North Cascades

Day 0

Sarah picked Avery up from the airport at midnight. They had secured permits to North Cascades National Park a few months earlier. However, they hadn’t gotten any of the trips that they requested. Avery had checked the box “just give me something”. “Something” turned out to be a very awkward backpacking trip that was an out and back hike that had them staying at the same campsite for 2 nights. This made no sense and Avery proposed that they try to get to the wilderness center early the next day to try and change their permit to a walk-up permit.

Day 1

Leah met Sarah and Avery at Sarah’s apartment. They left Leah’s car in the garage and drove to pick up Hattie. This was going to be Hattie’s first backpacking trip. In preparation, Hattie had made “Power Balls”, which were 1 inch balls made out of peanut butter, oats, and seeds. Leah made her own bread.

On the ride, they talked about how exciting it was that this was going to be a #girlsbackpackingtrip. For whatever reason, they hadn’t been on any backpacking trips with only girls (Ok actually Avery and Leah went backpacking together in 2015).

It took about 2.5 hours to drive to the wilderness office at Marblemount. At the wilderness office, they got a walk-up permit for Rainy Pass trailhead. The ranger said that there was tricky river crossing involving “butt-scooting on a log” over Bridge Creek, so they should go counterclockwise in case they couldn’t pass it. She warned them that the mosquitoes were out and fierce. The ranger also said that bears had been successful getting food from backpackers at McAlester lake so they had better bring the bear cans. Leah borrowed another bear canister from the ranger office.

Since the wilderness office didn’t have detailed topographic maps, Avery wanted to stop at the North Cascades Visitor Center to get a map, a poster, and some mosquito repellent. Surprisingly, the visitor center didn’t have a good map, so they had to make do with the above map. It didn’t include any elevation information so they had no idea what they were in for. The visitor center only had Permethrin, so they decided they would have to make do with the natural mosquito spray that Hattie had (that Avery claimed doesn’t work). Just in case, Avery and Hattie both got very fashionable mosquito head nets.

The change in trailhead meant they had to drive another hour and a half through the park to get to Rainy Pass. It also meant that Sarah wasn’t able to get the AllTrails map for the new route. Against her better judgement, Sarah went along with Avery’s idea that static map was enough. Along the way they passed some pretty impressive mountains, waterfalls, and Ross Lake. They finally got to the trailhead just before lunch.

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The final packing took place at the car. Everyone had a heavy pack. Sarah had a large bear can and all of her and Hattie’s food for 4 days. Hattie had a 3 person tent and Power Balls. Avery said that Leah’s feet were too stinky to share a tent. Leah said she likes to have sprawling room when she sleeps. So, they each brought their own tent. Leah’s food was so bulky it required it’s own bear canister. Avery had only brought her large bear canister which ended up being 3/4 empty. Best guess was that Avery had 27-28lbs, Hattie had 30, and Sarah/Leah had 35+.

It was a fairly warm day for Washington. As they made their way down the PCT, they noticed the trail was only going downhill. There were a lot of trees giving welcome shade. The thick forest was a change for Avery who was used to the sparser foliage in the Sierra Nevada. They could see why the permit office was so strict about campsites, because there forest was so dense there was nowhere outside of the campsites to pitch a tent. This turned out to be the case for the entire loop.

Finally, the forest gave way to some rocky mountainsides. Avery and Leah, who were walking a few minutes ahead saw a black bear up a gully from the trail. Avery said “Hey Bear!” (learned from watching Alone) and the bear ran off before Sarah and Hattie caught up. They felt good about bringing the bear canisters after this wildlife sighting!

Although the trail had been mostly downhill, due to their heavy packs, the group was pretty tired by the time they reached the South Fork campground. Leah went to look for the bathroom while Avery, Sarah, and Hattie sat down and tried to dry out their shirts. There were a ton of flies and Avery and Hattie were excited to make use of their newly purchased head nets.

At the river crossing, they ran into two rangers. The chatty female ranger said that the tree they needed to cross to get to Dan’s campsite had a big crack in it. Apparently, she had cut down the tree herself a few years ago and was planning to cut down a few more to beef up the crossing later. Due to the Covid19 pandemic, the trails hadn’t been maintained in 2020. She said that there would be a lot of downed trees on Rainbow Lake Trail and that some other hikers had reported route finding was difficult. The trail team she was on was heading the other way on the loop to clear McAlester trail pass and would be back in two weeks to do Rainbow Lake Trail. With that info departed, she said she could radio in and see if our permit could be changed if the #girlsbackpackingtrip weren’t feeling up to bushwhacking.

