2020.7.25-27. McMillan Spire from Terror Basin

A very hot weekend. My original plan (Glacier Peak) fell through Thursday evening, so did my Portland hiking friend O's (Marmot and Jade Lakes). My requests are: no camping near lakes due to mosquitoes; high up due to heat. Her proposal is McMillan Spire in the South Picket Range, maybe the only non-technical climb there. I was still reading up on the climb while she was driving up on Friday evening. It looked strenuous: hauling a full pack 6000' to the camp! I was also worried about the steep scree field going down to the camp from the "notch", according to a report on nwhikers.net, last July. I saved his report, and downloaded his GPS track from PeakBagger. The description on SummitPost as well as the GPS track for the climbing is different from my experience, due to different snow level. I'm not fixated on the climb. For me, getting to the camp is a success.

To reduce weight, I removed tent footprint + 1 stake, guylines, pad bag. Changed to a lighter sleeping bag. I should have taken less food and clothes. I didn't have any appetite during the day (too warm), and I was able to wash my T-shirt and socks - they dried quickly. As usual for a difficult hike, I took 2 phones, both loaded with the aforementioned GPS map and trip report, plus backup battery. O has no GPS, zero tent stake (camping on gravel), same T-shirt and same pair of socks for 3 days! Really minimize the weight. She carries less than 1L of water. I carry 1.5-2L in such temperature. She took sandals and 2nd pair of socks for the camp, because her hiking shoes are worn out with holes. I shall look into breathable (non-waterproof) hiking shoes, for dry trails in the future.

7/25, Saturday, pleasant, sunny. Hwy 20 is rerouted around Marblemount. So had to drive west (~1 mile) to the Wilderness Info Center. We arrived shortly before 10am. A lot of folks hanging around the building with only one window open. A blue canopy tent outside with a ranger and a table. Another ranger holding a clipboard walking around. We didn't know what's going on. Should have taken a ticket before using the restroom. There's a queue! I asked one guy sitting in the sun. He had waited for 2.5 hours! His number was coming up next (there's a red LED showing the number being served). Our number was 30 later! I ate my sandwich, took out my Kindle and stood in some moving shade. O packed and then waited near the window. People came and went. We got our permit at 11:30. Half of the numbers called had no response. Apparently, people gave up. Terror Basin is not popular, so we were sure that we could get a permit, just need to wait for our turn. O also inquired about permit availability in neighboring areas next week, how many permit already issued for Terror Basin. We were told one. I liked that.

Drove to Goodell Group Camp east of Goodell Creek. There's a sign of camp closure at the beginning of the spur road. So we didn't drive up. The road looks a bit rough at the turn, but better later. We parked along the main road in a pullout next to another car. Doused myself with bug spray, and left the bottle in the car. Walked at least 1 mile to TH. There, we saw ~6 cars! The camp area is a few steps further, of course now empty. I didn't see water source here. The narrow trail starts off next to the parking lot. Elevation 600'.

The first couple of miles is like an obstacle course. A bit overgrown, at least I could still see my feet. Otherwise, I'd be tripped over a hundred times by down branches and rocks in the middle of the trail. Ripe thimble-berry. Saw one grouse. Then the trail reassembles a road apart from fallen logs: wide and flat. Passed two creek crossings. The 2nd one has a nice shady side where I refilled water. Soon after, a round area with a big cairn in the middle, and a small cairn right next to the climbing route to the right. Mosquitoes kept us walking non-stop. No bugs at creek crossing.

Here, after 4.5 miles and only 1000' gain, the ascent begins, in earnest. Picking huckleberries (both purple and orange) gives some reprise. Not very ripe yet. Cannot stop for long, due to bugs. Temperature was rising, but luckily, the trail is mostly in the woods. When climbing over one big log, my water bottle fell out, and rolled downhill. I brought only one bottle, so had to scramble down to fetch it. Found another water bottle half buried in the dirt near mine. By then, no more mosquitoes. Very dry slope. After gaining about 2000', the slope eases a bit traversing north. Then, the trail gets even steeper. At times, had to grab on roots to pull myself up. We lost the trail briefly. This goes on for ~1000'.

