For months now, beginning in early June, I have been feeling a bit discombobulated. I find myself losing track of this that or another thing.
Like I'd not heard from Maxine since about a week after I got back from Arizona last June.
I knew I'd not heard from Maxine due to the fact that every fall Maxine hikes over Cascade Pass to Stehekin, after which I get a report, allowing me then to get to enjoy, vicariously, going to Stehekin, which is one of my favorite locations I have been to. And the Courtney Ranch in the Stehekin Valley, one of my favorite places in which I have consumed vittles.
Long ago, late in the last century, prior to broadband and the resulting lesser need to make photos small, bytesize wise, I made three webpages about a Lady of the Lake boat trip to Stehekin. There is a general page about Stehekin, which mentions a lot of bears. Another page about Hiking in Stehekin. And another about Eating in Stehekin.
Last year I made Maxine's annual Stehekin tale into a blog post on my Washington blog titled Maxine's 2016 North Cascades Adventure Trek To Stehekin. Last year's Stehekin report from Maxine included a lot of photos.
This year's Maxine Stehekin report included only one photo, which is what you see above. In Maxine's 2017 Stehekin report, below, you will read reference made to the fact that the air was smoky. And there was an encounter with two bears, which you can find, if you look close, in the above photo. Due to the photo being so smoky I used a photo filter to filter out some of the smoke.
And now, Maxine's 2017 Hike to Stehekin...
The hike up to the pass was hot and smoky. One of women in the group broke her wrist in 2 places the week before but was determined to hike in with us. She had overpacked and really had a struggle, fortunately her 30 ish son was hiking in too and took part of her load so that helped her immensely.
We had lunch at Doubtful Falls, everyone took off their boots and soaked their feet. Delyn slipped on a wet rock and fell on her right shoulder really hard, fortunately it was just a bruise. We were packing for 2 nights on the trail so all packs were heavier than usual, makes for a more arduous hike.
We saw 2 big black bears in Pelton Basin, thankfully far away. We hiked to a nice campground at Flat Creek. The 2nd day was only 4 miles, we stayed at Bridge Creek campground.
The weather was hot and so some of the younger people in our group (in their 50’s) slept outside under the stars. A mouse ran over one of them. We stayed 3 nights at the Stehekin Ranch. It rained a little and the wind shifted so there wasn’t any smoke. I got a massage, a banjo player stopped by one evening and jammed with the Lauri the Mandolin Player.
I kayaked on Monday and ate pie every night for dessert.
The hike out was 16 or 17 miles. Originally Delyn and I wanted to go in a day early and spend the night at Pelton Basin and take a side trip to Thunder Basin (I think that’s what it’s called, a little valley surrounded by waterfalls), but somehow the whole group ended up going in a day early, I may have opened my big mouth. The campsites are on a first come first serve basis and the sites that would have worked better for our plan were taken. It all worked out, but a 14 mile day followed by a 4 mile day is kind of silly. The woman with the broken wrist decided to take the ferry out, I think the body takes a lot of energy to heal.
Can’t wait until next year for more multi night back packing trips. We hiked up to Cutthroat Pass October 8th hoping to see fall colors and everything was covered with snow. I saw more people than I have ever seen before out on the trail. There was a big article in the Seattle Times about best places to hike for fall color the week before and I think that was the reason we saw so many people. There were a few people using Micro Spikes, like a crampon that goes over your shoes. I thought I had every possible piece of gear but shoot, one more thing I may need.
There was a big storm on the 18th and 19th of October followed by snow in the mountains. A man from Bellingham hiked up Sauk Mt during that time and died. I tell you that mountain is haunted. I haven’t heard the details yet, so can only imagine what happened.
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Yikes, another Sauk Mountain fatality. My worst Nephews in Danger incident took place on Sauk Mountain, when Spencer Jack's uncle, who is also my nephew Joey, and I, hiked to the summit of Sauk Mountain in a mild snowstorm, with ice coating the trail switchbacks near the top. I was being terribly irresponsible. We should have turned back when the trail got icy and the hiking got dicey. But, we were having a mighty fine time, and that top of the mountain kept pulling us higher...
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