Day 139 - Monday, September 13

Tenting at Bridge Creek Campground (mile 2577.8). Walked 24.4 miles today.

We woke up about 4:45 and I slowly started getting ready. Last night was cold and I was cold now, too. I had planned to leave camp about 5:30, but got out 10 minutes late as I hiked through a cloud. That made it tricky as the fog scattered the light from my headlamp. After half a mile or so, the trail dropped low enough that I was out of the fog and could more easily see. The trail opened up and I got some early morning views of the northern Cascades.

I continued down, determined to do the 19.5 miles to the road in time to make the 12:30 bus to town (the post office closes at 4 and the bus supposedly arrives at 3:45, so it made us nervous to cut it that close - which is why I hiked ahead).

The trail dropped into the trees and eventually ran along a stream. The next 12 miles or so were mainly trees and the sound of the nearby rushing stream. I crossed the High Bridge over the Stehekin River and hung out at the trailhead with a bunch of other hikers.

I was 45 minutes early and we all chatted until the bus showed up. The bus was mainly for the ranch nearby and it took us there where I bought a fuel canister since Frank and I have been rationing fuel recently to make sure we had enough. The bus left the ranch and took us to Rainbow Falls where we got out briefly to see the waterfall (sans rainbow).

We then drove to the famous bakery that everyone talks about. I got a lemon square, a large cinnamon roll, and a pricy sandwich. The lemon square was good, but the cinnamon roll, which everyone raves about, was disappointing. The huckleberry one we had in Trout Lake was far superior.

Once we had our goodies, we drove to the isolated town of Stehekin. The only way to get to this town is by boat (50-mile boat ride), plane (chartered float plane), or by foot (long-ass walk...). As I got my stuff off the bus, I ran into Hocus Pocus and Lenore who were leaving soon. I walked to the post office to get the resupply boxes for Frank and myself and then sat with Hocus Pocus and Lenore while I sorted my resupply.

They took off to the bakery and I did some errands and dried my stuff while I waited for Frank to arrive. She rolled in on the bus about 3:45 and did her errands, packed her bag, ate, and charged her devices. Frank's friend sent us a treat for when we finish the trail, so we'll carry that to the terminus.  We hung out on the shore of Lake Chelan for a while until it was time to go.

At 5:30, we caught the bus back up to the High Bridge and then hiked 5 more miles into the darkness (and North Cascades National Park - our 7th and final national park of this trip), set up our tents, and went to bed.

We're counting down the miles to Canada and are now in double digit territory.