Steamboat Rock and Lenore Lake Caves

View from top of Steamboat Rock

Steamboat Rock - April 11th, 2015               Lenore Lake Caves - April 12th, 2015

Central Washington - Wenatchee                  Central Washington - Wenatchee

Mileage: 4.0 mi./6.4 km (Round Trip)          Mileage: 1.5 mi./2.4 km (Round Trip)

Elevation Gain: 650 ft. / 198m                      Elevation Gain: 200 ft. / 60.9m

Highest Point: 2250 ft. / 685.8m                   Highest Point: 1300 ft. / 396.2m

Dogs: Allowed                                              Dogs: Allowed

Difficulty: Easy                                             Difficulty: Easy

Required Pass: WA Discover Pass                Required Pass: WA Discover Pass

I was lucky enough to have a 3-day weekend off work I was ecstatic about the idea of a weekend camping adventure. Since it looked like it would be a rainy weekend in the North Cascades I decided to head toward the more arid region of Eastern Washington.

I am still amazed by the variations in scenery when driving across Washington. We started out in the city of Seattle, driving along Highway 2 we passed through heavily wooded forests, then snow covered mountains, long expanses of highway along flat plateaus, and wildflower-covered coulees. As we dropped down into the Grand Coulee we saw the shimmering waters of Banks Lake and Steamboat Rock off in the distance.

Off-road view of Steamboat Rock

The trailhead for Steamboat Rock is conveniently located directly across the street from the campgrounds. After setting up camp we headed up the trail and quickly gained elevation climbing up rocky paths surrounded by the wildflowers of the shrub-steppes. There were numerous off-shoots to the path and initially we headed straight to the top. We reached a plateau and saw below us a grand view of Banks Lake and the protruding rocky cliffs surrounding. It was a spectacular, breathtaking view made all the more impressive by the strong gusts of wind that pushed us around the top of the rock. The winds were so strong they nearly blew us over as we clambered around the 600 acres of Steamboat Rock.

Looking out from inside one of the Lenore Lake Caves

Day 2: Following a particularly windy evening of camping, we packed up camp, made a hearty breakfast of potatoes, veggies, and eggs and headed out toward Soap Lake. Along Hwy 17 we spotted a small sign for Lenore Lake Caves and headed up the short, gravel road to the parking lot.

The first ~100 yards of the trail is paved and has stairs leading up to one of the seven cave/shelters in the area. We explored for a moment and then headed towards the cliffs looming overhead. We climbed along trails of loose dirt and rocks which proved to be a bit treacherous, but the end view was well worth it. The view over the parking lot and Lake Lenore was beautiful, but the real treat was the other side of the plateau which looked down over the Grand Coulee scabland. A prairie falcon soared overhead adding to the majestic view. The flood channels of the coulee appeared to drop of the edge of the earth into the blue skies. It was a breathtaking sight to behold.

The edge of the world a.k.a. Grand Coulee scablands

We explored a few more caves and while they were interesting, we were far more impressed with the view into the coulee than the shallow cave shelters. We made our way home and back into the snow of the mountains and the trees surrounding Seattle. Another perfect spring hiking and camping trip was complete.

PCT Planning - Tonight we dine in hell.

So as I hinted at in previous posts, Chris and I are making all of our own food. My Mom has offered to throw a couple things into later boxes, but primarily we are doing all of it ourselves. As things get closer we are starting to get some of the food stuff,
or are dehydrating and vacuum sealing at home. So it seemed like a good time to try out our recipes and make any last minute adjustments.

In a previous post on food I wrote a little bit about making sure you had enough calories and enough variety. Chris and I have planned few dinners and we may throw in one luxury dinner per box (instant Indian/Thai food etc. for some variety).

Also, Chris and I are soaking our dehydrated veggies during the day as we hike, if you use dehydrated veggies and are planning on soaking them make sure to use the water you soaked them in, that way you don't lose any nutrients. We also are dyhdrating our chicken and tuna, if you do this you need to add the tuna/chicken at the same time as the starch and with a little extra water.

Recipes under the cut.  Click the link below.

PCT Planning - Resources for Planning Your Hike

The elevation / distance graph and map of our planned PCT hike

I realize I maybe skipped some steps and neglected to post information about actually getting started planning. Of course, these are just the resources Chris and I used, and certainly not an exhaustive list. In fact, I'm only covering two things: Yogi's Guide Book and Craig's PCT Planner. That being said, I honestly think if you have those things, you can get everything else pretty well figured out.

