CS2555 to Stehekin – 9-15

The shuttle to Stehekin leaves at 12:30, 15 miles from here. We got up early, and hiked fast.

Stehekin is the last town on the PCT. There is no way to drive into Stehekin — its roads don’t connect. To get there, you either have to take a ferry or sea plane to the dock on Lake Chelan, or you have to hike to the Stehekin road system and ride the shuttle into town. It has no power lines or telephone lines to the outside world. It has a bakery, post office, ranch, vegetable garden, and lodge.

A shower and hot meal sounded awfully good. So I hiked fast, running on the downhills, and not taking pictures.

The effort paid off, and we were within range of the shuttle with time to spare. Washington’s terrain had been easy on us this morning.

We caught the shuttle with well over 20 other hikers, and rode the bumpy ride into town. It stopped briefly at the bakery for everybody to get lunch — their chocolate coffee cake was delicious.

Once in Stehekin proper, we were lucky — we got the last room in the lodge. We picked up our resupplies, did laundry and showers, and stared out at Lake Chelan.

The lodge had an attached restaurant, and I filled up on their Fettuccini and their fried green beans. I didn’t have room for a milkshake, so I just ordered ice cream.

This was a mistake. The ice cream was delicious, I should’ve had it in milkshake form.

After dinner, we had beer on the deck, read through decades-old copies of National Geographic in the lounge, and went to bed.

89 miles left.