Cascade Pass, Upper Stehekin Valley Road Trail — Thursday, Jul. 14, 2016

North Cascades > North Cascades Highway - Hwy 20

Stehekin via Cascade Pass makes a great hike. Flowers were everywhere. We began at the Cascade River trail-head for Cascade Pass. The parking lot was pretty full when we arrived but since we were being dropped off, parking was not a problem for us. I recommend West to East because once past the pass it's mostly downhill. The hike begins with switchbacks up to the pass which is a beautiful rugged subalpine saddle. There you will find rock walls to sit on and even a back country toilet. At this point most of the other hikers stopped or turned toward Sahale Arm. (A large magazine in August listed the campsite at Sahale Arm as one of the 10 best in the US, so crowds may be expected there.) There was a little snow before the pass and once again after, but no special equipment was needed but hiking poles were helpful. Once past the intersection to go East we encountered few people. The trail became rocky as we progressed down the switchbacks into the valley. One creek crossing required us to wade in the cold stream. I was glad to have some sandals to protect my feet. Once the switchbacks were done the route became quite brushy for most of the way. Fishing was good (but all pretty small) and the fish seemed to like any fly offered to them. Our first night was spent at Basin Creek Camp. This place has a separate cooking and eating area away from the tent sites. It had seating, a small table to put your stove on (no fires allowed here) and a bug steel bear proof food storage cabinet. There was a back country toilet with no lid and lots of bugs flying in and out. Water close to our tent sites. The of us had the campground to ourselves. Night 2 was spent at a huge camp called Bridge Creek Camp. Near by was a stock camp with a corral and a large group camp. The Group camp needed to carry water for some distance, but for us it was actually in our campsite. Here we had a fire pit, picnic tables, and steel food storage. The ancient outhouse was gross. We then hiked 5 miles to High Bridge where we caught the bus 10 miles into Stehekin ($7 each) Night 3 was in Stehekin at the Lake View campground (free. But get a permit at the nearby ranger station) Once again an excellent place. The restroom was new and had water, flush toilets, and still smelled of new paint. Bring your headlamp however because it has no lights. Once in Stehekin we naturally we needed to backtrack 1 ½ miles or just a but more) to the fantastic Stehekin Bakery. Interestingly 2 of the 3 of us got blisters walking to the bakery after hiking the whole trail unscathed. Dinner was at the little restaurant near the ferry landing and it was great. We also got bug bites waiting for the bakery to open when we returned for Sunday breakfast. No other bug bites on the entire trip. We packed up our stuff to wait for the boat back out to Field's Point and the rain began. Lucked out again! Stehekin is a remote and really friendly town wedged between mountains at the North end of Lake Chelan. It's accessible only by airplane, boat http://ladyofthelake.com/) or hike in.