What's in a Trail Name?

By Tyler Socash

IG: @tylerhikes

The Stehekin shuttle was arriving at 9am, and we had to make it!  After 5 grueling days on trail most thru-hikers get antsy for town food.  There are a few towns along the PCT that entice hikers to walk faster and dig deeper — Stehekin, WA is one of those towns.  

A view from the middle of Lake Chelan near the Stehekin village. 

While Brandon fell behind, the urgency to get to this fabled town pushed Matt and I onward.  He had been there before, and every story he told about Stehekin made the importance of catching the early shuttle grow.  Matt calls Stehekin, "The town that time forgot."  Situated at the end of ~60-mile Lake Chelan, there are only three ways to arrive at Stehekin: take the long ferry ride from Chelan, charter a sea plane ($100 per person), or hike there via the Pacific Crest Trail.  

In addition to hearing all about the iconic bakery, organic garden, impeccable swimming, and bountiful food, Matt also hoped to catch up to another hiker that he met earlier in his trip south.  They call her, "Wildfire."  Matt wondered if I had seen a hiker with a small turquoise pack and a French braid, but I learned that Wildfire started south before I returned from the border monument.  Catching your trail friends is a big deal on the PCT.  With zeros, neros, missed resupplies, injuries, etc. you never know when you or your friends' PCT plans will be thwarted.  Sometimes you never see a trail friend again... (Spooky.)  We had to make that bus to catch Wildfire, and we did!  

The Stehekin shuttles in "downtown" Stehekin. 

These shuttles were ferried out to this isolated town to take hikers and hotel guests up and down Stehekin Valley.  For $7 cash, the bus will take you from the High Bridge Ranger Station all the way down to town — a price you'd gladly pay to avoid the 12+ mile road walk.  The bus makes one mandatory stop on the way into town... The Stehekin Bakery. 

This is one of my favorite magical places :)

When the bus came to a halt, the driver said we could run in and grab something to go.  When we got off the bus, we found a lovely group of hiker trash (an affectionate term for thru-hikers who have evidently adopted a sub-standard way of living, i.e. wearing tattered clothes, drinking water out of a Denny's bathroom sink, and so on).  That's when Matt said, "There's Wildfire!"  

Wildfire, like The Man Matt, is awesome.  She was given her trail name (a significant alias given to all long-distance thru-hikers) when she shouted "Wildfire!" while sleep-talking.  Similar to Matt's hiking backstory, her best laid plans to southbound thru-hike the PCT were altered last year due to weather/injury.  She was back at it though, and she was already hiking over 20+ miles a day. 

Wildfire, The Man Matt, and Tyler — soon-to-be Southbound besties!

I didn't have much time to talk.  I needed calories and the bakery's scent permeated the air as well as my subconscious.  I ordered huge sticky buns and a Pepsi immediately to help replenish the food deficit that naturally comes when you hike 120+ miles.  When I finally came out to the hiker trash picnic table, I noticed Wildfire was with other friends.  Karissa and Seth were about to head south out of High Bridge in order to enter the Glacier Peak Wilderness.  It was daunting to think that the next town, Stevens Pass, was 100 miles south from here.  Two other people, Robyn and AJ, were also enjoying the Stehekin Bakery.  Wildfire seemed to be very confident within this group, as if she had known these other newfound adventurers her whole life.  With a mouth full of sticky buns I ran back to the bus screaming, "See you all in the Glacier Peak Wilderness!"  I drew laughs because of my enthusiasm... And partially because I accidentally spit everywhere when I yelled.  I was very excited to be eating at the historic bakery. 

 I will fail to effectively describe what this town and these people meant to me.  I didn't just leave Stehekin for the wild.  I enjoyed a wonderful nero with this clan.   Even though I was over 2,500 miles away from New York State, for a day I was home.  If The Man Matt, Wildfire, AJ, Robyn, Seth, or Karissa ever read this blog, just know that I love you guys. You, and the entire town, made me feel like I belonged.  Stehekin has character, and that beautiful, wild place was accentuated by the characters that I met within those 24 hours.  Perhaps I'll go into the details of our kayak heist, our harmonica songs, the turtle wrangling, and my "future wife" at the Ranger Station another time...

Another picture of said heist.  By the way, Lake Chelan is the 3rd deepest lake in the United States.  It just so happens I'll also see the two deeper ones next month...

Of the aforementioned people, I ended up giving three of them their trail names.  They all helped to give me ones to try on for size.  Turtle Wrangler almost stuck thanks to AJ and Robyn (seriously, you guys are awesome), and both Neil Patrick Harris and Doogie Hauser had a nice run.  The Man Matt, who is now The Man Half Jesus due to his ability to swim half-way out of the water thanks to his water polo days and his desire to wash thru-hikers' feet as a trail magic gesture, always says, "It's not your trail name until you introduce yourself as it."  Half Jesus is very wise.  

Big reveal: my trail name has become Future Dad. 

In order to remain in chronological order and to avoid a Memento storyline I'll save that story for later in this post.  

That night in Stehekin was one of the best nights of my life.  It reminded me of my childhood nights in Old Forge at the lakefront.  At one point, The Man Matt Half Jesus (he has a peculiar tendency to call everyone, "The Man") told Wildfire that she should team up with "The Man Tyler," in the Glacier Peak Wilderness.  Matt completed that section two years ago and had another adventure planned for himself off the PCT during the next 5 days. 

Just like that, Tyler and Wildfire became hiking comrads.  Spoiler alert: After three weeks the three of us still hike southbound together / near each other!  These characters will come up a lot in my stories. 

To accelerate a bit (I'm a storyteller and this really could go on forever) I'll show you what Wildfire and I accomplished in the Glacier Peak Wilderness (my second favorite wilderness area so far) and in the Henry M. (The Man) Jackson Wilderness during the next 100 miles.  Details will come out in my memoir. 

Hiking up to Suiattle Pass

Wildfire crosses the dangerous Suiattle River

At camp on the slope of Glacier Peak: Wildfire, Karissa (Darkside - I named her for her dark humor), Seth (Talent Boy - I named him this for he has many talents), and Future Dad (Seth named me this because of my conversations about finding a future wife and having a future child to take on the PCT on some future day. This name makes me happy because my old colleagues at the University of Rochester continue to speak about our impending fatherhood with reverence. I miss you guys too!)

Wildfire and I pressed on!  We appreciated these great views....

Glacier Peak!  Stratovolcano!  Remote! Wilderness is awesome!

I'm trying to break the SOBO lake swimming record.  I'm at 8 lakes so far. 

Last swim before Stevens Pass. 

And finally, to go all Memento on you, Brandon arrived at the Stehekin Bakery only minutes after Matt and I left.  He ordered sticky buns (like me).  Exhausted, Brandon laid down on the hiker trash picnic table and got his treats all over his back.  We now call Brandon, "Sticky Buns."