To Have and To Hike: Snoqualmie Pass to Skykomish

The sun is out here in Skykomish, and boy have we missed it. After walking by Mt Rainer without seeing it we couldn't be more excited for a good weather window to head north. There's a chance we could even end our hike on a dry, beautiful note. Knock on wood.

We've got a little time before we start hiking because the rural post office doesn't open until 11:30am, so let's catch you up. I neglected to include much about the section from Cascade Locks to White Pass earlier. In particular, my backpack began breaking in spectacular fashion.

When we were a day out from White Pass I was just minding my own business, walking down the trail when all of a sudden I heard something and the weight on my back felt different. Initially I thought it was a small rip in the fabric and brushed it aside. It was after all mile 23 of the day and we were deep in stride. An hour later I asked Jenny to take a look. It wasn't good. The internal frame of my pack had snapped. Luckily this wasn't debilitating, just uncomfortable. The downside: White Pass is just a small ski condo and convenience store. Absent hitching to Seattle there are no gear shops around, and that would take a day at least.

I'll spare you the messy details of trying to figure this out around Labor Day weekend but the long and short of it was that I ended up walking about 100 miles to Snoqualmie Pass with a broken pack on my back. The old friend started to degenerate more rapidly as we approached: a strap pulling off the pack, a new rip. It knew that it was time.

On Tuesday when we were about ready to leave my new backpack arrived. Boy is it shiny, comfy and blue. People now have no doubt that I'm a weekender given my shiny new gear. It's so bright and new that it blinds Jenny in the tent at night when her light catches the fabric. It also puts in sharp relief the state of her pack.

The second little tidbit I'd like to share from our first Washington section is from our time on the Knife's Edge in Goat Rocks Wilderness. It's an epic part of the trail where on a clear day you're walking on a little spine of trail with thousands of feet of drop off on either side. You can see Mt Hood back in Oregon, Mt St Helens and Mt Rainer. It's spectacular. When it's a clear day.

The view from 2014

Needless to say it was not a clear day when we hiked it this time. When we approached Cispus Pass the day before we were in a cloud. The next morning the cloud remained, along with misting rain. Ideal conditions for a trail known for its epic views and its knife's edge.

The view this time

Glacier

When we were more than halfway done the exposed section we startled a mountain goat on the steep snow to our right. It had a white coat, a proper goatee, horns and a serious stare. Before we could move to take out our phones for a picture it ran across the snow field at a breakneck speed and into the clouds. It made the section.

Now going forward in time to Snoqualmie Pass, a small ski resort off a major highway, where the last section started. There's a small, cozy motel where we devoured delicious curry from the Aardvark Express, a small food truck that includes a slice of pineapple cake on top of the curry and gives free beers to hikers. Yum.

Tons of hikers congregated in town to escape the rain. It turns out that we have plenty of company in our waning excitement for the rain. One hiker mentioned that she was going to hike the Goldmyer Alternate, a 25 mile alternate around two lakes and a natural hot springs that cuts off 8 miles of trail. The idea spread like wildfire. Suddenly twenty hikers were up for a good hot soak. Us too. Given the crush of hikers we booked a room in Skykomish for Thursday night. It's a super small town.

Last minute purchases in Skykomish

We hiked this alternate in 2014 and remembered it being hard. We discounted the memory because of our stellar shape after 2,400 miles of hiking. We were wrong. It was really hard, including some ridiculous blown down trees blocking the trail. We had regrets only a couple miles in when we were switchbacking down inside a boulder field in the rain. (Boulder fields tear up your feet. Wet boulder fields can snap ankles.)

Snow lake

Interesting log crossing

Blow downs

Yuge blowdown

After a very slow 8 miles we called it, set up camp and cooked in our vestibule. I cannot overstate how cozy that feels when it's raining outside. We slept in the next morning until the rain stopped, around 10am. This was a mistake. The trail was still hard. We didn't get off the alternate and back to the PCT until 6pm, at which point we had hiked 17 miles of the 25-30 miles we'd planned to hike. Not good.

The light started to fade as we hit mile 21. With more than 30 miles left to Stevens Pass, where we'd hitch to Skykomish, we decided to push on. We after all had a hotel room and didn't want to hitch after dark the next day. My headlamp decided to call it quits at about this point. You can imagine the scene. Jenny walking in front of me switchbacking up a mountain. Me walking in the increasing darkness until I used my phones flashlight in my hand.

We were shooting for a campsite across a stream. Apparently it was a "ford across a large stream". Jenny not unreasonably decided we shouldn't do it in the dark. We ended up camping in a tree well / ditch by the stream, 0.03 miles from the ford or tiny stream we could've easily crossed. We did not cook. Ironically our friends Chapstick and Big Bear ended up in a similar situation except with a real ford. They survived to tell the tale.

The next day we realized our folly, got up and hiked one of the most ridiculous days of the trail: 30 miles, climbing 7,800 feet and descending 8,000 feet all by 6pm. The clouds picked up here and there to show off granite peaks and absolutely clear lakes.

Well look at that

Blue skies

Heart lake -- I don't think it's actually called that

Granite everywhere

Grey marmot

We ran into Chapstick and Big Bear at Stevens Pass. They were camping there and playing a game of adult sized Jenga outside the small ski resort. We were tempted to forego our hotel to play. Instead we hitched into Skykomish and turned out cravings for fat into a reality.

Big Bear has longgg arms

Crazy enough our friend Toe Touch was here in town too. We met at the local watering hole, had a few drinks and seemingly met half the very friendly town. Jenny and Toe Touch seemed to agree that Skykomish, a very small town with old Western style buildings along a railroad in the mountains, was a favorite trail town.

Hot chocolate

Chocolate milkshake

This may be our last blog entry until we are in Canada. We have one more resupplies stop in Stehikin, a tiny town at the end of Lake Chelan, which may not have service. We are simultaneously super excited and starting to get sad that it's ending. We have less than 200 miles left till Manning Park, and only 188 until the Monument at the border. With the sun out, we are excited about the next eight days.

Toilet with a view (Washington has some what I like to call thunderboxes)