No, I am not at Disneyland, but rather I am in Stehekin, my favorite place in the world!
Holy cow is Washington ever beautiful. If I loved the state before (and I did), I adore it now. My opinion has been in no way affected by the abundance of blueberries. In no way affected. There has been a fair bit of rain, but luckily there has been at least a short bit of dryness each day so that I can dry out my tent and gear. I also have been fortunate enough to be inside hotel rooms during the last two big thunderstorms (thanks Mom and Dad!). In fact, during the last one, we were at the Cascadia Hotel in Skykomish, a place I HIGHLY recommend. We snuck next door to the Whistling Post tavern to watch the Seahawks-49ers game. Go Hawks! I also highly recommend this bar. Although its tap list was limited, it had great atmosphere and just felt like a place I’d like to hang out.
The section between Snoqualmie Pass and Stevens Pass was magnificent and filled with blueberries :) However, boy oh boy was there a lot of elevation loss and gain. We would climb 2500-3000 feet only to descend the same mere miles later. Then rinse and repeat. It sure was beautiful though. There was a lot of ridge walking (my favorite) and views of big ol’ craggy peaks. Also my favorite :) The section finished with a climb up Mill Valley and then a descent through Stevens Pass ski hill. It sure was a different experience seeing it full of berries and mushrooms instead of skiers and snow! At the parking lot, someone had left a cooler of fruit, soda, and beer for thru-hikers. It was a momentous occasion then, during which I drank my first Rainier beer since leaving this fair state in April.
If the last section was steep, this section (Stevens to Stehekin) was deep. I say deep referring to the remoteness, not the deepness of the valleys. We started in the mist and fog into the Henry Jackson (?) Wilderness. Unfortunately we saw very little because we were walking in clouds, but what did peek through were serene alpine meadows at the foot of huge granite faces and enormous rock falls. We were pretty socked in for the next two days, with two hundred feet of visibility at the best of times. It was alternately foggy, windy, rainy, and snowy, and sometimes all at once! But, you know, I’ve heard that the weather is rarely good in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. On the third night, we reached our goal, next to Glacier Creek. At this point, the clouds had lifted a bit and we could see the bottom bits of several HUGE glaciers above us. The next morning I woke to clear blue skies and frost on my tent. As I climbed out of camp, I realized that we had been camped right under Glacier Peak. No big deal. Just an ENORMOUS MOUNTAIN RIGHT ABOVE US. The rest of the day was characterized by close up views of Glacier Peak and far off views of Mount Baker and other crags to the north and east.
During this whole last section, all I could think about was Stehekin, and more specifically the Stehekin Pastry Co. 95 miles away. 75 miles away. On the last morning, I awoke just 12 miles from High Bridge, where the park bus will pick you up and bring you to “town.” I basically ran the 12 miles hoping to catch an early bus. I haven’t walked that fast since I was racing to meet Bill in Ashland. I got to High Bridge at 11:00, less than four hours after I started. Holy cow, I impressed myself. Unfortunately my memory of the bus schedule was a little fuzzy, I thought that a bus left the Landing at 11:00 and arrived at High Bridge at 11:45. Not true. The bus didn’t show up until 12:15. Gave me time to dry my tent I suppose.
Now I sit in the bakery, one of my favorite places in the world, surrounded by my parents, grandparents, friends from Stehekin, and as much food as I can eat. I am in heaven and must leave you to finish gorging myself on baked goods and fresh produce.
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