We came back to Hart’s Pass to finish the part of the trail that we skipped: the tail end of Section L and all of Section K.
Day 15: Back to Hart’s Pass
- Start Mile: 2623.7
- End Mile: 2616.8
- PCT Miles: 6.9
My incredible friends S and A graciously drove us to the trailhead, which took many, many hours. We stopped at Mazama again and had lunch and some refreshing local beers. We started hiking around 2pm. S and A hiked with us for a bit before we went on. It was a short day, only 6.9 miles, and very easy terrain. I can’t believe how beautiful Hart’s Pass is. It was quite windy and actually kind of cold. I am a bit worried about the weather this week – it might rain and be quite chilly, which I am not looking forward to.
I found out today that I somehow completely screwed up the food. I brought 12 tortillas for 3 days and forgot to bring a dinner for the first night. Oops! We had the extra tortillas for dinner. By some stroke of luck, I had packed an extra PB and J and some meat sticks, so I think we will have enough tortilla toppings for the entire time.
Camp tonight was AWESOME. There was nary a bug in sight. Our first two sections on trail involved clouds of mosquitoes, but it looked like they were starting to die out! The ground was soft and there was lots of space and privacy (at least 5 different giant tentsites all spaced out) plus a nearby water source. Though it was quite windy, the campsite was protected from the wind. There were also conveniently sized and placed rocks to sit on while cooking dinner. I would definitely give this campsite a 5 star review.
Day 16: a section J kind of day
- Start Mile: 2616.8
- End Mile: 2601.3
- PCT Miles: 15.5
We started out with a tiny climb, then went downhill for quite a ways. The downhill wasn’t boring and the terrain was easy, so we made good time. There was a long, brushy, bushwhacking section, but it wasn’t too bad.
We ate lunch at the Methow River, which was 9.7 miles from where we started. So far this is the farthest we’ve walked before stopping for lunch (which we usually do around 1pm-ish). After a nice rest at the river, we started our climb, which was surprisingly nice. The trail was almost entirely forested. It wasn’t too hot, the terrain was excellent, the landscape wasn’t boring, and the grade of the slope increased slowly. After we reached the top, I felt like I could go on for miles and miles. In contrast, Tim’s leg was hurting, so it was a good thing that we camped soon after. At our campsite, we followed a trail uphill a long ways and found a nice secluded tentsite. We got to our campsite at 5pm and had a lot of time to relax and cook dinner before going to bed around 8:30pm.
There hardly any bugs here – I think I may have only one mosquito bite so far. What’s going on? Also, tonight is the last night in Section L! I’m excited to cross Rainy Pass tomorrow and start Section K. We only have to do 12 miles and it’s all downhill, so it’s going to be an easy day.
Day 17: Easy peasy
- Start Mile: 2601.3
- End Mile: 2589.3
- PCT Miles: 12.0
We slept in this morning, which was glorious. Today was an easy day – I felt like I could go on forever. I love Section L. The highlights were going over Granite and Cutthroat Pass, and they were relatively easy climbs. Actually, the real highlight was reaching the privy at Rainy Pass, which was blessedly clean and non-smelly! There were so many day hikers there.
Rainy Pass marked the end of Section L and the beginning of Section K. We accidentally went on a parallel trail for about half a mile before rejoining the PCT (we were following all the day hikers, which was a mistake). We only went a few miles in and then camped right before the North Cascades National Park boundary (you need a special permit to camp within the park). Because it was such a short day, we got to camp way too early and didn’t know what to do with ourselves. It was a nice problem to have!
Day 18: STEHEKIN
- Start Mile: 2589.3
- End Mile: 2572.4
- PCT Miles: 16.9
Due to the National Park boundary, we had to hike 17 miles today to get to Stehekin. (Aside: If you’ve never been to Stehekin before, you should consider stopping by! It’s a tiny town with only 75 permanent residents, and you can only reach the town on foot or by boat. It’s incredibly beautiful and has a peaceful, idyllic vibe, as well as an amazing bakery.)
17 miles was a long day for us at this stage in our hiking careers, and quite doable under normal conditions. However, we were limited by the shuttle schedule. Stehekin is not directly off the PCT. It’s about 11 miles from High Bridge on the PCT to Stehekin landing, so unless you want to add 22 roundtrip miles to your hike, you need to take the shuttle. The shuttle departed High Bridge at 12pm, 1:10pm, and 4:10pm. Originally, we were thinking of trying to catch the last shuttle, but we realized it would be much better to try to get there earlier so that we could get chores done in town and maybe get a hotel room. Due to COVID, the showers at the campground were closed and you needed to make reservations in order to camp, so I wasn’t sure we would be able to find a campsite. Since we still had another 7 days of hiking after Stehekin, showers were non-negotiable. Plus, sleeping in a bed is awesome.
