Hiking in Washington in the Fall

This is my favorite time of the year to hike. This past week we did a short hike partway up Icicle Ridge. Today we hiked into Lake Valhalla in the Washington Cascades. It's a pretty easy drive from Wenatchee - a little more than an hour.

The hike was perfect with brilliant blue skies and lots of fall color. We left the trailhead about 11:15 and returned at about 4:30. We think the hike was about 6 miles roundtrip. Do you ever have a day that is the most perfect weatherwise, scenery wise, etc. that you never want it to end?

While on the hike we met up with several Pacific Crest Trail through hikers. They were within 7 days of finishing their 5 month odyssey hiking the whole trail from Mexico to Canada. We relayed to them a favorite memory we have of a couple of PCT hikers.

Several years ago we went to Stehekin, Washington for a week's stay. We invited a couple of friends to go with us for half of the week. We stayed in the cabin owned by Don and Roberta Pitts. Don Pitts was the postmaster for several years in Stehekin. When our friends, Carol Johnson and Doug Barclay left after their 3 or 4 days they left behind lots of food. On the Friday of the week, late in the afternoon we went out for a little hike along the PCT. We drove the car that comes with the cabin up to the trailhead and headed out in the rain for the hike. After hiking for a mile or two out of the mist appeared what looked like Mary Poppins - but it was a woman (with umbrella over her head) who was hiking the PCT with a boyfriend. They were headed into Stehekin for the night, hoping to collect mail, food, do laundry, etc. We offered to drive them into Stehekin and told them they could wait in the car back at the trailhead. We drove them to Stehekin where they were hoping to get a room at the Inn, but there were none to be had. So, we offered them the room upstairs at the cabin. And, since we had lots of leftover food we also fed them. They had their first shower in awhile. They really enjoyed the fresh milk. They spent the evening with us telling us about their 5 month trek. The next morning we delivered them to Stehekin so they could collect their mail and do laundry. Later that day we saw them on the bus heading back up the valley to connect with the PCT and continue to the end of the hike in Canada. At Christmas that next year we received a nice card telling us that they had made it the whole way.

The PCT couple we saw today on the trail said that we were Trail Angels. We like that term!