Up and Over and Again

Oops, it's been such a while since my last update. So here's the nitty gritty along with lots of written verbage.
So I left Omak in search of the dreamed of Safeway and Wal-Mart and somehow managed to bypass them both. It was either three miles back into the headwind or wait until Twisp. And so the decision was made that found me climbing the steep, oh so steep, slopes of Loup Loup Pass in the heat of the afternoon. On the early slopes of the climb I passed the sad shacks of the local farm workers. Poverty was most evident. Yet for me the climb started from the bottom and was accompanied by the first heat of the trip. I was suffering in no time. I couldn't go fast enough, couldn't drink water fast enough, couldn't find cool water fast enough. It was a slugfest of will and I was in the heat of it. Luckily I caught what had to be my last wind and happened upon what looked like an artesian well, which I filtered anyway just to be safe. I made the top of Loup Loup and descended a half mile to the campground, but found none of the promised water. Pissed galore I cycled the half mile back to the top of the pass and into another campsite. The water from the faucet had a fair tint of brown, but its water. Ate and napped and then moved back into the woods to stealth camp. Found a nice spot among the aromatic Ponderosa pines and was enjoying reading my book, every so often glancing about when some bird sang or a squirrel chattered. It was around 8 pm when I heard a sound and looking over found a bear feeding about. It was close, too close. If it was 30 yards closer we would have been reading the same book! It wandered off, but when it turned around I spooked it off. Ten minutes later it was back and knew I was there and so was food. This was a big grizzly bear and I ain't much practiced at grinning down a "bare" like Davey Crockett, yet I managed to make it out of there fast with clean laundry. I descended the Pass and found a new camp and hiked up the ridge to see the beautiful sunset with the Methow Valley hills below and the snow peaked Cascades in the distance.

Then just before dusk I heard what sounded like three bears just past the illumination of my headlamp, but I couldn't tell for sure and it was too dark to ride so I simply went back to sleep. At dawn I cycled into Twisp with my nerves a bit rattled. Found a bakery and then the grocery store. Cycled to Winthrop, a Western themed town, and hung out there.. The Canadians showed up and we exchanged stories. I bought a much needed pair of cycling socks. Decided to head out of town, but the winds punished me dearly. I'm stubborn though and I pressed on, not wanting to cycle this piece of beautiful road in weekend traffic. Found an okay camp, but was still afraid to be in the woods alone due to last night's excitement.

The next morning I crested Washington Pass in the North Cascades after pausing for lots of pictures. The wall of the rocky ridge bounded on the right by Liberty Bell simply grabs a person's eyes and holds them there like a beautiful woman. At the viewpoint I starred for a long while. Then it was a short ride to Rainy Pass where I had lunch with a young Swedish cyclist. After eating a lot of food I walked to Rainy Lake which was nice, but not enough, so I began walking the Maple Pass loop. I didn't know exactly how long the trail was, but it went up and the scenery kept getting better. After about two miles I was high enough that large patches of snow still clung to the North slopes; in my sandals it made for some cold feet but I really wanted to see the view from the top. I attained the corniced Pass and the distant line of glacier crested mountains capped by puffy clouds looking towards the towering Glacier Peak was so so wonderful! I felt like jumping up and down, crying, dancing a jig and running into the mountains' heart. Instead I took picture after picture that simply didn't begin to capture the scene. I could see mountains in all directions and snow continuing along the trail. I dashed across each stretch of cold whiteness and at each bare rock tried to warm my frigid feet. It took a while to reach the trailhead, but I eventually made it and my feet thawed out. And so I have accomplished my dream of walking in the Cascade Mountains. Yet I was starving so I made dinner and then changed back into my cycling clothes and climbed back up to the Washington Pass viewpoint to camp on the windswept rock outcropping. The temperature dropped to near freezing that night.

The next day I spent my time descending from the mountains towards the ocean. Along the way I saw Desolation Peak where Jack Kerouac manned a fire tower in the 50s; the experience would serve as inspiration for some of his stories. The side winds near Diablo Dam forced me to cling to the handlebars and hope that the wind would not topple my bicycle on the rushing descent. I hung about Marblemount for a few hours and then camped amongst the mosquitoes in the woods. The following morning I enjoyed biscuits n'gravy before cycling thru to Sedro Wooly. There I bought another snack and then went on a side trip to Burlington where I did my laundry and ran errands. In the afternoon on the way out of town I missed a turn, but my route was more direct so it worked out well. paid for the expensive primitive at Larrabee State Park. All things worked out well because I met Chandler, I cyclist from New York, and after we viewed a nice sunset some incredibly nice folks gave us leftovers from a birthday party. We feasted on hamburgers and chips, along with some cold brews.

The next morning we continued the beautiful ride along Chuckanut Drive and shortly arrived in Bellingham. We saw the sign to the Alaska ferry and wished for the great adventure, but reason barely won out. Bellingham was a swell looking town and I was glad that Chandler was as excited as me to explore the town a while. We perused a local antique store, caught up with the news at the local library, had lunch on the lawn, strolled the downtown streets, looked thru the local bike shop, spent time searching the shelves of a most wonderful used book store, and had a cold brew at one of the local breweries. Around four we left town and cycled the country roads to the Canadian border. There we split ways, hopping to meet again and I visited the International Peace Arch Park. It was a beautiful green borderland with a large white mason arch and both flags planted with flowers. Then I cycled back South alone having reached another milestone.

P.S To the one in the ditch under the bridge beside the road. Had I been blinded by the beautiful scenery, the rarest of wonderful cheery personalities would not have diminished my impressions. Was your trip in Glacier incredible?