Week 7: Stehekin to Manning Park (Oh, Canada!)

August 16

With under 10 miles to go until Stehekin, we set our alarms and got our headlamps ready for a 4 am wake up call. We wanted to get on the first shuttle out of the trailhead to Stehekin (about 11 miles), which left at 9:15 am (Thanks for keeping us on schedule, Mama Bear!)

The face of a hiker told she is 0.2 miles from STICKY BUNS!

With the thought of pastries fueling us (and my irrational fear that we would get to the trailhead right as a cloud of dust appears behind the shuttle leaving) we got there a full hour early. Thankfully there were picnic tables to sit at and we relaxed until the nicest shuttle lady appeared.

We learned that the shuttle does not actually make a scheduled stop at he bakery and that is done as a courtesy to guests. Our driver said if we could be really quick she could wait 5 minutes for us at the bakery so we could run in and grab something. That was not enough time for us hungry hikers to even decide on what kind of muffin we wanted so we decided to just walk the rest of the (less than two miles) to town.

The bakery was everything we imagined and more. Set in a cute cabin, we helped ourselves to sticky buns (my favorite), cinnamon rolls, delicious quiche, and my favorite new discovery - kugen - kind of a cheesecake crumble. We went back and got more pastries to go after enjoying ourselves on the lawn, and I picked up a new, lighter and softer town shirt - goodbye Shelter Cove!

On our walk into town we passed the Garden, and wandered inside. The Garden grows a wide variety of organic vegetables, sources fresh organic fruit from nearby Chelan, and keeps bees and goats for delicious honey, cheese, and yogurt. The Gardener (Karl) was an amazing character - completely zen, he walked around his farm barefoot and welcomed us to look around. Even the way he softly spoke was incredibly calming, and I loved the mantras he had written out in his garden.

Mama Bear, Patchy, and Festivus left to go hitch into town while me, Radio and Happy Camel talked to the gardener and made our purchases - creamy goat cheese and peaches. On our walk back, we passed ripe blackberry bushes and the most inviting dock over the lake which we promptly jumped in. The icy lake was the best refresher on this hot walk.

Once we got into town we started the usual chores - shower, laundry, resupply. Stehekin had a great little A-frame available for hikers with public showers and laundry. We also paid a visit to the neighborhood eye-patched postman we had heard so much about from Scratch - he had a great classic rock playlist going while he worked. We picked up our resupply box and a care package from Sarah and Andrew - thanks for the goodies!

We figured out a campsite for the night and Mama Bear sat us down and asked if we would be interested in going sailing, even though it meant staying another day and taking a true zero. Apparently the man who had picked them up into town owns the gorgeous boat we had seen moored at the lake and invited us out the next afternoon. Of course we all said yes!

That night we had dinner at The Ranch, a lodge slightly out of town. We took a shuttle to a barn that served family style specials - that nights was roast - and we sat ourselves down at long picnic tables over a straw floor. The food was plentiful and delicious and we waddled back to the shuttle.

The only downside about this picture perfect town was that the wifi was absolutely horrid and there was no cell service to be had - which made coordinating logistics a nightmare. We wanted to nail down our plan to flip back to Portland and order the few items of gear we needed but we were unable to - the most my phone could eek out was a few iMessages before the internet completely crapped out.

Sunset at the landing - across from the general store and the center of the town.

August 17

The next morning we woke up and took care of repackaging our food for the next section, which is the most dreaded chore of any town stop. We were going to make a push for it and do 100 miles in three and a half days, so we didn't need too much food.

We rented bikes with Patchy and Happy Camel in the morning to bike down to the bakery and helped ourselves to more delicious treats. Pedaling is an awesome feeling after doing so much walking!

Cozying up in Bob's chairs at the bakery for round two.

We spent the day relaxing and charged our phones at the Visitors Center, where I found a flash card flip book full of bird facts, and a binder outlining Stehekin history. I fully intend to dazzle Radio with my newfound knowledge while out on the trail. For example, Grey Jays are commonly called "camp robbers" due to their cute yet bold nature. We knew that already but it was fun to see it as a fact!

With the horrible internet, I finally found out from Cati that she and Olivia had sent a care package to Stehekin! I was really excited and ran back to the post office. I didn't get it yesterday because he had misspelled my name, but I got a goodie box full of candy, snacks, and "spa treatments" - just what I had been missing! I was so excited I took another shower and used my exfoliating washcloth and fancy body soap. I even got to wash my face with actual face wash! Thank you guys so much!

