Day 139, ~30.1 miles

This morning I woke up in a big bed in a nice dark room. I set my alarm for 6am and actually had to stick to it today! I knew I was in for a long day. I looked out the window at the village below and everything looked drenched. It had rained all night and I was VERY glad to be dry! 

I said goodbye to Hopper and the others she let crash on the floor, and Two-Pack was out! Breakfast was at 7:30am but instead I just grabbed some fruit and toast from the snacking area of the cafeteria and headed out. Within 100 steps of leaving the lodge, I saw a German hiker who knew me although I still can’t remember his name, and at this point it’s too awkward to ask, haha. (Edit: his name is Bigfeet!!)

We talked while we walked and about a 1/2 mile later I realized we were supposed to turn off of the village road to connect to the alternate trail; WAY back where we stayed hiking! Well, off to a speedy start! Haha. We headed back to the turn off, both of us feeling like idiots for having missed the signage (which in our defense was not very obvious). 

The detour started nice and flat for about a mile, ending at a sweet waterfall. You could tell that this short easy hike is popular amongst visitors and locals. From there, the trail goes STRAIGHT up a STEEP hill!! The big hill I was talking about yesterday has NOTHING on this beast... It was a steep burn section through super fine and soft dirt, which made climbing extra strenuous. 

My phone yet again wasn’t taking any photos, which was a shame because although difficult the poor trail was very beautiful. As I kept climbing I felt increasing rain drops, and the tops of the looming mountains around me were shrouded in a menacing grey cloud/mist. I put my rain jacket on but soon regretted it as I huffed and puffed my way even still further up into a seemingly endless hillside.

Finally I made it to the top with not much for views. I looked behind and couldn’t even see my mystery German friend. He said that he was taking it slow due to some foot problems. I took no time at the top and started an immediate descent down a scary steep pass. There were at least two sections of 50° grade, down slippery mud and rocks. The trail was steeper than any of the passes in the Sierra, and I couldn’t even imagine walking down it with any snow on trail. I tried to stay focused on my feet as a single slip would surely result in multiple broken limbs, if not death...

The trail finally calmed after about a mile of this severe drop. Then it was about 11 miles of wet bushwhacking and river hopping. Although it never started pouring on me, I was completely soaked due to the overgrown trail. I’m getting REAL sick of these alternates!! I tripped on more roots today that I ever have before, and I started to get some strange nerve pain in my right groin/thigh area after tweaking my hip in a strange way after slipping off a rock. UGH! 

I still hadn’t made a solid plan as to my next course of action. Since missing the store in Holden I knew that I didn’t have quite enough food to make it to Mazama, though I still had about an extra days worth. I knew that there was a shuttle service between where the detour pops out on a gravel road, the Bakery, Stehekin, and where the PCT continues 7 miles west of the detour. I heard that there were no roads into Stehekin, (so I assume not a lot of cars), so I figured I’d wait and see what the hitching looked like before I made any decisions. What I really didn’t feel like doing was spending a night in Stehekin either in the rain or in a $120 hotel room, and then having an 11 mile road walk the next day! 

Sorry if none of this makes sense, this fire closure is extremely complex, and long story short; I was just winging it! Just a little while before the road, I ran into Rocky from Hungary again! I was glad to see that SOMEBODY was also hiking this alternate and that I wasn’t the only “crazy” one out here. Get this, when I see her, she said she saw a bear MINUTES before!! Gaaaaaaah!! Where’s my bear sighting!?!? 

I continued to fly down the hill, still unsure of what to do but knowing that the sooner I hit the road the better. When I did reach the road I saw many trucks and utility vehicles driving by. This was a good sign for hitching and meant that I might not have to rely on the shuttle schedule to get to my resupply and back again! I walked along the small road and crossed the Harlequin Bridge. My phone camera started to work again yay!! 

The Harlequin Bridge

I knew that the PCT was ~7 miles West, that Stehekin was ~4 miles East, and that the famous bakery was only ~2 miles East. Guess what I did?! Oh yeah, the bakery baby :) I hadn’t even walked a 1/4 mile when a utility truck came by and pulled over for my thumb-out! I asked if they could take me to the bakery and they said to hop in!!