Yogi's PCT Handbook

We had decided to do the PCT, but were a little unsure where to go from there. If you've googled anything about the PCT you've run into people mentioning Yogi's book. There's a good reason for that.

It's fucking ah-mazing.

Jackie McDonnell (a Triple Crown Hiker) aka Yogi wrote this guide book that basically details everything you need to know about the PCT. She covers gear, additional resources, water, dealing with the snow, food, etc., it's fairly exhaustive. It also incorporates information from about half a dozen other PCT hikers. Which means you get a pretty well-rounded look at what people think, the gear they bring etc.

It breaks the whole trail down into sections which include maps of the towns (including where to have your hiker boxes shipped to and how to label them), a breakdown of where water sources are, good campsites etc.  Each section is perforated, so they can be torn out of the book and included in your hiker box. She also sells these handy-dandy laminated cards which have similar information about the towns in a condensed form.

Yogi also partners with Half-Mile maps (they are available for free) she will print very nice copies of the maps for you and they include all the water and camp information that is in the book. Chris and I are going to have ours laminated, particularly for the Northwest.

So far I have to say it's been invaluable to us. Things that have really stuck out to me reading this are the things that we thought about, but her suggestions just make a ton more sense. Here are a few examples:

1. Buy running shorts with built in liners. No added weight from carrying underwear, also, hiking underwear is expensive as hell so being able to cut that out of the list is awesome.

2. What goes in your First Aid Kit. This is one of those things that I probably wouldn't have thought about till I was on the trail. I'm not saying I wouldn't have a first aid kid, but I probably wouldn't have altered it much. However, the stuff you need for a thru-hike is different. I would have brought duct-tape, but I wouldn't ever have thought about bringing desitin for chafe.

3. Get trail runners that are breathable and not waterproof. Consider getting them 1/2-1 full size larger than your feet. This was more for me than for Chris who had already made the switch to trail runners. Your feet will be wet no matter what and are likely to swell on the trail. The last thing you want is a stiff boot that is going to be holding all the moisture in.

I can't even stress enough how amazingly helpful this book has been. I think you could probably get away with just this. I say this mostly, because Craig's PCT planner is in the list of resources.

Link to Yogi's Website

Craig's PCT Planner

This is a free service that Chris and I are ABSOLUTELY going to be donating money to. The PCT planner lets you put in your start date, your estimated mph, and how many hours of hiking you're planning to do each day. Once you put in your start and end point it spits out how long it's going to take to get there. This all on it's own would be pretty handy.

The next part is so awesome it almost made Chris and I cry. And it saved us a TON of time. Based on your start point, rate of travel and end point it provides a list of places to stop and refuel. It auto-selects the most popular, but you can add or subtract as desired. It tells you the mileage between each stop and your estimated date of arrival. It also tells you how far off the trail the town/campground c-store/whatever is. Figuring out you want to bypass a town because it requires a 32 mile hitch is a good thing to know. You have the option to add zero days or notes about the location if you want as well.

It also spits out a small graph of your elevation changes for that section which is incredibly cool. This becomes especially helpful when you're trying to break things up. If you have a 12 day stretch where you won't be getting a box you are going to be carrying a ton of extra weight. If that section starts off with a big uphill battle, you might consider refueling elsewhere.

I seriously love this site. I can share my schedule with relevant people and it makes things much easier for me to have everything already organized for me.

Link to Craig's PCT Planner

GPS Spot

 When Chris and I explain to folks that we're planning to hike 1250 miles the question we get most  (aside from questions about food) is how we're going to deal with emergencies, communicate with family etc. Luckily Chris and I had a good answer for this from the get go, and this past week the actual item was gifted to us by Chris' Mom (THANKS TANYA!!!!).

The Spot GPS Satellite Messanger is basically a thru-hiker's Mom's best friend. This thing fits in the palm of my hand, takes 3 AAA batteries and can save your butt if you need it to. With batteries it is only 3.2 oz, so it's not a big concession for weight.

The Spot has an emergency beacon that pings the closest 911 dispatch through the GPS satellite system. It also can send messages to family members, track your location at 2.5, 5, 10, 30, or 60 minutes intervals. With heavy usage the batteries last about 3.5 days, but Chris and I are just planning on turning it on 1-2 times a day to hit the check in button and that'll be it.

You do have to purchase a subscription
- $9.99/Month or $90/year for the basic plan
- The tracking is another $4.99/month
- They also offer $100,000 of insurance for $20 total for a year of coverage (just in case you want to take a last minute helicopter tour).

It provides a good deal of reassurance to our family for minimal weight and inconvenience.