Washington Part 2

The last resupply point on the trail for us was Stehekin, a small town accessible by ferry or foot only.  It is at the western end of Lake Chelan.  Apart from the lake, there are two incredible things Stehekin has to offer.

1. An organic garden.  

You tell the man what you would like, and he goes and picks it for you.  

2. A Bakery

I am not the biggest connoisseur of baked goods, but Tim is.  He was blown away.  We spent a small fortune here.  And things were reasonably priced!

It was so much fun to be with these fellow hikers, all of us knowing that it was just a matter of a few days before we would be off to the "real world."  I think we all wanted to savor what time we had left on trail, living this simple yet fulfilling lifestyle.

Our first day back on trail we ran into a bear.  It could care less about us.  We had to yell to get it to move off, which it finally did, but at a slow and leisurely pace.

Tim's parents drove our car from Iowa to Washington for us and brought our dog, Rio as well.  We had invited them to meet us near the end of the trail, and hike the last 35 miles to the border with us.  

Our first day, we hiked over 11 miles.  I cooked our normal fare for dinner.  Rice and cheese wrapped in a tortilla. 

The following day contained difficult terrain.  There was allot of elevation gain and loss.  Plus, the mountains in the north Cascades are steep, so there are often dramatic drop offs to the side of the trail.

Despite the challenges, we hiked over 20 miles making it to the Canadian border as dusk set in.  To our surprise and joy, our friends had waited for us at the border!

The crew:  Hawkeye, Kombucha, Cheese, Toast, Focus, Caveman and Wrong Way

The Smocks!

Our wonderful friend Wrong Way.  We met him on the CDT in 2010, and knew we would see him again some day.  It was such a fun surprise to run into him on this hike, and to hike over 1,000 miles with him.  This is his double Triple Crown, meaning that he has hike the AT, PCT, and CDT 2 times each.  He also just completed a hike/bike circumnavigation of our country.  What an amazing guy!

Our celebration revolved around chocolate!

We built a campfire (our second of the trail), stayed up late chatting, and camped together one last time.  The next morning we chatted some more and then said our goodbyes.  All of the other hikers packed their bags and continued hiking north another 8 miles into Canada.  There, they would reach Manning Park, and would catch a bus to Vancouver, and then catch trains and planes to wherever HOME was for each of them.

Tim, Rio, Dennis, Doll and I packed our bags and turned around, hiking south, back to the closest road at Harts Pass, 35 miles away, where our car waited for us.

It was fun to southbound.  We met hikers who were almost to the border, exchanged congratulations and said our goodbyes.

Tim's parents and Rio hiked close to 65 miles with us.  It was a wonderful way to end the adventure.