This was quite some day hike that pretty much captured all that is Stehekin in one long day. We were camping at Purple Point campground so walked the lake road to the southern loop trail head of Rainbow Loop, stopping at the bakery to pick up lunch on the way. Rangers were about to take care of felling some hazardous trees, but we were free to pass. The hike up through the burnt forest is very sun exposed but conditions were breezy which helped. The burned black trunks contrasted amazingly with the blue skies and white blooming native ceanothus. The dramatic view point down to the Stehekin River with views up the valley was very windy. I immediately lost my hat and it had to be rescued by my partner as I was stuck on top of the rocks. After the high point the trail plateaus into a sublime section of flowers (now lupines as well) and gentle grade until it drops to a frothing Rainbow Creek on a sturdy bridge. The loop down is much longer at a little under three miles through unburnt forest. A study in shades of green. Fresh bear scat here but no sightings. At the end you pop out at the fun colored trail sign and then realize that when they quote the mileage for the "loop" it does not include the road walk back to the start! So off we set.
Half way back you pass the short road into Rainbow Falls so we followed that up and had lunch at the most ginormous picnic table sized for valley trolls. Worth checking under the Harlequin Bridge as you pass it by! The table was in the cooling draft of the falls so welcome on a hot day. We hiked up the short mist trail, which is partway covered with new gravel, as far as the getting soaking wet zone. Then we returned to enjoy the cool and dry views of the falls from the bottom. Very few people out even though it was the holiday weekend.
Back on the road again we immediately started looking for a connector trail called Buckner Lane (it's a good idea to pick up a trail map from the national park service center before you do these hikes), to the Buckner Orchard - an old homestead. It's a little gem passing through the hot forest beside an irrigation channel - think oasis in the desert. We walked around the Orchard but really should have given ourselves longer to explore here. We were also very happy to see a potable water spigot near the old trucks. In spite of carrying a liter of water on a day with only around 1000 feet of El gain we were running dangerously low on water with it being so hot.
Checking our watches we then took a quick pace returning up to the road and then back to the bakery for ice cream before it closed. We did add in a stop at the old log cabin school house so then had to hike even faster. After our tasty late afternoon break on the bakery's shady green lawn we walked the final miles back along the road to our campsite for just under a total of fifteen for the day.
Most/many people rent bikes to explore this area. If we had done that we could have still followed the same itinerary (leaving the bikes at the southern Rainbow loop end) reduced our walking road miles and given ourselves more time to explore, but we would have missed Buckner Lane.
Comments