Robert Francisco

Destination: Creek below Suiattle Pass
Starting Location: Fire Crrrk
Today’s Miles: 26.20
Trip Miles: 2492.60
Fire Creek (2529.1, 5370) to Creek below Suiattle Pass (2555.3, 5730) ascent (8248) descent (7667)

We are 100.1 miles from Canada – holy crap batman we are getting close.
The only way to make today colder than yesterday was to add some wind – so that is what happened. My sleeping bag was dryer when I woke up than when I went to bed so my plan worked out well. And it is still raining steady tonight. I have my tent pitched so tight that the drops are bouncing and falling again. It is so wet.
This wilderness is one of the best however and actually it is how I pictured it; big mountains, green from moisture, and glacier fed rivers. We made it across the real PCT route. The flood damage is remarkable and if you ever think humans can control nature, walk this route. We had to cross a lot of downed trees & scramble down some steep slopes while using branches for support. The trail has fallen off the mountains in many spots & we had to navigate around. The infamous Suiattle River was running thigh deep & there was a log for crossing. I chose to wade & the boys walked down stream to the log. The wading was straight forward except the Suiattle is milky due to glacial till and thus you can not see into the water. Given my feet are growing webbing anyway I figured why use the log.
Raining good now.
I love my wife more as a result of this trip. Not because “absence makes the heart grow fonder” but because I appreciate her so much more. I am very fortunate to have such a woman as my life partner.
I sure would like to be at the beach right now with my feet in the warm sand . . . I am starting to shiver again.
It is probably because we are getting close, but I am getting tired. Physically I am beyond my hiking peak which happened around Mt Shasta. At that point I was totally fit & going strong. Now I am doing great but my legs are losing muscle now and the endurance is off a bit as well. Then again 8,000+ feet of climbing in these conditions might make anyone tired.
Hands are shaking too much to write anymore, going deep into bag yet again

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Destination: Trapper Creek Campground
Starting Location: Trapper Creek Campground
Today’s Miles: 0.00
Trip Miles: 1913.30
Trapper Creek Campground – Zero

Linda & Ron, my campground neighbors, invited me over for coffee & fresh huckleberry pie for breakfast. Amazing is the only way to describe that pie. I also secured a family bread recipe that was hand written in the early part of the last century by Josephine Castellanos. Here it is:
1 cake compressed yeast (about 1.25 packets in today’s terms)
½ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 cups lukewarm water
1 egg
7 cups flour
3 T. shortening.
Crumble yeast into large mixing bowl. Add sugar, salt, and water. Add well beaten egg. Sift flour once before measuring. Add half flour & beat well. Add melted shortening and mix in remainder of flour. Let rise to double its bulk. Punch down. Cover tightly & place in Frigidaire. About 1 hour before baking, remove desired amount of dough. Shape into rolls & place on greased pan. Use gem pans for clover leaf rolls. Let rise slowly to double their bulk, then bake in hot oven (425) for 20 – 25 minutes. This dough can be kept in Frigidaire and used from as desired. Shapes may be prepared in the morning and placed back in Frigidaire to be ready for quick baking. Allow just enough time for the dough to rise & the rolls to bake so that they will come from the oven piping hot.

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