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

[losthiker at sisqtel.net (Deems)]

 I can still feel this season's last trail mile, it's oaken taste lingers on
the palette. I can still hear the last fading guitar note I heard Jerry
Garcia pluck just a year before he passed on; and I can still smell the
stench on my clothes,  the last campfire smokes, the last meal, and the last
dusty day I hiked in the Sierra this year. I hope this winter is short, and
my trail time is long. Cabin fever is beginning to infect me, tho not
terminal, life is short, and I hope to have many more miles to hike till I
sleep...  This is an excellent post, and it only makes the winter ahead all
the more exhausting anticipating that next spring, that next season of
wilderness adventure, that next step in life on wilderness trails that make
me feel so alive!... I plan on hiking this stretch, maybe more in 2006.
Great post, thank you!!  Hikon!
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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.

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.

The next morning I was up at 6AM and hiking by 6:15.

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.

Just before the bridge that crosses the inlet creek is a big, 40' high
rock/dirt dome. I laid 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.

I didn't see how a horse could get through there...

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 continued 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.

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 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.

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
privileged to be where I was.

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...

 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 till 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.