Thru-Hiking the Goat Rocks Wilderness
with Mike and Robbin
August 14th  - 16th

 

Hiking through the Wildflowers

It still hadn’t rained on us though so that was in our favor. Getting hungry we all decided to take a quick snack break and it was pretty cold with the wind blowing. We didn’t pause for too long before we once again started climbing towards Cispus Pass.


Just before Cispus Pass

After another mile or so and about 500 feet in elevation gain we headed over the pass and into the Cispus drainage. We didn’t have any sun breaks but we did break free of the foggy conditions and we could actually see into the drainage for a ways.


Cispus Pass


Pasqueflowers at Cispus drainage

We made our way down, winding around the drainage and finally stopped at a creek which is actually part of the Cispus River and filtered some water. Looking back up towards  the pass we had just come through, we could see the ladies on horseback we saw earlier up near the top.


Horses back by Cispus Pass

Continuing on, we made our way towards Snowgrass Flat. I was planning on hiking past Snowgrass and camp down below at the Alpine Camp but everyone was tired and hungry, myself included, so we made our way over to a little ridge which looked like it had a camp spot on it. Tired and cold, we whipped up some dinner and set up the tent.


Having dinner with a view at our campsite.

My thermometer read 44 degrees and there was a light breeze. Being cold from my wet feet and socks, I decided to head to bed early around 8:00 pm after hanging our food from a nearby tree. Mike and Robbin stayed up for a while and watched some deer playing in the valley below. When I checked, my thermometer read 36 degrees at one point in the night.


Day 2

Aug 15 2009
Opening my eyes, the world seemed bright but did not seem sunny. I was surprised though when I opened the tent door and saw Mount Adams in the distance with the sun shining on it. Mike and Robbin too were pleasantly surprised when seeing it that morning.


View of Mt Adams from our camp

With the sun shining down we quickly made breakfast and whipped up a couple of day packs so we could head over to Goat Lake. Today was our easy day, at least that’s what we thought. After securing the tent so it would not blow away by throwing our packs inside it, we headed off down the trail.


Camp

When we got to the snowgrass flat trail junction we took it down for a mile or so and then took the Lily Basin trail at its junction. Hiking along in the alpine splendor, walking through fields of lupine, we took numerous photographs.


Field of Lupine

I had told Robbin before about the Pika I had seen the last time I was through here and sure enough I heard one starting to squeak as we walked past a talus field. I had told them before how the Pika sound like a dog’s squeaky toy when they talk to each other but I guess they didn’t quite understand what I meant until they actually heard one for the first time. They look to me like a mix between a chipmunk and a big mouse. We made a stop at a waterfall and one came right up to us for a photo op.


Pika

Leaving the waterfall and Pika behind, we continued on towards Goat Lake. Mount Adams loomed to the south above a sea of clouds that appeared to be retreating in the valley below. We reached the lake around 10:15 and stopped for a snack. We had the whole lake to ourselves for a bit.


Goat Lake


Goats above Goat Lake


Taking a break

After a few pictures and sitting in the sun for a while, people started showing up at the lake one by one. After a while, I counted 9 people, all guys, looking to be in their 20’s and were sitting near the shore. One of the guys had a little dog and the guy through a stick out on the ice of the lake and the dog went out there for it. Not too long after I heard one of the guys say “I have a King Sized Snickers for you if you go out there too” .Not more than 5 minutes later, the guy with the dog was out there on the lake himself, slowly walking around, probing the ice with a hiking pole. Great entertainment for sure, watching these guys.


Some dude walking his dog on the ice

While taking pictures, Mike let out a groan and told us his last camera battery had died. This really sucked because we still had over half of the hike in front of us. Around 10:45 we started heading back towards camp the way we had come in. Back at camp, we had a quick lunch and packed up and headed back out on the PCT towards Old Snowy. Robbin was gracious enough to let Mike use her camera but you could tell he was in a bad mood due to the battery incident. I couldn’t blame him. Up the trail we went.


Mike, Robbin and Myself


Wildflowers

We were getting close to the highest portion of trail on the PCT in Washington. Soon we past Split Rock and not long after that we walked by the remains of the Yelverton shelter.


Split Rock


Yelverton Shelter

Dana Yelverton died of hypothermia in 1962 when a freak August blizzard hit the area we were now hiking through. A group of people took a couple of summers and built a shelter in her remembrance using timbers that were helicoptered in and local stone. There is a rumor floating around the internet that the shelter may be rebuilt in the near future. Cruising past the shelter we crossed a snow field and came to the top of the ridge. Mount Rainier made its presence known and it looked huge and appeared to float on a sea of clouds looking much the same way Adams did behind us.
 

