30     Skykomish - Stehekin   106 miles

Skykomish

Lake Janus                  11.3 m

Indian Head Peak          23.5 m

Mika Lake                    20.8 m

Middle Ridge                23.2 m

Swampy Creek             17.5 m

Stehekin                       9.5 m

I spent a day in Leavenworth. This place wants to be a copy of a Bavarian village. At least as Bavarian as Americans think it is in Bavaria. The tourist office is located in the town hall. I was received by wto young ladies in dirndl dresses. So far so good. But then both of them could not speak a single word of German. So it's just another Disneyland. As this place is quite a distance from the PCT we had arranged transportation back to the pass. Due to the subsequent later hiking start this was to be a short day on the trail. During the day more and more clouds showed up. Finally we finished up in the clouds. During night it was constantly dripping off the trees. Next morning it took a while until the sun came through. It became a nice day. Better being safe than sorry I set up my tarp the next night. The trail was in a very poor state the next day. This was quite a tough hike. As a result I arrived only after dark at our pre agreed camp site. We spent the night next to a mostly still frozen over lake.

In the past there was a bridge across Suiattle River. It was washed away a number of years ago. From then on the river was crossed on a big log. Now finally a new bridge was installed. Unfortunately this meant an extra five miles of trail. As the log was still there we took the old trail and crossed on the log. Nature had taken back some stretches of the old trail. Finally we arrived at the river and slowly crossed on the log.

The bus to Stehekin in Northern Cascade NP only left at lunch. This allowed us to take it easy. The road from the outside to Stehekin was washed away several years ago. Therefore the bus could only run from High Bridge to Stehekin. In between it stops at the famous bakery. Everyone got off the bus to buy some cakes. The Stehekin Post Office at Lake Chelan held my resupply package. The view at Stehekin was rather limited due to the many forest fires. We could hardly see the lake shore on the other side. Naturally the air quality was rather poor.

Leavenworth in Washington, "Bavarian" style houses

Blow downs

Uphill towards next pass

Glacier creek

Evening mood

Crossing of Suiattle River on a log

Sitting Bull Mountain

Bus transportation in Northern Cascade NP from High Bridge to Stehekin

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