Day 5: Streakin’ to Stehekin

June 30, 2020

Six Mile camp to High Bridge camp

I woke up at 5 and my neighbor had left already. I knew I had a short day ahead of me, so I was in no rush. If you sleep near a stream you are more likely to wake up with condensation. There was a little, but it dried quickly.

While packing up, a deer entered camp. It was not shy and knew exactly what it was doing. It was looking for places where people peed. The salt residue is what it was after. Within 30 seconds it located my 3:00 am call of nature.

Another good day for hiking. Mix of clouds and sun. These north Cascades are characterized by steep, v-shaped valleys. The overwhelming impression is that water and gravity dominate. That is, there are lush forests and meadows, but they seem to live only because avalanches, landslides, and mudslides let them be.

The rivers are fast, cold, and beautiful.

During my hike, I talked with two people. The first was a Park Service employee who had just finished building a wood bridge across a creek. She was a young person and maybe topped 100 pounds if she was carrying a 10 lb sack of flour. But I wouldn’t want get on her bad side judging by the size of logs she was moving around. She said the backcountry crews work 8 days in a row on their shifts.

Later, I came up to my neighbor from the night before. He was struggling a little bit. I could’ve just passed him, but it didn’t seem right. So we hiked along together. I asked questions, he always asked me to repeat myself. It became apparent to me he was losing his hearing. Then it occurred to me that maybe somebody hard of hearing doesnt ask questions about others simply because they may not hear/ understand the answers. I was too quick to judge my neighbor.

I ended the day way too early. My reservations in Stehekin were the next two days. I stayed in a free campground that I had to myself. There was a three sided lean-to originally built by the CCC 90 years ago.