Avery and Leah were 100% not going to be deterred by what looked like a pretty thick log river crossing and a little bushwhacking. They told the chatty ranger they were going to go for it. Respecting their choice, the ranger offered to run downstream and catch anyone that fell in if the log broke.

Scoffing at the incompetence of how other hikers couldn’t find the trail, Avery and Leah immediately got lost on the other side of the river. After a few minutes of stomping around in the bushes off trail in the woods, they realized the downed log was a detour off trail and they needed to go back up river to get on the real trail. Confident that they had the trail this time, they started the 2.8 mile section to get to Dan’s.

This section of the trail quickly became overgrown with brush completely obscuring the trail. There were downed trees every 20ft. Although the weather was predicted to be good, storm clouds gathered overhead and thunder echoed through the valley. As the light dimmed, and the pedometer said they were possibly past Dan’s, they started getting worried they weren’t going to find the campsite.

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Leah led the way, clambering over fallen trees and weaving back and forth along the trail. Avery followed 30 ft behind – ignoring the trail and trying to find the way to Leah with the least amount of log climbing. Sarah was trying to keep an eye on Avery ahead of her and Hattie behind her while the daylight faded. Leah waited a bit and everyone caught up. Shortly afterwards, they stumbled to Dan’s camp. It turned out to be an extremely small campsite with a questionable amount of flat ground. Worried about the incoming rain, they squished their tents into the space.

There was a small rivulet they crossed right before the campground. Avery and Hattie went back there to wash their feet and fill up on water. Avery used her socks to scrub off her dirty feet and then hung up her socks to dry under her rain fly. After dinner, it started to sprinkle so everyone hid in their tents. Avery was excited to play Phase 10, however when she tried to rally the troops to get a game going, she discovered everyone had already fallen asleep!

Day 2

It sprinkled throughout the night and the #girlsbackpacking trip awoke in the damp forest. Avery’s socks were still dripping wet from the night before. The bear that Sarah heard in outside the tent turned out to be Leah raiding her own bear canister for breakfast.

While eating breakfast, they played a few rounds of Phase 10 on Hattie’s tarp. During breakfast, Hattie revealed that she had brought not just some, but ALL of the power balls. Avery estimates the gallon bag was about 1/3 full. Since the clock was ticking and they had a lot of miles to do that day, they stopped after 4-5 phases and got ready to hit the trail!

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The team’s hopes of a nicer trail on the other side of Dan’s were quickly dashed. Many more downed trees followed by a set of switchbacks through increasingly boring forest, made them think they weren’t going to be having a very scenic trip. This is where they realized how deficient their map was – it didn’t show topo lines and it didn’t show all the switchbacks! Finally, after hiking past a waterfall, they broke out of the trees and saw a glimpse of McGregor Mountain.

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The forest turned meadowy and the sun came out. Finally, the #girlsbackpackingtrip was rewarded with some real wilderness views. Since they couldn’t see where the trail led and their map had no elevation markers on it, Sarah joked that they were going to be climbing over the pass to the right of Bowan Mountain.

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After crossing a small stream by the talus pile, and finding the faint trail leading upward, it became apparent that they were actually supposed to be climbing over the pass. There was quite a bit of snow left on this section which covered the trail. Avery and Leah spread out wandering in the uphill direction, hoping to spot a section of uncovered trail. Eventually, they picked it back up and began on a section of switchbacks that worked up the side of the mountain.

Although the mosquitoes were fierce, a break was in order. Hattie pulled out the Power Balls, which by now had turned into a “Power Brick”. Leah sportingly tried some of the brick. Avery wore her head net and killed 200 mosquitoes as they landed on her knees. Sarah tried to lighten the load from her bear can by eating the heaviest snacks.

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The trail grew rocky and they reached their first ice crossing. Leah went with the hands-and-feet approach. Hattie made good use of her new trekking poles while slip-sliding along on the ice. Again, the ice covered the trail and they missed a switch-back. This led to a short scramble up the side of the mountain.

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Finally, fueled by the #PowerBrick, they made it to the top of the pass and got their first view of Rainbow Lake. From the top of the pass, they could see mountains and valleys for miles. It really felt like they were alone in the wilderness. Sarah revealed one of her luxury items was a camera tripod. She used to it to take a team pic!

