Skykomish to Manning Park:Wet ending to a dry trail

A wet finish to a grand hike

We ditched out resupply box in Stehekin instead opting to have the food of our last three days of trail be almost entirely Stehekin bakery pasteries. I have never had a cinnamon roll that good, and the day olds from the bakery were still better than any other baked good I’ve had in my life.

My last few days on trail in North Cascades National Park were very cold. I had to keep walking to stay warm. Ultimately, we camped on the top of Glacier Pass under some thick trees to prevent the rain. It was very dark, misty, wet, dreary, and lonely. We saw no other hikers. On the last night, just seven miles from the border, I hiked late past dark because I couldn’t find a flat campsite. Still making mistakes this late in the game.

This was the most visibility I had

When I woke up, there were feathers everywhere. Did a marmot get into my beloved Western Mountaineering sleeping bag? Still not sure what happened, but my sleeping bag footbox had a huge rip in it. Lucky this was my last night on trail!

It was still freezing cold at the monument. (Later, I learned that the monument opens up and has a register. When Pi, Lint, and Miss Info got to the register a few days later, they were worried I hadn’t finished. I told them: “I was too cold to even think about sticking around there long enough to open it up!”) The last 7 miles of trail that led to civilization became narrower and muddier. At Manning Provincial Park’s restaurant, we saw Yas, who came in several housr after us and got snowed on! All in all, quite a relieving finish, although I wish I could stay on the trail indefinitely rather than go back to school…Well, school: the next adventure!