Miles today: 28.1
Trail miles sum: 1895
Trail location: 2577.3
Elevation: 2107
Spinning on the turntable:

It was another wet day of hiking. I try to repeat a mantra to myself of the things I’m grateful for as I hike. I am grateful that the rain isn’t pouring down. I am grateful that the temperature is moderate. I am grateful that I am able to continue this hike….but I’m still a bit wet today.

It was a long hike down to the Stehekin ranger station today, perhaps a nine mile stretch.

I’m still looking for mountain goats. Not yet. Well, I did see one, but it was a long way off in the distance. I’m looking for a close up Disney experience.

I’m pretty bummed about the weather. I know there are amazing views in this section but I’m not seeing most of them.

The bight colors of the tree growth is splendid!

I needed to cross a river, sans bridge, this afternoon. I scouted up and down the river and selected the least dangerous section to cross. The irony here was that I could have just walked across the river if I’d been willing to have soaked feet. I wanted to keep my semi-dry feet so I crawled across the river on a log that had fallen across the river.

I arrived at the Ranger station that wasn’t actually a ranger station around 5PM. A special camping permit is required near Stehekin. The notice said that the ranger station was a private residence and to leave them alone. So, if I wanted a free permit I needed to catch a bus and ride 11 miles on dirt roads into the town to obtain the permit…and then catch the same bus back. Cost was $10 per ride so the “free” camping permit would cost twenty bucks and several hours of my time. Nope. I hiked on. I’m not a conspiracy nut, but it seemed like a nice way for the town of Stehekin to bump up their own business a bit.

I made it into an established campsite around 7:30 and set up camp. (I had pushed onto this site since it had bear boxes.)

I ate my dinner in the dark and called it a day. I don’t feel too bad considering how long I hiked today.