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Avery and Leah got everyone lost wandering around on the top of the mountain. While Avery and Leah explored several dead-end game trails, Sarah and Hattie decided they would backtrack to where they took the team pic and see if they could pick up on a more promising trail. Hattie ended up finding the right trail which led down to the lake.

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The group came upon a large pass of ice on what seemed to be a 65° gully of rocks which descended about ~500ft downhill into more sharp, jagged scree. Avery was too nervous to walk across the ice and risk slipping down the mountain and instead walked down and around the ice patch. She got back on the trail just in time to see Hattie glissading across the ice, catching 3ft of air, and miraculously landing on her feet on the other side. Images of having to run back 18 miles to the trailhead (over downed trees and through brush) to get help flashed across her eyes. Luckily, there were no casualties as Leah and Sarah were both a bit more cautious in their traverse.

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Rainbow lake was a great alpine lake with extremely clear water and relatively few bugs. Sarah and Hattie settled on the beach and ate lunch while Leah and Avery went swimming in the lake. Avery tried to catch one of the many little fish that were leaping out of the water everywhere. However, she didn’t have a spinning rod and couldn’t get her Tenkara line far out enough to entice the fish. From their secluded bank, they saw the first people they had seen since the chatty ranger on Day 1. Leah was especially bummed to see people again.

Lunch on the bank was enough time for their shoes to dry out, and they got going again shortly after lunch. The next section included an impressive set of switchbacks that Leah said would have been a bitch to make.

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After the switchbacks, they were treated to Rainbow Meadows. Avery insisted they take “frolicking” photos in the meadow.

The next 2.4 miles from Rainbow Meadows to Bench Creek was mostly downhill. Avery ran out of water (having left camp with only a liter and a half and intending to fill up at Rainbow Lake- but then being too lazy). Hattie’s legs were aching. Sarah was bemoaning the fact that they didn’t have an All Trails map to know what elevation they were actually going to be completing. The more they went downhill, the more they knew they would have to be going uphill again.

Finally, the creek sounds were getting louder and they spotted tents across the river at the Bench Creek campground nestled on a hill. After a few more switchbacks they got to the river, where Avery filled up on water and then iced her feet in the creek with Hattie.

Even though everyone was tired, there was still another 1.6 miles to go until Bowan Camp. After crossing the bridge to get to Rainbow Creek Trail, the trail seemed to go steeply uphill. Sarah said it better not be switch backs again. Avery said maybe it was just one switchback and then it would go parallel to the creek. It was not just one switch-back. Or even two. Avery said “Maybe this is the last switch-back” another 20 times and Sarah gave Avery a death glare after each one. Luckily, as they approached Bench Creek campground, almost ripe huckleberry bushes appeared and distracted everyone as they tried to find some ripe enough to eat. Leah said she could tell they were huckleberries because they had two rings on the bottom instead of one like blueberries.

Rainbow Creek Trail was a much more heavily trafficked trail and there were a bunch of groups going north and south. At Bowan campsite, another group had already claimed the campground. Avery and Leah cleared out some extremely unflat ground and set up their tents right next to the trail. Sarah was too tired to go fill up the dirty water bags, so Avery took all the dirty water bags. The last water source they passed was pretty far from the campsite, so Avery thought she would scout out the other way to see if there was a closer source of water. While scouting, she found the other campsite, which included a fire ring with stumps to sit on and 3 secluded, flat, tent pads. Leah and Hattie picked up their tents and moved them to the new site. Avery (who had a trekking pole tent), dissembled and reassembled her tent. The mission to find closer water was a bust, but led to a way better campsite!

Day 3

The #girlsbackingtrip got an early start on Day 3. It was an uneventful 3 mile casually uphill hike to McAlester Pass. The group enjoyed a spirited conversation and were treated to a gorgeous meadow which was unfortunately also home to about 10,000 mosquitoes.

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They hiked past the meadow with great speed. They also declined to take the Chatty Ranger’s suggestion to take a side trip to Dee Dee Lake due to time and mosquito presence. A series of downhill switchbacks and water crossings led to Hattie accidentally falling into water and soaking both shoes. They easily found McAlester campground, and wandered around in the trees trying to find the lake. Just when they were about to give up, Sarah and Leah found the lake. It was a pollen covered lake swarming with mosquitoes. Since Hattie needed some time to dry her shoes, Avery decided it was now or never to catch her Coastal Cutthroat for her Western Native Trout Challenge.

