[pct-l] Stevens Pass to Stehekin - preliminary report

[Christine Kudija" <cmkudija@earthlink.net (Christine Kudija)]

Just got back to Lost Angeles last night after a glorious 2.5 weeks out,
first in Glacier NP & then 6 days walking from Stevens Pass to Stehekin
(High Bridge) from Monday 8/12 - Sunday 8/18, & will follow up with more
info tomorrow.  In the meantime, snow is a non-issue for this entire
section - there are some patches, but nothing significant.  Deadfalls from
avalanches are actually more of a problem - they render much of the section
impassible to stock (imho, of course!).  A small snowfield on the north side
of Fire Creek Pass is easily circumnavigated on the uphill side on rock -
and the remaining snow patches are no problem.  Mosquitoes were annoying
until we got above 5,000', but the biting flies were ommipresent.  I killed
as many as I could, but...

Before starting out last Monday I called several ranger districts, and no
one had any current info about snow/ice in the passes.  Consequently we
carried (fortunately lightweight) ice axes & Grivel 6-point crampons.  My
ice axe got used for a cat-hole several times - but otherwise stayed on my
pack.  Aaaarrrgh.

Saw Friendly Bear & friend from Georgia south-bounding, Ben the Wandering
Jew (flying by with 4-legged companion), Montana & the Mad Hatter, and
several others on the bus to Stehekin.

Again, more tomorrow.  I'm still clearing out my inbox from a slew of
messages from the last three weeks!

Christine "Ceanothus" Kudija

"Never measure the height of a mountain, until you have reached the top.
Then you will see how low it was."  Dag Hammarskjold