Stories About Stehekin, in North Cascades National Park: Chapter One
Lakeshore Trail #1247 thru-hike to Stehekin, Washington, in the Sawtooth Range of the North Cascades.
You can only get to Stehekin by hiking, boating, or flying. There is no hospital or medical clinic. There are 22 miles of road and one stop sign. The staff that works here and the locals are so excellent it feels like they’re imaginary.
I am undeniably an introvert and have been a strong solo hiker and backpacker for a long time before being willing to have adventures with others.
Around the time that I had started getting sick and not getting better, without knowing it was because I had cancer, I had randomly RSVP’d for a memorable backpacking trip to happen at the end of May 2021 with a local all-women group called North Idaho Backpacking Babes (NIBB). I didn’t know a soul, and the structure of that particular event was that an RSVP was an entry into the lottery for the trip, so I didn’t count on it coming to fruition. The purpose of the lottery was to limit the group size and the impact on the backcountry, and facilitate an intimate setting for relationship building. It’s a great system, and I have adopted it in my hiking groups.
Well. My name was selected.
There was a laundry list of prerequisites, from ensuring you have the appropriate gear, arranging transportation to the ferry dock, purchasing ferry tickets, and successfully achieving the higher levels of the NIBB tier system so that the group leader knows you can meet the demands of the trail. Although I had not previously hiked or backpacked with anyone in the group, I was low-key known by name because of my solo shenanigans (which ended up being a trail name bestowed upon me by the NIBB group owner and leader, who is now a great friend of mine) posted on social media, so I was given a pass through the tier requirements.
As an introvert, this was terrifying. I had an opportunity to backpack with the group before this big event to Stehekin, but I had a trail race the same weekend. Their backpacking trip was at the same place as my race, and I still managed to avoid interacting with any of the women from the group.
The day to leave arrived. I carpooled to the ferry dock with a group of women going. I was too excited about the upcoming trail to have thoughts or feelings about voluntarily mixing with a group of strangers until later. Honestly, at the time, I felt pretty special about being selected, especially after one of the (then) leaders had told me that I was hand-picked and was not subject to their lottery system.
It was an unforgettable trail and an excellent place to break out of my solo-adventuring shell. This may be the most beautiful hike I’ve ever done. There were dogwood groves, countless wild magnolia trees, rose bushes, tiger lilies, and lizards. The view was honestly picture-perfect every step of the way.
Day 1:
- Drive 3 hours to Chelan, Washington.
- Hop on the Lady of the Lake ferry for three hours down Lake Chelan.
- Arrive at Prince Creek and jump off the ferry (literally).
- Backpack 12 miles (and 2490’ elevation gain) to Moore Point.
- At some point, slip off a ravine and feel dumb.
- Drink heavy drinks, set up camp, and sit at the fire until you can no longer stay awake.
Day 2:
- Wake up too early.
- Pack up camp and start the next section.
- Backpack 7 miles (and 1300’ elevation gain) to Stehekin, but do 10 miles total for the day.
- Eat the best veggie burger ever made and get tipsy on $6 bottled beers.
- Drink more, set up camp at the Purple Point Campground, and sit at the fire until you cannot stay awake any longer.
Day 3:
- Wake up early again and knock out 10 miles around Stehekin.
- See Buckner Orchard, Rainbow Falls, the Old Stehekin School, and the modern Stehekin School.
- Eat 650000 calories at the Stehekin Pastry Company.
- Meet Karl at The Garden, probably the purest human on earth, and he lets you love on his goats.
- Ride a strange red bus for a tour and see Rainbow Falls again.
- Throw yourself and your pack onto the ferry again.
- This time it will be a four-hour ride.
- Drive three hours back to Coeur d’Alene.
- Scrape the dirt off your body so you are semi-presentable for work in a few hours.
I learned a lot from that trip. I learned a lot about women and about being a woman. I met incredible women who are still in my life today, and I met a toxic woman that would impact my life in regretful ways and who taught me that I’m capable of being toxic and harmful, too. I allowed her to turn my life upside down for about six months, and then it took another couple of months for me to be humble enough to reconcile the harm I had caused and the harm done by her that I promoted.
I still hike with groups of women. This event led to me becoming a hiking group leader, which was an unimaginable step for this solo hiker. I know more about the kind of person I want to be, whether as a member of our outdoors community or as a member of our community of women. I do not tolerate duplicity in people and refuse to cooperate with anyone who isn’t ethical. I’m thankful for the accountability that being a great leader and being of service to the hiking community requires.
I should say that the NIBB group owner resolved the issue of having a leader that was not promoting the best interest of the outdoors or women.
Lastly, I love Stehekin, which is why this is Chapter One. There’ll be Chapter Two from my 2022 trip. And maybe in 2023 there’ll be a Chapter Three!!