4 hours after the TH, we finally emerged from trees. Melting snow and wet trail, mosquitoes. The black lichen on rocks is slippery. Still gaining elevation while traversing the heather slope. The 2nd creek crossing here is the main one. Need to follow it up, hopping back and forth between the two banks. Pay attention to small cairns. Soon we lost the trail, and found it again, and lost it again. I was getting tired, but this area is too buggy to camp, at least now. Sun was setting, the view is very good here. You could see the Picket Range, and Baker behind them.

By the time we reach the "notch", it was already 9pm. Quarter moon hung high in the sky. The slope that worried me was now all snow. Put on crampons and ice axe. I also put on my helmet, for the steepness makes me uncomfortable without it. It was still light enough. We could see where we were going and a couple of tents.

In this photo taken the next afternoon, I drew the route going down to the camp. As we were pitching our tents, we saw some headlamps moving in the far side: some climbers were just coming back. Three guys didn't have tents, just bivy, or just sleeping bag. I couldn't tell in the dark. I didn't cook dinner, ate a couple of bars, and get to bed. By then, it was already ~11pm. Moon had set, the night sky was brilliant. You can see the silhouette of all the peaks around us. Wish I knew how to take a long exposure photo. Of course, there's no way I'd haul a real camera here. O didn't bother to put up her tent fly. The low maybe ~45°F. I didn't sleep very well. Woke up many times.

Today: 31K steps, ~8-9 miles, ~6000 'up, ~1000' down. 9 hours on the trail.

7/26, Sunday. 88°F in Seattle.
I got up before 5:30am, and scrambled up the scree pile south of the camp area, to see sunrise. There are purple penstemon, white saxifage among the rocks. Now I could see at least 5 other tents down at the camp, and 2 further on along the climbing route. When I got down for breakfast, most folks in the area were up. Already, 2 groups heading to the climb, and one party of 3 (with ropes) heading back out. Someone had chewed my sandwich!

At 7am, we were geared up and started hiking. First more or less flat, passing another smaller gravel area with the 2 tents, and losing some elevation before going up. View is expansive all along. More snow than last year. So this is a higher route than the GPS track I saved. Just followed footprints on the snow. A few short but scary snow bridges to cross. In such warm weather, they would probably collapse in a week. The little green lake down, where the summer route goes by, was still entirely covered with snow. The Azure Lake was mostly covered by what looked like thin ice. Had to go over some rocks with crampons, too lazy to take them off, because those are short. Small waterfalls sliding over rock faces everywhere. As we gained elevation, we could see Rainier. Then, we were at the bottom of the steep snow to the "col" between McMillan and Inspiration. The first group of 6 were going down slowly one by one, as we were tredging up. Two of them said this is the most difficult section, which I agreed afterwards, when down climbing.


Stashed crampons and ice axe at the "col". Now it's a "class 3+" rock scramble along the westen ridge of McMillan. Met a couple coming down the ridge. View is stupendous. So many peaks that I cannot name. There were boot tracks in both the lower and upper section. The middle part is the steepest. Mostly, you follow your instinct to pick where to go. Be careful, many rocks here are not stable. Occasionally, saw Jacob's ladder, fuchsia phlox (?), and this unknown (to me) yellow aster.

Finally I was on the stack of big brown slabs of rock that marked the summit. There is a registry, but O said she couldn't open it. Not enough space to relax. We retraced a few steps to a shade north of some boulders, and had lunch. O got a bit cold in the shade, as she has waited for me for awhile already. She started down. I took my time to saver my reward. Finished my sandwich before heading down.

Going down a steep slope is always more treaturous. I don't know how scramble is classified. At least now I konw that I don't wish to go down anything more than "3+". It probably took me longer than coming up. Resaddled into crampons at the "col". Down-climbing the snow field is also a bit scary. Especially now, with the afternoon heat, at least twice, rocks from Inspiration crashed down on to the slope not far from us. I went down facing the slope, jamming the pick and my fingers into the snow on each step. It took awhile until I got to the traverse without any incidentk. At one point during the traverse, I slipped and slid downhill. Even though I know how self-arrest should be done, at that moment, I wasn't able to do it. Thankfully with some kicking and screaming, my slip came to a halt. Another time, when I slipped, it was the ice axe holding me up, so I didn't slide down. Need to be careful all the time.

