I thought that when I went to sleep, I would awake in the morning to a bright sun shiny day. Unfortunately, that idea was sort of turned on its head when I heard it start to rain at 3 AM. I dreaded the getting up part that would happen in two hours. I was half awake and half asleep with the rain keeping me company, but when it was time to get up at 5 AM, the rain abruptly stopped. Still, it was very cold and the mosquitoes that were around the night before were now few and far between. I put on my soggy shoes and then it was time to start moving. This was definitely a day that I would be hiking with my poofy jacket. I didn't make it very far before some "whole thing" thru hikers flew by me. They seemed intent on making as many miles as they could as fast as they could.
I was happy that they flew by me because I needed a pit stop. After that brief break, I was just flying. The great part about getting to Suiattle Pass was that I could spend most of the day just cruising downhill. If it was a little bit warmer and a little bit drier, this would be the perfect day. It was funny, though, because in Oregon I spent so many days dealing with the heat. In Washington, I was definitely using my cold weather gear more often. I had a little bit of rain off and on too just to remind me that I couldn't expect to get dry too soon. I also got to manage more blowdowns. They were still quite frequent and it made for a difficult hike even with the trail being downhill. The scenery was pretty awesome, though, as I was in this huge mountain valley.
Each step further downhill, made the mountains seem to rise to impressive heights all around me. I had been hiking for a couple of hours when the forest seemed to change. There were still blowdowns, but now the needles seemed dead. There were big trees standing straight and proud, but the ends of their needles seemed to be brown. There were also little trees with the same issue. Having been around beetle kill in Rocky Mountain National Park, I figured this was something similar. When I asked other hikers if they knew, I got everything from disease, to drought, to insects, so I am not entirely sure. What I did know is that I was happy that the day was nice and cool because these trees looked like a tinder box ready to explode. The trail continued downhill and I had hiked about 7 miles when I came to the South Agnes Creek ford. This turned out to be the hardest ford on the entire trip. I could have easily crossed the creek getting my feet wet in the process. Considering that they were just beginning to dry out, I did not want to do that. Instead, I found a log and began to walk across it. It was rather narrow and about the middle of the creek, I realized that this long was pretty far off and I was risking serious injury by making this crossing.
If I fell here, that would have been a bad decision. Considering the numbness in my right foot, I should have thought a little bit more. Still, I made the crossing without issue and I lived to continue on down the hill. It wasn't much after this that the trail suddenly became better. There were instantly no trees down. It was brushed on the sides. It felt as if I was flying because I wasn't having to climb up and over something. I can't say for sure whether I enjoyed this more or less, because having some difficulties to encounter does make it feel a bit more adventurous, but what I do know is that I could kind of take my mind off the trail for a little bit and just hike. I was listening to Audible, and that made the time go by faster.
It wasn't that I necessarily loved the book I was listening to, but I felt like I had the ability to focus on it a lot more without obstacles coming my way. The forest was awesome. There were big trees around including a few cedar trees that just had a massive base. This was a very pleasant forest and became even more so the further I went downhill. After starting at 6000 feet in the morning, I was going to end up below 2000 feet at Stehekin in the evening. For all of the twists and turns I had taken getting around Glacier Peak, this was just a straight shot following the South Fork of Agnes Creek for many, many miles. The people I talked to on the trail seemed much more pleasant and excited than they had seemed days earlier. I was beginning to meet more people just starting their journey as Stehekin seemed to be a destination that many backpackers were using as a starting out point. They were excited for their journey and I was getting a lot of congratulations for almost being done with mine. At this point, I was finally feeling as if there was nothing that was going to stop me and I was just going to have to gut out anything that could stop me for another week or so. My foot pain was ever present, but I knew I would recover from that eventually.
Instead, I just got to enjoy the lovely river as I hiked along. Occasionally, I would stop to take it in. If it was a warmer day, I am sure that taking a dip in the cool waters would have been inviting. It was definitely beginning to warm up, but not nearly enough that a swim in a glacial creek seemed like the right idea. I continued downhill and the gorge just seemed to get deeper and deeper. I figured out the allure of Stehekin. Here you had this low mountain valley surrounded by these tall peaks that rose thousands of feet from the valley below. It was very similar to hiking in the Grand Canyon where you just keep getting deeper and deeper and the cliffs seem to stay the same height.
Soon, I was crossing into Lake Chelan National Recreation Area and the paranoia started to take over a little bit. I had received a long distance permit from the PCTA when I started my trip. After my first stop, though, I had apparently tossed it out. The only place on the whole trip that I was going to need that, was inside North Cascades National Park. The time I was going to be in North Cascades National Park was very small as for the most part I would be in Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, but the place I wanted to camp, Bridge Creek, the permit was necessary. I decided to just risk it. I didn't really feel like I was breaking the rules because I had intended to follow the rules, but I was going to have to be a little bit more stealth.
The trail was even better as I got closer and at about 4 PM, I was crossing the river into North Cascades National Park along a beautiful bridge. Just getting here, I had already hiked 19 miles this day. My feet were sore. More so, my right foot, but even my left was a little sore from having hiked with soggy feet most of the day. My shoes were getting better, though, as the sun and the drier, lower elevation was helping to wick the moisture away. After crossing, the bridge, I used the bathroom in the campground, then after a little bit of wandering around, I was able to locate the trail. To Bridge Creek I shall go. It was only another 5 miles of hiking to get to Bridge Creek, but it was uphill after a day of smooth sailing.
The trail was in worse shape and seemed almost dried out. There were horse droppings everywhere as this seemed to be a popular spot for horseback riding. It felt almost urban and for many people, this was a necessary stop along the PCT. For me, though, I just wanted to be back in the wilds. The trail took me by Howard Lake that seemed to be filled with lily pads. This looked like a very pleasant spot and was probably a popular day hike for people coming up from Stehekin. The PCT followed the Old Wagon Trail which you could see the wideness of the trail at places was meant for something larger than a hiker. It felt like Bridge Creek was farther away than it should be when I finally rolled into camp at 6:45 PM. I took the first campsite that I saw with a picnic table that I later learned were reserved for the more prestigious guests, not PCT hikers. I didn't find that out until the morning, so I just went through my normal routine of setting up the tent, getting my comforts ready for bed, making and eating my dinner, filtering water, and finally laying down my weary head for the evening. I was tired and I wasn't even bothered by the smell of the bathroom that occasionally wafted into my camping area. Instead, I got to sleep early as usual with the nights starting to come a little bit sooner each night.
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