Day 1-
No holiday. But the rest of the crew started today. We planned a shared menu for our trip, fancy breakfasts at the Guard Station at Holden Village, and dinners at Holden.
Spent the day playing with gear and preparing for the next trip.
Day 2-
Manual Labor day. (they had nothing else for us to do). We went uplake and moved some lumber for a dock. Spent the afternoon helping clean up the Guard Station at 25 mile landing.
Day 3-
Uplake on the Lady to Lucerne- then up to Holden. Amazing village.
Toured the museum. Fascinated by old photos of the mine and the people who used to live here.
Hiked up to the Portal to check out the old mine shaft. A cold draft blows there and draws you in. It calls you to open the door.
2 nights camping at the Guard Station. It's a one room cabin situation. We camp outside of it and cook inside. I decided to sleep on the porch rather than set up a tent.
Boring crosscut class today, but at least we're at Holden. Exploring is fun.
Day 4-
Hiking upper portion of Railroad. Only got 3.5 miles in (still a 2 mile stretch left in the middle).
Lots of logs. Am now crosscut certified- yes there is a science to it- a combination of physics, reading binds, and common sense. Our crew makes good saw teams.
On our hike back from Railroad Creek, we ran into a tree that wasn't there before. Good laugh as we shucked packs and rolled it out of the way.
Holden has a prom tonight and we are going.
Eating well at the village and in our guard station.
Day 5-
We rocked it at prom last night. Stayed and danced till the end. (It was over at 11, but that felt late to us.) Myself and another guy on the crew found clean shirts to wear from Potty Patrol (what they call lost and found)- felt dressed up to us, and we went and danced with the village.
Got a couple of swing dances in with the boss.
Today we logged out 10 mile creek trail. Pretty steep- lots of switchbacks. Ran into a nasty log that tried to steal our saw- we won in the end. Did everything we could so we wouldn't have to chop it out of the log.
Moved camps to Moore Point. Refreshing boat ride. Beautiful campsite right by Lake Chelan. Will probably end up swimming in it soon.
I set up a tarp with mosquito netting, am boycotting tents at the moment. The mosquitoes outside the net look confused & I laugh at them. I won't be food tonight.
Day 6-
Up Fish Creek- 3 hours to go 4 miles. Up and back into the mountain. We arrive at the spot where we're supposed to build a camp for the NYC, and the boss announces "Holden was paradise. Welcome to Hell."
We have come to the conclusion we should get paid more when we actually bust our asses working. When we look at where we're supposed to build this camp, it looks like it will be some work. Instead of getting to it, we sit down, shuck our packs, look around and say 'Damn that's going to be some work', and proceed to take a break.
We do work hard on the way back clearing the trail and logging it out. By the end, we are out of water. Hiked the last mile and a half very thirsty.
The lake was looking pretty good. Headed straight for it when we hit camp. Pumped enough water to gulp down and dunked myself in the icy water.
Called it early tonight on account of mosquitoes. Hung out 'til we couldn't stand the swarms anymore, then escaped to our mosquito netting and tents.
Feels funny going to bed when there's so much light outside. Don't even have to read by headlamp.
Collectively, our gear has taken a hard hit over the last 24 hour period. Most of it happening yesterday afternoon: First there was a flat tire on the truck. Then a screw got lost on the small saw. The boss lost his watch somewhere on 10 mile creek. Kenny fed the creek his waterbottle. Barbara dropped the file in the lake. A pulaski lost it's handle. Then today Halden lost his safety glasses as we hiked up Fish Creek.
But on the upside, someone gave us sweat bread and sticky buns from the Steheiken Bakery as we were leaving Holden.
We are still eating very well.
Day 7-
Built a camp. Looked pretty deluxe when we were done. Fish Creek seemed like a more difficult hike today. Our bodies knew what to expect- that there are no flat spots to rest- and hated us even more for going up there.
Our crew is full of funny sayings. They just keep rolling into conversations.
'One Hawaiian shirt away from a vacation'- Kenny regarding Steheiken.
'Let's make like snakes.' Me after we stuffed ourselves last night.
'Not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree' - and lots more from Barbara in a story she told.
Every time a saying comes out, Kristian and I look at each other and start cracking up. This is why our crew will make a fun summer.
Met some kayakers from Ashland. Chatted for a while. Got us sold on the idea of taking the ferry from Bellingham and touring the Alaskan coast- like a cruise, only better. People put their sleeping bags out on the deck of the ferry and get on and off at however many stops on the trip around Southeast Alaska.
Day 8-
A playful working kind of day. (We refused to hike up Hell anymore). One log to get that WTA left on the Lakeshore trail. Took our time with it. Then took a leisurely lunch as we played the rock game (chucking rocks from the trail and trying to hit various trees, puddles etc.) and debated whether or not to hike to Steheiken for fun. In the end- not. Back to camp early to hang out the rest of the day.
Our new neighbors are a school group of 6th and 7th graders. It's like having TV. They came in around 8 last night after an 11 mile hike- but jumped with energy when they saw the lake. This is a great kind of TV.
Hiked up to the old apple orchard. It used to be a resort with an orchard and a hotel. No idea where the building was-or the trees. Now it's a beautiful meadow with only two apple trees and a low rock wall bordering the field.
Day 9-
Lazy day. Finished a book. Layed on the dock and got sunburned. More TV from the 6th graders. Explored a private property with Kristian. The Lakeshore trail goes right through it, so we went off trail to check it out. Found a cool loft/fort with a real bed and someone hung a chandelier up there-in the middle of the woods-someone's romantic tree fort. There was a gorgeous cabin. Nice garden. But we still didn't understand why they had sprinklers running everywhere- watering trees and just woods-places sprinklers aren't expected. But they ran anyway.
Kenny went on an adventure last night to go find a mine he thought was somewhere up the hill. We all thought he was crazy, but he rolled back into camp around 1030 this morning- he actually found the mine portals and got to explore them.
Met a woman who came into camp who used to be a ballet dancer/mountaineer. I'm not the only crazy one out there. She was doing ballet with a company while taking a mountaineering class. She had hiked the PCT and worked on trails for NPS at some point. I was very impressed. Someday I'd like to have the PCT on my resume, and still be hiking and backpacking when I'm a crazy old person.
Flagged the boat down this afternoon and we were rescued from Hell.
At Fields Point, we thought our rig was gone. Met some trails folks from NPS who offered a ride- and then we found where our rig had been moved to. That was an excitable moment.
Day 10-
Office days are long and boring, but we made plenty of jokes about working in Hell, safety and Job Hazard Analysis in Hell and the boss reminisced about the one time Hell froze over.
We do not love Fish Creek.
Catatonic after lunch. We all got burgers and milkshakes. Hard to stay awake in a safety meeting that just dragged on endlessly. The boss really likes to talk, and he will drag a subject out for 3 hours when it could have taken only half an hour.
But we survived the boredom and made it to the weekend!
Important to Note: Fish Creek really is Hell. There have been two fires through there in the past 6 years. Absolutely no shade. It is really hot and humid. Bright sunshine. And the trail just continues to go UP. Whoever built this trail did not understand the concept of having flat stretches.
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