Tuesday, August 4, 2026
17.12 miles, 6083′ gain/4593′ loss
It was a 47-degree low overnight, which felt comfortable after the last few days. I was awake at 5:45am needing to go to the bathroom so I decided to be up for the day. I didn’t rush but was out by 6:30am, after drinking a delicious can of coffee from our resupply bucket.
There was a substantial climb first thing, with almost 3000′ gain in the first 4 miles. The smoke was present and noticeable but lightened as I climbed. I passed by Reflections Lake and took a few pictures in the early morning stillness. I made it to the major trail intersection next to Frozen Lake by 9am.
I headed up on my first side quest to the Boroughs mountains. I arrived at Second Boroughs by 9:35am and since I was getting some excellent views with smoke clearly on the way, I decided to push to Third Boroughs. I arrived at the 3rd summit by 10:30am, where I took a quick break to switch more food from my pack into my waistbelt. I had unencumbered views of Mt Rainier, Winthrop Glacier, Inter Glacier, and part of Emmons Glacier. It was awesome to get views before the smoke thickened.
I made it back to intersection by 12 noon, where I decided to push over to the Mt Fremont Lookout. When I was getting close to the tower, I ran into Emily and Jacob on their way back. We chatted briefly and Jacob kindly gave me 1/4L since I had underpacked water. I had thought Frozen Lake was an option for water but it was fenced. We went our separate ways, with the hope that I’d catch up to them eating lunch at the next water source.
I enjoyed the fire tower for a few minutes and then headed back to the trail intersection. I made good time to the next water source, where I hung out with Emily and Jacob while they finished lunch and I filtered 2L of icy cold water, immediately drinking one. The daily high was 78 degrees and the air quality seemed to be a bit better down by the water source, as opposed to the intersection.
Then it was off to Skyscraper Pass, where I took a calculated risk in stowing my food bag behind a rock. Rodents didn’t seem to affiliate the stop with snacks and all my food was in smell-blocking bags. I quickly summited Skyscraper Mountain and then retrieved my food bag on the way back to the trail.
Then it was only a few smooth, cruisy miles to arrive at Granite Creek, our campsite for the evening. We had our pick of the 3 individual sites and we chose Site 1 since it had wonderful white noise from the creek and a lot of privacy.
We set up tents, ate dinner, soaked our feet in truly icy water/liquid snow (~50 degrees), put our food bags on the bear pole, and then headed to bed to be ready for an early day tomorrow. The smoke seems minimal here by the creek so we’re breathing easy tonight.
