Sunday morning we left Bellevue at around 7:40, drove north on I-5, veered to highway 20, continuing east for about an hour and arrived the Wilderness Information Center in Marblemount at around 10:30. We discussed the itinerary with the ranger. She doesn’t seem to be very familiar with the trail and doesn’t have a detailed map. It later proved that her suggested itinerary isn’t very optimal.

We drove to trail head and started off at around 11:50. The first part is the popular Cascade Pass trail, 3.5 miles, with 1800 feet elevation gain, hiked by a lot of day hikers. The trail begins with a series of steep switchbacks in the woods. It then flattens out when the trees become sparse and the view becomes open. The vegetation was obviously destroyed by the retreated glacier. After a short walk on the moraine, we arrived Cascade Pass at around 1:20. It was windy and cold. The sun was shining, but it was still not very warm, probably because of the sheer clouds. We ducked into a closed campsite surrounded by trees and had some lunch.

At 2:00, we took off and continued the trail downhill on the south side. At 4:15, we arrived Cotton Wood Camp and had a brief break. We met two elderly guys who already set up the camp there. They were going to do some fishing there the next morning and head to Tumwater. They were surprised to know that we were heading Bridge Creek for the night because it’s 7 miles ahead and it’d be dark when we get there. They were even more surprised to know that we were going to come back from Stehekin on the same route. “It’s good to be young”, said one of them. I agree, it’s good too be still young. Hope I’d be still energetic for at least another 10 years. We fare-welled then and went on at 4:30. We knew we still had a long way to go and had no time to waste. At 7:00 we arrived the campsite at Bridge Creek. The campsite is actually about 1/4 miles past the bridge. We were confused a little due to the lack of a detailed map and spent 10 minutes trying to find the camp. In fact it is a very big campsite able to accommodate stocks. You just can’t miss it. It was a little dark and we were a little tired after rushing 15 miles in 7 hours including lunch break. That was quite a good speed, considering the 45 pound pack. The whole site is super big and luxury. What’s even better is we were the only people there! We got to choose anywhere we want to camp. We settled for a tent pad near a picnic table, a fire ring, a bear box and the toilet pit. It’s also besides a small creek. Indeed a nice place. We set up the tent with the help of headlamps and made a fire. It was quite dry so it was easy to light up the fire. There were even some prepared campfire logs :). I guess it was the rangers who left them there. We sat by the picnic table and had dinner, enjoyed the moon. It was mid-autumn festival and we brought a moon cake. It tasted so good after a whole day’s hike. A rodent (doesn’t quite look like a squirrel, but I can’t tell what it is) was obviously attracted by the smell and hopping up and down around the moon cake. The elevation is not too high (2100 feet) so the temperature was very comfortable even at night.

Summary: we covered 16.2 miles today. Gained 1800 feet of elevation and dropped 3300 feet.

Next morning, at 7:30 we got up and made breakfast. We originally planned to get up at 5 but for some reason we missed the alarm. We broke camp and left at 9:00, heading south. We took Pacific Crest Trail instead of Stehekin Valley Road because the ranger had warned us about the washouts on the road. PCT merged with the valley road near high bridge runs above the river. The view was fantastic.

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At around 12:00 we arrived at the ranch and met the suttle bus. The bus actually runs to high bridge! The ranger told us that it runs till 2.3 miles ahead of High Bridge. We could have saved 2.3 miles of hiking! The driver is a very interesting elderly guy who has visited China and Corvallis. We talked a lot about both places. He told us he was treated very well in China and he miss China a lot. The bus took us to Rainbow Falls, and he went with us and took a picture for us. The fall is 350 feet high but kinda dry this time of the year.

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Further down the road, we stopped at the bakery and bought some lunch and iced soda. Another couple of miles ahead is Stehekin Landing, where the boats from Chelan lands. Lake Chelan is a very long strip in the valley. The sun was shining on the water, creating a very nice view. We had lunch on the lake shore and took some pictures.

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We took the returning bus at 2:00, arrived high bridge at 3:15 and said goodbye to the driver. There was a spot on the road where the driver pointed us in the river a whole lot of salmon. Those are the salmon swimming back from the sea and lay eggs. I have never seen so many salmon before!

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High Bridge hangs high over the river which runs swiftly over rocks. We got down to the river and took some pictures of the clear water.

