here was the plan, pick up katie from the airport at around 4pm and drive 2 1/2 hours back home not forgetting to stop by the grocery store to buy food, then get home after being gone for over 2 weeks and pack for a 4 day, 3 night backpack trip on the lake shore trail of lake chelan.  sounds so exciting doesn’t it?  there is a fine line between exciting and exhausting and we’ve definitely flirted with it.

our friend jim asked us awhile ago about doing this warm up hike with us and we were definitely interested as it was a chance to test out gear and see stehekin which is our first resupply point about 90 miles from the border.  katie had never backpacked before and was going to be jet lagged as we had to get up at 6:30am to head to chelan to catch a 3 hour ferry to our trailhead.  this was going to be fun.

jim had an extra pack, thermarest and down vest for katie, he has the gift of thrift shopping and has a long list of the most amazing deals you’ve ever heard of.  we tried to give her a lighter pack, while still trying to remain lightweight ourselves and found a relatively good balance.  jim on the other hand probably carried twice the weight we did as he brought some old fashioned (although he wouldn’t say old fashioned) camera equipment.  he is a gifted photographer as i found out as he told me about photographing for the forest service and being published numerous times.  i still say, where’s the delete button?

the trail was a little cold the first day, wait, can a trail really be cold, it doesn’t really have feelings because if it did, it would probably feel that people walk all over it.  yuk, yuk, yuk.  save the tomatoes for the meals.  anyway, it was cold the first day as we got off the ferry and i was wondering if chaco sandals were the best option, which they were by the way.  the whole trail is about 17 miles and we were planning 3 days, so it was going to be pretty relaxing.  jim had been on it a few years ago and pretty much planned the whole thing since we had been on the road so long.

the sun came out and temps during the day were probably in the 60’s maybe low 70’s and nights down around 40 somewhere.  no problems with gear, i was experimenting with an alcohol stove made out of a vienna sausage can, a video camera, our sleeping quilt, and i just got a pair of crocs off of ebay.  of course i forgot the stickpic at home again.  i need to paint it orange and connect it to my pack somehow, its very useful, but only if you have it with you.  (there’s a huge learning lesson in there somewhere, one of these days i’m going to find it)

campsites were right on the water, the trail was pretty mellow, the pictures speak for themselves.  katie did great, the last day she led and we hardly saw her because she was so far ahead.  we hung out for a day in stehekin and to our dismay found out that the bakery wasn’t open for the season and the restaurant was only open for lunch.  jim was pretty set on getting a good juicy burger for dinner that night and had bribed katie with a cheeseburger.

we had a good talk with the ranger there and told him that we would check in with him when we were back in town in about six weeks. 

-jason

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