Day 11:
Getting back to the trailhead was not nearly as bad as getting into town the day before. We crafted a sign with some paper and some markers that read “hikers to PCT”, and after a last-minute stop at the local bakery for some breakfast sandwiches, we got a ride in no time.
Back on trail we were hungry again within an hour, which was pretty disappointing. We still had sore ankles from the Castle Pass Trail, but out of the three of us, Donner’s ankle felt the worst. It was clear that Advil would be part of the routine for the foreseeable future. Temperatures were still warm, but the humidity was starting to creep up and I felt heat rash developing on my lower back. After a few miles, my hip starting aching. The aches and pains of long-distance hiking were catching up with us.
We saw Donner up ahead gesturing somewhat frantically towards the bushes right next to him. I tried to see what he was looking at but couldn’t see anything. Then the whole bush moved. There was a bear probably 15-20 feet away. Way too close! It had us cornered if we wanted to pass, since the vegetation was so thick, we simply couldn’t give it more space. As with the bear on the Castle Pass Trail, we tried yelling at it. No reaction. We banged our poles together. No reaction. There was no way this bear didn’t know we were there; it was only a few arms lengths out of reach. When Donner ran into it, he probably could have touched it with his trekking pole. We decided to just scamper past, grouped up together, muttering “hey bear” in its general direction. We got past. But what was it with these bears out here in Washington? Is the bear school curriculum just different out west?
As the day wore on, hunger really started to set in. I wondered if we had enough food. We were headed back into North Cascades National Park (from Forest Service and Wilderness land), and some of the campsites had bear lockers for you to store your food in. As we approached the trailhead that led to Stehekin, we examined each one for left-over food. We found a beer in one and were excited to share it. Donner found a ramen packet in another one. Near where the shuttle goes to Stehekin, there is a campsite called High Bridge with a bear-proof trash-can, and we even peered in there, just in case. We decided to spend the night there, having covered plenty of miles for the day.
It seemed like we were going to be the only ones camping there until a lady whose trail name was “Bougie” showed up as daylight faded. We got talking to her, and it turned out that she was headed into Stehekin the next day. I asked her if she had a resupply box in Stehekin, and she said she did, but she also had a friend who was supposed to join her for the next section, and he was going to bring food too, so she was likely going to have too much. I knew this was our opportunity to try to “yogi” some food from her. Yogi-ing is the act of persuading someone to do something for you (like give you a ride) or give you something (like food) without directly asking. The term comes from Yogi Bear, a cartoon character who would often run off with people’s picnics. Now that I think about it, yogi-ing is a bit craftier than what Yogi bear does. Anyway, moments later we were in possession of whatever left over food Bougie was ready to part with.
Day 12:
We left early in the morning since we were back in a heat wave. This time the heat came with more humidity than the beginning of our journey. It was muggy, and there were lots of flies. We walked past a canyon with a river flowing through it, and into Glacier Peak Wilderness.
Thanks to the extra food we scored the night before, we took two lunch breaks. We probably could have taken four.
Once it got hot, we stopped at a stream and spent a few hours entertaining ourselves by killing flies by the dozen and flicking them into the water hoping fish would eat them. We didn’t have a lot of miles to hike, so taking breaks made sense, but killing flies has its limits in terms of entertainment value, and after a while we started wondering if we’d ever make a dent in the local fly population for long enough to enjoy a few minutes in peace (the answer is no – never, they are probably hatching faster than you can kill them).
We eventually left the stream and climbed up towards Suiattle Pass. Along the way there were some thimble berries (my favorite!), and I stopped at each bush to pick the ones that were ripe. Every calorie counts! We camped near the pass at a scenic but somewhat exposed campsite near tree line. Beautiful campsites are great, but come with a certain amount of risk, and we soon saw one of the risks building in front of us in the form of thunder clouds. It was too late to move on, so all we could do was watch them grow bigger and bigger. As darkness fell, we crawled into our tent, and just as I was about to shut my eyes, the tent lit up followed shortly by an ear-piercing thunderclap! Luckily there was not much more to the storm than that, and we got a good night’s sleep.
