Today’s Miles: 4
Total miles: 120/2690
When I wake up in the morning, I know exactly where I’m headed. The Stehekin Bakery. It has a legendary reputation on the PCT and was allegedly even featured on Food Network. I passed by the bakery yesterday evening and it looked like the perfect spot to spend a morning.
The walk from my campsite is about a mile around the gorgeous Lake Chelan and I arrive right when it opens at 7:30 a.m. There’s great indoor seating and the bakery is made out of wooden logs. With wide eyes, I stare at the assortment of baked goods in front of me. After consideration, I land on an egg sandwich, a cinnamon roll twice the size of my fist, and coffee. As I sit down with my food, I’m joined by another hiker named Matt. I ask him to split the cinnamon roll with me so I don’t completely destroy my gut. We are soon joined by Lisa and Tommy, followed by Victor and then another hiker whose name I don’t catch.
The morning in the bakery dwindles on and at some point Tommy and Lisa leave, and then Matt and Victor follow them. I sit and watch as other hikers coming directly off trail, roll in, and eat to their heart’s content. I check my watch and see it’s 10:30, meaning I have spent a full 3 hours in the bakery. As I get up to leave, I have consumed 4 cups of coffee, an egg sandwich, half of an enormous cinnamon roll, and half of Lisa and Tommy’s coffee cake.
The eating expenditure isn’t quite finished as on my walk back, I stop by a local garden in which there is fresh fruit, vegetables, and goat cheese and yogurt. I purchase a tub of goat cheese and yogurt and while I’m being rung up, I talk to the man who maintains the garden. He tells me he has lived in Stehekin for 39 years and I ask him if there is a school in town. “Yes, there is. Last year the school had 8 students, Kinder-8th grade. One teacher and one aide.” It sounds incredibly similar to the school I taught at for the past three years in Bear Valley. However, the school at Stehekin does not have internet. In fact, the man tells me that very few people in town have internet, as it requires some expensive satellite company and doesn’t work very well. I’m keeping in mind teaching at the school in Stehekin as a dream job.
After my chat and purchases in the garden, I pick up my first resupply package from the post office. It all goes smoothly and I sift, sort, and give away food trying to figure out how much I’ll need for this next section. I land on a rough estimate of about 6.5 days worth of food for a section that’s 105 miles until my next resupply, at Stevenson Pass Ski Lodge.
I chat with Victor in the afternoon and he tells me he talked to the camp ranger and hikers are only allowed a one night stay without reservations. Since we camped there last night, it looks like our fate has been decided for us and we will head back to the trail tonight. I’m fine with that and Victor and I plan catch the 5:30 p.m. bus back to the PCT trailhead, about 20 minutes up the road.
I take advantage of my last few hours in town by hanging out on a grassy spot right in front of the lake with a group of 7 or 8 other hikers. I see Mousetrap there and he tells me about his adventures over the past 24 hours. We split beer, wine, a backpackers pantry rice and chicken meal with cold blocked cheese added to it, and other stuff. Everyone has something to say about their journey into Stehekin and the afternoon flies by.
At some point, Victor tells me we are approaching 5:30 and need to get to the bus. I say goodbye to the hikers, not knowing when or if I’ll see them again. On my walk to the bus, I think about this incredibly unique and beautiful town. If I come back to Stehekin, I would want it to be for a longer stay.
Another hiker named Squegy joins on the busy and the three of us are the lone passengers on our ride back to the trailhead. The bus drops us off around 6 and here we are again. The PCT. We are going to do 4 miles or so, making it a nearo in hiker terminology (a day in which few but not zero miles are hiked). As we hike our short miles, we talk about this next long section of trail coming up. It’s suppose to be some of the most remote sections of trail in Washington and the whole PCT. Definitely no phone service and few bailout points. I plan to not zero again until Snoqualmie, not for another 170 miles. In it for the long haul it is.
