8/18, Saturday, clear, blue sky. An easy start. I walked to Priyanka's house at 9am. Then a couple of stops to pick up others. 5 of us packed in one car. Packs up in the rooftop racker. This turned out to be nice, as the trailhead parking was full when we arrived. Our first stop is Nina's new country house in White Salmon. Very nice. Interior specifically designed by the previous owner.
We didn't start hiking until ~1pm. Saw both Rainier and Adams on the drive in. I ate my lunch sandwich in the parking lot, while others got ready. Killen Creek trail doesn't follow Killen Creek. Cannot even see the creek until you walk 3/4 miles north on PCT. That's where we camped. The trail is gentle. Dusty. So sandy, it felt like walking on beach sometimes. I kept my distance, so not to breathe in the dust I or anyone else generated. In an hour, we start to see Adams over a couple of small lush meadows. Some remaining paintbrush and aster. Gentian in full bloom, but there are never a lot of gentian. We had a break at this meadow.
PCT is about 3 miles in. We headed left (north). Finally met Killen Creek next at the large Killen Creek Meadow. A waterfall at the east end of the meadow, and one right by PCT, running west under the small footbridge. At the bottom of this small falls, is a smaller meadow with a few good campsites. A number of tents already. One to the north is big enough to accommodate a sizable group. My group decided to camp at the east end of the meadow. View of the mountain was obscured by the hill in front. So I camped between PCT and this lake, next to a small pond, for a reflection of Adams. Rainier was no longer visible. It was getting a bit hazy.
After setting up the tent, we headed back to the PCT junction, to go up to High Camp. Steeper here. More rocks and cairn. Overall trail is easy to follow. Maybe only a mile up. I was here more than 10 years ago in July. It was all snow and ice. Now dust. High Camp is lovely. Greener than I thought. Quite a few tents here. A creek running through. I fetched 2L of clear cold water. It was 6pm already. We cooked dinner. Lazied around. I brought my Helinox chair. Quite nice. Around 7, we slowly packed up, and headed back down. The lighting of the mountain was better now.
On the way down, my Leki pole broke (the bottom connector). I duct-taped it. I barely made it back to the lake for sunset. This lake isn't pretty. Only good to take a reflection photo.
8/19, Sunday. More hazy. I woke up ~6:45am, already light out. Had breakfast by this little tarn next to my camp. Packed up, hiked north on PCT to look for the other lakes shown on my GPS map. I saw 3 more. None pretty. One east of the junction of High Line Trail. Two west of PCT a bit north. Not far.
Back at Killen Creek, regrouped with my friends. We walked south on PCT to Adams Creek, passing 2 nice meadows. This creek is much bigger than Killen Creek. The crossing is a bit upstream. We didn't bother to cross. Had a long snack break here before heading back out.
Back at trailhead 11:20am. Stopped at White Salmon for lunch. Overpriced. I didn't like the town much. There's only one large tree on the main street that provides shade. Quite hot. Maybe in the upper 80°s. No access to the waterfront, or any place to have a view of the river. Some large properties facing the water, but no public access.