.  My shoes, pants, and shirt were soaked until noon, then mixed sun and a strong breeze dried me out.  I ended up being another really nice day by the end of the day.

I slept in a little because of the rain early in the morning and did not get on trail until 7 am.  I could not tell if it was genuine rain or cloud drops because I was camping low.  Either way, the effect is the same – every little plant overgrown into the trail was saturated and within five minutes, my shirt, pants, and shoes were soaking wet.  It was fairly warm and I knew I had to do alot of climbing so I did not bother with rain gear or the pack cover.  I might rethink that next time.

I had a stream crossing about an hour into the hike over a bridge that had broken in the middle but was still serviceable.  It was like a fun house ride.  A single log bridge about thirty degrees down to the water then back up.  It had a railing that was perfectly broken to match the bridge.  The railings made it feel safer crossing it.

I passed two hikers packing up and within and hour both of them had passed me.  I never saw them again, and I never saw another hiker all day.  I have been seeing and hearing hikers night hiking past me while I am camped, and usually pass multiple campsites still occupied in the morning.  I did pass several other hikers tents this morning, but have not seen or heard night hikers tonight.  That could be because I am a hundred feet down a switchback on steep terrain in the hammock.  

The terrain was always climbing or always descending all morning and all afternoon.  It’s just like the Sierra where we climb out of one canyon just to go over a pass and descend into the next one.  Rinse and repeat.  Both the climbs and descents make heavy use of switchbacks and are graded decently most of the time.  

This section is a wilderness area and they have a thing about not wanting to clear blowdowns.  All they do is cut the branches off and chop a little notch to put your foot on and you crawl over it.  Some of these trees are four feet in diameter a few feet off the ground and take some work to get over.  Sometimes they are so big or so high that you have to go under them.  Some of these you can tell are decades old.  And sometimes the blowdowns cause the trail to go up or down slope and trample the vegetation.  You would think that at some point the impact of cutting a tree across the trail is better than creating mudslides on both sides of the tree.  I must have encountered more than a hundred blowdowns today, probably more.

I stopped for lunch at a pass where the sun was going in and out but a breeze was constant.  I took my shoes and socks off to let them dry and check my feet.  The left foot bandaid had come off and that foot is essentially healed.  The right heel was bleeding a little, but the bandaids were still in place.  I put a section of gorilla tape over the bandaids to reduce friction.  That seemed to help a little and it stayed in place for the rest of the day.

The afternoon was a descent that lasted until about 3:30.  I ran out of water on the way down, intending to fill up at the creek at the bottom of the canyon.  When I got there, it was silty and there was no easy way to get down to the water.  I try not to filter silty water so it won’t clog the filter.  The next water was five miles up the next canyon.  I decided to go ahead and go the five miles without water and maybe luck out on an undocumented stream on the way up.  No such luck.  I had to hike the full five miles for two and a half hours up a warm switchback canyon.  When I did get water, it was ice cold and crystal clear.  I filled up for dinner and enough for the morning.

I could have stopped at a perfect campsite at 6:30 but the site was high and windy and very cold.  I decided to make my way down the switchbacks towards a campsite four miles further and try my luck with finding something on the way.  It was quite dark by 7:15 and I was stumbling on rocks in areas with overgrown vegetation and was not thrilled about hiking that in the dark, so I kept my eyes peeled and finally found something about half way down that worked out fine.  The ground is steep, but I had a natural chair in front of a tree that worked out great for cooking dinner in comfort.  I went ahead and made a big dinner with pudding for dessert since I had plenty of water tonight.

It’s 39 miles to Stehekin and 68 miles to Mazama via Rainey pass.  I still have three days of food I have not broken into yet, so I probably won’t be stopping in Stehekin.  The original plan was to stop there just to go to the bakery for one day of food, but dealing with the shuttle to get into and out of town for food that I don’t need does not sound like it’s a smart stop.  It sounds like the $70 VVR hamburger fiasco all over again.  I think I’m better off spending my time and money in Mazama, since I have a package waiting there and must go anyway.  This is the last resupply of the trip.  Plus snow is now forecast for the weekend and I don’t want to dilly dally too much.  Yes, snow.  Snow trumps muffins any day.

What a fantastic day today.  I got up early and was on trail early, there was hardly a cloud in the sky all day, and most of the day was above treeline with fantastic views.  I only saw two hikers all day, and one of them I had not seen since Sierra City in northern California.  And a day above 25 miles for the first time in a while despite lots of elevation change.

I got ready quickly and was on trail at 6:30 for the first time since Timberline.  It’s just early enough to be before the sunrise, but not so nearly that you need a headlamp, but it’s right on the edge.  A week from now, it might be needed that early.

I thought where I camped last night was the top of the big climb through the boulder field, but I discovered this morning that there was another 500 feet to climb.  It went quickly, and all the vegetation was dry, so I didn’t get soaking wet first thing in the morning for the first time in over a week.

I got a few brief glimpses of Mt Baker as the trail wound around high peaks.  The fall colors of the fruit bushes litter the mountains all over.  I tried a few more blueberries since I was now higher, but they are still overripe like the ones at lower elevations.  The huckleberry bushes don’t have a smell but the blueberry bushes smell like blueberry muffins.  It’s like hiking through a bakery.  Or a Taiwanese muffin sweatshop.

I took my lunch break at the top of a saddle overlooking Mt Baker and other mountain peaks with snow on them.  I let my feet and socks dry while I ate.  The right foot is not very sore today, but I’m not sure how fast it’s healing.  The left one is almost back to normal.  I will let them dry tonight then rebandage and hope they heal soon.  Or at least heal before the next rain.

