PCT Section 11: Stevens Pass to Stehekin
I had my new phone, and after a brief night in Seattle my sister drove me back to the PCT at Stevens Pass! This was the start of the longest section I had hiked yet, about 110 miles of wilderness in Northern Washington. Because of that, I was also carrying the most food I had carried to this point on trail, so my pack was extremely heavy! As I started hiking, I took this picture of a gray jay that seemed like it was hoping to get some food from me.
It was a beautiful foggy morning, and as the day went on it stayed partly cloudy, which created some lovely dappled light! I spent a lot of this day hiking with my friend Rabbit, who I had met during the previous section. We would end up running into each other often between this point and Canada.
As I neared my camp spot for the first night, I got one of my first good looks at Glacier Peak, the last of the Cascade Volcanoes that the PCT passes. This mountain had almost a mythical feel for me. It was hard to get a glimpse of, and even in this scene it was partially obscured by clouds.
The following morning it was actually cold, a noteworthy memory from an otherwise hot summer! It was also cloudy, which led to some impressive light and fog. I quickly ran into my friends Yo-Yo and Grandsire, and hiked with them for a lot of this day.
Have I mentioned how much I love fog yet??
This image was of a special moment, when the clouds opened and I could see a glimmer of sunlight on the far hillside.
As I was nearing the end of day 2, I crossed into Glacier Peak Wilderness! This picture wasn’t taken at the boundary, but looking north towards the even more significant mountains I would soon be climbing over.
My plan had been to camp up high in a beautiful area, and it worked out quite well. Not only did I have awesome views of this fiery sunset, but it set me up well for the following morning.
Day 3 of this section was my absolute favorite day on the PCT. I woke up about an hour before sunrise, and my hope was to catch the early morning light on all of the mountains around me. I was frantically hiking up, higher and higher, when I turned behind me and saw the clouds starting to turn a bright pink. I quickly got my camera out to take some pictures, then continued hurrying towards the pass!
In every direction was something even more beautiful. I seriously could not believe how amazing the views were!
I was nearing the pass, when I realized there was a dip in the ridge above me that would be easy to climb up to. I was worried that I would lose the best of the light, so I scrambled up about 20 feet off trail. I was greeted by this incredible scene, with Glacier Peak completely unobscured.
I finally reached the pass and was thankful I had taken the images of Glacier Peak previously; from this spot part of the peak was cut off by a ridge. It was still beautiful, so I took off my pack to eat something and take a break. I glanced towards the south, and was completely shocked that I was able to see Mount Rainier! I was at least 100 miles north of it by this point, and I thought I had seen the last of it already. I took the image below, in utter disbelief at how incredible this morning had already been.
The beauty didn’t stop there though! After that pass, the PCT dropped over 3,000 feet straight into the valleys, where once again Glacier Peak was hidden. The trail crossed some large rivers in this stretch, and that meant waterfalls too!
Thankfully there was a bridge over this river! I was able to use the railing to stabilize my camera and take this picture with a slower shutter speed. Using a slow shutter speed creates the effect that you see below, with the motion of the water shown and smoothed out.
I’m still not done with pictures from this day, just the third day of this section. This one is from a nice meadow looking back at Glacier Peak.
After all of those rivers, the PCT climbed up again! In Northern Washington the PCT is constantly going up, over, and around mountains every which way. I got up over the last pass of the day, and was struck by this little pond and the layers of mountains still looming to the north. I had made it around Glacier Peak, but there were still so many miles between me and Canada!
I made it to camp at Mica Lake, one of the prettiest lakes I had seen in Washington. You’ll see an image from the lake soon, but that evening I took one last picture looking north, of the sunset illuminating the glaciers on a mountain.
As promised, here’s an image of Mica Lake! I woke up on day 4 to a glass-like reflection on the lake.
This next photo makes the weather look stormy, but it was just overcast and didn’t rain. The trail still had plans of soaking us though… Every plant in this valley was covered in condensation from the previous night, and the trail was fairly overgrown. It felt like walking through a car wash, everything was absolutely soaked in less than half a mile! I ended up needing to put on my raincoat and pack cover to try to stay dry.
In the afternoon it warmed up, and I was able to dry everything out. The clouds stuck around though, which made for some nice photos of the mountains around me!
After that, day 4 was fairly uneventful. On day 5 I hiked just over 26 miles, including some incredible old-growth forest. I still can’t believe how enormous this tree was. I love the composition that I decided on, hiding the edge of the tree on the left side to add some mystery!
Day 6 was an easy day, less than 6 miles to town. I caught the shuttle into the town of Stehekin, and had a relaxing day eating ridiculous amounts of pastries from the bakery. This would be my last stop before reaching Canada!
If you made it this far, you should consider purchasing the photo book that I wrote after completing my journey on the PCT! It’s a beautiful coffee table book with all of my best images and stories from Washington and Oregon. I only have a few copies left, and I’m hoping to sell them before I move to Vermont this summer.