A 6 day section in Washington Snoqualmie to Stevens Pass

[peakbagger]

I got skunked on the Wonderland Trail lottery so was looking for an alternative in Washington for a week of hiking. I was flying in from out east so getting to and from the trail from the nearest city was an issue. I did not see a lot of private shuttle options so this section J east of Seattle seemed to be a good fit. We ended up with 4 folks on the trip so one option was hiring a van shuttle. I got prices and they were around $350 for Snoqualmie Pass from SeaTac and $650 for Stevens. One of the other folks found a new service, To The Mountain Shuttle, running daily shuttles from Seattle (Husky Stadium) to the pass for $28 bucks a piece every day but last day was September 15th. We needed the 13th so that was a go. Stevens Pass to Seattle was easy, Northwest Trailways has a daily bus running through at 1:30 PM at $48 a piece. We used the Seattle light rail service, The Link, to get from SeaTac to Husky Stadium (about a 40 minute ride for $3) and from the Bus Station back to SeaTac at the end of the trip.

I had done the section from Mt Adams to Whites pass 20 year ago and was hoping the trail was similar. Section J proved to be bit rougher with more daily elevation changes. Compared to the AT the PCT was built to federal government specs and built for horses so gradual grades and many switchbacks were the norm. In the entire 70 miles I might have had to climb over 4 blowdowns and rarely if ever needed my hands (a rare occurrence near my home in the whites). We elected for 6 days at about a 12 miles a day pace. We used the Farout ap based on Half miles pioneering work. The national geographic map of the area really was of little use due to small scale and difficult to read contours. We had planned to hit the typical fall dry slot before the rains moved in and it worked. I have had a lot of great trips over the years using my "rule" of booking the week after the week of Labor Day. The kids are back in school and folks with little vacation time usually grab the weeks bracketing Labor Day to stretch vacation time. We all were experienced backpackers but the groups average age of 62 meant shorter miles. 6 nights means a heavy pack at the start with 12 plus pounds of food. We typically hiked 9 to 10 hours a day including breaks. Access to this section from side trails is not great so most folks are out to do the entire stretch except at the ends. Views and terrain was great, always changing and little or no civilization visible even at distance. Cell service was rare except for a couple of ridges looking down long valleys. No real good bail out options as most side trails start at the end of long Forest Service roads. The trail was not crowded, most days we might encounter 5 to 10 folks about half PCT thruhikers. The normal day for us was camp at pond down in valley then slowly climb a drainage and then up a headwall to another drainage then drop down into another valley with pond. We only had one dry campsite by choice to even out daily mileages. FarOut lists official sites and unofficial sites (including dry ones) and was usually dead on. In many cases the unofficial sites are small with room for one tent or maybe two solo tents next to each other. Official sites were usually at mountain ponds. At best most tent sites were just flat spots on the ground or grass and at most sites there were only limited great spots to pitch a tent. it took a few minutes of searching and on two of the nights we had to compromise on less than optimum spots (low point or slight slope).

The weather was sunny, temps probably didnt get over 60 but the sun made it feel hot until it went down. The clear nights meant radiational cooling. We didnt go below freezing but it may have gotten close. We used 2 man big agnes tent flys and ground sheets without the tent body. No bugs, but overnight dewfall means at least a fly is needed. There was a persistent breeze most nights so temps under the fly were just about equal to temps outside. We all had 30 degree down bags and they were borderline without a liner or having extra clothes to put on. I had a set of midweight merino tops and bottoms and usually wore then to bed or pulled on the top halfway through the night. We did have one raw cold day and that was an eye opener. Around supper we all had most of our gear on but warmed up once we had supper. I thimk the cool down was mostly caused by waiting to eat, we should have had a few envelopes of lipton soup to heat up as soon as we stopped hiking. Someone out in wet conditions for a few days might have had more issues. Campfires are banned over 5000 feet and at many campsites. One of our group was a catch and release fly fisherman and he successfully fished many of the ponds we stopped at.

After six days we had a half day hike into Stevens Pass which is far less scenic than the exit from Snoqualmie Pass where civilization rapidly disappears as soon as stepping off the road.

Out timing worked well, we did a quick trip to the Olympic National Park next with 4 good days and then while backpacking out of the park it started raining and the 10 day forecast was rain every day so I expect the fall rains had started.

Overall a great trip with views overload. Switchbacks eat up a lot of mileage so just looking at the straight line distacne between campsites looks liek short days but the mileage is definitely well earned. I would not say its a good beginner's trip due to the duration and lack of escape routes. I expect PCT folks can gobble it up in 3 or 4 days but for us if we had tried to do it in 5 nights it would have been pushing it and seven definitely would have been short days. For those who have the skills and their gear sorted out, it good way to sample the PCT in Washington state with the least hassle for shuttles. One BTW is the soils in the area are rock hard, I dont think a plastic trowel or even a steel trowel would do much to dig a cathole. We had to resort to either finding rocks to flip or find debris piles to dig into. Despite the reported popularity of the area in summer months, we didnt see a lot of "traces" except at one or two sites where folks just completely ignored attempting to conceal or bury waste. The campsites nearer Stevens Pass did have recently installed privy boxes.

[Slugg]

Thanks for the trip report and detailed logistics. That is a part of the world I have yet to visit and that needs to change..

[HankIV]

I just got caught in those rains in the Olympics! Sept 21-25. Hiked up the Quinault River from Graves Creek thru Enchanted Valley, over O'Neill Pass and First Divide, down the Skokomish to Staircase TH. 40 miles, 15 in good weather, 25 in rain and 45F. But no wind. Great hike nonetheless. Beautiful country. And really smooth and easy hiking trails--like butter the whole way. Blueberry bushes aflame with color. Would definitely go again, better prepared for the rain.

[peakbagger]

Thanks for the trip report and detailed logistics. That is a part of the world I have yet to visit and that needs to change..

The last time I went out there was 20 plus years ago, far fewer resources on the internet. We had a local with us who had figured out the logistics and we worked off a map (nothing like a Farout ap). I am mostly a northern new england hiker and its nice to get out into new territory. Of course with this spring's very rainy weather in northern new england, I have some recent practical experience with rainy hiking.

The logistics for the Wonderland trail would be simple but expensive, rent a car at the Seattle Airport, drive to the Ranier, stash one or two resupply cans at one of the three trailheads and park the car for 10 days. Expensive but simple.

BTW, we found an airport hotel that allowed us to leave bags in storage during out trip, this allowed us to change out gear after the backpack and prior to trip in the Olympics.