Back to the camp ~3:40pm. Only our two tents left. It's perfect. I washed my shirts and socks. Hung them on bushes to dry. My nose bled. Too dry and warm here. Hid behind the only big rock for some shade (actually it was cool enough I had to put on both my fleece and a shell), and read my Kindle. A hummingbird darted about us. Had a nap, and then an early dinner. Rearranged my pack for tomorrow and filled the water. Scrambled up the rock pile again for sunset ~9pm. Had a blissful time.

I slept better tonight. Woke up ~ midnight. The moon had set. Another sky of brilliant stars.

Today: 20K steps, ~6-7 miles, ~3000' up and down, 8.5 hours on the trail.

7/27, Monday 93°F in Seattle. Alarm at 5am. Scrambled up the rock pile for sun rise again - better than sunset at this angle. Packed, and started hiking out at 7am. The snow field to the "notch" is harder this time. We kept on crampons going down the other side. Saw 2 marmots jogging across the snow. Then we packed away crampons. But had to put them on again on another snow field. Going back, we were able to follow the trail all the way. Arrived at TH at 14:05. Still 4 cars there! Maybe they are doing Picket Traverse? Or Inspiration Traverse?

Our lonely car, thankfully in the shade, read 94° at 14:30. I wasn't too happy walking the road for 20 minutes, mostly in the sun. But saw a big broken log across the road. Don't remember if it was there when we came in. We drove to Goodell Picnic Are (boat launch but ramp blocked by parking dividers) to wash and cool down. There's a picnic table by the ramp. Skagit River was running fast. I was happy to stay ashore, just walked bare feet into the water to wash and washed my t-shirt. Water was cold. A nice color. Relaxed by the tree. Warm breeze on my wet shirt felt cool. I shared a bag of smoked sausage (which I hauled up to the camp). We liked the salt. The temperature by the water was comfortable, almost no bugs.

I drove back at ~15:50. Got home shortly after 6pm. Fairly smooth on the road. Many cars, but no traffic. The neighborhood homeless lady came upon us when she saw me giving cash (for the gas money) to O. That was scary. O drove on to Oregon.

Today: 29K steps. 7 hours on the trail.

2020.7.18-19. Flowers at Mt. St. Helens

7/18, Saturday. Sunny, warm, 79°F. Non-stop traffic along I-5 from Tacoma to JBLM - already pre-Covid traffic. A bathroom stop (not able to fill water) and a gas stop by I-5. Made a photo stop at Elk Rock viewpoint. Not sure which one is the Elk Rock. Lots of white daisy, all along Spirit Hwy. Certainly non-native, if not invasive, but still very pretty. We started ~2pm at Johnston Ridge Observatory. The large parking lot was 3/4 full. The visitor center is closed (due to Covid), so no access to the restroom. I was wary about our water situation: only ~2L.

The flowers along Johnston Ridge were very good. Lots of paintbrush. Not much lupine. Met one ranger on the trail, who informed us there were goats where we were heading. Once turned to Truman Trail, we left the crowd behind. Saw two couples coming up with large backpacks. Flowers were a little disappointing. Significantly less than last year, especially dwarf lupine.

To make this hike different from last July, we headed to Loowit Falls (7 miles from the observatory). I remembered a lush stream along Loowit Trail, but not remembering where exactly. Spent extra effort at two junctions (@Loowit Falls spur, and @Willow Spring trail) looking for it, to no avail. A little west on Loowit Trail from Willow Spring has a good view of Lower Loowit Falls. Finally on the way back, we refilled water at the spring near the junction of Willow Spring + Herman Trail. The water is clear and cool. Drank it without filtering.

Back to Johnston Ridge, already past 8pm. The yellow hawkweed were closed already. I was hoping to catch sunset with the flowers, but I was tired and slow, my toes hurt (the boots I had on are more for snow/ice). Finally found a patch of flowers still lit. Most flowers on the ridge were already in the shadow. But the mountain looked radiant in the setting sun. I went straight to the parking lot, and watched the sun dipped under the horizon there. About 10 cars left. Some folks were relaxing in canvas chairs watching the sunset.

After a belated dinner, we admired the night sky reflected in Coldwater Lake. Stars were brilliant. The brightest ones glittered in the water. Clear Milky Way. Very pretty and peaceful. A few mosquitoes, but not too bad.

