Steven’s Pass

Day 127

4.4 miles

Stayed at the Loge in Leavenworth

The overnight rain cleared the air so we could actually take deep breaths when we awoke and didn’t feel like choking. The down side was packing a wet tent. But breathing was a good trade off. Kevin and I began packing up and our tramily did too. We wanted to hike the last 4.4 miles out together because today was our last day hiking all together. As we were packing, Semi walked up. He has been a few miles behind us in this section. It was a reunion and a fun hike out to the ski lodge and Steven’s Pass.

Highway 2 is now closed towards Skykomish because of the fires so any chance of hitching was gone. We were a bit worried about how we were going to get to Leavenworth which is a 40 minute drive. Luckily, there was a local who was running a shuttle down to Leavenworth a few times a day for hikers. Sadly, he was doing this to make some money while evacuated from his house near Skykomish. We made sure to wish him and his house safety and tip well.

When we got into town, we had to face making a decision of whether to continue on the trail, stop our hiking journey, or continue to Northern California to hike the section we missed from the McKinny fire. After looking at air quality reports, weather reports, and fire maps, we decided to stop hiking in Washington.

Our journey north to Canada has found a stopping point. But our journey continues. The smoky conditions, wildfires, and closed trail has caused Kevin and I to give up the goal of making it to Canada this year. We hope to finish these 185 miles across Washington’s beautiful northern Cascade mountains in another season. We want to be able to see the amazing views when we hike through them. Right now we will go back to Northern California to part of the trail that has reopened after the fire earlier this year that caused us to skip up to Oregon. I am so grateful for our tramily, for trail workers and fire fighters, for the communities along this trail who believe there is still good in this world and offer kindness to others. I am beginning to see the end of this trail, it just looks different than I originally thought.