Day 162 Waptus Valley and Spinola Stream

20.35 miles
From creek trail campground (mile 2418.1, elevation 3347)
To camp on Spinola Crk (mile 2436.5, elev 4145)
Upload 4280
Descend 3481

I heard a light drizzle before I really woke up. Luckily, things were still pretty dry when I first left my tent. My Ursack didn’t feel wet and I managed to fix my cat hole just as it started to drizzle again. It was nice to do it while it was dry outside. I returned to my tent to have breakfast, pack things and get ready to walk. Fortunately, the clouds seem to have helped retain some heat. It’s not very cold this morning.

The day started with that 2000 foot climb we decided not to do yesterday afternoon. It then traversed the Waptus River valley and Waptus Lake before climbing along or above Spinola Creek.

There was pretty scenery, like the rainbow across the Waptus River valley. We also had some nice conversations. The road brings intimacy and we feel like we can talk about things we wouldn’t always feel comfortable talking about in other settings.

Still on our first climb

Near the top of the first climb

Finally at the top of the first climb.

Rainbow across the Waptus River Valley (not very bright, but you can see it in the space between the two trees in the center)

I feel like we were lucky with the weather. The forecast called for a good chance of rain all day, but it wasn’t an overly rainy day. It only rained lightly a few times, usually when we decided to stop to rest.

We finally camped halfway up the second big climb of the day. That leaves us 30 miles to Stevens Pass and Leavenworth. It’s much colder tonight. I saw it objectively when I poured some olive oil on my dinner and it was sticky. I’m going to sleep in socks and a thermal shirt.

My camp at dusk

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