Another post without backpackers. I promise there will be backpackers soon. In the meantime, enjoy this step-by-step journey, composed in real time, from North Seattle to Mazama.
We started bright and early with Warner and Abbie taking us to the light rail station north of Seattle. We said “see you later” about a minute before the train arrived. Being with them these last few days has been a blessing.
The train had more passengers than expected. Still, we found seats and grabbed our backpacks before speeding toward SeaTac.
At each stop, a few more passengers filled the train car. As we approached and then passed through downtown Seattle, those same passengers began to leave and our car practically emptied. I guess no one leaves Seattle today.
From the Seattle Light Rail Station it is approximately a 10-minute walk to the Wenatchee Shuttle Stop. My backpack felt pretty heavy but I didn’t have any weight on my hips. There’s 7 days’ worth of food in my backpack, we’ll leave three of them in the food storage lockers at Harts Pass. Two of our resupply boxes have 7 days worth of food, so I better get used to the weight.
We waited a little over an hour for the ferry to arrive. We arrived early, it was a few minutes late. Fortunately, there is a cafe and a bathroom near the pickup location.
Check out Pot Luck, clean shaven and ready to go. Burns will likely return in about a month.
Sarah, our driver, was super friendly. We like to have our backpacks close by and she let us carry them on the bus. Today there were only three of us, so there was plenty of space.
As we headed toward Wenatchee, the sky darkened with rain clouds and it rained. It is supposed to rain a lot over the next few days. And be much colder. And snow in the highest areas, like our starting point.
Until the clouds enveloped them, we enjoyed the mountain views. Sarah pointed out where the PCT crosses I90 near Snoqualmie Pass; We are excited to get there in a few weeks.
The clouds briefly cleared as we reached Wenatchee and began looking for the next bus.
There is a free shuttle from Wenatchee. The earliest you can get to Mazama using the free shuttle is around 7 pm. We decided to spend $30 each, on the Apple line, for a chance to get to Mazama a couple of hours early.
Future Apple Line users should note that the pickup point is on the lower level of Link Transit. There are no signs and some of the Apple Line buses do not mention Apple Line. After asking a few drivers, they directed us to the correct bus.
The logo gives it away: our Apple Line bus is preparing to take us to Pateros.
The Apple line leaves at 1:55 and arrives in Pateros at 3:00. 3:00 is also when TranGo leaves Pateros. The driver made the executive decision to leave Wenatchee early to help us out a bit.
Once again, there were only three of us on the bus plus the driver. The third passenger on this bus likes to talk and we have enjoyed talking to her. From phone calls to her husband, it sounds like she’s been away for a while and is looking forward to seeing her dog. Their conversation made me think about my dog and start missing him. How lucky he is to have great people willing to take care of him while we are away.
The clouds can’t make up their minds. Sunny, cloudy, sunny, cloudy as we drive along the Columbia River. The apple trees on the other side of the road seem to be grateful for the rain. I just found out that many of the apple trees are actually cherry and peach trees. However, I’m too lazy to edit the sentence about apple trees. They still look happy.
Meriwether and the Columbia River. Meriwether is in the foreground.
We arrived in Pateros with enough time to catch the $1 TranGo bus to Twisp. It’s hot here. Probably around 90 degrees (Fahrenheit). As soon as we arrived two other PCT hikers showed up. One doing some sections in the area, the other is a hopeful hiker.
There are bakeries everywhere here. Every bus driver has said that the one closest to their stop is the best in the state. There is also a bakery in Mazama, so we have not participated.
The road to Twisp is difficult. It meanders back and forth across a small river through more apple orchards and many campgrounds and RV parks. I can tell we are going remote.
The wind is blowing and there is a lot of dust in Twisp. The temperature is pleasant. One more bus to go.
Today there were three of us on each bus. For some reason I thought there would be more. At a dollar per passenger, TranGo better hope for a significant increase in passengers soon.
We crossed some neighborhoods of Twisp. It is full of beautiful homes and has an attractive old west style downtown.
The path to Mazama is much easier than to Twisp. It’s much easier to write.
At the Winthrop stop we added a couple more passengers. They are from France and are affiliated with the PCT. They had already marked the border and were resupplying for the next part of the journey. As we had originally planned to go to France and hike the Hexatrek, I found this encounter a bit ironic.
The bus arrived in Mazama right on time and we headed out to find a place to sleep, hopefully out of the weather, for the night.
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