Stevens Pass to Stehekin 9/14

171 miles & Nine days left and counting. We are working hard for every mile now. The views are incredible with lots of turquoise lakes and rock everywhere. The skies were so clear today we got a glimpse of Mt. Rainier, at least 100 miles away. We also saw Mt. Baker for the first time. It's a bit of a shame that it's so strenuous here in Washington. We love it and hate it at the same time. We hike for 11 hours a day and set up camp just before sunset. Daylight hours are disappearing quickly.

       Skykomish, the town we just left, has a ski resort at Steven's Pass that doubles as a mountain bike course in the summer. It's trying to compete with Whistler in BC. One lift was running and there were plenty of bicycles lined up to ride to the top. The lodge was open. We arrived on a Saturday so there was quite a crowd. 

Mr. Sandals & Halfmile on back seat. 

      Skykomish is a tiny town but we certainly reaped the benefits of that fact. TC and FC arrived about 3:00pm thanks to Bat Shit Crazy Mama. She had driven to a trail angel's house (the Dinsmores in Baring, 25 miles from Steven's Pass) to pick up their boxes along with Princess and Mr. Sandals box. Their box was not there. When they got to the motel they asked the manager, Henry, if it was there. It was not. Oops!! Where was it? Both of them blanked out as to where they sent it. This part of the trip had been a bit fuzzy. TC and FC had not known where they would stay. Henry called the post mistress. The post office had closed at 10am. This did not thwart Henry. He had her number in his IPhone. He called and either she went to the post office or she lives there because in a few minutes she called back and said she had the boxes. TC and FC had just sat down to eat in the motel restaurant so Bat Shit Crazy Moma went over to pick them up. Just as they were receiving their meals ( meatloaf sandwhiches) Henry came to their table with phone in hand talking the the post mistress. She could not release the boxes to BSCM because she was not FC or TC so Henry asked FC and TC questions to assure the postmistress that the owners of the boxes were indeed sitting before him. The postmistress could hear their answers well enough through the meatloaf sandwhiches and relinquished the boxes to BSCM. Where else but a small town could this happen? TC and FC were lucky to be staying at Henry's motel because that guy had some clout. FC and TC had their boxes mailed to General Delivery which is not a good idea because post offices have restricted hours. They had met two hikers the day before who were doing a 30 mile day to reach the PO before closing time. FC and TC were oblivious to the fact that they too had mailed their boxes to this place. Henry saved their forgetful butts. Once again, they had been saved by the kindness of people and the closeness of a small town.

Glacier Peak

Dinner on the trail. 

Fire creek pass. 

Mica. Lake. 

Lunch on the bridge. 

      Today (9/16), we climbed 8,000+ ft., (descending 7000+)the most gain in elevation in one day on the entire trip. The last two days have been 6,000ft. days. Tomorrow is another 6,000ft. See what I mean about Washington? HARD!! FC counted 45 switchbacks up that took 2 hours to ascend. She counted the switchbacks in Chinese which kept her distracted and happy. The scenery is exquisitely painted in muted autumn colors. Rusty reds, golden yellows, soft earthy browns, forest greens, faded yellows. Most of the trees are coniferous so they don't change colors but the surrounding bushes do (huckleberries galore).Interspersed with the bushes are aging flowers losing their bloom. Occasionally we still still some vibrant late bloomers that add more brightness to the palette. 

        We see water falls daily mainly from glacier melt. The resulting rivers are silty and bluish-grey. The alpine lakes are the purest of turquoise I have ever seen. FC has been diving into all of them. She can't seem to pass any up. Today it was Mica Lake. She dove in, came out screaming and told everyone it might have been the coldest lake she has ever entered but it was worth it - to be surrounded by that much clear turquoise. Compared to California there are less people here in Washington so everything seems less used and wilder. There are more glaciers here than any other state in the lower 48 according to TC. and we see them everywhere, big and thick. Some are lumpy. We have seen glaciers with a blue tinge to them. 

Glacier Peak

     9/17 : today's autumn colors were incredible, especially in the late afternoon under cloudy skies. FC stood in front of some red olliberry bushes seeing a shimmering-like neon lights behind the reds. The various shades of just one color are indescribable and need an artist's sensitive eye and touch to create these other worldly colors. In the same patch you will see the reds mixed in with orange and pink. The hues are mesmerizing. 

Early rainy alpine morning. 

Tortuga. 

        Today we washed in a glacier stream. Princess and TC stood in the fast flowing water while FC immersed totally. She had blue lips and felt wooden when she started up the ascent. The water was almost frozen. Princess screamed as she washed. Mr. Sandals does not appear to wash unless he does it in secret.

         Recently we met a young man named Captain. We woke up one morning to find him camped in the middle of our tents. He came in after 9:00'pm when we were all asleep. Next morning as we were preparing to leave he said we got up early. He, being a young buck slept in and walked into the night. He was friendly and quite talkative. Later that day as we sat eating our lunch, about 1.:30, he caught up with us. FC had expected him to blow by them much earlier. He stopped and asked us if we had seen a man lying face down by the side of the trail. All of us, aghast said no. We had past a gigantic tent belonging to hunters and had seen one big guy carrying a rifle walking away from his tent. A few minutes later we saw another much younger man with a rifle walking above us. Captain said he had walked by this tent and seen a man lying face down. He had not stopped to check on him. He just looked and kept on walking. Princess said it is illegal in Germany to walk by a person in need. We mentioned that because of the litigious plague infecting the USA it is often better not to help people. Everyone is afraid of getting sued. After a barrage of questions and incredulity we ascertained that Captain did not want to get involved. He even told us he was trained in CPR ! FC's mind went to questions like, "Is this the way young people think these days? Did this guy's parents avoid helping people? What kind of person walks by a person lying face down in a wilderness area? FC is thinking stroke or heart attack. Captain did see the younger hunter and told him his friend didn't look too good. Those were the words he kept repeating to us...he didn't look too good.In actual fact he didn't even look at him. Were his eyes open? Was he pale? Was there vomit by his mouth? Before too long we were all laughing in disbelief, joking with Captain. We expected to hear a helicopter any minute but we never did. Tortuga was behind Captain and later that night when he got into camp we asked him if he had seen this prostrate man. He said no which means the guy was no longer face down and we had not heard any rescue vehicles so possibly the man was OK. The young hunter had mentioned to Captain that his friend had not been feeling well that morning. Maybe he was taking a face down nap. FC's conclusion was that Captain had acted from his brain and not the his heart. His cautious thinking had overpowered his compassionate heart. This engendered a lively conversation where Princess, in her training years as a physician had brought a man back to life using CPR even after being told by two old Russian ladies passing by that the man was dead and she should just leave him alone. FC and TC admitted to seeing an old man parked in his beat up truck by the Salten Sea slumped over his steering wheel. They wondered if he was sleeping or dead. FC, from a thinking mind said, "If he is dead there is nothing we can do and if he is sleeping why should we wake him and if he is dying it's not a bad way to go. After admitting this she had to let Captain off the hook. However, in this instance she would not have walked by. Princess would not have walked by. TC or Mr. Sandals offered no opinions. And you dear reader, what do you think?

   Glacier Peak. One last look. 

Stehekin River.