7/19, Sunday. Hot (81°F?). Did a different take to Coldwater Peak. We started at South Coldwater Trail (no access to lake) ~8am. We carried 5L water. I ate half an SOS emergency bar for breakfast. I miscalculated the calorie - was lack of energy all day.

The trail starts in thin (birch?) forest, plenty shade for the first mile or so, relatively cool. Lots of white daisy. The yellow hawkweed were still closed. Saw a couple hiking out with large packs. Once on the ridge (gentle incline), you have great view of the lake, and gradually, you could see St.Helens. There, you'd also find rusted logging machines here and there, as well as tons of white (daisy) and yellow (hawkweed). Then the trail goes to the back side of the ridge, obscuring Helens, but opens to the north. More paintbrushes here. Soon past the trail junction (left goes down to the lake) is Ridge Camp (~4 miles in). It is a large sandy area with many flowers around. Great view, but no water. Soon, we saw a deer. He didn't shy away, just looked at us. The trail surface is nicer here, not as rocky as yesterday.

The trail gains more elevation to the north ridge under Blastzone Butte. Very good view here. Saw a couple of people on top. The trail rounds the butte without gaining much elevation until a pass of ~4600', where Helens is back in view. Then the trail slowly gains elevation to just below the western ridge of Coldwater Peak. I decided to go up there, instead of continuing to Boundary Trail, and follow it to the peak from the NE side (at least 2 miles). Going up the saddle of the west ridge is fairly simple. Plenty boot or elk tracks. At the saddle, there's a clear path along the ridge. I followed it, going up east. But soon one track becomes 2 and more, and later no tracks. I reached the base of the rocks of Coldwater Peak. Unable to scale it, I decided to find some shade and rest before going down. I was so close to the peak that I could actually hear voice. After my shade disappeared, and well rested, I rounded the south side a bit lower, and eventually scrambled onto the trail. When I reached the top, I found my partner has left me a bandana as a mark. There was a group of 3 hikers. One asked me if I were with someone. I took this photo, and headed down the normal trail. The view is stupendous here. A lot of tiny flies at the northern end. Hundreds of them covered my white shirt in a few seconds. Thankfully, as soon as I left that particular rock, the bugs left me. According to Caltopo, it's 3550' up and 410' down, and 6.9 miles to reach here. I've cut ~1.5 miles.

Almost running down the trail, hoping to catch up. Met 2 other hikers conveying my partner's message. We finally reconvened under Blastzone Butte. Between Boundary Trail and South Coldwater trail, we didn't see anyone. By then, the yellow hawkweed along South Coldwater Trail were all opened. White and yellow covering all the slopes. I don't know which direction to take a photo. This carpet of flowers goes on for a mile of so, makes you want to sing "Sound of Music". Met ~ 10 hikers, and a dog (illegal) here. ~10 cars in the parking lot. Drove to the boat launch at Coldwater Lake. Lots of cars, and lots of kids playing in the lake, a few kayaks. The restroom here is handy to clean up after a hike. ~3pm.

Uneventful on the drive back. Hit traffic in JBLM and Tacoma. Protest warning on display above I-5 near downtown Seattle. ~80°F in town.

Step count: Saturday ~40K, Sunday ~36K.

2020.7.11. Bandera Mt - Mason Creek loop

7/11, Saturday, sunny turns to cloudy. Every year, early July (often on 7/4), I hike to Bandera Mountain's flowering slope. But I never went beyond, not even to Little Bandera. This year, flowers are disappointing: seems a small year for beargrass. I saw more dead flower stalk of last season than this year. See this contrast picture of last year vs this year at about the same viewpoint. We ventured to the true summit of Bandera, and tried the old Mason Lake trail - totally new to me, and no crowd.

Our little "gang of three" invited the same girl of Mount Washington hike. So we carried a big pack for training. Mine weighted 30lb, maybe 23lb on the way down. I had no problem with the 30lb pack, except maybe a bit less unstable when scrambling. 4 of us met in Issaquah at 7am. Carpooled in 1 car to I-90 Tinkham exit (#42 - only one other car parked at the road end), instead of taking the next exit (#45) and drive back west on a bad road.

