North Cascades Trip - Day 4

Monday, September 1 -- Happy Labor Day!  Today we were Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) "Trail Angels."  But first, we started the day with scrambled eggs care of the local, resident chickens.  We then packed up backpacks and drove the car loaned to us by the cabin hosts (a Mazda 4W drive SUV with 104,000 miles on it) to High Bridge Ranger Station.  Betsy noticed that the car had not been registered since 2010 -- we bet there are not a lot of State Police around here. 

The High Bridge Ranger Station is a back country station built by the CCC in 1933-34 and originally consisted of 3-room residence, barn and corral, and an outhouse.  There have been no additions since then and the residence is now labeled as a "private residence."  Also, the road ends just past the bridge; our loaner car has rules that we were not to go past High Bridge.

The residence and barn.

Sign for the significantly-challenged hikers.

High Bridge is the border for the National Park -- Yippee, another national park for us.

The High Bridge over the Stehekin River.

The other side of the sign above, with our loaner car in the background.

The Stehekin River.

The trailhead for Agnes Creek Gorge

We parked, leaving the keys in the car and it unlocked (per the owners) and walked a 1/4 mile up the road, passing over the bridge, past the PCT heading south, and past a campground to reach the trailhead for Agnes Creek Gorge Trail.  This trail is 2.5 miles long, and travels up Agnes Creek to an impressive gorge of many cascades and sheer rock wall.  Note, the PCT parallels this trail on the other side of the creek.  Also, the creek is much larger than its name and might even be consider a small river.  It joins the Stehekin River just below High Bridge and probably doubles the flow capacity of the river.

The hike was mostly a gradual climb through forests on the side of the valley, with only occasional views of the creek and the mountains in the distance.  Half of the trail is in the North Cascades National Park and the other half is in the Glacier Peak Wilderness.  The trail ended at the destination after 600 feet of vertical climb.  We enjoyed scrambling around on the water-worn rocks, then sat for some snacks before retracing our steps back to High Bridge and the car.

           

Agnes Peak is the shorter peak on the right side of the photo.

Lots of photos of the Gorge - can you hear the rushing water?

There used to be a swing bridge over the gorge -- note the foundation at the top of the photo

The former anchor point on our side of the gorge.

Another view of the Stehekin River from High Bridge.

We think these are Kokanee as seen from atop High Bridge.

We arrived back at the car (it was still there, with the keys in the ignition).  There were a number of PCT hikers hanging around, presumably awaiting the shuttle bus to take them down to Stehekin.  As we opened the hatch, a young guy came up and politely asked if we could take his wife and  him to the famous Bakery in Stehekin.  We obliged and had an enjoyable conversation with them on the ride into town, and after buying snacks at the bakery.  They are young German students who are a week away from finishing a through-hike on the PCT.  They started the trek in March and took their time, arriving at the Sierras the same time other through-hikers who started in May.  They did contend with snow and ice, but did not have to bypass any part of the trail.  Even so, they are now hiking 20 to 30 miles a day.  For example, today they got up at 4 am (partly spooked by a very close thunderstorm), hiked for two hours with headlamps before it got light, and stopped around 2:30 pm, doing 20+ miles.  

Betsy and I bought ourselves some breakfast supplies, two iced coffees and oat cake, and watched the Germans eat a generous array of food (ice cream, sodas, cookies, and brownies).  They also carried off another bag full of food.  We drove them from the bakery to the ferry landing dock (which might be considered "downtown Stehekin") and wished them safe travels.  They were planning to camp overnight, do some washing (themselves and their single shirts, etc.) and pick up their last food box from the post office tomorrow.  They were anticipating the finish of their trek.  They go all the way to the Canadian border but cannot enter Canada on their visas, so have to backtrack to a take out point north of Route 20.  

The German hikers, who came from Dresden.

We drove back to our cabin by creekside to clean up and relax.  We visited the resident chickens and horses, giving everyone a green snack.