Today is a zero day. That means I get to hang out in town and no hiking. There are a lot of things that I need to do today including laundry and most importantly taking a shower.
The shower was a real experience. There was no soap, so I improvised and used hand soap from the bathroom dispenser for my shower. Then when I left the shower I walked across the floor and clearly my feet were dirtier than when I went into the shower. I guess maintenance is a second thought issue when maintaining the shower. Also, there was an interesting note about hot water in the shower. The shower costs $1 for each 2 minutes. However, a sign in the shower says that if you want hot water you have to let the water run for 1 to 2 minutes. There goes a dollar waiting for hot water.
There seemed to be a snafu about the tent site that I was on. I rented it for two nights and the park ranger who I talked to said that’s fine. However the next day there was a placard near the camp site saying that it is reserved by someone else. That took about an hour to straighten out.
The rest of the day was just hanging out at the restaurant and drinking wildly expensive juices. An orange juice of about 8 oz costs $4.88. I can buy a half gallon of orange juice at home for that amount.
Despite today’s travails, Stehekin is a pretty cool place. It is unreachable by road. You have to either fly in or take a ferry. There’s no local internet available. If the residents want internet they have to use Starlink.
Tomorrow it’s back to the trail and the Cascade mountains. This promises to be an extremely tough hike in the northern section of Washington.
