Start – Stehekin
Finish – nr Cloudy Pass Junction
Daily Distance – 24 km
Ascent – 1280 m
Descent – 340 m
Today I ate day-old pizza and huckleberries, and loved them both. The leftover pizza was courtesy of a tip that the Stehekin bakery sell leftovers for half-price the next day and I was introduced to Huckleberries by Michelle from Arizona who is far wiser in the ways of North American berries than I am. Not wise enough to know if they are just blueberries by another name, that will have to remain a mystery until I have phone signal again. It is a relief from dried food to snack on a few berries. Until this point I had been abstaining just in case, so I have been relishing my new found culinary freedom.
I also walked for a time with Brian who was on the same shuttle bus to the trailhead. Young and refreshingly unobsessed by high-tech gear, he is taking a break from his job working in a sporting goods store and is clearly loving the trail so far. Sadly, he is aiming for bigger miles than me, so I doubt we will see each other again unless I catch him before he leaves Leavenworth at the end of this section.
The walking tody has been hard. Laden with 7 days of food, my rucksack hardly closes and the weight drags at my energy levels. A 09:00 start, heat and difficult terrain combined to see me struggle into camp at almost 18:30, my latest finish so far.
Overall though, a fine culinary day to offset a very arduous hike.
It must be arduous to carry enough calories for many days in the heat and difficult terrain. You are going up and down those valley sides. Glad you are not scaring the wildlife. Now I am going to Google wild berries.
What a tough day! Good to know you got food to your liking. Hope you find more huckleberries tomorrow.