July 2 - July 8

I was a little tired and sore on Monday, so I took the day off.  I worked Tuesday. 

But Wednesday was the 4th of July, and time for a backpack trip!  The plan was to go to White Pass and hike the PCT south in the Goat Rocks Wilderness.  We did make it to the Wilderness boundary...then we found ourselves in the ski area...then in the Wilderness...then in the ski area.  There was so much snow that we kept losing the trail!  We finally reached the edge of the ski area beneath Hogback Ridge and could clearly see...nothing but snow.  So much for Shoe Lake and points beyond.  We made the most of it, however--we camped along the edge of the ski area and spent the evening taking sunset pictures of Rainer.  I hiked to the highpoint on Hogback Ridge and could see Mount Adams, too.

Thursday we decided to return to the car and try the PCT north instead.  From our vantage point, it seemed that there was less snow on the other side of the highway.  We walked down through the ski area in crusty snow, and then had a leisurely lunch in the parking lot at Leech Lake.  We decided to try a loop hike to Bumping Lake and back on the PCT.  The trail was snow-free through the Dark Meadow, but as we started to climb to Bumping Lake there was more and more snow.  Thankfully the trails in the Cascades all have lots of blazes.  We never would have found the lake had this been an east-side trail!  The lake was also fairly snowy, but we managed to find a nice snow-free campsite on a highpoint overlooking the lake.

Friday we tried to continue up to find the PCT intersection, but we couldn't find it.  The next lake up was surrounded by snow.  We got some more great Rainer pictures, but it was clear that we would not be able to finish the loop.  Instead we located a side trail near Bumping Lake and hiked to some other nearby lakes that were lower in elevation.  Once back at camp, we entertained ourselves by playing catch-and-release with the crawdads in the lake, and then hiked around the lake on a little-used path.  We decided that we had located the very best campsite on the entire lake; by Friday evening, there was one other group camping nearby.

We were originally going to stay through Sunday, but we'd already explored everything that was snow-free, so we decided to head back a day early.  It was a good thing, too.  I'm not sure how many groups we passed on the way out, but they were all heading to Bumping Lake.  There were definitely not enough campsites to absorb all of the backpackers heading in; we may have had the best campsite, but I'm glad we didn't have to experience the overcrowding!  On Sunday I played catch-up in the garden.

Weekly total = 26 miles (all hiking)