Broken Bridges

That afternoon, I decided to check out the legendary Stehekin Bakery. It’s only a couple miles from the lodge, but the bus takes an hour long loop, hitting the bakery twice. After my first stop at the bakery, I was psyched to stop again within the hour. A hiker whom I had met briefly named Hendrik, got onto the bus. We discussed what most hikers end up discussing: gear, food and the last 20 miles of trail. Once we arrived back in Stehekin, Hendrik and I got a camping permit and a sixer and just chilled at the campground.

Despite being right on the lake, Stehekin miraculously has no mosquitoes. We talked about previous adventures, and what we’ve come to expect from the PCT. Hendrik has been traveling for 3-4 years and decided he just wanted to walk into nature. He just felt compelled to, and when he shared this with his American girlfriend(who he met in Argentina), she told him to go hike the PCT, and here he is. Now Hendrik is no stranger to the road. This man has ridden bikes literally AROUND the earth. And when he got to the Amazon, him and one other spent a month building a raft out of bamboo, and then floated it through South America for another 4 months.

In the morning, I broke camp early and got breakfast before taking the concession bus back to the trailhead. The first thing I noticed was that I had lost my earphones in Stehekin somewhere. I usually hike with music, so this was kind of serious. I emptied out my pack and found nothing. Eventually I was resigned to accept this as a personal challenge, and started hiking.

I quickly met a hiker named Chris who I leap-frogged a couple times, and haven’t seen since.  Later on I walked through the Big Tree Grove. Home to the largest trees anywhere on the PCT, located in the old growth forest of Northern Washington, some of these trees were 10-15 feet in diameter and easily over 1000 years old. In the same afternoon I walked up to a bridge which had been severed and pushed downstream 40 ft where it was rendered useless. So of course the shoes come off and I walk across. Not the most difficult river ford, but damn was that water fast and cold..

I walked through sunset and managed to pass a few hikers at Indian Creek without them noticing(turns out it was Neil, Stephan, Colin and Taylor.) My feet kept moving till I lost my way in the snow, and I found a convenient patch of dirt to set up camp which I now know to be near the Linda Vista camp.  Early on in my hike the next day, I walked a mile off trail because I failed to see the trails diverge under the snow. Stephan, who I had met near Rock Pass, caught up to me as I was back-tracking after following my footsteps.

“Hey Sideshow, heading North again??”

“This isn’t the PCT.” I point to a nearby mountain. “That is.”

We hiked together for a while, until we made it to a climb and he wanted to slow down and walk at his own pace.  Down the trail I ran into Neil, and we ran from the mosquitoes to a trail junction where I made dinner, and he eventually set up camp. Neil had walked the PCT in 2012 Northbound and decided he wanted more of a challenge. Hence he hiked the other way this year. I hung out with him for a while before eventually moving on due to the mosquitoes.

I had seen what I first thought were storm cells on the horizon. I learned that afternoon that they were actually wild fires.

I camped by a lake which mysteriously had fewer mosquitoes. I also wasn’t entirely sure which direction the trail led. I camped on another island amidst a ocean of snow. Snow travel can be tricky at night. I woke up early the next morning, and within a few minutes of each other, Neil and Stephan had caught up to me. Stephan whipped out his GPSr and found our trail. We all hiked together into Steven’s pass, a road crossing, and one of many ski lodges intercepted by the PCT. Two more hikers, Colin and Taylor showed up soon after. We were all pretty thin on food by then, but I cooked up the other half of last night’s dinner. Section K alone had 31,441ft of Elevation Gain and 30,641ft of Elevation Loss, so we all were pretty hungry.

The wildfires we had seen were threatening the highway and closed the road. Our intention was to hitch a ride 20 miles to Baring, WA, home of the Dinsmore’s Hiker Haven, a hostel near the trail. But since the road was closed, the chance of hitching successfully dropped to somewhere around zero. So Stephan called the Dinsmore’s and Andrea Dinsmore came to our rescue. We stopped and got snacks at a gas station before sitting down for breakfast at Der Baring Store.
One by one we all took showers and eventually did a load of laundry. We watched A Blast from the Past and I Am Legend, weeded the Dinsmore’s rock garden and eventually got dinner in Skykomish, WA at the Cascadia Inn.

The following day Colin, Neil, Taylor and I got a ride from a man named Jim down to Linwood, WA. Home to an REI and a Target, I was able to acquire some different shoes and food for the next 300+ miles. When we got back I spent all day staring at the food I had purchased and organized, having no idea whether it was not enough or too much. Metric and Sticks had made it into town by this point and were settling in for the night. Hendrik showed up later that day and we all watched True Grit. There were 8-9 of us there, and we were all Southbounders. That’s pretty remarkable. Considering that there are usually only around 10-20 each year. The PCT recently got some press through a book that shall remain unnamed, and may be drawing more of a crowd.

In the morning we got breakfast before the 7 of us departed. I managed to mail my 4 resupplies to different strategical places from the Baring Store. Some of us got a ride to the trail-head with Jim, but Stephan and I rode with Andrea.