Atop a sea of clouds


Rainier Island

Looking down we could see the knife ridge we would have to cross in the near future and the clouds that were almost high enough to start spilling over it. This is said to be a very dangerous place in a storm as the wind can blow ferociously over the ridge, not to mention the fact that there is a very narrow path along its crest that literally was dynamited into place where there was no path before, with steep drop offs on either side. Needless to say I was a little concerned when I saw the clouds nearing the rim. The path we were on, the PCT crosses the Packwood Glacier at this point. The glacier is not very wide at the crossing point but where it crosses is very steep and has a significant run out below it. A slip here would be very bad indeed for the unlucky thru-hiker that forgot his or her ice-axe. None of us were carrying ice axes but knowing about a high route that goes almost to the top of Old Snowy and avoids the glacier altogether, we took the high route. Summiting Old Snowy was an option we were considering anyways, so up the high trail we went. Once we got to the top of the high trail we had to decide if we wanted to climb Old Snowy, or head down to the knife ridge. Looking down I could see that the clouds I was worried about had just started to spill over the crest. The decision was made right then that we needed to get down to the spine of the ridge as soon as we could and make our way across before conditions got too bad.


Clouds starting to spill over into Eastern Washington


Photo of the same ridge I took the year before

Slowly we picked our way down the high trail. At one point I stopped to pull out my hiking sticks. Parts of the boot path were very steep and there was lots of loose slippery rock. I offered one of my sticks to Mike who reluctantly took it but he did seem to benefit from it from time to time. Before too long we intersected with the main crest trail again and we headed across the knife ridge as the clouds were spilling over it. The hiking was fast now as we tried to get across the spine before the wind picked up too much. In a few spots, going behind a rock or some krummholz the wind died down, only to pick up as we exposed our selves again to the open.


Hiking the knife ridge of the PCT between Elk Pass and Old Snowy


Hiking the knife ridge of the PCT between Elk Pass and Old Snowy


Hiking the knife ridge of the PCT between Elk Pass and Old Snowy

The only benefit we had from crossing in the cloudy weather was that we were spared the vertigo inducing position of seeing the exposure on either side of us. Before too long we made it to Elk Pass. At the PCT trail sign, some wise guys decided to drag a couple of goat or deer carcasses up and position them on the sign in such a way as to suggest a rough trail ahead, an omen of sorts. Luckily for us, we had just crossed that section.


Bad Omen?

As we continued on, the trail suddenly starts going east and we drop down into the Eastern Washington side of the crest. All of a sudden we are back in sunshine again, as if the whole ordeal on the spine was just a distant memory. We dropped down into Upper McCall Basin and continued our hike through more lupine and down past snowfields and streams and soon we were looking for the McCall Basin camp.


Hiking through meadows below Elk Pass


Hiking through meadows below Elk Pass


Hiking through meadows below Elk Pass


Looking back towards Mount Curtis Gilbert

Earlier in the week when researching where to stay each night, I heard about McCall Basin and knew it was supposed to be about 5 miles from Snowgrass Flat. Unfortunately, what I read and what I remembered were two different things. What I actually read was that Upper McCall Basin was a great place to camp and was 5 miles away but we were hiking to lower McCall Basin which was more like 8 miles away, not Upper McCall. We were all tired and kept on Hiking but the McCall trail just wasn’t materializing where I thought it should. After consulting the map again, we realized where the camp was and set off once again. We finally made it to McCall Basin camp around 7:00 and Mike laid down right after setting up the tent and crashed for about 45 minutes. Apparently he was not feeling good and probably ran out of gas on the longer than expected hike. After his nap, Robbin finally coaxed him to eat something and got him to come out of the tent. Robbin heated water while I filtered water from our camp side creek. We hung our food from a nearby tree, and then I left in search of some sunset pictures I could take.


Sunset


Cool mushrooms

Not finding much in the way of photo ops I came back to camp and hit the sack around 8:45. I set my alarm for 5:00 am so we could get an early start on our last day.


Day 3

Aug 16 2009
The alarm went off at 5:00 and I quickly shut it off. I declared “its 5:00 am if anyone cares” and promptly went back to sleep. About 10 minutes after 6:00 Mike wakes me up and we all get up for breakfast. By around 7:30  we are all packed and ready to hit the trail.


Breaking Camp

As we were walking out of camp, I was tip-toeing through a wet marshy area taking care not to get my shoes too wet, when I turn around and see Mike and Robbin poking fun and pulling their pant legs up as they walked through the marsh as if they had anything to worry about in their gore-tex climbing boots. Hardy har har, what comedians they are. We’ll see who’s more tired by the end of the day. Me in my trail runners or them in their boots.


We don't need no stinking gators!

