September 6th, 2022 by Jon
When we woke, Griff noticed us stirring and snuggled his way up between us, and we cuddled with him for 20 minutes before finally getting up. Thankfully, the lake didn’t actually cause too much condensation to form on our tent this time, so putting it away took little effort. After breakfast, we crossed back over the stream and made our way up and around the west side of Surprise Mountain. The trail was fairly steady as it gained elevation and ran along the side of the mountain before becoming steeper and turning into switchbacks. The view from the top was spectacular. We looked down into a lake basin on the other side, and as we descended, we could see a field of bright white rock forming part of the hillside.
We climbed over a small bump on the hillside, and as we turned past some trees, we could see Glacier Peak in the distance, dominating the skyline, and the valley we were in pointed at it, framing it perfectly. We continued down the side, and when we got to the end of the valley on the floor, we came across a small stream, where we took our first break of the day. Afterward, we continued walking along the valley floor, going farther downhill into the basin and passing a few large lakes. Soon, we reached the bottom and started going up again. This hill and the one we’ll go up in a little bit can both be considered butt-busters. They were incredibly steep, and the switchbacks were small and very intense. At one point about three quarters of the way up Missile was a switchback ahead of Griff and I and I think Griff heard Missile. He looked up, saw Missile, and instead of following the trail, charged straight uphill. When I caught up to him and Missile, who stopped to wait for me, he looked very smug.
When we got to the top, we had another seriously amazing view of the valley and Trap Lake down below. We sat at the top, taking another break and starting to see a few day hikers pass by going the other direction, having come in from some trailhead just off of highway 2. We began our descent down the hill, passing by the lake. The switchbacks were fairly gentle, and it felt pretty easy going down. We passed through lots of pretty pond areas and small tent spots, all with excellent views, as we made our way down. Soon we got to the bottom, passed yet another gorgeous alpine lake, and then climbed for a mile to get on top of a little plateau area and stopped to have lunch at Mig Lake.
As soon as we got there, Griff charged into the lake before I could get his harness off. When he came out, I took it off to dry in the sun and then watched as my dog rolled around in the dirt trying to either dry off or rub himself in some smell. We all ate there and watched as Griff moved many times between the shade and the sun, getting too warm or too cold. Over an hour later, we finally got moving again. We walked the rest of the flat area next to the lake before a quick descent, and then the steepest climb of the day brought us back up and over a ridge. I was seriously tired at the top, but then you know what we did? Immediately back down the other side of the ridge into a valley where high voltage power lines ran. We walked by some lakes, Griff swam some more, we grabbed water at one last creek, and then it was up the back of Stevens Ski Area. We passed under the ski lift before finally reaching the top. We called Biscuit to see where she and Wilco were, and they were staying at the Cascadia Inn in Skycomish. That worked out great because Missile had a package there, and my dad could easily give us a ride. I called the hotel to book us rooms, but left a message after no one picked up.
We started down the front of the ski area, the highway looking very tiny at the bottom. This would be our 4th large hill we had climbed and then come down today. As we went down, I got a call back from the hotel and was able to book our rooms. We took 2 of the last 3 they had, so I’m glad I called. That taken care of, we pushed the last few miles to the ski lodge parking lot and met my dad, who had ciders and Gatorade for us. He also had fruit, cookies, and lemon zucchini bread! What a treat. We hopped in the car and drove down to Skycomish, stopping at the deli for some town food. The sandwiches were excellent, and I got a massive milkshake with mine. It was nice to talk and catch up with my dad, and Wilco came over from the hotel and hung out with us, too.
We drove over to the hotel, got all our food from the car, and exchanged it for all of Griff’s stuff we’d been carrying. We said goodbye to him and my dad and got into our rooms. We said hi to Biscuit, then showered and relaxed a bit before Wilco, and I went next door to the pub to grab food. Missile was already passing out, and Biscuit and Singsong wanted us to get them takeout. We did exactly that and had a great time, then came back and sat around talking for a while before finally going to bed. We’re leaving at 4:00 tomorrow, which means we have all day to do some more eating, relaxing, and laundry.
With the fire closures at the end of the trail, we have decided that this next section will be our last. We plan to make it to Stehekin, then celebrate by taking the Lady of the Lake ferry to Chelan and spending a few days there as a hiking crew before everyone heads home. It’s not what we wanted, but it feels like the choice that gives us the most closure.