It's ~0.4 mile, ~600' gain on Mason Creek trail to hit the road. Cars were parked way past us, which is still ~1/3 mile to TH. We crossed the road and marched into the trees, instead of walking to TH. It's ~1/4 mile ~400', not too much undergrowth, just a few down logs and rocks to get over. Not difficult, but for the new girl, it is. One of us would scout the route ahead, and one would stay behind with her. We hit Ira Spring trail just before the large bridge over Mason Creek. Water was sliding off a big slab here, quite nice. There's also some room to regroup, off the trail.

The first part of Ira Spring trail is a logging road. Then it picks up grade, gaining elevation until the junction with Mason Lake. Crowd thinned out by at least half. There starts my favorite part of this hike: the steep meadow covered with beargrass. But this year, it's a disappointment. Doesn't seem like I'm too late. After the grade eases, going into the trees briefly, and then emerged to a nice rocky ridge, with heather and penstemon. The west summit itself is a small rock crop surrounded both sides by trees, only enough space for use to sit and have lunch. So we pushed on. Most hikers spread along the rocks leading to the summit. More open here.

There's a boot path going almost along the ridge. Sometimes to its south, sometimes to its north. We lost ~300'. Then this large boulder field. I enjoy boulder hopping. But our new girl is very slow here. Finally we were all here. We found a tupperware container. One thought someone forgot his lunch box, and was planning on taking it down to the TH to throw it away. We had the whole place to ourselves. View is excellent. 360° Island Lake below, and a couple of smaller water body beyond. We could even see Adams a little. Half an hour later, a tall guy (Frank) arrived and asked us if we saw the summit registery. We looked for the tube, and found it without its cap. Eventually we realized that the tupperware is the replacement of the registery. Frank knew that the pen didn't work, and tried it (right it didn't work), and I gave him my pen. A couple of us also signed it. I donated the pen into the tupperware. We chatted with Frank, starting from his R2R (a 50 mile run from base of Rainier to Ruston Way in Tacoma's waterfront) shirt. Its cut off is 13 hours for solo runners. He told us about a 100 mile race around some Snoqualmie Peaks. There's also a cutoff time. He said he's 62, and he gets 2 extra hours by being older than 60. So, the 5 of us shared this rocky place for an hour, before heading back. The girl ran out of water. That was perfect, because we all need to dump extra water for the added weight. The clouds had increased. Could no longer see Rainier.

On the way back, we followed some different path which disappears. We went a bit too low, and had to scramble back up to the ridge. Joined the crowed at the West Peak. At the junction, we turned to Mason Lake. Along the flat part, lupine was blooming very nicely. The lake is boring. I don't understand anyone would come here. Saw 2 people swimming. I came here in order to take Mason Creek trail down, so to avoid the crowd. It's not obvious where the junction is. Need GPS to look for it. The trail is quite nice. Quite some devils clubs though. The upper part has some short steep stretches over rocks. None hard to negotiate. Then a flat and mossy part. Then a nice stretch along the creek. Last a gentle zigzag before merging to the logging road of Ira Spring trail. We met only one family: a couple with two little kids. Two of us now ran out of water. I offered almond milk. They both drank some but didn't like it. We did the cutoff again, and back to our car ~6pm. Saw 3 other cars parked there.

Because of the slow speed, I wasn't tired at all. Total step count: 32K. I think it's about 9-10 miles. Quite some small flies. A bit of a nuisance.

2020.7.3-6. Blue Glacier and Snow Dome

Attempted to climb Mount Olympus this long weekend. Reserved camping permit at Glacier Meadow for 2 nights a month ago, and it was emailed to me on July 1st. Only 1 site left for Saturday night, but wide open for Sunday. The climb starts at mile 19 from the TH -- hence the need to camp multiple nights. Weather was cooperative. A good description of the trail is here.

7/3, Friday. Left Seattle in light drizzle. Heavy traffic on I-5, many slow downs. Getting into Aberdeen on 101 is the worst. I guess a lot of people were heading out to the beaches. We stopped twice for the beaches, one I got several bee stings going through bushes. Also saw a pair of bald eagles perched on a tree very close by. The other is Ruby Beach, which has a large parking lot, a restroom, and quite a few families, despite of the gloomy weather.