Soon, like with all zero days, it was late afternoon already. We walked over to Bob's house a little early to get a tour of his amazing wood shop we had spied from the street. It was incredible. He welcomed us in and we saw many of his half finished projects, including these delightful armchairs for the bakery. We also met Maya, his cute Australian shepherd puppy. We walked through the amazing wood shop to a beautiful thriving garden and then he invited us into his straw- built house he had built himself. Apparently I'm late to the game on this, but Happy Camel and Mama Bear were super impressed with the straw house as it's considered one of the best environmental and economical ways to build a house.

Now, I could write a whole post about Bob, but his house was incredible. Detailed woodworking and tasteful decorations with incredible personal touches abounded. There was even a climbing wall up the winding staircase and a rope climb in the middle of the living room. I was in heaven, and couldn't believe something like this existed. Even the bathroom had vintage ski bindings as door locks!

Bob as a person also had an impressive resume. Special forces in the military, commercial fisherman, engineer, carpenter, father of an Olympian, arborist, and probably many many more.

I could not get enough of this face and the life vest!

He took us out on his boat and Maya came too, in her adorable life vest. He taught Happy Camel how to sail and Patchy and Radio hung out on the front of the boat. It was the perfect day!

We came back to the landing to have one last dinner in town before heading back to our camp.

August 18

We packed up and started walking to the bakery for one final breakfast (and to grab a day-old sticky bun to go). Yesterday Bob had told us about an alternate to the PCT out of Stehekin that would give us additional views (at the cost of 5,000 extra feet of elevation gain), but we also wouldn't need to pay $8 to get back on the shuttle to the trailhead. Of course we took it, and the alternate took us up over McAlester Pass.

The climb was tough, and we ended up going 24 Fitbit miles to travel 20 trail miles. Everyone was tired at the end of the day and we camped at Rainy Pass trailhead - just downwind of some outhouses.

While we were making dinner, we heard a little bell ringing and suddenly, the silliest little daschund ran by, wiggling around our camp checking it out. His name was Peter and he ran back to his family when called. Definitely an unexpected thing to brighten our night.

As we had run out of dehydrated Mountain House meals, we were lucky enough to have Mama Bear home cooked meals from the hiker box for our dinners, and I had delicious curry rice.

August 19

We did our planned 30 mile day today - a new record for our group!

Incredible view of the North Cascades. L to R: Radio, Bites, Patchy, Happy Camel, Mama Bear — Incredible view of the North Cascades.
L to R: Radio, Bites, Patchy, Happy Camel, Mama Bear

The morning was great and I had a nice time hiking with our trail family. I had some good chats with Mama Bear and enjoyed some incredible views. It was a long and hard day, but it was worth it.

In the late morning, Mama Bear stopped us to observe a couple of marmots on the trail. "Are they meat eaters?" she asked, as we watched them tearing into something fuzzy.

As we got closer it looked like a mature marmot and a juvenile munching on... Another marmot! Definitely gross. We chased them off the trail and they hopped onto a nearby rock and started cuddling as they watched us inspect their dead brethren. Expertly, Mama and Patchy declared the marmot not long dead and Patchy gently tossed it off trail with his trekking poles, to the screeching protests of the other marmots.

We also saw another black bear from afar in the forest today!

Dinner was another Mama Bear special, cous cous with chicken, macadamia nuts and dried apricots. We are so spoiled - we've even run out of fuel and they've been so nice to lend us hot water for the rest of our trip! We tossed them a few ramens as a camp trade.

August 20

Today the foot is definitely hurting. We had a slow morning, and I'm thankful for Radio always sticking by me and supporting me when I have tough starts like this.

We met a really nice SOBO girl named Pony and we traded some tips with her. The nice chat we had really lifted my spirits and soon we were reminiscing about Peter the dauschund as the silliest most unexpected part of the trail when we turned the corner to see not one, but two llama heads poke up out of some bushes. They were pack llamas! We chatted with their owners for a bit, a nice couple from Washington who had been keeping llamas for 35 years. They had hilarious llama puns for all of their names, including Llama Bean, Llama-kaze, Sa-llama on Rye and Frederick Llamas.

