[pct-l] An old trail log... Stevens to Snoqualmie

[jolson at olc.edu (Jeffrey Olson)]

  This was posted on cooltrails.com



  PCT - Stevens to Snoqualmie

/ <http://www.cooltrails.com/jjolson@uwyo.edu>/

"I would definitely recommend this trip to a friend."

At the end of August, 1998, I hiked the PCT from Stevens Pass to 
Snoqualmie Pass, 75 miles, in four days. It was the second trip that 
summer where I aimed to average 20 miles or so a day. I'd finally gotten 
my base pack weight down to about 17 pounds, not including food and water.

Tom drove me to the pass and as I fitted the pack after futzing a bit, 
watched him drive away. I was alone in the wilderness again, after a 
three week hiatus (I'd hiked from White to Snoqualmie Pass then). I had 
a nervous stomach and a hyperawareness of being back in the woods.

I headed up through the Stevens Pass Ski area, winding through the trees 
at 8 in the morning, slowly getting my hiking legs back. I topped the 
rise at the top of the ski area and peered down into the basin with a 
big power line traversing across to a small lake and a notch. I hiked 
down past Lake Susan Jane and by lake Josephine. I definitely had my 
hiking legs on.

The trail traversed along a ridge with views down to Trapper Creek and a 
final steep switchback up to Trap Pass. I was starting to feel beat, and 
it was a real effort hike the last couple hundred yards or so. The pass 
is really a notch in the trees, and once on the other side, it's back in 
the trees.

The trail stays above Surprise and Glacier Lakes, switchbacks up 
Surprise Mountain, and then there is a long forest traverse to the 
Deception Lakes, where I'd decided I was going to spend the night. The 
forest is really thick there, and a woman was setting up camp in one of 
the clear spots, and not wanting to intrude, I continued on. The 
campsites were all dirt anyway, and in the trees with no views.

I came to a creek that had a flat spot a hundred yards away and I 
gratefully set up camp. My body ached, even after 1000 ml. of ibuprofen 
after lunch that had dimmed the muscle aches and foot pain.

I lay back in the quiet of the forest and read until dark, very much 
aware of all the sounds, the jays, the deer later I mistook for a bear. 
There was no threat of rain so I didn't set up the old North Face tent 
fly I was using as a tarp, and watched the moon settle over Mt. Daniel 
off in the distance.

The next morning I was up at 6AM and hiking by 6:15. The long traverse 
through forest continued and I hiked "down" to Deception Pass, which is 
no more than a forested swale it seemed to me. Hinman and Daniel were 
the major view the previous afternoon and that morning. But after 
crossing the headwaters of the cle elum river it was more gentle 
climbing/traversing with views across the canyon to Robin Lake and the 
peaks above it. Quite a spectacular way to spend a morning.

The trail crossed a bunch of creeks with no bridges, and it was rock 
hopping for me. I couldn't imagine crossing a couple of them earlier in 
the season when they would have been roaring and life would have been in 
danger. Hyas Lake below and the granite ridge/peaks above became ever 
more the focus as I traversed through forest and boulder/avalanch fields.

The trail steepens under Cathedral Rock, and tops out at Cathdral Pass. 
What a view. And then down a treeless ridge to the outlet of Deep Lake 
where I had lunch, washed clothes and myself, and spent three hours, 
napping and reading in the grassy meadow, naked, soaking up the sun.

Refreshed I walked in the heat of the afternoon above Spinola Creek, 
always out of sight, but not hearing. Lots of little ups and downs, 
until a big traversing turn around the ridge base and there was Waptus 
Lake below, way big and inaccessible, or so it seemed. I didn't want to 
take time to hike down the couple hundred feet of vertical to visit what 
looked like a big reservoir, although I don't think it is.

Just before the bridge that crosses the inlet creek is a big, 40' high 
rock/dirt dome. I layed out my sleeping bag under a tree on its top, and 
watched the sun go down behind some absolutely spectacular mountains to 
the northwest. I think dutch miller gap was up there, but I'm not sure.

The morning sun was breathtaking, and so rather than eating my granola 
and rehydrated milk with raisins on the trail, I ate breakfast and 
watched the sun go from pink to golden on the 3000' granite escarpment.

The hike up from Waptus Lake to the ridgetop is exposed, and even that 
time of the morning was hot. I can't imagine doing this in the afternoon 
when it is hot. 2200' or so to the top, with few trees and a number of 
blowdowns. I didn't see how a horse could get through there...

As I traversed Escondido Ridge I could hear a packer down near Escondido 
Lake setting up camp in preparation for his paying guests that would 
begin arriving when hunting season began. I met one party of hikers that 
said they talked with a packer who had a mule carrying nothing but hard 
liquor, and another with nothing but beer.

The hike along Escondido Ridge is stunning. I took a break in a little 
meadow and munched down some trailmmix, thinking if I ever wanted to 
come somewhere close but pristinely beautiful, this was it, with its 
three foot wide stream meandering through it, backdropped with a 300' 
cliff.

But the most spectacular part of the trip was yet to come. I contined to 
traverse along the ridge and topped out in the middle of an old fire. 
There across the way was a picket fence of stark and beautiful peaks 
that made my eyes water and my heart ache. It was so beautiful I stopped 
and just stood there for ten minutes or so. I've hiked throughout the 
Cascades, Sierra from lassen to Whitney, and am now exploring Wyoming 
and Colorado's mountains. But the view from the top of Escondido Ridge 
across the Lemah Creek Valley to the peaks rising 3000-4000 across the 
way is unparalleled.

