I have a visitor in town (we met in Columbia over 3 years ago) and I decided to show her what's true backpacking. Two more ladies joined us on this trip: one young and adventurous, the other as slow as my guest. Both very amicable. We started on Friday ~6pm near downtown Portland, fought some traffic out of the city, reached Chambers Lake Campground in dark, ~9:30. The agenda is Snowgrass Flat - Cispus Pass - Nannie Ridge, a one way hike.
7/11 Saturday. ~10 miles. We started hiking around 7am. Due to the slowness of half of the group, we arrived at Snowgrass Flat after 10am. Lisa and I headed forward along PCT to the junction of old and new PCT (side trip to Old Snowy). However, by the time we got there, it was completely foggy. Saw some horses, 1 marmot, no goat. Flowers are on their last leg. Gentian is blooming. Most lupines are in seeds.
After picking up our packs at the PCT & By Pass trail junction ~1pm, we headed south to Cispus Basin. It was so foggy that we couldn't see more than 10m. I could smell the rain coming, but it didn't. I desperately looked for camping sites, but couldn't see much. At Cispus Basin, we dropped our packs, and scattered around hunting for camp sites. I walked up a plateau and saw 3 tents. They weren't welcoming 3 more tents. As luck have it, the fog dissipated, and we saw a nice area south of the trail, close to the creek. It's a bit small for 3 tents, so I pitched mine outside of the protected woods. Here's a photo of my guest, taken from the camp.
After the late lunch, we rested and chatted, watching clouds rolling in and out. Around 4pm, without immediate rain, I decided to look for a way of going up to Gilbert Peak (the tallest in Goat Rocks), even though it looks menacing. 
I set out by myself to Cispus Pass. There, followed the loose rock on the northern ridge. Met 3 guys coming down. At the top, it was a flat area with a nail ~2' thick. At the 2nd peak, apart from another thick nail, I saw this survey marker. The view is quite good, however, the Goat Rocks are shrouded in clouds again. I waited for quite awhile, in vain. More clouds rolled in, so I hiked down directly, instead of retracing my steps, as I don't like the first scree area. Going up to Gilbert is beyond my ability.We turned to our tents after dinner. ~7:30pm, it started to drizzle. Rained more the next morning.
7/12, Sunday. ~7 miles to Walupt Lake TH, ~6 miles on 7A to fetch the car. We hiked out early (~7am). Going along PCT over Cispus Pass. Two "do not trespass" signs telling us that the Klickitat basin belong to the Yakima tribe. 
The view is outstanding for awhile. More and more clouds until we reached Sheep Lake (junction of PCT and Nannie Ridge) at ~9:30. It's a big pond, with quite a few nice campsites close to shore. Many side trails dead ends at some site.
Along Nannie Ridge, either due to the clouds or trees, not open enough for a good view. Lisa and I took a short scramble halfway to Nannie Peak. Left our packs at the junction for the rest catch up. Much better view of Adams, and we could see the Goat Rocks behind us. 
Lisa and I reached the trailhead at Walupt Lake Campground at noon. Pit toilet, drinking water. I occupied a lake side picnic table and waited.After taking water and water shoes, and left the pack to the other two to look after, Lisa and I headed towards her car, follow the instruction at WTA: walk 1.6 mile paved road past the horse camp, turn right (north) on Trail 7A (hint: the south side has an obvious trailhead of 7A). One mile into trail 7A is the river, now about 1 foot high. Don't take the first river access trail. Follow the orange ribbons for a few more minutes before fording the water. It's refreshing.
Across the river on a tree is a very tiny sign that says 7A. Again, look for the orange marking tape. Hit a forest road. Turn left for ~1/8 mile until you see the 7A sign on the LEFT side of the road (same side as you reached the road). 0.5 mile later, another road; the trail continues straight across but is not marked. Soon, you will come to a third road. Take a right down the road and the take your first left in ~50 ft. Continue on this road for some time as it becomes quite overgrown in places, and will eventually connect with the wide gravel road you drove in on. Go right (uphill) to get back to the Snowgrass trailhead. This is the worse. ~1 mile in the sun, and dusty.
Driving back to Walupt Lake. All this took ~3 hours. The camp host kicked our friends out of the nice picnic table and day use area. That's quite rude. We had Mexican dinner at Morton before continuing home. By the time we reached town, I realized that I have lost my keys!
