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Snoqualamie Pass to Skykomish
Friday, September 8: Park Lakes — 15.4 miles (2412.3)
We took Thursday off to do laundry and rest. It was warm and sunny in Cle Elum. Today it was raining, both in town and up on the trail. All day it rained, hailed, sleeted and snowed. By 5:00 we were soaked and frozen, so we stopped early. We had only stopped once all day, for about 10 minutes, so we were tired and hungry. Hypothermia wasn’t far away. I started to shiver as soon as we stopped moving, then couldn’t stop. My fingers didn’t work, making it very hard to unpack and help put up the tent (never easy when it’s raining.) I cried from cold and frustration. It wasn’t a great day. All we could see was that there were steep cliffs all around us. The many talus slopes we crossed told us that too. We did see six lakes. This is the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, and for once the PCT actually goes near them. (I still remember Oregon’s Sky Lakes Wilderness.) The only wildlife we saw were birds, including two grouse that didn’t want to move out of a dry spot they had found on the trail. They were quite upset with us.
We met seven backpackers, including one southbound PCT flip-flopper known as Beaker and one guy camped almost on the trail in a tent. It is frustrating: from the glimpses we got, and the guidebook description, this is beautiful dramatic country. Our best views were about 100 yards, but mostly we could only see about 10 feet ahead. The snow/sleet was interesting, and there were lots of flowers, but it was still disappointing to see so little. Singing helped on the downhills, but it was frustrating slipping and sliding in the mud on wet roots and rocks. There were some powerful thunderclaps nearby as we topped one ridge. Thundersnow!
Saturday, September 9: Spade Creek — 21.9 miles (2434.2)
It rained all night, but stopped for a while as we were packing up. We were camped at 4800’ and snow level was 5000’, so we were lucky not to have to deal with frozen gear, just wet. I hate putting on wet clothes in the morning! Today was much like yesterday: off and on showers and drizzle. No sleet or hail though. We got doubly soaked from the bushes. We only walked in snow for a short while up on Escondido Ridge. It snowed about an inch there. We didn’t get much in the way of views, though occasionally we could see across the valley. There were a few gloomy grey lakes and lots of beautiful waterfalls, tumbling from the glaciers above. The prettiest was actually three waterfalls that merged partway down the cliff to become one long 2000’ fall. There was a lot of color from the maples and huckleberries--red, orange and gold. We saw one deer and a couple of backpackers, including Chris, another flip-flopper. He and Beaker were stopped by a forest fire near Belden and decided to jump up to Canada and hike south rather than continue northbound. They have a better chance of finishing the trail this way.
Sunday, September 10: Glacier Lake — 22.8 miles (2457.0)
We woke to heavy rain, which eased as we climbed. It sprinkled off and on all day. The sun came out for about ten minutes late in the afternoon and almost got us to stop early. Our gear is really wet from all the rain this week. There wasn’t much in the way of views, just fog, clouds and drizzle. There were more lakes and waterfalls, some steep cliffs and talus slopes. Cathedral Peak was just a dim outline behind a cloud. We ate lunch hidden in a small grove of trees. There were three big climbs today: 2600’ up to Cathedral Pass, 700’ to Deception Pass and another 1600’ to snowy Pieper Pass. We’re tired. Also cold, wet, sore and chaffed. Not a great day.
Monday, September 11: Skykomish/Stevens Pass—14.6 miles (2471.6)
The sun came out at last. Halleluiah! We can actually see the jagged peaks and ridges all around us. It’s beautiful, especially with the autumn color of the huckleberry bushes. We passed several small lakes and did a lot of steep up and down. At lunch we made a start at drying out our gear. With so much rain, it is impossible to keep the sleeping bags dry. Condensation in our small tents, and even just folding the wet tents in the morning, mean that the inside gets soaked after a while. We spent a pretty miserable night in our soaked sleeping bags. Jim offered to take the wetter side. No wonder I love him! We cuddled to keep warm, but didn’t sleep much. Sly was even wetter in his down bag, but slept like a baby. I hurt in too many places to sleep well, even without the dampness.
We saw only four backpackers this morning, heading south. I imagine the rain kept the weekend crowds down. I don’t blame them. It hasn’t been fun slogging along in the rain day after day. We only had snow and sleet the first day, fortunately, but we walked in a couple of inches of new snow on the north side of Pieper Pass yesterday. Funny, every time we approach a pass I hope the weather will be better on the other side, eternal optimist that I am. Usually it’s worse. The north side of Pieper was solid cloud/fog. The descent, at the end of a long day, across a huge talus field, was really slow and painful. We were chirped at by marmots or picas. They can really whistle! We’ve managed to stay pretty even-tempered, despite the bad weather. It just makes us more eager to be done. It’s definitely a disappointment, missing so much beautiful country. Today’s sunshine makes such a difference. Being warm again, being able to lounge at lunch instead of just eating and running, looking out at the green ridges around us—life is good again. We woke to frozen boots; at lunch we were barefoot. What a contrast.
In the afternoon we passed through the huge Stevens Pass Ski Area. There were lots of chair-lifts in all directions, including some that they seem to be building. Cheryl picked us up at the pass and drove us 17 miles to Skykomish, the nearest town. We had a food drop there and ended up sharing a motel room. It's so nice to be clean and dry again.
Created: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 Copyright © 2000-2009 Spirit Eagle
