May 7, 2025
Rainbow Falls, Washington, 1954
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Rainbow Falls, Washington, 1954
Easy and Pioneer Fire Update
Welcome cooler temperatures with associated rain is falling throughout western Washington. The North Cross Highway or Washington State Highway 20 has just reopened after several closures over the course of the last month due to fire and mudslides. These events have blocked hikers passage for the past several weeks and will continue to do so between Stevens and Rainy passes. The rain may allow for hikers heading north to Canada a bit more promise. As of today (August 22, 2024) the Easy fire is 36% contained. That means that it will continue to be a presence until the fall rains move in weeks from now in a typical pattern. Since this fire began so early in the season there is no accurate way to predict when it will be declared a contained fire. What is 'typical' is very hard to define throughout the western United States in 2024.
The bigger fire, the Pioneer fire near Stehekin on Lake Chelan is still only 23% contained. The fire is staying within it existing 38,735 acre footprint. For now, Stehekin is not accepting visitors (hikers or anyone else) so hikers coming from the south will need to exit the PCT at Stevens Pass for the most direct way to leapfrog to Hart's Pass near Mazama.
We will continue to monitor these fires and their impact on the PCT. Todays cool and unseasonable rain is welcome but also brings the threat of lightning all along the Cascade crest. As August wanes the opportunity for hikers to thru hike the entire PCT once again is not ensured before temperatures drop and snow flies in the North Cascades.
Pioneer fire along the shores of Lake Chelan
That Weekend We Backpacked Into Stehekin On The Lakeshore During Wildfire Season And Saw Two Bears and A Moose!
That Weekend We Backpacked Into Stehekin On The Lakeshore During Wildfire Season And Saw Two Bears and A Moose! #backpacking #Stehekin #wildlife
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Lake Chelan looking back leaving Stehekin;
Nov. 2019
North Cascades Photography – Hike to Stehekin
Along Cascade River Road
The hike from the Skagit Valley up and over Cascade Pass and down along the river to the remote village of Stehekin, on the northern shore of Lake Chelan is a magnificent journey. Sort of like crossing the Misty Mountains to get to Rivendell, there is a lot to see!
It is a 23 mile (37 km) hike from the Cascade Pass parking lot to High Bridge, where shuttle service is available to Stehekin. The entire trip falls with in the North Cascades National Park. Depending upon your level of motivation the basic trip can be done in 2 or 3 days.
However I would recommend 3 or 4 days for the trip. There are several detours along the way that are really to incredible to miss.
The journey starts along the Cascade Loop Highway in Marblemount. The North Cascades National Park Wilderness Information Center is located there. To camp anywhere in the park you need a permit. Here is all you need to know to obtain one! I highly recommend the trail guide: “Hiking the North Cascades” by Erik Molvar (Falcon Press). There are accurate and detailed descriptions of the trails and you’ll find a lot of useful info.
Once that’s all done you’ll be heading up the Cascade River Road to its end, at the parking lot for Cascade Pass. The road gets a bit sketchy at the end, and you wont be able to stop gawking at the views!
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Cascade Pass
Cascade Pass
Doubtful Creek
Doubtful Creek
The trip has one up section, and this is it: 3.7 miles of switch backs to Cascade Pass, an elevation gain of 1,700 feet. The views start near the top, there is one last switchback and then the trail turns east and approaches the pass.
The Pass is a great place for a break, and you’ll see a lot of people there. From this spot, its all down hill to Stehekin!
Dropping from Cascade Pass the trail navigates around the upper basin and soon passes the Pelton Basin campground. It’s not long before the switchbacks start. Whereas the trail up to the pass from the Skagit side is completely in forest, here the trail is exposed to the hot sun.
One nice surprise is the waterfall along Doubtful Creek as it bisects the trail on the east side of Cascade Pass, where there are small pools providing a much needed break and swim.
Many people who make the sojourn from Cascade Pass to Lake Chelan make a straight trip from the Cascade Pass parking area to Stehekin, with no side trips. But there is one of the most awesome valleys in all the North Cascades (Horseshoe Basin) that you should not pass up as you make your journey.
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Glory Mountain from Horseshoe Basin, North Cascades National Park
Horseshoe Basin, North Cascades National Park
Horseshoe Basin, North Cascades National Park
Black Warrior Mine
Black Warrior Mine
Black Warrior Mine
Black Warrior Mine
A short distance from Doubtful Creek is the trail to Horseshoe Basin. You can drop your big packs and day hike up to the Basin, or, if you scored a camp site at Basin Creek Camp, you can stay an extra day exploring Horseshoe Basin and the Black Warrior Mine.
