It was a cool morning with a biting wind… definitely felt like Fall. The ground cover is even starting to change colors at the higher elevations

Waiting for the morning sun to reach us and warm us up !

A fantastic view up above tree line.

We took some extra long siestas since we had a shorter day planned. The 1.5 hour mid-day stop with a nap in the warmth of sunshine was perfect!

Darth Vada got an “old school” text message…

It was from her dad who is doing a backpack trip in the area.

Apparently, the Llama was a bit shy and didn’t really like the downhills (he’s new to backpacking)

High meadow walking under blue skies.

The lake,1000′ below, is where we camped for the night… 6.5mi to Canada 🇨🇦!

We were excited to get in earlier than normal even with our extended siestas, arriving just after 6pm.

Unfortunately, there was a cold wind and we spent the whole evening in our tents. Not the worst thing but the lake was so pretty it would have been a perfect place to relax on the shore.

Hard to imagine the folks who are first arriving here in late Sept. and Oct, often with snow falling.

Testing out last nights bear-hang. There’s no way a bear could reach that 😉

Looking back toward North Cascades National Park.

2600 Mile Mark (less 540)

The last climb (6500′ today) had some good views.

The Harts Pass Campground was full (all 5 sites) so we just pitched our tents in the woods.

A shorter day planned for tomorrow…24mi to a small lake. Only 31 mi to Canada!

The morning was a fairly relaxed because the bus back to the trailhead doesn’t leave until 8:00 am. I didn’t sleep real well…needed to hike more miles? It was one of the warmer nights so that wasn’t helping either. Our plan was to walk the two miles to the bakery and be there by 7:30 when they opened, then we would catch the bus when it came by just after 8:00.

A calm morning on Lake Chelan.

In case a pick me up is needed on the walk to the bakery.  

 I will have to come back and do some paddling 🙂

This time I got one of the famous sticky buns… and straight out of the oven. It was phenomenal! Then had a bumpy 45min bus ride to the trailhead to shake it all up.

Houston, we have a problem! Luckily, there was a log we could use to cross just upstream.

We hiked most of the day through North Cascades National Park, the 7th and final park of the trip.

It heated up pretty good today… mid-90’s. And of course we had an exposed climb during the heat of the day that just zapped us. We took a long siesta in the shade of some pines next to a creek. The shade made a world of difference but we couldn’t lay there all day 😦 The early evening was much more comfortable and we rolled into camp around 7:15pm. Our only additional chore being the first bear-hang of the trip. The bears are fairly active in this part.

So, only two more nights before Canada 🇨🇦 …kind of hard to believe !

Today consisted of a quick downstream stroll to the High Bridge Ranger station where the bus to Stehekin, WA picks up hikers every couple hours. We were motivated by both the famous Stehekin Bakery (sticky buns!) and timing things so we could catch the eclipse while not buried in the (magnificent) trees. We covered the 12 miles in four hours and were in a perfect open area to view the eclipse. Unfortunately, since we would only have 90% totality it was too bright to see anything without the fancy glasses. Luckily, I remembered the pinhole trick from the last eclipse (1979) and poked a hole in a piece of cardboard then projected the light onto some paper from my journal…38 years was a long time to wait for an eclipse!

The Agnes River carving its way through a gorge.

Projecting the eclipse using a cardboard pinhole.

Lounging at the picnic tables (for 2hrs) while we wait for the bus.

A giant rattlesnake slithered across the road giving us some entertainment.

Our chariot awaits.

One of the best cinnamon rolls ever!

Hanging out it Stehekin on the shores of Lake Chelan.

Stopped by the tiny post office which was filled to the gills with hikers’ resupply boxes.

The evening sun.

This little town is only accessible by boat, float plane or foot and is surprisingly busy in the summer. Most of the afternoon was spent doing laundry, showers, organizing food, eating and relaxing. There is even free camping for hikers behind the visitors center 🙂

When we broke camp at 6:00 it was definitely chilly…probably the low 40’s. We were camped ~6000′ which is pretty high in the northern cascades. Around 7000′ you start to have glaciers on some peaks. The day was basically broken into two parts…a long descent (9mi) and then a long climb (11mi). Most of the day we were in the trees without a lot of views but there was some very impressive old growth forest we hiked through that made up for it. There was also a big milestone today…2000 MILES completed ✅. Only 660 more to go.

Sunrise from camp.

DV trying to hug a giant tree in an incredible stand of old growth forest.

