Wednesday 10th August
Start: Bushcamp at Keechelus Lake
End: Snoqualmie Pass, off mile 2390.7
Miles: 9
We woke up to a dry tent! A good start to the day. It was noticably warmer at this elevation, despite a lot of cloud cover. Packing up camp felt far less painful than previous days.
Keechelus Lake was not really what I had expected. It looks like a man-made reservoir, fed by some natural creeks, but flanking Interstate 90, which we could clearly hear just 3 miles away. Not exactly scenic. But who cares, we were so close to our next resupply point!
For most of the 9 miles we followed The Iron Horse Trail, which was once the Milwaukee Road railway line connecting Chicago to the Pacific. The Washington section was converted into a State Park after the company went bankrupt in the 1980s. Not much remains of the railway itself in this section. The path was gravel, but looking closely I could make out the odd rusted remnant of steelwork, and if we had continued we would have come to a dark 2-mile tunnel which runs under Snoqualmie.
I was so happy to arrive at the pass. It always feels strange in ski resorts out of season. We had walked past a couple of seemingly abandoned lift areas on the approach. Such large parking lots, without a single car. I bet this place will be buzzing in a couple of months. Snoqualmie Pass showed more signs of life. It seems to be a popular truck stop, and general drive-through rest area.
Heading straight to the sole hotel – The Summit Inn, we found Dan in the adjoining Pancake House. Yes we had eaten our oatmeal today, but it was still technically breakfast time at 10:30, so we ordered seconds! The eggs and pancakes were bliss. We chatted away with Dan, debriefing on this last section. Thanks to his early start out of Packwood, and a massive first day, we didn’t see him for the entire time. At noon we were allowed to check into our room.
a life to wander 