Day 18 - It's a Town Day! — Walking People Out of Poverty

walkingpeopleoutofpoverty.ca is the personal blog of Peter Thorpe, long-time Opportunity International Canada supporter and Walking People Out of Poverty founder. For Dan Murray’s blog and information on OIC, please click here.

Start Time 6:45 am
End Time 11:30 am
Start Mileage: 2459.50
End Mileage: 2466.90
Distance Walked Miles: 7.40 Miles
Elevation Gain feet 1503

We were all up with a spring in our step this morning as we were heading to Steven’s Pass for a Zero Day.

Cameraman, Huckleberry and Payday left a few minutes before myself and Woody. We finally started off and after a few minutes we were into the first of two climbs, each of about 1500 feet in elevation. It was certainly the coldest day of the week and both me and Woody were wearing our down jackets for the extra warmth. I was also wearing my gloves. The trail snaked through the forest and we started to gain elevation. There were several downhill sections but nothing of note as we continued to climb.

After our first climb we came to a gravel road and there was a truck just a few metres down the trail. Out jumped the driver of the truck who asked if we would like some Trail Magic. Anyone who followed my journey in 2018 and 2019 will know this is where Trail Angels surprise you with drinks and sometimes snacks. The Trail Angel’s name was French Fry and he had a cooler full of soft drinks and Gatorade and I was ever so grateful to take a Sprite.

Poor French Fry was wearing just a tee shirt and shorts and he was shivering in the cold while we chatted. He said he was fine but I think he was being kind. French Fry said the weather down in the town and the surrounding areas was lovely and it was just the mountain top that had the bad weather.

After a few minutes with French Fry it was time to move on and we ducked back on the trail after saying our thanks. We now entered a section of the trail that had been subject to a rockfall and it was very rocky underfoot. I took a glance back to see where Woody was and all I could see was him bent over, pounding the can that once held his soft drink into a small, thin disc so he could carry it out.

After a couple of miles we hit our 2nd 1500 foot climb and the mist began to clear and the sun came out to warm us up. Up and up we went and I was within a hundred feet or so of the summit when I stopped to take a picture.

We reached the summit and set off down the other side of the mountain for the long 2.1 mile descent into town. I lost count of the number of people coming up the hill who were for the most part day hikers. We finally reached town and found Cameraman, Huckleberry and Payday, together with Mary at one of the restaurants where we got together for lunch before Mary very kindly made the long drive to Leavenworth to drop us off.

Since Monday, when we left Snoqualmie, until our arrival in Stevens Pass we have ascended 18633 feet in 5 days, and in some horrific conditions with temperatures in the low to mid 90’s. So we are really looking forward to some down time.