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At 4:00, we take off heading back north. At around 5:45 arrived Bridge Creek (5.5 miles from High Bridge). Yinan suggested we hike a little further to Flat Creek to camp. I was still very energetic and thought it’d be no big deal to hike another 2.5 miles so off we went after a short break at where we camped the night before. We arrived the Flat Creek campsite at around 6:40. This is also a quite good campsite and we were again the only people there. But there was no picnic table. We had to build a small bench ourselves from logs and rocks. We set up a campfire to dry our wet clothes and cooked dinner. My only complaint about the campsite is it’s a little far from the water source (not really, just 400 yards, maybe :P) Autumn comes a little early in the mountains. The leaves are already turning red and yellow. The smell of autumn:

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Summary: we covered 15.1 easy miles, gained 650 feet of elevation and dropped 1100 feet.

Tuesday morning at 9:30 took off from Flat Creek. We knew this would be the toughest day because we had 4600 feet of elevation to gain. We had a brief break at Cotton Wood, had lunch at Horseshoe Basin trail head and arrived Sahale Arm trail head at 3:30. This is a trail of 2 miles, but with 2100 feet to gain so it would be tough. We later both though it was longer than 2 miles, based on the time we spent on the trail and our speed. We met a guy coming down and he briefly described the toughness and coldness. The trail climbs straight up and runs over a ridge. After about half an hour it kinda flattens out. Where Doubtful Lake can be seen below. We were impressed by the beauty of the lake, like a jade embedded in the heart of the valley.

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The trail climbs up again after a short while. It was so steep and my legs were heavy with the pack on the back. The trail was also very rocky, the pressure on the feet was high. After 1.5 hours on the trail, it was extremely windy and cold on the very open trail, above the tree line. I was wet all over by the sweat, frozen to death and exhausted. The glacier is now is sight, still very high above. I felt very desperate, fearing that the campsite would be very rough. And there is no water in sight. We only had 2 litres of water, barely enough to survive the night. I was extremely thirsty at that point. I almost decided to retreat, so that at least we can get back to the Cascade Pass before getting completely dark. After hesitating for a minute, we decided to go on till 5:30. 5 minutes before 5:30. I became extremely despaired and tired. The trail becomes steeper and steeper, almost impossible to go on with full pack. I wasn’t sure how far the campsite is (we knew there is a campsite). Yinan believed that the campsite would be nearby although I wasn’t very optimistic. There were big rocks all around, with no sign of a flat ground. We took off the packs and Yinan took a look around. Then she spotted the campsite (if you would call it a campsite)! It was a just a very very small pad of gravel bar by a huge rock which provides a little protection from the wind. It is barely enough for a two-person tent. For me, it was like seeing an oasis in a desert. We also had a patch of snow in sight. At that point I knew we would survive! I sprang up and decided to set the camp. I hopped my way to the snowfield on the moraine and fetched a pot of snow. I guess my tiredness was more emotional than physical. As the sun sets, it became even colder and more windy. We were shivering when setting up the tent and cooking with the melt snow. It was even very hard to find a flat rock to place the stove and to sit. We couldn’t wait to get into the tent after dinner. It was a lot better in the tent although still very cold. It was very hard to get asleep because of the temperature, especially for Yinan. Her sleeping bag was designed to endure 30F. She didn’t want to switch with mine either. I have a down bag for 0F, a little better.

Summary: we hiked 11.7 miles, gained 5300 feet in elevation. This was a tough day.

8:00 the next morening, the sun is up and shining on the tent although still cold. We got up had some breakfast then broke camp. The tent and the fly were covered with ice! We left the pack beside the trail and climbed up the glacier. It was a perfect day, without any clouds. The view was perfect. At such a high point, we can see a large area of the Cascades, even Mt Rainier in distance.

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We sat below the glacier for a while enjoying the sunshine and the beautiful view. I really wished I could stay there forever. Here is a picture of the “campsite” I took from above:

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Under the big rock in the middle is the gravel bar where we set up the tent. We began descending at around 10. Going down isn’t a lot easier than coming up, it took 2 hours to get to the Cascade Pass, where we met hiker going up. He told us he saw a bear the day before, very healthy and well fed :). We told him that we saw more snakes than people the day before :). 1:40, we arrived the trail head at the parking lot.

Summary: we hiked 6 miles, gained 400 feet and dropped 4800 feet, approximately.

74 hours, almost 50 miles, 8000 feet up and 9000 feet down, a little tired. An apple was a big reward.

We drove back to highway 20 and continued driving east to Ross Lake and Diablo Lake. The lakes were beautiful but not the high light of the whole trip.

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After a dinner at Bellevue and some shopping in Kent, we arrived home at around 1AM.