Stehekin to CS2592 – 9-16

The bus to the trailhead (via the bakery) didn’t leave until 9:15, so we had time to spare in the morning. I chose to use it productively, by going down to the restaurant and having a milkshake for breakfast.

The chocolate ice cream last night had been terrific, but this morning they had no chocolate left. So I fell back on their most interesting flavor, raspberry mint.

The milkshake didn’t quite fill the time, so I spent more time in the lodge lobby reading National Geographic issues from the early ’80s, and trying to figure out how I’ll get home. It turns out, train companies tend to have awful web sites where buying a ticket is nigh unto impossible. Who’d’ve thought companies selling 19th century technology would have trouble with 21st century commerce.

By and by, the bus showed up, and soon enough we were at the bakery.

I enthusiastically ordered a large breakfast of baked goods, forgetting I’d already had a breakfast milkshake.

There was no time to eat in the store, so I ate my breakfast on the shaky bus ride to the trailhead. The giant cinnamon roll was good, but I think I lost half the frosting in my unkempt hiker beard.

At last, we arrived at the trailhead, gave away surplus food, and started hiking. Soon enough, there were no signs of civilization nearby.

Otherwise, the trail was fairly uneventful today. It was mostly either damp Washington forest or clearings with vine maple.

There were many bridge crossings over creeks today, though none of the creeks were really high enough to need bridges.

We also had our last paved highway crossing today, at a place called Rainy Pass on Washington Highway 20.

Just across the highway, we were warned of a hornet’s nest on the trail. We were warned by five hikers, a trail angel, a Post-It, Pathfinder back in Snoqualmie Pass, and this piece of paper:

When we got to the area with the hornet nest, I put on my hat, gloves, and head net, and walked on by. I didn’t actually notice the nest, I just heard a low buzzing from the ground.

Further up the trail, we got a few views back in the general direction of Rainy Pass, but we were mostly under tree cover.

We camped with a thru-hiker from Nepal. He described how his parents had difficulty understanding what he was doing.

It began to rain as we slept.

66 miles left.