Avery stood 15ft away from the group in the largest cloud of mosquitos and casted her fly. The fish were jumping everywhere. She got a few hits, but was unable to set the hook on any of the fish. Sarah and Leah kept saying there was a big one right in front of them and Avery should come back. Avery finally gave up and went back to the group. Hattie’s shoes still weren’t dry yet, so she did one last cast for the Big’un. Suddenly, the line went tight and dove under water. The Big’un was on! Squealing with glee, Avery landed the fish and it flopped all over the ground. Avery wanted a picture with her catch, but the fish kept jumping out of her hands. Finally, Leah got a big stick and Avery bonked the fish. Avery cleaned out the fish and cooked it in her pot. Everyone ate some fish with Avery’s fajita seasoning.

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It was a 4 mile stretch from McAlester Lake to Fireweed campground. Downed trees abounded. They stopped when they found the Chatty Ranger and her trail crew just before and extremely gnarly section of downed trees. The trail crew suggested that they follow them on a shortcut down to where their saws were instead of continuing on the tree strewn trail. The trail crew wanted to hear about the condition of the trail to see what they would be dealing with for the next few days. The good news was that they had already cleared the rest of the trail back to the PCT! This was a welcome development. The rest of the way to Fireweed was great due to the cleared trail. Every time they saw sawdust on the trail, they thanked the trail crew.

Learning from Bowan, they took the time to drop their packs and scout out the whole area before picking the best campsite. Fireweed was by far the best campsite so far. It had a lot of sunlight, plenty of room, easy access to water, a great creek with a dam, and best of all- NO MORE MOSQUITOES. Sarah pumped water while Avery and Leah crossed the creek to wash off and sit on the sunny bank to dry.

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After dinner, Sarah and Hattie decided a nap was in order. Avery and Leah decided to try a little fishing. While Avery was describing to Leah how a Tenkara rod worked (it’s basically a long stick with a fixed line and a fly on the end), they realized that they could just tie a fly onto some fishing line on an actual stick. Leah picked a good stick and Avery tied a fly onto the end of her line. Then they sat on the logs in the dam and dangled the flies over the pocket water in between the logs.

Suddenly, Avery saw a flash of fish leap out of the water and Leah was shrieking in joy! There was a fish on the end of her line! It was another juvenile Coastal Cutthroat.

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After dinner, everyone gathered in Hattie’s 3-person tent to play Phase 10. Hattie offered her Wilderness Wipes to the group. Leah stated confidently that she was “not dirty, only tanned”. After being egged on by Sarah and Avery, she finally took a Wilderness Wipe an dragged it along her leg before the tent burst out in laughter at the distinct hand-shaped dirt print that came away on the Wilderness Wipe. A few wipes later, and Leah’s “tan” was cleaned up. The game resumed with unlikely “alliances”, Avery scratching mosquito bites #56-70 and loving it, and Hattie making and collecting trash that Avery and Leah insisted had to go into the bear box later.

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Day 4

Emboldened by their success catching trout the day before, Avery and Leah woke up early to try to catch breakfast. It turned out to be too dark for them to tell if they were landing their flies on the water and there didn’t seem to be much fish activity. They called it a day and went back for breakfast. There was still a hike out and a drive to do so that Avery wouldn’t miss her flight home that night. Sarah was already planning what their first real meal would be when they got back to civilization (it was burgers).

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The last 5.5 miles back to the trailhead was pretty uneventful. It turned out that it wasn’t as steep as they were expecting. When they got to the last marker, Avery measured the last unknown distance (it wasn’t marked on their map) and took bets on how far it would be. Sarah was the winner! It turned out to be something like 1.58 miles.

When they got service again, Sarah found that there was an AllTrails map available! However, it was WRONG in the distance. In total, for Hattie’s very first backpacking trip, we selected a hard, 35 mile, 6,627ft elevation gain, 4 night backpacking trip with unmaintained trails! Crazy!! Despite all the type-2 fun, it seemed we had not scared Hattie off of backpacking as she was already planning how to upgrade her backpacking gear on the hike out 😉

Enjoy this backpacking bingo card that Leah and I brainstormed on the trail: