Camping below a glacier is cold. There was frost on the plants near our tents and I had to sleep in most of my clothes. Today we would leave the slopes of Mt. Adams and head into the Goat Rocks. This is said to be the best section of the whole PCT, so we were excited.
The day started out pretty mellow. Lots of mild downhill with a few short uphills. We saw trail maintenance crews, day hikers, and lots of other people. The first 25 or so miles were actually pretty boring. We did get some nice views of Mt. Adams as we walked away.
Eventually, we got into the Yakima Indian Reservation and the views started getting good. We went over Cispus Pass and saw the Goat Rocks. It was an amazing sight. We were suddenly in a huge basin with water flowing and people camping everywhere. We still had a few miles to go and hiked on.
Out of the basin, we climbed some more and had spectacular views of three different volcanoes. It’s hard to believe we were camped at the base of that one in the morning.
We also had some snow on the trail at mile 2273.1. This section is the highest in Washington, so it’s no surprise that we’d find snow here.
We set up camp in some rocks along the ridge and cooked dinner. This is the best campsite I’ve ever had in Washington. Maybe the best I’ve ever had.
We watched the sun set as we ate and now I’m headed to sleep. Tomorrow we should get to White Pass fairly early and then I’m taking a few days off the trail to hike the Enchantments with Meghan and some friends. I can’t wait!