In the early afternoon I met a weeklong hiker doing Stevens pass to Rainey pass.  He had heard that this was the toughest and prettiest section in Washington.  So far that has turned out to be true.  The climbs are definitely getting bigger and in some areas steeper.  But the scenery just keeps getting better and that takes your mind off the climbing and various other less pleasant aspects of this hike.

I took an afternoon break at another saddle with a great view.  I sat under a sign that read “please camp elsewhere” and just a hundred feet down was a designated campsite.  Good thing I was only resting and not camping.  Just as I was getting up to leave, another hiker came by.  I recognized him immediately as Butterscotch, who I had not seen since the few days after leaving Sierra City in northern California.  That’s a long time ago, lime well over a thousand miles ago.  We had a quick chat, and then I moved on.  He stopped to take a break.

Shortly after leaving Butterscotch, I hit the 2500 mile marker.  YES!  Only 150 miles left to go.  It was just after a trail junction on the side of a mountain gain with red blueberries all over the place.  Someone had kicked some of the rocks used to spell 2500, so I stopped to fix them and take a picture.

The trail continued to climb while still remaining above tree line since about 10 am this morning.  Even at 4:45 the trail was still above treeline but now descended into a large canyon.  It looked exactly like the canyons of the Sierra.

After three miles or so of descending the canyon the trees finally appeared.  Big pines and firs, which make me happy to see, since they mean I will be able to find a place to hang the hammock.  It was after 6:00 PM now and it was time to start thinking about camping.  There was a campground that looked wooded that I would hit just after 7 PM so that would be a perfect stopping place.

I passed many great camping sites on the way to my target site.  When I got there, it was almost dark and the campsites sucked.  There were plenty of trees but most of them were too close or had dense brush or were near dead trees.  Never hang a hammock from a dead tree.  You don’t want to be sitting on the rope tied to a dead tree and have it fall right on top of you.

I finally found a site, set up, took the shoes off to let the feet air out, then cooked dinner.  I took the bandages off and the feet look so so.  The left one is fine, but the right one is still red and tender.  I will have to cover it with something so it won’t be glued to the sock in the morning, so I’ll cover it with a simple bandaid and decide what to put on it in the morning.  Hopefully most of the redness is gone by then.  I don’t have any antibiotic ointment, but the voltaren has alcohol in it, so I’ll use a dab to try to sterilize it a little bit.  I am hoping for another sunny day tomorrow.

The morning started less than impressive in the weather department, but improved all day long and ended up a very nice day.  Being a Sunday near a ski resort, the trail was crowded with day hikers galore.  The climbs and lakes continued and Mt Baker is coming closer into view.

Since I was sleeping on the floor in the RV, I was in charge of starting coffee in the morning.  I told them I was going to wake up at 5:30 but everyone was slumbering peacefully, so I waited until 6:00 before firing up the stove.  Everyone woke quickly, and Legend started making pancakes immediately.  He had a few leftovers from yesterday and make some fresh ones then started dolling them out.  I think we all ate three or four pancakes.  He makes them pretty big.  They filled a paper plate completely.

Legend can always start up an interesting conversation and this morning was no exception.  He told us a little bit about how he got started into the perpetual traveller lifestyle.  The conversation went all over the place.  Business, politics, digging privies, just about everything short of religion.

I didn’t get out of there until 9:00 but I had a very good morning.  I knew that it would be an interesting evening and morning if I stayed and that’s one of the reasons I decided to stay instead of hiking out last evening.  The fact that it rained a little last night and was sprinkling in the morning just gave extra validation for my decision.  It was sprinkling or foggy much of the morning until nearly 11 am.

The trail started out on a gentle downhill for several miles before heading up a steep climb.  It looks like the next few days are going to be the same as the last few days – four or five 1000 to 2000 ft climbs and lots of lakes.  I can see from the overall profile that the climbs are going to get much bigger for the last few days.

As soon as I got to the first lake of the morning, the trail seemed to explode with people.  I must have seen at least fifty day hikers and thirty dogs.  They were all coming from a trailhead about ten miles from Stevens pass that was only a few miles by road from Stevens pass.  I sat and ate lunch at the intersection with that trail and someone new came by at least every three or four minutes.  I saw at least twenty new people come by just at lunch.  The stream never let up.  No one turned North onto the PCT from there, so as soon as I continued hiking, I saw only two day hikers and one thru hiker.

The climbs continued and the lakes continued on the rest of the trail for the afternoon.  I must have walked by ten lakes today.  The second to the last climb for the day was Grizzly peak.  The banner picture is of the trail on Grizzly peak looking straight at Mt Baker.  The red plants are blueberries and huckleberries growing all over the place and they are now over ripe and starting to ferment.  I picked and ate five dozen throughout the day that were at the peak of ripeness, but these were so overripe you could smell the blueberries just walking by them.  It literally smelled like blueberry pies were lining the trail.

There was one more lake to hit at about 6:30 and it seemed like a good place to stop.  I had to climb to get to it, and as I approached, I could smell smoke.  I also ran across a deer decoy at one pass looking straight at the trail.  It took me a while to realize it was a decoy.  With those two clues signalling yahoos were camping there, I decided to keep going.  There was one more big climb and four miles to the next camping area.  I started the climb, keeping my eyes peeled for a hammock spot.  The terrain was very steep and most of the trees were either way too big and far apart, or the trees were too close together, or over terrain too steep to walk on safely.  

Just over the top of the climb, more trees popped up and I found a suitable pair of trees just twenty yards down from the trail.  I set up and cooked dinner and hit the sack about 9 PM.  It was a red sunset as I was setting up, but I had to pull out the headlamp before finishing up.  While sitting here blogging, three hikers have passed by wearing headlamps.  I guess I’m not the only one who feels guilty leaving a town late and wants to make up for lost time by hiking a little bit into the evening.  I will probably pass by them still sleeping in the morning.