Stehekin River Trail, Cascade Pass, Horseshoe Basin (Stehekin) & Upper Stehekin Valley Road Trail — Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025

We started on Sunday 8/10 from the Cascade Pass TH, a friend of ours drove us there and he hiked with us to the top of the Pass. On the way to the trailhead we stopped by the Marblemount Visitor Center to pick up our permit.
The hike to the Cascade Pass was pleasant, even with the extra weight. At the top of the pass we encountered the first bear, a momma with a cub enjoying some berries, they got pretty close to the people at the pass who were busy taking pictures of them.
Most people continued towards Sahale Arm/Doubtful Lake, while we took the trail towards Stehekin. This was a bit scary since the trail was going towards where the bears were located…
The trail to Pelton Basin is good, even if rocky and a bit exposed. We got a spot at the camp and went to filter water at the creek. Just getting close to the creek and we hear people saying there’s a bear behind us, we turn around to see a big black bear 15 feet or so behind… He ignored us and went his way, but it was a bit scary that we didn’t hear anything.
The Pelton Basin camp has bear boxes, kitchen area, access to water and nice views.
The next day we hiked from Pelton Basin to Basin Creek where we setup the tent. The hike is steep with narrow path by the cliff, which made me very nervous, but it gets better after the waterfall. From Basin Creek we hiked up to the Horseshoe Basin. The trail is not well maintained and overgrown a lot. Have long sleeves and long pants if you don’t want to be scratched all over. The views at the top are great!
When coming down make sure to use a navigation, since we’ve met 2 groups that missed the crossing and we’re going to Basin Creek, when they thought they’re going to Pelton Basin.
Again, the camp at Basin Creek has easy access to water, bear box and a kitchen/eating area.
From Basin Creek to Cottonwood the trail is a bit overgrown and there are less people on the trail.
But from Cottonwood to Bridge Creek we only met one group, the trail is unmaintained and overgrown in parts or similar to a forest road in other parts. There are not many views, and I understand now why people don’t hike this way…
From Bridge Creek we headed to High Bridge and we started meeting people who were on the NOBO PCT. At High Bridge we missed the bus by 1 minute or so, we saw it leaving from the bridge :(
But a nice couple gave us a ride in their truck bed, together with some PCTers.
We spent 2 nights in Stehekin, taking it slow.
Make sure to visit the Garden, the Bakery and the Rainbow waterfall. We had the waterfall all for ourselves and swam there!
Great trip, but I think it would be better to either spend more days at the Cascade Pass camps and do day hikes, or at Stehekin, or maybe come from Rainy Pass to Stehekin, the hike from Basin Creek to Bridge Creek was long and boring.