Day 13:
We slept in a little, knowing we had very few miles to hike, and made our way towards the top of Suiattle Pass. Maybe there was a breeze and some views from the top of the pass so we could hang out there without the flies bugging us? Two people passed us, and we asked them if there was a view at the pass. “Yes!” they told us, barely stopping. We got to the pass, and it was covered in trees. No view. Why do people lie to us?
From Suiattle Pass, we parted ways with the PCT to hike towards Holden Village where we could take a ferry back to Chelan, where our adventure started almost two weeks ago. Leaving the PCT always feels nerve-wracking because the PCT is such a gentle and well-groomed trail, that any other trail feels difficult in comparison. Our trail went over Cloudy Pass, an even higher pass than Suiattle Pass, and by some miracle, this pass actually had a fantastic view and a lovely breeze! We decided to park our butts right there and eat some food. We hung out there for several hours, taking off our shoes, drying our gear, and taking pictures of the Lyman Lakes, which we had a view of. Eventually another hiker showed up and sat down with us. We traded stories for another good hour before we decided that we were probably getting sunburnt. There was a spur trail going up towards Cloudy Peak, and we decided to explore it before heading down the valley.
The views from the spur trail were even better than where we had been sitting before. Glacier Peak appeared in front of us along with other rugged mountain ranges.
We finally headed back down into the valley, heard some rustling, and saw the most adorable animal (except for maybe a pika). It was a pine marten! It was the cutest thing, and it scampered away from us into a tree where it turned around and stared at us. Moments later another pine marten showed up and sat on the branch next to the first one, making growly noises at us. I felt bad that we were intimidating them, but I couldn’t get enough of their cuteness. Somewhere in another tree, we could hear a third pine marten.
We hiked further into the valley to find a campsite near Heart Lake. The trail into the valley was incredibly overgrown. The treadway was still good, but the vegetation completely obscured it. We plowed through it, grateful to be going downhill instead of up, and eventually found Heart Lake where a boy scout troop had already claimed many of the available campsites. Luckily there was enough room for us, and the young boys were not too rowdy.
Day 14:
The hike down to Holden Village was only 4 miles, and the trail improved with every step. We passed quite a few hikers who were just out on a day hike, probably not headed into the overgrown mess we had just come from. Holden Village was much larger than I had imagined, and we asked around to figure out where we were supposed to catch our shuttle to our ferry. To enter any of the buildings we had to take a COVID rapid test. Luckily, they offered this service for us free of charge, and then let us snack on food items they leave in the dining hall between meals including bread, things to spread on the bread, cereal, and fruit. Everything tasted terrific, although we were definitely hungry, and everything tastes better when you’re hungry. Everything was donation based, so we left the suggested donation for the meal and for our shuttle to Lake Chelan.
The ferry back to Chelan was much slower than the one we had caught on the way up the lake, and unfortunately our carefully planned itinerary of shuttle to ferry to bus to rental car got thwarted by the late arrival of the ferry. We missed the bus (we actually saw it leaving the bus stop before the ferry was able to dock), and begged folks on the ferry to give us a ride to Wenatchee so we could pick up our rental car before the agency closed. A nice couple agreed, as they were headed that way. As we were only minutes away from the rental car agency, we hit traffic. It became clear that the bridge we needed to take was closed due to someone standing way up on top of the bridge, threatening to jump. Police cars, ambulances and fire trucks blocked every entrance. We only had 20 or 30 minutes before the rental car agency closed, so we decided to jump out of the car and try to find our way there on foot, using a pedestrian bridge that seemed to still be open. John took off running, as the car was in his name, and Donner and I followed behind at a more reasonable pace. It was stiflingly hot and there were homeless people everywhere. A few more miles on our feet and we were at the rental car, which John was able to secure in the nick of time. We were drenched in sweat. Civilization is just so stressful! What a crazy ending to this trip!
Just Two Hikers 
Good to see you two/three back out on the trail and writing about it. You pictures look awesome with your genuine smiles and incredible scenery. Enjoy your days where ever it may take you. Just Bruce.
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