In order to make it by 1:10pm, we woke up at 3:30am (which was ridiculous) and started hiking at 4:20am. This was my first night hiking experience. I personally don’t get why people like it, but to each their own. It’s sort of creepy, easier to injure yourself, and you can’t see the scenery. I would definitely do it again in order to make miles though. Luckily, there wasn’t too much scenery for us to miss during this portion of the hike. Some scenery of note: a giant toad, a river bathed in pale pink early morning light, a “one-at-a-time” suspension bridge.
We pushed it hard and were constantly checking our pace. We soon realized we could catch the 12pm shuttle and possibly get to Stehekin Valley Ranch in time for lunch, which sounded AWESOME. At the end, we almost screwed it up and went down a wrong path for a little bit. Despite the PCT being so obvious, we are pretty bad at staying on it! The nice thing about our little detour was that we saw a rattlesnake – the first one I’ve ever seen in WA. The last hour of our hike was so stressful because I was hungry (we didn’t stop for lunch), tired, worried about catching the shuttle, and starting to hurt. I don’t think my body hurt from the mileage, rather from hiking fast without any breaks. Tim left me in the dust by 11:30am, and I was really peeved. I got to High Bridge at 11:50am in a furious state, but I was happy to have made the shuttle. Turns out, the shuttle was 10 minutes late, so even if we were delayed we would have made it. Getting onto the bus was so wonderful – it felt like everything was back to normal. I was praying that there was a room in town. I really wanted to shower!!
Thankfully, there was a room available at the Stehekin Valley Ranch. I was worried that the hotel would be completely booked due to local COVID travel, but we lucked out. We paid a large sum of money for one night in a glorified wagon, but we got our money’s worth. All meals and transportation were included, and we had a private bathroom. We ate so, so much. Cliff, the owner of Stehekin Valley Ranch, was so casual about everything. He said, “I don’t know how to work the computer system, so you can just pay in the morning when Beth is here. Go right inside your room, there are no locks and it’s ready.” I had never been in a hotel like this before!
All of the staff were super friendly and helpful. No one was wearing a mask, which surprised me, but I was too enamored with the prospect of a shower and food to care. We stuffed our faces with burgers during lunch. Then we headed down to the Landing on the shuttle to pick up our resupply package and beer before the post office closed. The post office was straight out of a Wes Anderson movie, as promised by Guthooks. Everything about it – from the guy working there, to the tinny music playing in the background, to the building, to the posters and notices in the walls – I swear, Wes Anderson had been there. If you’re looking for a particular movie comparison, I would say Moonrise Kingdom.
We got back on the shuttle and made a pit stop at the bakery, where I got huckleberry ice cream and a day old cinnamon roll (worth it). We finally got back to Stehekin Valley Ranch and started drinking. I decided to do laundry and shower. However, my only clean clothes were my rain pants and rain jacket. I showered, put on my rain gear, and sweated profusely while doing laundry. Our clothes dried quickly in the sun and wind, so after grabbing those we headed off to dinner. I had heard tell of the famous Stehekin Valley Ranch all-you-can-eat dinner. It’s a very dangerous prospect for PCT hikers. I’ve only been hiking for 3 weeks, and I’m already eating an unreasonable amount. Just to give you an idea: I had the trout (amazing), grilled veggies, small serving of steak and potatoes, two homemade thick slices of garlic and herb bread, four types of salad, a fruit plate, half a serving of veggie lasagna, a couple bites of chicken lasagna, and a slice of strawberry rhubarb pie (so heavenly) from the Bakery with whipped cream and ice cream. It was on my slice of blackberry pie that I realized I literally could not eat anymore. Sadly, I threw away four bites of pie. The bread, trout, and rhubarb pie were maybe the best things I’ve ever eaten. I also really liked the salads.
We are planning to wake up 6am tomorrow to figure out our food situation and pack. We sent ourselves way too much food in our resupply, so we’ll have to leave some of it in the hiker box. Then we will go back to the Bakery to eat, to the Landing to buy souvenirs (and mail them home so we don’t have to carry them), and finally catch the afternoon shuttle so we can get back on trail around 4:30pm. I’m slightly nervous about doing Section K since it has a reputation for being one of the hardest PCT sections. Hopefully everything will be fine!
WanderLiz 