A beautiful day… a hard day but well worth the effort. We entered Goat Rocks Wilderness in the morning amidst Pine Trees and slowly climbed up above the tree line to phenomenal views of Mount Rainier, Mount Adam’s and the surrounding landscape. We climbed up 6,000 feet and climbed down another 6,000.

Mackenzie and I hiked with Squirrel, Side Quest, Dice, and Candy Crush for most of the day and enjoyed a steady but enjoyable pace through the amazing views. We sprinted through much of the Sierra and learned our lesson to take our time through such majestic landscape.

Getting to lunch, Bastien, Berry, and I glaciaded down a two hundred yard long patch of snow to bypass a horsh shoe loop down to our water source racing Mackenzie and Jordan to the spot. Afterwards, we grabbed lunch and cooled off a bit. As we got up to leave from lunch, the clouds chased us down the mountain before enveloping us once below the tree line. We then climbed back up to a ridge line with beautiful expansive views of Shoe Lake and the clouds that hung below us.

It was then a slow descent into camp where we stopped at Ginnette Lake to sleep for the night. We’re pitching our tent in the clouds so we’ll see how wet we get. We’re just two miles uphill from White Pass where we’ll grab our resupply and keep trucking north.

Happy Trails…

Last night, we had the shortest but most intense thunderstorm on trail so far. Loud bangs echoed throughout the valley for 30 or so minutes after lightning struck right by us. Large rain drops slapped our tent and kicked up dirt around us. We slept okay but not great.

After getting up, we rolled into the gas station called ‘Kracker Barrel’ not to be confused by the chain restaurant. We wish it was. The place wasn’t great but for a gas station, they catered well to hikers. We picked up our boxes, showered, did laundry, ate some processed junk food, charged our things, and lounged. We met back up with Ant Man, Frog, Skywalker, and a couple others as we traded stories and mentioned our plans for the rest of the trail.

After our share of beer and food, we packed up and headed back out on trail. Just a couple miles in. Tomorrow, we’ll go for big mileage on our way up to our next stop - Steven’s Pass. With full packs, we’re moving slower but at least we’re well fed.

Happy trails…