Utility truck views

The Suiattle River 

When I got to the bakery, I saw a bunch of people that I had seen at Holden last night for dinner! They had all caught the bus and ferry and were wondering how I got there so fast! My own two feet that’s how!! Man oh man was this bakery AMAZING!! While I was there I had two Thai peanut veggie rolls, a HUGE sticky bun, and a fresh fruit and granola parfait. They had day old cinnamon rolls for $2.50 (I grabbed one for breakfast tomorow), and they had giant rectangular pizza (I grabbed two veggies for lunch tomorrow). Everything was fresh and delicious! I can see why the place is famous! 

So sweet and sticky! 

Not so sweet, but still sticky? Haha... Bed bugs or poison ivy?! 

Well, goal one for the afternoon was accomplished (to resupply), now it was my not so favorite part (road walk 7 miles back to the actual PCT).Well, 9 if I couldn’t get a hitch back to Harlequin Bridge. For awhile I thought that may be reality. I waited outside of the bakery for about 15 minutes. I was getting absolutely SWARMED by mosquitos since Stehekin is only at 2,000ft. Just as I was about to start walking, someone finally came by and they stopped for me too! 

It was a sweet older lady who was headed home after work to go feed and walk her two big mutts. She dropped me off at the Harlequin Bridge after informing me that she was after all headed further along the road and closer to the PCT. People must think I’m ctrazy when I insist on walking the road sometimes just to connect my path, haha. About 2 miles into the roadwalk I saw her walking her dogs! (She really must think I’m crazy, hahaha).

The road was paved for about 3 miles and then became gravel, which feels a little better on the feet and knees. Now that my shoes aren’t covered in mud I can see that there are giant holes ripping in both shoes, similar to what happened to the last pair! But instead of beating 1,200 miles old these are only ~400 miles old! What’s going on?! It’s probably due to all the rain and constantly being wet, and maybe this constant aggressive elevation gain/drop that WA is known for. It’s ok though, they’ll still make it to the end!

:(

The reason why this blog entry is so lengthy is because I’m writing it on the roadwalk. Normally I wouldn’t do that but I’m over 5 miles in and have seen about 4 cars total. I can hear them coming from far away and they drive slow on the gravel. There are on the other hand plenty of bikes! It doesn’t seem that too many people live way out here but everyone who does seems so happy!! I’ve been getting nothing but smiles and waves all day and I can’t wait to go to the actual town of Stehekin one day with Claire! 

Oh yeah, just to clarify, if any of you are like “Why would he hitch two miles but then walk seven?” or vice versa; for the footpath to work, I sometimes have to walk these ridiculous routes around fires. Often times the route is the shortest way around the fire, but not nesecarily all on trails. Any extra walking, like to the bakery for example, which is out of the way of the path, I can hitch to and back from. All I need to do is make sure I continue walking from where I stopped,(or have walked to before), to stay true to the continuous footpath. Let’s say for instance I ended up walking to the bakery instead of getting a hitch. I’d still be able to hitch back to the Harlequin bridge afterwards because I had walked there initially.

Along the old road

A tree still standing in the middle of the river!! 

At the end of the road there is a small rangers station. For the next 17 miles of the PCT you are required to have an additional permit to camp in designated sites, and no dispersed camping is allowed. Back at the bakery there were three hikers (Street Fighter, Mango, and Caribou) who said they had gotten a 4 tent permit for the first campsite (5 miles North) from the end of the road, and that I could take the 4th space. The ranger asked to see my wilderness permit and I told her that my “group” was on the way. They were taking the last shuttle out of Stehekin and I had beat them there by about 20 minutes. I chatted with the ranger until they arrived and we headed towards the campground. 

It turns out that there was a whole PCT hiker camping area at the campground, and there was almost no one else in the rest of the campground (must be the weather). It probably didn’t matter where we camped but it felt good to do things by the book. There were probably 20 sites there and I picked one under a lot of trees in case the rain comes hard tonight. (It’s 9pm as I write this and it’s already started!) 

There’s supposedly some thunderstorms possible after 11am tomorrow, with increasing rain all day starting tonight (possibly a 1/4 inch!!). I plan to do the 14 miles to Rainy Pass around or before noon, and head to the P.O. to grab my last resupply. Then it’ll be off to a trail angel’s there to finally get some WiFi and service and put all your minds at ease as to whether I’m alive or not! I might take a zero there depending on weather and finish strong! 

I can’t believe I walked over 30 miles today! And only 5 of them were actual PCT miles, hahaha. Oh how I LOATHE fire alternates! It’s ok, I have less than 80 miles left, and I’m so pumped that this year I’ll actually be able to walk from Mexico to Canada!! This is going to be something that I remember for the rest of my life! 

Thanks for reading!!