We get out on the trail and feeling really good despite a lack of sleep on my part, we really start making great time on the trail. According to Mikes trip computer on his GPS, our average speed for the trip actually starts going up. A few miles into the hike we come to Tieton Pass where we meet a couple of ladies who started their hike on the Columbia River at Cascade Locks a hundred something miles away. Mary Ann said she is a section hiker and has been knocking off chunks of the trail every year for the last 7 or 8 years. Washington is the last PCT section she has left and she will complete her thru-hike next year. Her hike this year will take her as far as Stevens Pass. Kris started her hike at Cascade Locks as well but this is her first big chunk of the PCT. She asks us if we know of any bus service than runs from White Pass and we tell her we are unsure. She tells how she started in a brand new pair of boots but switched over to trail-runners due to blisters. She is planning on getting off the trail at White Pass and ending her hike instead of continuing on to Stevens Pass as she had planned.  Mary Ann and Kris met on the trail and were now hiking together. After we all chatted for a while we all set off down the trail again. I said to Mike we should let them pass us now or they would be on our tail the whole time but we didn’t and they weren’t which surprised me as seasoned as they were. After a mile or so Mike stops me and asks if I think we should give Kris a ride down to Packwood or Randle and more importantly since it was my car if I minded. That’s one of the things I like about Mike, he is always looking out for people. I said I didn’t mind if we gave her a ride but my son’s car seat was in the car and we would have to figure out where to fit everyone and our gear. We wait on the trail for a few minutes for the ladies to catch up. Mike asks Kris if she would like a ride and before you know it, this lady we just met on the trail who had never hiked long distance before had yogi-ed a car ride, a call on a cell phone, and a stop at the Kracker- Barrel store at the pass so she could pick up her bounce box. Kris, if you are reading this, that was absolutely brilliant! You totally have my respect. So now we have Kris in tow. She says her good-byes to Mary Ann and we are off down the trail. We are going at a pretty good clip because the trail is so flat in this area but soon we start to climb again. We are at nearly 5000 feet and have to climb up to 6600 feet as we climb up to the Hogback ridge. Soon about half way up we take a break and wait for Kris. A few minutes pass and she catches up.


Treebeard

She exclaims that she is amazed at how fast we are hiking and if she didn’t know better she would have thought us to be thru-hikers. Mike and Robbin are pretty humble and don’t say anything but when they get up to leave I tell Kris that they just climbed Rainier and almost summited Adams 3 times within the last couple of months so they are in pretty good shape. I didn’t tell her though that I was able to keep up because my pack was about 10 lbs lighter than theirs. Still I felt pretty good that I was able to keep up with them as well as I was. In fact I wanted to keep hiking the day before, when Mike bonked. I attribute this to Mike and Robbin carrying more than was absolutely essential in their packs and my oz counting and cutting in assembling my gear. But back to Kris, I told her of their summit achievements and she was impressed. We continued on up the trail. Soon we came up to a ridge and as we reached the top, we looked out and Mount Rainier made its presence know again for the first time since the day before up near Old Snowy. This was a pleasant surprise. I was not expecting any more views like this for the rest of the trip. Looking back, we could see Old Snowy and Gilbert and Ives along with the rest of the Goat Rocks. What a beautiful place. The views were almost as good as from Old Snowy itself.


Rainier From the Hogback Ridge


Looking back from the Hogback Ridge

We hiked on following around the contour of the Hogback Mountain until we crossed over a little saddle and Shoe Lake lay stretched out down below us. The views just got better and better.


Shoe Lake

Again we hiked on following the contour of the mountain, this time from the other side. We started climbing a little bit right before we reached another saddle where there were a couple of back country horsemen resting their horses.


Back Country Horsemen

After chatting for a few minutes with the Horsemen, Kris and I took off after Mike and Robbin who had left a few minutes earlier but whom we could see skirting around the long lazy trail down the Hogback.


Rainier Peeking above the Hogback

Kris using her skills again, yogi-ed my hiking poles from me that were secured to my pack. I think the knife ridge and Packwood glacier were still fresh in her memory from the day before and she did not want a repeat. She had told us earlier that instead of taking the high route on Old Snowy, she actually crossed over the Packwood glacier and she slipped a few feet. I guess it was a terrifying experience for her as a slide there could lead to a very serious injury or death. I wasn’t using the poles and letting her use them actually took a little weight off my back, a win-win. We ambled down the Hogback soon meeting up with Mike and Robbin who decided to take a break.


Lazy PCT on the Hogback


Eating the apple I carried for 3 days


Enjoying the view during a break


Miriam Lake

I told Mike that I thought Kris was really hurting as she was not so much limping but you could tell she was favoring one foot as she walked. Mike told her to take off her shoes and he took a look at her blisters. She had done a pretty good job of patching things up with moleskin but you could see she was getting a couple more blisters on one foot. After a quick snack and letting Kris put her shoes back on, we set off for the last portion of the trail. We were at around 6000 feet and need to get to about 4400 feet at the pass. As fun as the hike was, I was excited to get back to the car and get home. We tore up the trail and when we hit the first of the switchbacks, Mike and I stopped to wait one last time for Robbin and Kris. A round of gummi bears went around before we set off down the trail again, this time Mike staying back with the girls. About 45 minutes later and I find myself crossing the little bridge over the creek at the parking lot where I left my car 3 days earlier. I get my car clothes out and wash up in the creek while I wait for the others. When they arrive I go into the woods and change clothes while fighting mosquitoes the whole time, the only ones I saw during the whole trip. Soon we are all changed and we figure out how to load the car with all our gear. Then we are off to the Kracker-Barrel store for Kris’s Bounce-box. At the store Kris buys us all a drink for our troubles and we have some more snacks for the road. In the car again we drive the 70 miles back to the other trailhead to Mike’s truck and tell stories of our adventures the whole way there. Once we get to the truck, we unload and re-load our gear into the respective vehicles, say our thank-yous and goodbyes, and hit the last stretch of road home.


Clean Clothes!


Elevation Profile


Map of our journey


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