Zero in Skykomish

In the morning, everyone in the hostel dorms started stirring and heading down one floor to the common room fireplace where the host was cooking everyone breakfast.

The dorms were interesting. There were a couple normal bunks, but it mostly consisted of a long platform covered with single mattresses, one right next to each other, almost making one gigantic bed. Luckily, the dorm wasn't full, so I had space between me and the people on either side of me.

The Mountaineers Lodge dorms.

I went downstairs and sat by the fire just as the announcement came that breakfast was ready. There was a really hearty hash brown casserole cooked with sour cream, onions, and cheddar cheese. I was so cold and calorie starved that it was amazing. I also helped myself to some oatmeal, coating it with a generous helping of brown sugar, raisins, walnuts, and cinnamon.

After that, I checked the radar. It wasn't raining too badly at the moment, but I noticed a dark green band coming towards Stevens Pass on the radar, so I figured if I needed to hitch to Skykomish, I should do it now.

I packed everything up from the drying room and crossed the pedestrian walkway to the other side of the highway. As I was walking to the spot I was planning on hitching from, I saw a car going in the direction I needed to go. I stuck my thumb out, just in case. It looked like the car passing me was going too fast to stop, so I kept walking. I glanced back and noticed the car had actually stopped, but was driving off as I looked back. Damn.

I got into my hitching spot and stuck my thumb out. I was surprised how many cars were passing me by in the rain. I was even doing the pathetic, “Oh, I’m so cold” dance. I didn't seem to be working until a car pulled out of the Stevens Pass Resort, did a U turn, and came to pick me up.

It was a man from Oregon who was on a trip with his son. They were doing some backpacking too. We were chatting about hiking trails and he mentioned seeing a dead, washed up, baby white shark when hiking the Lost Coast Trail in California. As he dropped me off at the Sky Deli in Skykomish, I got his contact information to hopefully get those pictures as it sounded like a predation event.

I stopped in the deli to get some snacks and some smaller bills for the laundromat. While at the deli I talked to a couple people about the PCT and how my end destination was Canada. They pulled out some Canadian quarters and gave them to me. I know there is a laundromat at the resort in Manning Park, so it may save me the trouble of having to exchange money to get clean.

The tiny river and railroad town of Skykomish.  The bridge was built in 1939.

Crossing the river.

I then headed to the laundromat, which ended up being a couple machines in a small room. There was no bathroom. It was also really expensive with $4 for the wash, $3.50 for the drier, and $1 for the detergent.

I was hanging in the laundromat room, needing to pee when Bam Bam walked in to do his laundry. He suggested I go to the hotel/cafe to use the bathroom there. I had planned to inquire about a room there, but I was only wearing my rain gear over a swimsuit.

Eventually, I gave in and headed to The Cascadia Inn and Cafe. The hotel section was locked so I went to the cafe to inquire about a room. I was able to reserve one and one of the staff showed me where the common room was where I could hang out. She also directed me to a box of loaner clothes for when hikers do laundry or just want something else to wear while in town. I grabbed a fleece shirt and some pajama pants and went back to the laundromat.

I hung out with Bam Bam while we did laundry and he went to the post office when it opened. After he came back, we switched and I went to the post office while he watched the laundry.

I made it to the post office, showed my ID and watched them search for my package. It soon became clear that they couldn't find it. This has happened a couple times, as my packages tend to be sent out late. I got the tracking number ready and the man behind the counter looked it up for me.

He said the package had been delivered to Stehekin, the next  (and last) resupply town. At first I thought I gave him the wrong tracking number, but he told me the package was addressed to Skykomish, but “held at Stehekin per customer request.”

Stehekin is a small and remote town. To get there by car you need to take a ferry. There is no way the post office made a mistake and happened to deliver it to the next trail town.

I had told my Trail Angel to make sure the package to Stehekin was addressed to the post office since the lodge there was no longer accepting packages. The only thing that made sense to me was that he called the USPS and used the tracking number for Skykomish instead of Stehekin to change the package addresses. That left me with no resupply for this stretch, but two resupplies (and probably more package issues) in Stehekin. I called my Trail Angel and told him to sort it out.

I finished my laundry and got a hot sandwich from the deli. If my package could not be sent here, then my trip to Skykomish was a really expensive laundry trip. It was a cute town, but it didn't seem worth it.

I went back to the hotel to hang out in the common room. I was told I could check into my room at that point. I got into my room and got a call from my Trail Angel about how they couldn't get in touch with the Stehekin post office, but he was coming up with ridiculous alternatives to me getting my package, each more absurd than the one before.

That just made me angry because the suggestions were not helpful. Eventually I came up with the solution. There were a couple resupply packages that hadn't been sent yet. He could take the food from those boxes and send a new box by FedEx overnight to the Stevens Pass Ski Resort, which had started accepting packages. If I needed to stay overnight I could do it at the ski resort next to the trail for  $20 instead of $80 in Skykomish where I would need to get a ride back to the trail.

I spent the rest of the day huddled under the blankets in bed working on blog entries and napping. It is amazing how tired you realize you are when you finally lay down in a bed. When I come off trail at the end of my journey, I will probably sleep for a week.

The town mostly shuts down around 4 or 5 pm, so I had to go to the pub to get pub fare for dinner, then I worked on the blog a little more, and finally  went to sleep.