I'm trying to plan some backpacking for early September. Given how crowded everything has been I'm looking for something a little off the beaten path (in Washington) and something that I haven't done. I was first thinking about the classic Cascade Pass to Stehekin, with a side trip to Horseshoe Basin, but I've done Cascade Pass many times and setting up two cars would be time-consuming and a hassle. So now I'm thinking about camping or staying at the ranch in the Stehekin Valley, exploring that area, then backpacking up to Cottonwood Camp and doing Horseshoe Basin as a day trip.
I read the Upper Stehekin road/trail was used as a firebreak for the Wolverine fire. Sounds like it's generally a road/trail in the woods. Here's the question: Is this even a good hike, or a waste of a couple days ( it's 24+ miles from High bridge to Cottonwood)? If I really want to visit Horseshoe Basin, I noticed it would be shorter and more convenient to me to approach from the west side.
Horseshoe from the west is a lot of elevation gain, you drop quite a bit below the pass. If you're ok with that it's the way to go.
Cottonwood was my least favorite camp from Cascade Pass to Stehekin. On the bright side, it was empty.
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