We managed to catch the family for lunch despite our crawling pace. We were lamenting the drop and subsequent climb on the trail ahead of us when we noticed the old PCT along a ridge line. Me and Radio checked it out and decided to go for it - the beginning of the trail looked really well maintained and if we could make it through a stretch of sketchy gravel, we'd be home free and cut out not just some miles but also some climbing from the trail.

We made it about a quarter of a mile before the trail disappeared into gravel that slid beneath us with every step, sending rocks cascading down the mountain. The trail turned a corner and got immediately more sketchy, so we tested a few steps and ultimately turned around and slowly made our way back, carefully stepping in the sliding sand. Later we learned that Happy Camel, Mama Bear and Patchy had taken this alternate, gotten further than us and couldn't turn around, and had to walk down the entire face.

We had some nice views later in the afternoon and the day got long. I saw several cute "camsters" (short for "cave hamsters", a nickname for the pikas we see squeaking at us like toys) and several decidedly not-cute marmots.

We ambled into camp late and had some Mama Bear curry for dinner, before falling promptly asleep. 27 miles after 30 miles is not an easy day!

August 21

We woke up early to do a short 5 miles to the monument because Happy Camel then has to turn around and hike back to Harts Pass. It was great seeing the monument, even though this classic "finish line" represents only approximately 1/3rd of our Pacific Crest Trail adventure.

Much more of a momentous occasion for Happy Camel, Patchy and Mama Bear, we shared hugs and passed around the trail register.

We still had 8 more miles until Manning Park, and the eclipse came shortly. To be completely honest, Radio and I didn't even notice the eclipse as we were too busy hiking the not-well-maintained trail into Canada.

There was a short road walk to the resort when a van pulled up beside us - containing Patchy's dad and sister. They had just met Patchy and Mama Bear at the resort and came to pick us up. We met up with them and went downstairs to enjoy the free pool showers. The ladies working at Manning Park were super nice and helpful, and once clean we walked over to the restaurant for some lunch.

We had a great time with the Topps as Patchy's sister shared some hilarious stories. We grabbed milkshakes and said our goodbyes before walking back to the lodge to hopefully find some stronger internet connection.

We had planned to purchase our greyhound bus tickets from Manning Park to Vancouver, and a flight from Vancouver to Portland once we got to Manning Park as we had just had a stretch of 2 weeks without any service to take care of these details. Unfortunately, the greyhound bus was sold out, and the next one left the next day at 2am, delaying us a whole additional day. We were a little nervous at this point, as we wanted to get to Portland, so we decided to try our luck at hitching to Vancouver.

Hitting the sunny highway at 3pm, we brought a sign that said "PCT Hikers to Vancouver" made from some cardboard and a sharpie borrowed from the lodge front desk. Waving and smiling, we hoped to come across as the cute couple innocently hitchhiking, not a murderous duo looking for new victims.

A tour bus ended up pulling over and I ran over to say hi and ask if we could actually get a ride. The bus driver was a really cool dude, and the bus was full of mostly European tourists on a package vacation around Canada. Apparently they had taken a vote on wether to pick us up, and we had our ride all the way straight to downtown Vancouver.

While at one point we were thinking of staying in the airport and booking the next flight to Portland, I realized we would likely be way too tired to function without a nights rest and proposed we stay in Vancouver for the night and fly out in the mid morning. This would have been our plan anyway had we gotten tickets for the 2am greyhound.

The tour bus stopped in front of a hostel associated with the tour company and we asked about rooms. It would be $140 for us to share a 6-bed dorm room, which felt crazy to me. I looked around at all the trendy backpacking signs around and concluded this was a ritzy hostel, and said we should check out the Hostel International across the street. With no bells and whistles, we got a private room and private bath for $100.

We were really happy about this and figured out how we would take the train in the morning to the airport and booked our tickets, ordered a final Amazon prime shipment, and went to the grocery store to pick up our cravings: a nice glass bottle of milk, Arizona ice tea, a pressed juice, carrots and hummus. It's crazy how our taste buds have changed from the sugar overload which was Stehekin.

We settled in for the night and showered, enjoyed the wifi and ate our dinner, excited to head to Portland in the morning.

My entry in the Canadian Border trail register at the northern terminus of the trail.