The most difficult section so far

Stevens Pass 2467.3 A Stehekin 2575.1 August 31- Sept5

I hate saying it, but the ski resort in Steven’s Pass had the worst and expensive hamburger along the way. I prefer to have eaten trail food. That said, the staff was friendly and open to me hanging out for a few hours to organize my refueling and collect my devices.

The section is a section much longer than before, more than 100 miles. I had planned four nights and 5 days, instead I made 5 nights and 5 days. The PCTA had also published a warning statement on this next section, saying that it had not been well maintained, and that there were a large number of low trees (also known as blowers) that would have to be navigated. This took a lot of anxiety on my part. I am not very tall and jump/up more than 6 thick trunks would not be easy. They said that the path was dragged into sections, and had visions of slippery slopes of loose land on treacherous cliffs.

To keep the time, I jumped one night at a hotel (sigh) to return to the path and get a direct in the section. The first 24 hours were beautiful but smoked and continued sending text messages to the husband to look at fire reports and made sure there was no close fire. During most of this section, no sunscreen was required because the sun was obscured by smoke.

The next day, the true fun began. All the blows I found were very easy to navigate. I managed to enter 25 miles. The crossings of the current found the most nervous. It was obvious to me that this area obtains some very high water in spring and the bridges are washed. Some streams had bridges, which was a relief because some of those «streams» were sprouting rivers. Then, at the end of the day, I arrived at Kennedy Creek. Farout comments varied on how to transmit. They were from the shooting through a trunk to navigating a sandy bar in the morning (when the water is lower) until roca upstream jump. I did not see any trunk to hit, nor sandbar, there is no rock form. I saw a silky river. My options were to return to the last camp to 1.2 miles back and try again in the morning or try to cross in the widest section where the water looked more calmly.

I am writing the blog, so you know I did it! The water reached the middle of the thigh and at a point I lost my balance when the current turned me around, so I faced down the river, and a strong voice in my mind shouted «face upstream!» So I faced Upstream and took one step at the same time. Fortunately, it was just like 15 feet wide and it took 45 seconds. My shoes and socks were full of sand and silt and was full of adrenaline, but I succeeded! I also learned some lessons about what to do and what not to do next time, how to try the depth of the water with my trekking post if you cannot see where to put your feet due to the slime or plan a morning crossing.

In the end it turned out that the sections that were «washed» are only a few feet at the same time. They were also in stroke sections where a fall would not have been severe. As for the blowers, I really thought they were fun. They broke the monotony of hiking and felt that I was doing one of those Mudder Spartan/Tough races where you have obstacles to navigating to different intervals.

This record does not look so large in the image, but the upper part was above my head. Instead of moving, I went to the right and went up where I was lower.

Um, of course, there is a trace somewhere here.

Once I crossed the part I feared, then returned to the daily shirt. The most prominent aspects included Mica Lake, this beautiful crystalline lake.

The water of the Mica Lake, so clear!

Mica Lake

I also heard my first tree fall, yes, it makes a sound! A crack woke me up in the middle of the night and then the accident a few seconds later. There was a burned area near my camp, so probably out of where it came.

Finally, the walk towards High Bridge and the ferry to Stehekin. Under High Bridge, the river was this incredible blue and the spawning salmon could be seen. How wonderful!

Salmon in the river

Stehekin River

Stehekin’s transport

This blue school bus is something known on the PCT, almost as a right of passage for each PCT hiker. The driver sailed along the dirt road at a fairly impressive speed, all the time he tells everything he might want to know about the city of Stehekin. The bus stops in the famous bakery and everyone accumulates for sweets and then returns to the bus. As I am gluten free, I can’t say much about cakes, but everyone says they are incredible and I can’t help looking at the cinnamon rolls. Help that we all are very hungry.

The blue bus arrives!

I loved Stehekin. This small resort city borders Lake Chelan and is only accessible by walks or ferry. It has cabins, a general store, a post office, a restaurant and camps. There is a public shower and laundry (thumbs above for that). The shower cost $ 1 for 2.5 minutes. The lake was right to the other side of the street, so I went to swim first, I got wet, took off my hair and then rolled into the shower.

Chelan Lake

There was an impressive amount of resupply boxes in the cobtrity of the Post Office.

What I appreciated from Stehekin was peace. There are cars but not traffic. Not even stop the signals. Bicycle people or walk mainly. The water was still and had many banks placed so you could sit and just look. It was rare for any engine engine to be out there. I would like to have been able to stay for longer, but it was limited to 24 hours before moving on to Hart’s pass.

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