I haven’t posted in a while! I’ve been busy, though I’ve still been traveling. Some of the places I’ve been to in the last few months include Bloomington, Indiana and Houston. But I mostly just did math stuff there and didn’t have time to explore.
However, I’m back to post about my first solo backpacking trip! Tim and I are planning to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) next year, so we’re trying to do a lot of hikes this summer. I wanted to get an early start, and this seemed like the perfect weekend to do so. Except that Tim was on call. But then I realized that I could just go by myself! It would be a great way to build confidence and prepare for the PCT.
Since this was going to be my first solo trip and I was a little nervous about it, I looked around for easy, early-season hikes that would be fairly well populated. Last summer we had wanted to do the Chelan Lakeshore Trail but didn’t make it, so I decided this would be a good trip. A little background: the Chelan Lakeshore Trail is an ~18 mile trail that follows the north side of Lake Chelan, starting at Prince Creek and ending at Stehekin, WA. Stehekin is a lovely little town with about 75 permanent residents, and it’s only accessible by hiking or boating in. Stehekin is one of the last trail towns on the PCT before Canada (heading northbound), so I thought it would be cool to visit and get a little preview. It also has a very famous bakery – more on that later.
The trail is only accessible by ferry. I planned to take the Lady of the Lake II ferry on Saturday morning from Field’s Point (near Chelan) at 9:45am, arrive at Prince Creek at 11am, camp at Moore Point (about 10 miles out) or Flick’s Creek (about 13 miles out), and take the ferry back from Stehekin to Field’s Point at 2:00pm on Sunday, arriving at Field’s Point at 4:45pm. Since it takes about 3-3.5 hours to drive from Seattle to Field’s Point, I ended up spending more time traveling to the hike than hiking, but oh well.
Everything went very smoothly on Saturday morning. I dragged my sleepy self out of bed at 5am, got Starbucks and gas along the way, and made it to Field’s Point around 9:20am. I noticed a few other backpackers, but most of the people were tourists who were heading straight to Stehekin or Lucerne. The ferry is quite slow. We got dropped off at Prince Creek, but on the west side of the creek since the bridge had washed out earlier in the season. There were 4 other backpacking groups who were dropped off with me: two couples, one solo hiker, and a group of four women. This was good, because it meant that there would be people with me on the trail. It was also bad because we all started at the same time, so we were constantly leapfrogging each other and had to say hi and bye to each other all the time. I had been hoping for more solitude on the trail, but it was fine.
I started hiking from Prince Creek at around 11:30am. It was already quite warm, and I was so glad to have my Outdoor Research sun hat with me. It was not fashionable, but it kept my head cool! I also tried out my Outdoor Research ActiveIce sun gloves and really liked them. There wasn’t much shade on the trail until after Moore Point. I couldn’t imagine doing this trail in July or August when it gets really hot. The Chelan Lakeshore Trail is definitely an early or late season hike.
You can see in the above photo that I have white sunscreen smeared all over my face. I decided to bring a mineral sunscreen stick with me this time, which was great because I didn’t get sunscreen all over my hands, but it was not great since I couldn’t rub it in properly. I think I would do the sunscreen stick again though.
For the most part, the trail was pretty easy and uneventful. There were some ups and downs but nothing too crazy. The first mile or two had a lot of very noisy crickets or grasshoppers that I kept confusing for rattlesnakes (which do exist on trail). I was worried about ticks so I had my shirt tucked into my pants and my pants tucked into my socks. I looked pretty ridiculous, but I didn’t get any ticks! There were some tiny creek crossings. Fortunately, there weren’t too many bugs.
I ended being more tired than I expected and decided to camp at Moore Point. Right before Moore Point there was this creepy burn section where there had been a fire in previous years. It was so windy and I was afraid a tree was going to fall on me, but luckily it was fine. I got to camp at around 6pm, and it seemed that half of the world was already camping there (the campsite is also accessible by boat). I found a nice spot by the water with my own personal dock and set up there.
I decided to try cold soaking food this trip, which was a success! I put a box of flavored couscous in a Talenti jar, put a bit of water in it while I was setting up camp, and it was ready to go by the time I was done. I ate the couscous with tuna, and it tasted like the most delicious thing ever. Tim thinks it’s disgusting, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
I went to bed at 9pm or so and got up at 6am-ish, so I actually had a good night’s sleep. I set off at around 7am to try to make it to the Stehekin bakery at a reasonable time! The hike was pretty uneventful. There were a few gross marshy sections but those were short. As I got closer to Stehekin I saw this rather unusual trail sign:
There’s quite a few private lots right off trail, so if you’re in the market you could buy one! I finally made it to Stehekin just after 11am. There is not a lot going on in this town. Basically, there’s the main lodge and some campsites near the ferry dock. The bakery is located 2 miles away down the road. I debated walking there, but my ferry left at 2pm so I decided to wait for the bakery shuttle (literally just a white van that says “bakery shuttle” on the side), which comes every 30-45 minutes or so. The shuttle is free but they accept tips.
Finally I made it to the famed bakery. Walking up to the bakery felt like walking up to a little slice of heaven. The grounds were so idyllic, birds and butterflies were chirping, and it just made me feel incredibly peaceful. There was so much food to choose from I didn’t know what to do. They also have vegan and gluten-free options! I ended up going for the salmon Caesar salad and the special sandwich, plus a kuchen and a day-old cinnamon roll (they were out of fresh ones!). All of the food was so amazing. Especially the cinnamon roll! I can’t wait to try a fresh one. I definitely ordered too much food and ended up taking the rest of it home on the ferry with me.
I ate my lunch in the sun while reading my Kindle, then I took the shuttle back to the ferry. I reluctantly settled in for my 2 hour 45 minute ferry ride. The only exciting thing that happened was that we saw a bear from the ferry. It turns out that apparently there were at least two bears on the trail as I was hiking. Other hikers told me they saw two bears, but I didn’t see a thing! I think I’m pretty oblivious when hiking.
Due to traffic and other considerations, I didn’t get home until 8:30pm. But I thought this hike was well worth it. It was beautiful, fun, and a great confidence booster. I really enjoyed hiking at my own pace and being alone with nature. I would definitely solo-hike again!
Logistical Tips:
- Field’s Point accepts credit cards for the overnight parking fee, which was $7 at the time of this post. They did not have an automated ticket machine, so arrive early in case there is a line at the parking office.
- Bear cans are not required, but there are a lot of bears in the area, so stow your food/smelly items in a bear box. There are bear boxes at Moore Point and Flick Creek.
- Prior to Flick Creek, you don’t have to reserve campsites in advance. You can even camp anywhere as long as you follow dispersed camping rules (I think you need to camp 150 feet from the trail). Moore Point is huge and has plenty of campsites. Flick Creek has literally one campsite – so if someone is already there, you need to turn back and find somewhere else to camp. I believe you have to reserve the campsites around Stehekin in advance.
- Past Flick Creek the land boundary changes – I think it’s part of North Cascades National Park, so there are different rules about camping. You don’t need a backcountry permit if you camp at Flick Creek or south of it!
- If it’s a holiday weekend or if you want to take the Lady Express back (a faster boat that doesn’t stop at Prince Creek), you need to reserve your ferry tickets far in advance. If you are going to take the Lady II, reserving your tickets a couple of days in advance should be fine. You can only reserve tickets via phone.
- You have to stow your pack when on the ferry, so make sure to take anything out of it that you need during the ferry ride.
- The major campsites have fancy enclosed outhouses, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer. I really felt like I was living large on this trip!
WanderLiz 