I did this hike in reverse, from High Bridge to Holden, and then spent a couple of nights as a guest in the village.
The first day, because I got into Stehekin later than planned (boat troubles) I only got to Five Mile Camp. There were plenty of spots here and a toilet in good condition.
The second day I stopped at Hemlock Camp, seven miles further up the valley, right before the Agnes Creek crossing. There were fewer decent spots here and no toilet, but lots of shade. The black flies were bad, and I ended up spending most of the afternoon chilling in my tent.
On the third day, I got started shortly after 7am. There is a log crossing, which I took, but it was a bit sketchy. I encountered a party of three who had camped on the other side and were doing the same trek in the opposite direction. On Sunday, when I met one of them again at Field's Point, she said that they chose to wade that crossing instead.
From the creek to Cloudy Pass is an arduous but beautiful trek. The trail could use brushing work in a few places, but is in good shape otherwise. There are several streams and at least intermittent shade most of the way. A few times during the morning (and the previous two days), fighter jets slalomed up the valley, only a couple hundred feet above the treetops, it seemed.
I originally intended to camp at Cloudy Pass, which is a gorgeous place, but it was only early afternoon when I got there and I decided to press on to Hart Lake. The trail between Lower Lyman Lake and Hart was very brushy, so much so that it was difficult to follow at times. There are a couple of deep holes in the trail along the switchbacks that could easily bust an ankle. There is a joint Forest Service / Holden Village trail crew working out of Rebel Camp at the moment, but on Thursday they had only begun working on the brush situation.
When I got to Hart Lake, I found that there were no sites available that were wide enough for my big tent. So after cooling my feet in the lake and resting for a bit, I continued on to Holden and spent the night on the ballfield, completing 20 miles for the day. The bugs were annoying here too, but I pretty much crashed and slept for 10-12 hours after setting up camp.
Comments