The trail follows the stream up from the trail junction into Horseshoe Basin; it follows a course along the stream, across the stream and in the stream, brushy and wet. Shortly the trail emerges into a clearing where boulders dot the basin floor. Climbing up on the largest, the view is transfixing. The green bowl is surrounded with grandeur, full of color and drama.
Horseshoe Basin, North Cascades National Park
The Horseshoe Basin trail is less than 2 easy miles from the trail junction to the head of the valley and the Mine.
The North Cascades are full of old mining claims; piles of colorful tailings and rusted remains of sluices and Pelton wheels littered about. But I had never visited a mine that I could enter and explore. The Black Warrior Mine operated until the mid-1950′s and is a National Historic Place. There is a sign at the entrance giving a brief history of the mine, the names of the prospectors and misled investors who poured their mostly futile efforts into this hole. There are two main cavernous rooms blasted into the mountain side which make the opening of the mine. One of these “rooms” served as a kitchen while the other was used for workbenches and tools. Wooden supports and floor boards are flooded with water. Old tables and remains of habitation litter the floor. The shaft of the mine runs deep; several miles of tunnel remain, open for any brave person to explore.
When you tire of the basin and continue on your way down the Stehekin Valley you’ll pass several camp sites: Cottonwood Camp was once the last stop on the bus route from Stehekin! Traveling is pretty easy, for the most part you are following along the road following the bus route to Stehekin. But the road has been washed away in several places, replaced by a foot trail.
At Park Creek is another camp and the trail (Park Creek Trail) heads up to Park Creek Pass and continues over and down to Colonial Creek camp, on Highway 20.
Bridge Creek is another large camp along your route and is where you meet the Pacific Crest Trail. From here its 5 miles to High Bridge. Many years ago the entire road washed away in a flood. So for the next 5 miles you’ll be hiking along the PCT!
IF you have the time and energy, plan another day here and make a day trip up the North Fork of Bridge Creek. Its too long to describe here and will be the subject of an entire post soon!
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Mount Logan
North Fork Meadows
Goode Mtn, from North Fork Trail
Walking along the Stehekin River Road is in itself fantastic. The river cuts a deep cleft through the cliffs at High Bridge and the confluence with Bridge Creek creates a wondrous series of cataracts and islands. From High Bridge there is a regular bus that takes you the last 10 miles to Stehekin. Check the Park Service site for the bus schedule.
Your hike must include a visit to the Stehekin Pastry Company. Delicious, fresh treats, ice cream, espresso, friendly staff and a comfortable place to relax…
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Lake Chelan
Stehekin
Pastry Heaven
Welcoming Committee
Organic Garden
Arriving in Stehekin
Everything about Stehekin is awesome. Its remoteness (you can only reach it by hiking, ferry boat or float plane), the people are cool, scads of awesome things to see and do…even the Post Office is a neat place to just visit!
Beside the Pastry Company there is a restaurant, a lodge, and a post office. Thru hikers on the PCT mail resupply items to them selves at Stehekin. Its the last stop on the route to Canada. Late in the summer you will often run into some of the PCT hikers as they finish the last few days of their 2,400 mile trek!
When you’re done restin’ and ready to go home you can either walk back the way you came, or catch the Lady of the Lake to Chelan!
Here are a few more images from the trail…
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Sahale Peak from Stehekin River Trail
NCNP Bus
Rainbow Falls, Stehekin
Along the Stehekin River Road
Bridge Creek
Lake Chelan
North Cascades Photography – Hike to Stehekin North Cascades Photography - Hike to Stehekin The hike from the Skagit Valley up and over Cascade Pass and down along the river to the remote village of Stehekin, on the northern shore of Lake Chelan is a magnificent journey.
Fire Updates and Impacts
In a previous post a description of the fires plaguing the western U.S. right now was laid out. How the fire closures are impacting the PCT was also described. That prior post spoke of the Easy Fire near Rainy Pass. It is not being easy at all but takes its name from nearby Easy Pass. In what is described as steep terrain a fire line as been established on the south/east side of Washington State Highway 20 otherwise known as the North Cross Highway. The hope that this firebreak will slow the advance of the fire is what fire bosses are betting on. Firefighters are currently hiking over 3,400 feet of elevation gain to access areas of the Easy Fire and establish helicopter landing pads.
