Cascade Pass, Upper Stehekin Valley Road Trail — Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022

We backpacked from Cascade Pass to Stehekin (about 24 miles). On August 2 the Cascade River Road was closed at mile post 20, apparently it’s open all the way to the trailhead now. That’s good because the 3 mile hike on the road is quite steep. There were lots of black flies on the switch backs up to Cascade Pass and there were 2 snow crossings about 20 feet across. Easy to cross and no navigation issues.  They are probably melted out by now. Cascade Pass is melted out and the toilet is accessible.  We camped at Pelton Basin (7.5 miles - 3000 feet elevation gain - if you have to hike the road like we did) which is one of my favorite backcountry camps. The wildlife containers are available for food storage and the toilet is accessible. When you leave Pelton basin and hike steeply down about a mile and then across Doubtful creek - the creek crossing is pretty easy by stepping on stones and getting a little wet. We crossed in the morning, it may be deeper in the afternoon. There were two rock slides blocking the trail in between Doubtful Creek and Basin Creek Camp. We scrambled across and some of the rocks were loose. It feels exposed and if you’re afraid of heights like I am - that was frightening - we made it across OK. We spent the night at Basin Creek Camp (2.5 miles) which was buggy and hot so we hung out by the creek to stay cool. The rain came in Wednesday night and we had a wet hike from Basin Creek to Park Creek Camp (6.5 miles) which is spacious and pleasant when it’s not too hot. On day three we hiked along the Stehekin River towards Bridge Creek we saw one bear on the trail (just east of Cottonwood camp) and lots of bear scat. When the bear heard us, it scampered off into the woods. Bridge Creek is one of our favorite places to stop and enjoy the water and relax. After a short rest we hiked the rest of the way to High Bridge (7 miles) and caught the 2:00 pm shuttle to Stehekin. The shuttle now takes reservations and I recommend reserving because they load the people with reservations first. It’s a much smaller bus than it use to be and a lot of people without reservations had to stand or sit on the floor. The shuttle stops at the Stehekin Bakery (open 7:30 am - 5:00 pm) for about 15 minutes so you can load up on delicious food. Stehekin Landing has limited options for food - the restaurant is open Thursday through Sunday from 11 AM to 1 PM and from 4 PM to 6 PM. The small store is also open 8:00-6:00.