The hike down jumps from bench to bench for a while, and then into 
forest with the views now being tree filtered. I met a couple just 
getting up after having hiked til 11 the night before in the moonlight. 
They were in a weird kind of ecstacy, gentle and marvelling. I felt 
touched by a different force.

Hiking down the ridge I met some climbers coming back from a climb of 
one of the peaks. "Guys" are a funny kind of people. That's all I can 
say about that.

I also met a couple who are hiking the Washington PCT, but in ten day, 
50 mile chunks. They hike five miles a day. Both were very overweight 
and very jolly, and very sweaty! I met very few people on this trip, but 
these three parties, all in a row, within an hour of each other, were 
such great constrasts. Such different views of life, the wilderness and 
the world...

I hit the valley bottom and was surrounded with trees. There were lots 
of campsites in here, but I wasn't ready. I wanted big views this, my 
last night. the map promised them up around Park lakes.

So, I hiked at the base of Lemah Mountain, heading for the Three Queens. 
Views were pretty restricted. I ate lunch at the Lemah Creek Crossing, 
where there was an dirt campsite, nothing special.

I hadn't taken a stove on this, or the last trip. I had planned 
fat/carbs/protein and calories pretty well. I ate constantly - about 
5000 calories a day. I lost seven pounds over the four days, and gained 
three of it back the following week. That's not very good for the system 
I've been told.

Dinner was a bag of eastern hand food from one of the bins at the 
Ballard Market in Seattle. I highly recommend stoveless hiking, for five 
days or less at least. I found I didn't miss coffee after the first day, 
and hot food not at all. On the trip from White to Snoqualmie Pass it 
rained for a couple of the days, but even then, eating constantly made 
up for the lack of hot food. I never felt in danger. And this trip, with 
clear skies and warm temperatures, was heaven.

I started climbing up toward the Pass between Chikamin Peak and the 
Three queens, and was very weary. it was a nearly 3000' climb, and at 
the end of the day. I'd already climbed nearly 3000', and I could feel 
my thighs beginning to quiver.

But miraculously, and not for the first time in my life, getting higher 
got me higher. The pain lessened, and I found myself getting a fourth or 
fifth wind. I reached the trail to Spectacle Lake, but eschewed it for 
the top of the ridge. The higher I climbed the more spectacular the view 
became, and the harder it was to just keep hiking. It's switchback after 
switchback, but the whole lemah creek valley is unfolding, and all the 
peaks around get more and more visible.

Finally, in a really herculean effort, I gained the top of the ridge and 
looked over toward Park lakes, and decided i wanted to watch the sun go 
down from the top.

I walked a hundred yards south of the trail along the ridge top and 
found a fairly level spot where I threw my bag down in the grass and got 
into it. I was a hurtin puppy, but marvelling at what lay below me. I 
could see Spectacle lake of course, and Glacier Lake in its cirque, and 
all the mountains marching north. I thought that this was a day of days 
for views - opposite ends of the same valley, blown away all day long.

I had a tee shirt for years I wore hiking that said, "The best part 
about getting high is the view." it was a Grateful Dead tee shirt, and I 
chuckled to myself as I thought of it. No drugs or alcohol, coffee or 
any other stimulant other than the wonder at being so high and so 
privilged to be where I was.

A young couple was camped at a spot across the saddle from me, the 
"official wonderful campspot" and I watched them hang out on an outcrop 
overlooking the whole wonderous world. They added a different kind of 
texture to the view.

I woke up the next morning and headed west past the Park Lakes, glad I 
hadn't stayed there in the basin, with no views. The hike up to Chikamin 
Pass was pretty, and then to cross over into the Gold Creek Basin, 
another breathtaking experience that went on and on and on. At what I 
guess is a place called Huckleberry Saddle you can stare through a gap 
in the ridge to the north into a basin with Burntboot Creek at its 
bottom, and it looked wild. No trail down there, but a sense that it 
would be a spectacular place to hike

There were people camped down at Joe lake, and again at Alaska Lake. It 
looked like a good place to go snowshoeing to for a winter wonderland 
experience. I ate lunch at Ridge Lake and watched the dayhikers stream 
by, dogs on leashes, clothes fresh and startlingly white.

On the Snoqualmie Pass side of Kendall Ridge I met a Japanese woman who 
I hung out with for a while because she was terrified that a bear was 
going to come out of the trees and get her. her husband and his friends 
had gone ahead to the top of the ridge, and she was almost paralyzed 
with fear. I hung with her for 30 minutes until another woman came and 
they hugged and the first woman thanked me, tearfully. Back in the world...

I had a bus to catch at Snoqualmie Summit and made it by an hour. Three 
or four busses a day stop at the Summit.

I was down to the pass by about three, and feeling pretty good. I really 
liked this ultra-light backpacking style. I really liked trail centered, 
versus camp centered hiking. All I did in camp was sleep. I usually took 
a couple three hours in the middle of the day to recuperate, wash, and 
watch the wilderness. Hiking til seven or seven-thirty - it got dark at 
eight on labor day, and light at six-thirty - made for a full day. I 
think i see more hiking that way. I'm light on my feet, take lots of 
breaks, and stop and marvel constantly. I don't feel like a beast of 
burden.

This is a tough trip made tougher by doing it in four days. I climbed 
6000' or so on the third day. That's a lot, even with a 20 pound pack 
and running shoes. But the view from the top of Escondido Ridge looking 
west was beyond spectacular.