GPW-Days 8 and 9-The Trail Provides

Since we didn’t have too many miles to go to get to the Trailhead, and we’d just be hanging out there anyway, we took our time. We even heated up water for coffee for Annette, and my new taste sensation, hot Mio (it’s like hot cider, but it’s not apple). As a testament to our increased efficiency, we were still ready to go by 8:30 (still earlier than our first morning).

We headed out, and crossed the Canyon Creek Bridge. 

By looking at us, you’d have no idea we haven’t showered, and have been wearing the same clothes for the last 7 days! However, it’s a good thing you can’t smell us!

As we were told by Ninja, the trail was well maintained and fairly flat. We crossed many small creeks. 

At one point, Annette was feeling the effects (digestively speaking) of her double dose of coffee, and the other half of a smoothie mix, and was dealing with said effects just off trail. I was sitting a little ways along the trail waiting, when I saw a couple of hikers heading toward Annette. I hollered to her that hikers were coming. They saw her and stopped, averting their eyes. When the coast was clear, they proceeded on to where I was. When they got to me, they said we must be the two women the other two women (Sandy and Carrie) had mentioned meeting. They had camped with them  the night before. I said we were. Without much more conversation, they continued on. 

A short while later, I caught up to them, and asked how their hike was going, and where they had been. They said Image Lake, and it was beautiful. They like to hike in, and stay a couple days, doing shorter hikes. They had pretty heavy looking packs complete with ice axes (we could have used something like that to scale the mountain back on Day 4). 

They already knew, from Sandy and Carrie, that we were behind 3 days. They asked if we had enough food, and that they had extra. We told them we were okay. Annette asked them if there was camping along the Suiattle River Road, thinking that we might continue on after the Trailhead to get further down the road. I was not really a fan of doing this, but I did want to get some distance down the road so Tim’s car would not get destroyed by the bad road. The gal said we should just let him come to the Trailhead to get us, and have a relaxing morning waiting. I reiterated that I was concerned about the car. Anyway, we continued hiking. 

Later, as Annette was taking another “break”, they, once again, came around the corner. As before, they stopped until the coast was clear. Then they came up and said they had a proposal for us. They said we could think about it, and even wait until we got to the Trailhead before we gave them our answer. Their proposal was to give us a ride to wherever we wanted, Everett, Snohomish, Darrington, or Arlington, and then Tim could pick us up wherever we were, and not have to drive the bad road. They reiterated that we could think about it. I gave what I thought was an exaggerated pause (pretending to “think” about it) and then said, “Yes, we would be happy to take them up on their offer!” Then they introduced themselves as Kim and Bob. We introduced ourselves as well. 

They continued down the trail saying they would see us in the parking lot. As we were getting ready to go too, another couple came walking up. They were they-hiking, but the guy had an issue with his foot, so they were going to hitch into Darrington. They asked if we had a vehicle, to which we replied that we had just been offered a ride ourselves. But, I knew there were two other women heading out to be picked up (Sandy and Carrie) and maybe if they hustled they could get to the Trailhead before they left. They took off as though they had motors in their feet. 

Later, we caught up to Kim and Bob as they were taking a break. We asked if they had seen the couple. They said they flew past them without saying anything. We told them what the couple had told us. Then we continued down the trail, leaving Kim and Bob to finish their break. 

Finally, we reached the Trailhead. 

We had made it! First stop for me was the potty shack (strangely, Annette didn’t have to go). I then noticed a trash can, so I pulled out my 8 days accumulation of trash, and threw it away. 

Yep, that’s it for 8 days!

Kim and Bob arrived and we walked to their vehicle. 

Our Trail Angels (and their Chariot of Awesomeness)!

They asked if we had seen the couple looking for a ride. We hadn’t seen them. Bob said if we saw them on the road we would try to pick them up. It would be tight, but we’d try to make it work. 

Sure enough, just down the road, we saw them standing by the campground sign with their thumbs out. We pulled over, jumped out, and said, “ Hey! Do you want a ride?” Of course they did! They threw their packs in the back, then Bob joint Annette and I in the backseat, and Sally sat on Mike’s lap in the front seat. Kim drove. Sally and Mike has met on the trail. Mike was from Montana, and Sally was from Connecticut. 

In the enclosed space of the vehicle, you could really tell we were all in need of some personal hygiene! We rolled the windows down. 

The road was indeed quite bumpy, and poor Sally had the worst of it. When we finally hit the pavement, and then rolled into Darrington, Sally’s foot was asleep. We dropped them off at the Burger Barn, and then went across the street to a cafe for a late lunch. I was starving, and the sandwich I had (Turkey Pesto Deluxe) was DELICIOUS! 

During lunch, I tried to text my niece who lives in Snohomish, but I didn’t get a response (might not have even been the current number). As we were driving toward Everett and Snohomish, I got a text from Tim saying he could pick us up in Snohomish after dropping Nolan at the airport. Kim and Bob recommended dropping us at the Snohomish Bakery at First and Union. I sent Tim the info. 

Our lovely Trail Angels dropped us off, and we thanked them profusely. They took off, and we walked over to the bakery which had just closed. But, that was okay because we were still stuffed from lunch. 

We, lacking motivation, sat on a bench for about two hours. I did walk down to a coffee shop, and got Annette and I something to drink. Finally we decided we should scope out a restroom. We found one down the street. 

While we weren’t really hungry, we decided to split an order of fish and chips that we got to go (no need to subject the other restaurant patrons to our less than cleanly selves). We ate them at a picnic bench, then walked back up to where we would meet Tim. Just as we arrived, he pulled up (about 8:00pm). Perfect timing! We threw the packs in the back, and headed home.

Day 9-Getting Annette’s truck

We got home around 10:00, took showers, got what we would need for the next two days, and went to bed. It felt very good to sleep in my own bed!

The next morning, we were on the road again to head back to the White River Trailhead to get Annette’s truck. Traffic was good and we got to the Trailhead at about 12:30. Annette’s truck was just as we had left it. We took this photo before leaving the Trailhead. 

We drove back to Lake Wenatchee State Park where we had a reservation. We set up our tents for the last time, and generally did nothing but sit around the rest of the day. We were going to rent kayaks on the lake, but couldn’t muster the energy. 

Lessons Learned

1) Find out, whether by reading trail reports or contacting the appropriate authorities, the condition of the trails we plan to use. 

2) There are (as I’ve always said with my bike touring) a lot of very awesome people who will help you when you need it. 

3) Carrying extra food is a good insurance policy. 

4) While the Garmin inReach is good as a PLB and means for communicating, it is not accurate for mileage. 

5) And, finally, we are stronger and more resilient than we think. It may not be fun to haul ourselves (and a fully loaded pack) up a mountain side on our hands and knees, but we can do it! But then again, I’d rather not...ever again!