Cascade Pass, Upper Stehekin Valley Road Trail & Horseshoe Basin (Stehekin) — Friday, Jul. 21, 2023

This was a luxury overnight hike over Cascade Pass to Stehekin and back again, as we would spend the night sleeping in a bed. It was very nice being able to hike to High Bridge with just a day pack.

Beware about the parking situation. The hike up Cascade Pass has become crazy popular. We arrived before 8 AM on a Friday, and there were three parking spots left. When we returned late Saturday afternoon, there were cars parked along the road for a mile.

The 21 mile trail gains 1800 feet from the Cascade Pass trailhead up to Cascade Pass and loses 3500 feet from Cascade Pass down to High Bridge.

The trail is in good shape, but it is showing wear and seems to be more rocky and root-y every year.  Although the trail climbs 1800 feet it does so at a pretty constant rate over 27 switchbacks before you emerge from the forest and traverse about a mile to the pass with great views of the Johannesburg mountains, Eldorado peak and Forbidden. Didn't see too many people on the way up to the pass, and even fewer once we passed the turn off to Sahale Arm and headed down along the Stehekin River.  On the way back on Saturday there were more people on both sections, but not enough to detract from the wilderness experience.

The lunch spot at Cascade Pass always has at least one chipmunk doing the rounds looking for handouts, but this was the first time I'd seen a mountain goat doing the same.

In fact we saw quite a few mega fauna on this trip. In addition to the mountain goat, we encountered a white tail deer buck with velvet antlers at Park Creek and a cinnamon black bear running across the trail by Flat Creek trail junction. There was fresh bear scat all along the trail, and about everybody we met had seen bear.

My only concern about this hike was crossing Doubtful Creek, as the snow melt from Doubtful Lake can make crossings interesting early in the season. As it was, the creek could be crossed without getting our feet wet.  The trail has a talus sections before the pass and a couple after the pass, but they are largely stable. The only real leg burner is the switchback section from Doubtful Creek up to Pelton Basin on the way back. The last half of the trail in to Stehekin is on the old road from Cottonwood to Bridge Creek and is very fast.

If you are planning on going all the way to Stehekin in one day, you are either going have to get a real early start and/or walk fast to make the 3 PM shuttle from High Bridge (reservations can be made at Stehekin Shuttle) or take your time and aim for the 6:15 departure.  The bus is supposed to arrive at the landing before 7 PM just in time to get dinner at the restaurant at the North Cascades Lodge.

We started at 8 AM from the Cascade Pass trail head and arrived at High Bridge at 4, so we had to wait 2 hours at High Bridge for the bus. Good chance to talk to the PCT hikers that had gathered, but had we known how fast we were going to hike this section, we would have detoured into Horseshoe Basin on the way down.

The bus for High Bridge leaves the Stehekin Bakery at at 8:30, so you have time for a leisurely breakfast and stock up on cinnamon rolls before starting out on the return hike.

There is water at Bridge Creek just before you enter the camp area, at Park Creek, at Cottonwood camp (though it is a bit of scramble to get down to the river), Basin Creek, and Doubtful Creek. After Doubtful Creek there are only seasonal streams or trickles.

After Basin Creek camp the trail is largely in full sun until past Cascade Pass.

If you have the time, and your legs are up to it, I recommend the side trip to Horseshoe Basin. If you follow the trail to the very end, it's about a 3 mile round trip with 1000 feet of vertical gain. However, the first mile is pretty flat if your legs aren't quite up to the full climb.