This morning I had lots of tiny bumps on both legs and feet. I think a tiny spider or other bug must’ve gotten into my sleeping bag and ate up my feet! The bites are very small but extremely itchy, and I couldn’t help but to scratch a few of them this morning.
Oh man, this climb this morning... I really need to stop saying “huge hill” and “big hill” unless they really are big. This morning’s climb was HUGE! 7.5 miles of up. And up. And up!! Imagine a nice hike you have set out for yourself, maybe a little loop or a 4 mile out and then back to a nice lake. But instead of working for a nice lake, you just go up and up and up and up for seemingly no reason!
The day was a little hazy with smoke but at least it wasn’t raining! I had somewhat expected it to be raining this morning and possibly all day and was pleasantly surprised. Near the top of the climb I had a cool view of Glacier Peak and the surrounding mountains, but my camera on my phone would NOT work!
I saw Rocky from Hungary again which was neat, and I leapfrogged Alcatraz and Rachel for a bit. I also saw Hopper and met three new hikers at one point. At the very top of the climb the fire detour started. It takes us PCT hikers straight back down 11 miles into a beautiful valley, through the small community of Holden Village, and then up and over a huge pass, and then straight back down for 17 miles to a road where you can take a shuttle or walk ~4 miles East to Stehekin or ~7 back to the PCT!
It was cool to see other hikers doing the alternate. Usually if the reroute is around some main roads many hikers will instantly chose to hitch, but in this case there was ~86 miles of good trail before the detour actually began so most hikers just went for it! I am finding that from Holden, most hikers will take a bus and then ferry to Stehekin, where I will do the 17 mile climb and drop, and then walk the road back to the trail on the other side.
On the alternate, the top of Cloudy Pass was so beautiful! I DEFINITELY need to come back here with Claire! I’ve already been working on a sweet loop hike in my mind to take her on! There are giant snow-capped peaks and small glacial fed lakes of the brightest blue hues, with the fall colors popping and huge green pines scattered around! Ahhhhhh! At first I was pretty bummed that my camera still wasn’t working, but then I reminded myself that sometimes you just gotta take a mental image to remember! Sorry blog readers!
The stretch down into Holden was long and not the easiest on my knees. I was trying to stay in the zone to use the least amount of thigh muscle to slow myself down that I accidentally stepped on a snake!! It scared both us us so much, but it slithered offjist fine! Although jarring and brushy, the trail was still beautiful! I didn’t eat very much just so that I’d be super hungry when I got there. (I had heard their store has $3 milkshakes.) As I got closer I could see remnants of some old infrastructure, and it was kind of creepy! Old foundations left abandoned, rock walls and steps protecting nothing and leading nowhere.
About a mile later I came into the “Village”. It could definitely be the setting of a horror movie but was actually pretty cool! (If that makes sense). There are many huge lodges all over, some yurts, a general store, and a main hotel registration/cafeteria building. It’s really hard to explain but the place was really neat! No modern cars, just a few old work trucks from the 50’s.
I was there around 3:30pm and dinner wasn’t until 5:00pm, but I paid my $12 and hung out in the cafeteria snacking on apples, bananas, and toast! They have laundry machines that spit out the quarters you feed them so they can be used over and over at no cost. They have free showers and clean towels for hikers even if you don’t stay the night! ($99 for a room).
After washing the dirt off my legs I saw that I had waaaaaay more “bites” than I thought! Others around me said it looks like poison ivy since the ones o scratched this morning had puss oozing. I’m still going with bed bug bites since they were on the top of my foot too (unless of course I spread the poison ivy oils around in my sleeping bag.) Either way, I’m going to attempt not to itch and hopefully it will go away! (That’s the true thru-hiker way!)
After laundry and a shower it was time to eat!! This is the best $12 meal I’ve ever had! It was pasta night and everything was organic and fresh and yummy! There was spaghetti and linguini and marinara and mushroom alfredo and roasted roots and broccoli and a salad bar with delicious fresh veggies including kale and tomatoes and red onion, all super duper fresh! Needless to say I had 3 entree plates, two salad bowls, and two helpings of blackberry cobbler! STUFFED!
In the great hall they had weather and local conditions up on a billboard. Just as I had seen in Steven’s Pass, there was heavy rain predicted for tonight, a slight let up tomorrow (Monday), and then a heavy downpour of 1/4 inch of rain on Tuesday! Originally I had been planning to leave Holden and get some more miles done today, and be in Mazama by Monday night. Unfortunately this alternate adds more miles to my route than I thought, and there’s no way I can do almost a 40 mile day tomorrow, especially if I get drenched camping tonight!
This plus the fact that the store is closed on Sunday (today), made me rethink my plans. I wasn’t going to go into Stehekin since I was going to just pick up food here. I still have just over a day of food left for backup! With the incoming rain it makes sense to bunker down on Tuesday, and not be hiking. So the plan I formulated on spot was this:
I will stay the night here, this was accomplished thanks to Hopper letting me sleep on the extra bed in the room she purchased (thanks Hopper!!). Then, tomorrow, I will hike the 17 miles up and then down the next pet of the alternate (not looking forward to this steep formerly “light use” path). I’ll then hit the road and walk the 7 miles West back to the PCT. I should be there before 6:15pm, (the last shuttle to Stehekin). Then I’ll figure out somehwere to stay in Stehekin on Monday and Tuesday to zero while waiting out the worst of the rain. While I’m there I can resupply for another two days of food out of pocket and visit the famous bakery! If I decide to, I can take the early bus Wednesday back to the trail (without disrupting my footpath), and then it’s just 18 miles to Rainy Pass where I can hitch to Mazama to pick up my last resupply before Canada!
Whew!! That’s a lot of thinking and planning I just did! It’s so crazy how the trial can disrupt and change your plans at any point! (This would be a lot easier if I felt like hitching or taking a ferry to avoid all this, but I’ve done a continuous footpath this whole way so far from Mexico and I want to finish with one!)
All that thinking has got me tired! I got an early/big day tomorrow! Sorry for the lack of pictures!
Thanks for reading!
Stepped on a SNAKE?!?
ReplyDeleteThanks for giving me the willies!!