An impressive bridge over Suiattle Creek. We had a mid morning siesta on the bridge because it was so nice and sunny out in the open after being buried in the coolness of the trees all morning.

Towards the top of our afternoon climb we had our last view of Glacier Peak.

Our evening descent toward Agnes Creek.

The bridge over Agnes creek had been washed out…giant trees to the rescue.

Tomorrow we will descend the final 12 miles to get to the tiny settlement of Stehekin and assess for ourselves whether or not their infamous bakery is up to the challenge of hungry hikers.

We woke up in the clouds this morning and no views of the giant peaks surrounding us. It was damp but not raining and temps in the 40’s. There was a lot of climbing (and just as much descending), over 9000′ by the time the day was done. Many of these were 300O’ at a time.

Morning cascade.

There were quite a few blow downs to navigate.
Darth Vada getting low.

Luckily, there is a bridge to cross the White Chuck River, even if it is a bit compromised.
Tons of berry pickin’ along the trail.
DV filling up water at a gorgeous cascade.

Then there were the switchbacks.

This is a view across the valley of what we will soon be climbing.

Alpine lakes never get old 🙂

One of the many backcountry toilets #DeuceWithaView

Finally the clouds cleared with an incredible view of Glacier Peak.

We camped with some nice folks climbing some of the nearby peaks for the weekend.

Sunset from camp.

The weather was all over the place today. From cold fog to warm sun. It never really rained but we got a bit wet from hiking through the clouds at the end of the day.

Sunrise from camp.

The clouds rolling in…

and unfortunately, obscuring our views.

Lots of marmots and pikas (no pics) playing in the rocks. Can you find the two marmots?

Glacier Peak peeking out of the clouds.

DV about to get eaten by a giant boulder.

We had a relaxing lunch break at Sally Anne Lake.

Here I am hiking into the mist.
The clouds lifted with incredible views of the green valley below.

Then we were back in the clouds for the rest of the day.

Some last remaining snowfields as we descended off the ridge toward camp.

Hopefully, the clouds will lift by morning because we are basically staring at Glacier Peak but see nothing.

There was a fair amount of climbing today… ~6500′ most of it was well graded which made it manageable. Tomorrow will be about 9000′ of climbing…we’ll see how it goes 🙂

It was kind of an odd day. We hiked 15 miles without stopping because DV and I both had resupply boxes waiting at he Stevens Pass ski area and we excited for some food/drink at the grill. After a 3.5 hour break we did another 11 miles without stopping to our camp. Somehow we climbed 6500′ in the middle of all that. We hiked through both misty clouds and bright sunshine…a bit of everything today except rain 🙂

DV enjoying the view of one of the many alpine lake with the clouds rolling up the valley.

Washington has had a number of these signs in random places in the woods. Might have to check that out tomorrow.

The emerald color of these lakes is stunning.

We got to the Stevens Pass ski area just before noon.

This side route off the PCT ( to the lodge) is known as the Hamburger Trail.

We had a beautiful evening hike but were a bit jealous of this campsite several hours before we were ready to end our day.

Our site wasn’t so bad though 😉

It always makes me sad as daylight hours start to get noticeably shorter. There’s not much light by 5:20am and it’s almost dark at 8:30pm. Needless to say we take advantage of all of them!

The Sunrise hiking out of camp.

The view over our campsite.

We had a relaxing mid-morning siesta at the Waptus River.

Here is DV hiking through some thick brush. Tons of huckleberries and thimble berries along the trail.

Some afternoon clouds rolled in and we got spit on just a bit.

We “only” did 6500′ of climbing today. The final decent was through this giant scree field.

After a couple miles we finally hit smooth ground again.

We rolled into camp at 7:45 on the shores of Glacier Lake. Flat campsites were at a premium but we managed to squeeze in.

Darth Vada’s dad and stepmom picked me up on the way back up to Snoqualmie Pass and we were on the trail by 8:30. Not all miles are created equal…today’s 27mi included 9300′ of climbing. With the later than normal start it turned into a marathon day. We got into camp at 8:15 with a grand total of 30 minutes (for lunch) with our packs off.

Riding in style back to the trail.

An incredibly clear day to see Mt. Rainier.

Lots of alpine lakes…

and deep valleys.

Hiking across many talus slopes today created some extra fatigue in the feet.

We climbed over the saddle and then did a high traverse around the lake.

Enjoying the waterfalls.

One of the many glacier filled peaks in the area.

A spectacular campsite to end the day. Unfortunately, we only had about 30 minutes of daylight remaining after we arrived.