Thursday, August 27
Start: White Pass
End: campsite beyond Knife’s Edge
Miles: 19.2 miles
Gain/loss: 6781’/4249′
Listened to: book- Academ’s Fury
After staying in Packwood last night, I hung out in town, having a great breakfast at the Mountain Goat, until the Inn’s shuttle left at 11am for White Pass. I was back on trail by 11:45am, climbing up into Goat Rocks.
I ended up accidently overshooting my proposed campsite (never did see it…) and then scrambled to filter 2 liters of water from a small unmarked spring, since there was no more water for 9 miles and I needed enough for dinner. I decided to press on and hike until I found a campsite that felt good to me.
I ended up hiking through the Knife’s Edge section, and came around a corner to maybe 25 mountain goats very close to the trail. I froze and they all took off running, hurdling down a rocky embankment and across a snow field to get away from me. I was worried about them getting hurt, but they all seemed to do okay. The trail was narrow with some large drop-offs and was very exposed but I just took my time and watched my feet.
As I started descending, I kept an eye out and found a number of campsites; two were already occupied. I picked the least exposed and flattest one and set up my tent in the constant wind. I have views of Mt. Rainer, St. Helen, and Adams from my spot. I used a pile of rocks to shield my stove and quickly boiled some water for dinner.
As I was cooking, a SOBO section hiker (“Nutcracker’) came by and we chatted for a while. She decided to stop and camp for the night sheltered by that rock pile, so I have a neighbor and it sounds like we do similar miles so maybe I’ll see her more tomorrow.
