Bunny was up before the coffee was cool enough to drink. And this was with my alarm going off at 5:45. Does anyone need more proof of food as motivation? I heard her mumble “biscuits and gravy, gravy and biscuits, biscuits and sausage gravy” all night long in her dreams. Needless to say, we were hiking before 7.
We flew down the trail. The shuttle doesn’t show up until 9 and we covered the 3 miles in just a couple minutes over an hour. There were already 4 other hikers waiting when we arrived at the ranger station. We dropped our packs and I wedged myself into the conversation because the weekend hikers were talking about thru-hikes. They just assumed, like everyone does, that we are not capable of thru-hiking. It really throws people off when they see my expedition size pack and notice that I’m, relatively, clean shaven. Throw in that we just showered yesterday and are absent of a lingering bodily waste smells. The final straw is our age. In theory, we should be at the height of our earning years and unwilling to walk away from high paying jobs. Our age group is probably the least represented with thru-hikers.
The road that we were standing on only runs from Stehekin to a few miles inside of North Cascades NP. It really is a road that starts on the edge of nowhere and ends in the middle of it. Any vehicles that are on this road had to be “barged” in across Lake Chelan (the largest natural lake in WA and the 3rd deepest lake in the USA). One beat up pickup truck headed past us. A few minutes later, he returned and asked if we were waiting for the shuttle. I said we were unless he was willing to take us to the bakery. To my surprise, he said he was working less than a half mile from the bakery and he’d be willing to take us that far. Two of the women who had been waiting before we arrived also said they’d take that offer as well.
Bunny and I piled in the back of the pickup and let the two women get up front with Martin. Martin drove slow and was pointing out items of interest to them. He even offered to take us on a short side trip to Rainbow Falls. When we got out at the falls, I told the women to sweet talk him into taking us to the bakery and that we’d be willing to throw in some money for it. They said they’d try.
Martin did take us all the way to the bakery and refused to accept any money for doing so. If we had waited for the shuttle, it would have cost us $8 each and we’d still be 45 minutes out. The bakery was already crowded with other tourists, but we’d beat the shuttle crowd. We were already finishing up with our biscuits and gravy, coffee, and cinnamon rolls when the shuttle finally arrived. When we walked in, we saw Numbers and she joined us while we ate.
The bakery is still 2 miles from “town.” The definition of town is rather loose here. It equates to where the ferry docks. Bunny and I grabbed our packs and started walking just a few minutes behind Numbers. We had barely buckled our packs on before another car pulled over and asked if we wanted a ride. Debi was one of the shuttle drivers going down to start her shift. She drove us the rest of the way in and told us about the area. She pointed out the laundry, showers, phone (there’s no cell service or internet access in Stehekin), and hiker box. Debi also pointed out where we could camp for free as well as get our permits to camp in the National Park when we left town.
Numbers had told as that JYD was still in town. She hadn’t related that he has become the self-appointed mayor of Stehekin and that he held daily court on the restaurant deck above the ferry dock. As soon as we walked up, he called us up to his official table and introduced us to the other members of the Stehekin inner circle. This was the second or third day, time had lost all meaning for the group, that they had occupied this space. They had the ebb and flow of the town down. They could tell the time of day by sounds around them or the flow of people on the dock. The deck was the perfect hang out location. Bunny and I said we had to take care of some business and would shortly return.
First stop was to see if we could find an actual bed for the night. We walked into the store at the exact correct point in time. We had checked for openings at the Stehekin Valley Ranch for openings tonight, but they were completely booked since it was a weekend. I approached the counter just as Chris was crossing a name off his list. I asked if there was a room available for tonight and he said he had just had a cancellation. We could have it if we wanted. The people who had been in the room last night said it was the perfect location—a corner room with a private balcony on the second floor. They had to leave on the next ferry but they’d highly recommend it. I took it and then asked the price. It was over $200 for the night. I turned to Bunny to get confirmation from her, but looking from the haze surrounding my body through to the haze surrounding hers, I could tell that our smells were of a much greater need than the $1.50 showers down the street.
We joined the council back on the deck and were quickly integrated into the town’s self appointed inner circle. These were the movers and shakers on the deck. They recited the menu of the restaurant from memory which caused Bunny to request lunch. I thought it was a bit too soon since we had had breakfast. It had only been 2 hours since we ate. Bunny was focused on our supper reservation time of 6:45 and said she couldn’t make it that long without another meal. I tried to point out it wasn’t even noon yet, but I got the death stare. I acquiesced without argument.
After we ate, it was past noon, so I went and purchased a 6 pack. Part of the “town council” had left on the ferry while we were eating. Alex and Flora (from Seattle) joined us at the table. Alex was a charter member of the council but Flora had just arrived on the ferry. JYD passed on beer for the time being claiming excess yesterday. Alex bought another 6 after we finished the first one. Bunny had two of the first six before heading up to our room to shower.
I sat and had one more to allow Bunny enough time to shower before I headed up to the room. She took all of our clothes down to wash while I showered. Even with 2 meals in me, the four beers I had consumed combined with the energy outlay of the last week, just kicked my butt. I needed a nap. Bunny only had two Lite beers but she was looking pretty peaked. It saves me money in the long run since my wife is a light-weight.
Our dinner reservation was for 6:45. At 6:30, we went down and joined everyone. The nap had not been enough to revive Bunny completely and she returned to the room in the middle of her salad. I suppose we got the money’s worth out of the bed since Bunny spent so much time in it, but I was hoping to enjoy the balcony with a sunset across the lake. We just ate too much solid food after 8 days of dehydrated on the trail. Someday, we’ll learn to moderate when we make it to town. Just not this day.
EFG