We got out of camp a little later than I'd hoped (6:30am) but figured we could make up some time on the trail. Tiffany and Jeff were planning on picking us up from Snoqualmie Pass between 12:30 and 1 and we had 16 miles to do in that time. We had some steep up and downs in the first few miles and a couple of decent views before we had a big climb.
It was about the top of this climb where the trail really started to degrade in quality - large rocks and erosion which seriously slowed our pace. The trail was also full of day hikers out for the Labor Day Holiday. We kept climbing down and I sang Frank a song for this occasion. I rewrote the words to Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" so that it was "Snoqualmie Maybe". She was amused by it. We picked some berries as we dropped lower before a bit of a climb up and then the final descent under the ski lifts down to the trailhead where Tiffany and Jeff were waiting for us. It was just after 2pm. The tread of the trail was so rough that it slowed our pace considerably. I would put this section as the second worst tread so far, right after parts of Yosemite.
Anyway, Jeff had put down towels in the back of his car for Frank and I to sit on being as we're dirty hikers (which we both thought was great!). He drove us to his apartment in Issaquah where we showered and did laundry. We went out to a burger place and I got a burger larger than my face. It was actually three patties on a massive bun. That plus the milkshake meant that I couldn't eat it all, but I ate about 3/4 of it. Photo: Frank and her root beer float.
We then went to REI for socks and fuel for our final stretch. We also did our resupply at Safeway and rhen went back to Jeff's to organize our food. I was concerned that with our pace in the next section that we wouldn't be able to keep our devices charged the whole time and I had planned to get a solar panel at REI to charge my stuff, but Jeff said he had one I could borrow. We'll, he couldn't find it, so once we had everything settled at his place, we went back to REI for me to pick one up. Jeff then drove us back to the trail. I had wanted to hike at least four more miles for the day, but by the time we got to the trail, it was 9:00 pm and that wasn't an option.
We hiked to the northern trailhead, half a mile from where Jeff dropped us off, and found a flat spot to set up my tent. We fell asleep to sounds of nature - traffic speeding by on I-90.
Is that a straw in Frank’s root beer float? What does the 74 mean on the Stevens Pass sign?
ReplyDeleteYes, that's a straw. The 74 means 74 miles to the pass.
DeleteThat root beer float! At least you were rewarded for hiking on the bad tread with a giant burger.
ReplyDelete