September 9th
Intermittent rain left a dampness to everything this morning. We got up and out during a break in the rain. On the trail we were back in rain soon enough. And clouds. Walking high ridges we were walking right through the clouds. As we dropped a thousand feet in elevation to a lower pass we left the clouds and most of the misty rain behind.
In the afternoon the clouds started to break up and let some sunshine in, bringing a definite change in mood for the better. We were walking most all of the day through a series of clearcuts, depressing enough. Although the one good thing about the clearcuts is that the huckleberries seem to do very well. They are plentiful and large. We indulged to the point of ending up with purple tongues and hands.
Fall colors have appeared, mostly yellow and reds from the underbrush, the huckleberries and vine maples predominate the change. It’s a reminder that we are rapidly coming to the end of the hiking season. Time to get to Canada.
There are still a lot of elk tracks and sign around. The Carrot saw one in the distance crossing a clearcut. We are also seeing an occasional deer.
In the area around Stamped Pass the terrain and the trail seem confused at times, with frequent and sometimes steep ups and downs. The jagged peaks of the North Cascades are getting closer with their own promise of steep ups and downs.
Our goal today was Stirrup Creek. We stopped a mile before it for water from a better source and hiked on. Unfortunately there were no real good camping possibilities at the creek, so we continued on even though it was getting late. At a road crossing a quarter mile further on, trail angels left a cooler of beer. We grabbed two and walked on still searching for a place to camp. As darkness fell our searching became more desperate as we really did not want to night hike in the cold. Using the very last possible light (we were just about to don headlamps) we found a place that was marginal, but would work. We called it “home” for the night and toasted it with the beers. We ended up with 26.3 miles for the day, a couple miles closer to Snoqualmie Pass than we expected, reducing the mileage we will need to do tomorrow.
