Rainy Pass to Stevens Pass, 1979

Sunday, Day 1
September 16, 1979
1:20 PM, Cabin Creek Camp

Agnes Creek

C&J brought me up last night to Rainy Pass. I think there’s something to be said about having friends who are willing to drive you up to the middle of nowhere and then just watch as you walk away into the forest. I can’t say that it’s exactly a positive thing, though.

The highlight of the car trip up was seeing a mama brown bear and cub crossing the highway in front of us just prior to the trailhead. They were headed north and I was going to be hiking south, so I didn’t concern myself about it too much. OK … that’s a lie. I thought about it a lot, as you’ll see in the following pages of these journal entries.

I started hiking at 4:20 PM and popped off the four miles to Fire Weed camp by 630 PM. If you’re counting, that comes out to four miles down and roughly 106 to go. Piece of cake.

This was a nice little campsite – flat, near water, and no one there but me. It was perfect. I set up my Early Winters Pocket Hotel and then had a quick bite to eat before crawling into my sleeping bag. I’d hung my pack (with the food bag) in a tree some distance from the tent, but it wasn’t long at all before I heard the little claws trying to tear into it. Damn chipmunks and squirrels kept me awake for hours trying to get into my pack. I finally had to bring it into the tent with me. And we’re talking about a very small tent that sleeps a maximum capacity of one. It was a touch-bit cramped, but I managed to eventually position the pack so that we would both fit.

I took a few shots of an absolutely magnificent sunset from the bridge spanning the creek. I don't know how they'll turn out; but even a perfect photograph won't do that sunset justice. I was shooting Kodachrome 25 and handholding a 1/8 second exposure. Whatever I get is probably going to be blurry.

Fire Creek sunset

Took a few other Vista shots of distant peaks. Won’t know what they are until I get home and check my topographical map.

– Keep reading.