c) Andrew Carter, 2023
Life is a roller coaster.
I’m sitting here in Seattle Tacoma Airport (SeaTac) waiting for an airport shuttle that will get me back to the PCT. I left the trail yesterday thinking my 2023 hike was over before it truly began.
I started my 2023 hike last Friday, not where I ended my 2022 hike, but farther south. I ended last year at Stehekin, 80 miles from the Canadian border. I started this year at Snoqualmie Pass, 260 miles from the border, because I wanted the chance to reexperience the beautiful northern Cascades.
My plan was to hike 70 miles from Snoqualmie Pass to Stevens Pass through the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Then 110 miles from Stevens Pass to Stehekin through the Glacier Peak Wilderness. Then 80 miles from Stehekin to Canada through the Pasayten Wilderness.
What a mistake!
Why? Because a series of wildfires have broken out near the trail in Washington. This map shows the picture.
The purple line is the PCT. The squiggly white line at the bottom is US Route 2. The trail crosses Route 2 at Stevens Pass. The straight gray line at the top is the Canadian border. At the north end of the blue fjord-like Lake Chelan is Stehekin.
As you can see, there are five fires on either side of the trail between Stevens Pass and Stehekin plus one fire beside the trail between Stehekin and Canada. The Dome Peak Fire has closed a portion of the trail south of Stehekin. The Blue Lake Fire has closed a portion of the trail north of Stehekin.
I knew none of this until I reached Stevens Pass two days ago. When I found out the trail ahead was closed, I was distraught. Yet again, my multi-year thru hike was being impacted by wildfire. I was also pissed at myself.
As you may recall, I ended my 2022 hike at Stehekin because the trail ahead was closed by fire, with no practical way to get around it. And in 2021, I stopped at Santiam Pass, Oregon because of extensive closures ahead in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness due to fires which took place there in 2020.
Why was I pissed at myself? Because if I’d started at Stehekin last Friday instead of Snoqualmie, I would have been through the fire zone before most of the fires had started and any of the trail was closed.
My desire to have a longer hike — I call it greed — had bit me in the butt. My wife had been wondering why I was doing this. She kept asking, “Why don’t you just go hike the part you have left? Then go back and hike the other parts you want to do over?” She was right. (I know. Isn’t that always the case?)
Learning the trail ahead was closed, I hitched from Stevens Pass to Leavenworth to spend the night in a motel. Then I took a bus from Leavenworth yesterday to SeaTac to fly home. I thought I’d have to wait until 2024 to finish this adventure I started back in 2021.
Last night, however, I learned there is a detour one can take around the closed PCT sections to make it to Canada. I’m now headed back to the trail to take that detour. Instead of going back to Stevens Pass, I’m headed to Stehekin. I’ll start my detour there. I’m hoping this is a true “reprieve from the governor” and there won’t be any more fires and closures before I make it to Canada. We’ll see.
Here’s a map which shows the closures and the detour I’ll be taking.
In this map, the red line is the PCT. The X’s on it are the closed portions of trail. The purple line is the detour, which uses other hiking trails in the area. The blue dots are an alternate detour one can take which makes use of ferry service on Lake Chelan.
I’ll restart my hike at “Stehekin Landing” and follow the detour from there, north to the Methow River Trail junction with the PCT. The detour route I’ll follow is 70 miles long. Then I’ll have 43 miles of the PCT tobfollow to get to the border.
The combined 113 miles adds an extra 33 miles of hiking. If it means reaching Canada and ending this three-year quest, I’ll gladly take it. Wish me luck. Let’s hope the hiking gods are more powerful than the fire ones.
Carter Hikes 