September 3:Blowdowns and the Dreaded Suiattle River Crossing

Today was the day we would face everything we had been hearing about for weeks. The miles between our camp and the Vista Creek crossing (approx 2 miles) and then on to the Suiattle River (approx 3 miles) were rumored to be littered with blowdowns, some "as big as a bus that require something more like rock-climbing moves to get around." We hd also heard it was like an obstacle course. Luckily the trail was on pretty flat ground here so we weren't going to fall down the side of a mountain trying to get around them.

And blowdowns there were.

It was actually a TON of fun! Many we could just step over, but there were definitely some that required some hopping over; there were even 2 or 3 that lived up to the "as big as a bus" hype, but often we could scoot under them. No rock climbing skills needed. We didn't move as fast as norma, but it wasn't THAT slow (4 miles in 5 hours). The blowdowns simply added an element of fun and excitement to the norm of simply walking trail.

We crossed Vista Creek, and the blowdowns reduced significantly. There were still a bunch, but nothing too crazy, albeit the random pile of trees that had you searching for where the trail went on the other side.

Three fairly flat miles later we were at the *deh deh deh* (scary music) Suiattle River. Crossng this river had been one of the biggest reasons to take the detour. It had been hyped up to be super scary; a past hiker in one of our guidebooks even touted it to be One of the scariest things she'd ever done in her life. It's not really something you could walk through, and the bridge had been washed away by the floods. I was actually in awe walking through the river bed, thinking about what it probably looked like at flood stage. The actual river was probably 1/10 of the size of the riverbed, and the surrounding mountainsides had been washed away as well.

Luckily we had heard there was a log across it that was "massive." We heard that it was walkable, or if you were too skittish to do that (or if it was wet from rain), you could straddle it and scoot across on your butt. Well, I wouldn't say the log was massive by any means, but we walked across it safely, and rejoiced in our victory :).

After that we started hauling to make it to Five Mile Camp that was, yes, five miles out of Stehekin. Most of the day was a descent after a climb up and over Suiattle Pass.

We cruised into camp around 7:30, and sat around another campfire chatting with a couple other guys who had camped with our other hiker friends a few nights before. By the time we got in our tent we could tell mice had already been there (luckily we had our food by the fire), so we rigged up a way to hang what was left of our food inside the tarp. Regardles, they were still running around all night and I think Mark was up with his headlamp on more than he was asleep! The only thing they got was a granola bar that Mark accidentally left in the side pocket of his pack. Oh the joys of camping in established campsites!

Total Miles:2569.0
Miles Today:25.8
Camp 129:Five Mile Camp (aka: I Hate Mice)

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