Meanwhile another even bigger fire is threatening the PCT along the shores of Lake Chelan and the popular PCT resupply point in the village of Stehekin that is only accessible by foot, boat, or floatplane. This fire is dubbed the Pioneer Fire. A short change in the weather helped firefighters at both the Easy and Pioneer Fires with a little light rain and temporarily cooler temperatures. The Pioneer Fire has so far devoured just over 33,000 acres according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Compared to the apparently human caused Park Fire in California this seems so much smaller but no less significant. The hot and dry conditions will return to the western U.S. over the course of the next several days. How this affects fire behavior is fairly predictable in that more acres will go up in flames due to lower humidity and higher temperatures. The temporary break in the weather has helped firefighters on the Easy and Piorneer Fires a short but important opportunity to strengthen fire lines and take down snags and clear easily ignitable undergrowth.
What this all means to hikers walking the PCT is difficult to determine. With a variety of closures in all three states the PCT stretches through people are forced to be creative as well as prudent in their pursuit of thru hiking this season. As in years passed hikers are forced to 'leapfrog' portions of the trail in order to continue to make any kind of progress while staying safe and achieve their PCT completion goal. For places like Stehekin (near High Bridge Camp) and Rainy Pass (along Highway 20) the impact of the trail closures may be somewhat diminished as hikers don't typically get to northwest Washington until mid August and through September. Only time and weather conditions will tell.
Aerial picture of the Pioneer Fire near Stehekin
We will continue to monitor these fires and many of the others threatening the Pacific Crest Trail. Fires have always been a factor when considering a hike on the PCT but this factor has grown exponentially over the past fifteen years or so. Part of anyone's PCT hiking experience nowadays includes walking through long gray stretches of burned out forests. For me hiking through some of these areas was when I fully comprehended the scope of these fires that seem to break out every year. My appreciation for the work of the firefighters who work so hard to control and contain these natural and not so natural disasters also have found new clarity for me. These are the heroes and heroines of the drama we are witnessing every summer and autumn throughout the west and specifically up and down the PCT.
View from the Stehekin ferry landing of the encroaching Pioneer Fire
No Room at the PO
This is a two-part post Howard wrote about the post office in Stehekin. The second post includes a job opening.
About a month ago I was in Stehekin. This is the last outpost at the north end of Lake Chelan. Stehekin is a popular spot for many PCT hikers to arrive at. Known for the popular bakery, laundromat, and tiny post office not mention a cold dip in the lake. Many thru hikers come to Stehekin to collect what may be their last resupply box before finishing the trail.
Stehekin is both picturesque and a welcome respite from the trail. There isn't a lot there but there is the bakery/restaurant, a limited store along with a Park Service office and a few other amenities. Being in Stehekin in mid-August I was surprised to notice the number of thru hikers already coming through on their way north. Some had jumped ahead due to fires down south and some had gotten started at the southern terminus in March. Still others talked about high average mile days (25+). These were the leading edges of the 'bubble' making its way toward Canada.
A friend who spends his summers in Stehekin volunteering for the North Cascades National Park at the Buckner orchard site suggested I drop by the postoffice. He knew my interest in the PCT and thought I would appreciate how many resupply boxes were there. He was right. The little Stehekin post office was overflowing with boxes. So much so that they had an extra metal shipping container outside to help manage the abundance. I have seen other places that collect hiker boxes but this was really on quite a scale for the tiny post office.
I was informed that many boxes go unclaimed. Certainly there are any number of circumstances that befall PCT hikers between the time they leave the southern terminus and the time they expect to get to Stehekin. These unclaimed boxes will be sent back provided they have a return address at no charge. That in itself is an amazing fact.
It appears that for a few weeks every year this local post office gets more traffic than zip codes twice or three times its size. The lowly small post office is something many of us take for granted. What a loss it would be to not have the services that exist up and down the PCT serving hikers as they make their trek north or south. Many of those services are dependent upon the USPS.
A Visual Compendium
Excerpted from the Seattle Times Pacific Northwest Magazine, March 7, 2021
By Joshua Powell
Hiker Haven
IN 2003, JERRY Dinsmore invited three thru-hikers back to his home, thinking they were homeless and in need of help. He soon learned they were hiking the PCT, and Hiker Haven was born. Jerry and his wife, Andrea, hosted hikers every year after that and became particularly adept at helping northbound hikers make wise decisions regarding the potentially dangerous weather north of Stevens Pass.
When I visited in 2014, plastic pink flamingos adorned the yard. Andrea’s license plate read, “PCT MOM,” and next to it was a bumper sticker that stated, “Hug a logger. You’ll never go back to trees.” Hikers did their laundry and wandered about in borrowed clothing. One woman wore a tiny dress, revealing a smattering of tattoos. A male hiker donned a dress as well, the hair on his shoulders and back sticking out in large patches. A German hiker joked in his thick accent, “You look silly … but sexy.”
