We are hoping to be able to catch one of the three ferry trips out of Stehekin and across the lake to a transport hub. We are both feeling the smoke and pretty congested when it hits.
It is hard to plan since there isn’t phone or cell or internet service.
Since we are coming back next year to do the Lionshead closure and to finish the trail at the terminus monument this seems like the way to go. Will see how it works out.
Got into town. Checked at the booking agent.
We’ve got reservations for tomorrow, killed some time by washing out the hiker box and getting everything arranged and sorted and will ask the ferry captain if they can change up our reservations and fit us in today.
That is something they can do if the cargo allotment isn’t full. They have life jackets for 150 and seats for about fifty. If cargo is light they can set up folding chairs and be within their safe load.
Currently we want to take our time when heading south and get to Tuolumne Meadows on the 12th of September because there are hurricane spun off storms headed into the Sierras and a heat wave that was in the news because a hiker died.
We would like to be in the Sierras after the rain and flooding are finished, but before the October snows close it down.
The terrible heat wave is crumbling away as a part of the weather system causing flooding and water issues in Southern California. We would like to be south after the heat wave and after the floods. That means the 12th is a good date because we also want out of the Sierras before October 1.
We will see how it all works out.
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Update. Everything (all three ferries) was full until tomorrow but they were willing to squeeze us in so we are on the Express leaving at “12:30”. It is within weight tolerances but some standing room for the two and a half hour trip.
“Officially” only one of the three ferries had space and only for tomorrow. People are leaving Stehekin in a flood.
For lunch we are our pastries from the Stehenkin Bakery. I bought Win the last Diet Coke from the general store (they tossed in a cup of ice since it wasn’t cold). As I write this we are boarded and sitting center line.
The smoke just keeps rolling in. Can’t see the sun or the mountains on either side now. Not hot yet but some ash has fallen.
It is time to quit eating like I’m on the trail until I am on the trail again. The Ranch had excellent meals. The pastry was wonderful. I just had a Diet Coke instead of more food.
Staying at the Ranch was good for us. It let us clear our heads and plan with internet access, long showers and clean laundry. Reflect without pressure on our options.
The truth is that while you can hitch out of Rainy Pass you are pretty much stuck at a trail town. Getting back to the trail there is hard. Stehenkin is isolated but three ferries run each day and they run to places with $3 bus service to an Amtrak hub.
The ferry usually has internet service start about an hour on the water. We are going much slower than the usual speed and keeping our bearings by using one of the shores. Not sure when we will get service.
The smoke is so heavy. Visibility is probably around fifty yards.
The ferry is filled with people that said they were hiking to Hart’s Pass or Rainy Pass yesterday. The heavy smoke blocking out the sun and the mountains got to people.
So much fire 🔥 on the trail this year. Talked with a kid from the Czech Republic who was looking for shampoo in the hiker box. (There wasn’t any, but Win had some in her backpack). She got hit by the fires in California and Oregon and is now ending her hike because of the fires between Stehenkin and the border.
When Win gets the fire report from Garmin it just rolls on and on—mostly 0% contained. Probably up to almost twenty fires from nothing.
We can return next year. PCT Trail Days. Lionshead in Oregon. Stehenkin to Canada (and hopefully an open border again).
I feel for those who don’t have that option.