Jerry Dinsmore, clad in suspenders and a vintage Kenworth Trucks shirt, pulled up a chair alongside me, and we sat and watched as a train rolled past, loaded down with airplanes en route to the Boeing facility near Seattle. They were only fuselages, devoid of their wings.
“There’s a tunnel a few miles back with a pile of wings next to the entrance,” he joked.
Another thru-hiker, fresh from Stevens Pass, was dropped off in the driveway. Andrea greeted him, reaching out her arm to shake hands. He instinctively stuck out his closed hand, offering the customary thru-hiker fist bump.
“Oh, that’s not gonna go over well,” Jerry said, laughing.
The PCT community lost a very special member with the passing of Andrea in 2017. Jerry still welcomes hikers to his home in Baring.
Glacier Peak Wilderness
THE SURROUNDING RIDGES are carpeted in luminous green meadows lit up by the morning sun. The sky is free of haze, and the surrounding mountains are crystal clear as far as the eye can see. Rainier still reveals itself from time to time, peeking over southern ridges. Marmots whistle from the berry bushes, their heads protruding from the leaves like periscopes as they scan their surroundings. The trail at times crosses over snowfields and then past small Mica Lake, which still harbors floating ice. With September drawing near, the ice is unlikely to melt before the snow once again begins to fall — it has been victorious in its resistance to summer.
Glacier Peak seems to be Washington’s forgotten volcano — due in part to its location within a large, roadless wilderness area. From surrounding areas, there are fewer dramatic views of the mountain than there are of Adams, Rainier or Baker. It tends to blend in with the tall, jagged peaks surrounding it. The thru-hiker, however, gets to know the volcano intimately as the PCT skirts along its base and crosses the creeks draining its slopes, gaining and losing thousands of feet of elevation in the process.
The Big 5 Washington volcanoes visible from the PCT
Stehekin
FROM SUIATTLE PASS, the landscape seems to gradually tilt downward toward the horizon, and hikers can look forward to a descent all the way to Stehekin, the final trail town of the PCT — famous in thru-hiker lore for its bakery. It sits secluded at the northern tip of Lake Chelan, accessible only by boat, plane or hiking trail. To say that it’s remote is an understatement.
The PCT brings hikers to the end of the single road that leads into town. From there they can get on the National Park Service shuttle or perhaps catch a ride with a local fisherman. Stehekin is small and compact, with an idyllic location amid the lake and mountains. All the vehicles parked at the ferry landing seem at least four or five decades old, only adding to the feeling that time stands still in this lakeside town.
Hikers can set up for the night in a tiny campground perched on a miniature bluff above the water, watching brightly colored float planes land upon the lake’s surface and skim to a halt. When night falls, the view of the Milky Way is breathtaking. Stehekin translates to “the way through,” an appropriate name for a trail town on a thru-hike.
Stehekin’s main road curves around the marshy northernmost tip of Lake Chelan, where the Little Boulder Creek empties into the lake. It is the extreme end of a 50-mile body of water that narrowly snakes through the mountains down to the dry and sun-baked wine country of Central Washington, so drastically different from the often-overcast and rainy North Cascades.
An old Chevy pickup passes by on the road. Owned by the Stehekin Pastry Company, it is on its way down to the boat landing. A girl and dog sit atop the wooden flatbed of the truck. Farther down the road is a beautiful garden full of cabbage, kale and other produce. A row of dahlias lines a pathway, the intricately geometrical puffs of each flower leading the way toward an apiary buzzing with honey bees. On a bench rests a pile of rainbow chard, the leaves bright green and glossy and the stems neatly arranged in shifting hues of orange, yellow and purple.
The bakery truck passes again, headed back in the other direction. This time, the girl sits in the passenger seat, and the flatbed is piled high with boxes and goods that have been boated in. The little dog is positioned atop the huge pile with his chest puffed out, standing guard over his precious cargo.
Epilogue
AS YOU HIKE mile after mile across three states, you imagine that final moment of reaching the border to be an overwhelming experience, assuming the gravity of it will hit you like a ton of bricks. In reality, however, when you’ve lived out every month and week and day and hour and minute and second that transpires between Mexico and Canada, it’s not quite as dramatic as you might expect.
There was no surprise in the end, but the sense of accomplishment was hardly diminished. And with it came the realization that it was all over, and I was headed back to real life, full of its own unique joys and difficulties. I couldn’t stay on the trail forever, nor did I wish to. I simply hoped to find the next big thing to work toward, the next passion that would consume me from waking until bedtime.