At the gate of the Olympic National Park entrance, the young ranger in the booth used a long stick (probably 6') with a credit card reader attached at the end, so he didn't need to be close to the car. We finally arrived at Hoh River Visitor Center. All parking lots were still almost full. It was already 5pm. The visitor center was closed. There is a fee deposit box and registration forms. The drinking fountain was out of order. A short line outside of the restroom. The lady's room had only one sink working (the other one was just a sink with faucet removed). A little drizzle. Ate dinner outside the center, on the bench under a roof. Started hiking ~6pm. Hoh River trail, elevation ~600'. Met both day hikers and backpackers coming out. Saw one pheasant. Our destination: Glacier Meadow is in 17.5 miles!

This night, we stopped around 9pm. So far, mostly flat terrain. Some very big trees. Lichen hanging everywhere. Light drizzle, mosquito wasn't bad. My shoulders hurt. Water has a pretty pale blue glacier color.

Today's step count: 28K.

7/4, Saturday. Sunshine mixed with clouds. The tent fly was very wet. Damp here. Continued on to Glacier Meadow, passing all the campsites, many with logical names like 12.4 mile, 13.2 mile, and 13.3 mile camp. Very few viable camping opportunities other than what's signed. Most can accommodate only one tent. Those marked on the park's map are larger. Lewis Meadow looks the nicest, at around mile 10. Lots of buttercup.

The trail starts going up after the 12.4 mile camp. Up and downs. At ~mile 13, this new bridge looks solid and over engineered. A lot of construction material was piled at its northern end. By then, the rain forest is no more. Typical PNW matured forest.

Finally arrived at Elk Lake (~mile 15). I was hoping for a long lunch break. But the lake front is swampy and bushy. No good place to sit. The campsites are on the hill east of the lake, without view of the lake.

Marching on. At around mile 17, near the "hazardous slide area", mountains start to appear across the Glacier Creek valley. A ladder on iron chains is dangling on the dusty slope. Another rope is fixed next to the ladder, and yet another one connects to this rope at the lower end to the side. Had to wait here for awhile. One person at a time. I don't like this one bit. I'm not a climber, so not used to rely completely on the rope. Was scared when I couldn't find foothold for so long. My water bag fell out, and I had to retrieve it. Once made to the bottom of the rope, had to walk up to regain the trail.

Finally arrived at the Glacier Meadow camp, shortly before 4pm. Avalanche lily appeared shortly before reaching the camp. A very disappointing site. No view of glacier, nor meadow. All in the trees. 2 bear wire stations. 2 shelters. Already ~10 tents here. We took camp#1, one of the nicest, just a few steps from Jemrod Creek. Relaxed for the rest of the day. Had an early dinner on the other side of the creek, and sat and read. Some mosquitoes. Clouds thickened ~5pm, and then sand. By 6:30, the camp was in the fog. Repacked for tomorrow.

Today's step count: 30K.

7/5, Sunday. The highlight. Sunny. By the time we got up ~7am, the camp was quiet. Everyone was gone climbing. Hiking the Blue Glacier trail to the lateral moraine (1.2 mile, at 5100'). Passing the ranger's tent site near the sign of 4300', then the Glacier Meadow itself. It's a sloped meadow, quite pretty with flowers. Paintbrush here is pink. Lots of corn lily, valerian.

The view from the lateral moraine is fabulous. All to ourselves. Blue Glacier spread below, a long frozen river of ice.

At the southern end of the moraine ridge, located a boot path and started down the scree slope. All loose rocks. At some point, I screamed that I was turning back. I did gingerly climb back, then found a different track, and followed that one for a bit, until I lost it. Slowly edging down, sometimes on all fours, occasionally kicking off a small rock slide and dust. It took me almost ~50 minutes to get down. Once at the bottom of the moraine, put on crampons. The snow is soft enough, that I didn't use crampons on the way back.

Blue Glacier is wider than it looks. Took us awhile to cross it. There, we started to see people. Met the first two groups (5 and 3) of climbers on the flat glacier. They didn't look happy. Yes, they were already finished! One guide said that most groups turned around at the false summit. After crossing the glacier, we headed up towards Snow Dome. On the way, met another two groups (5 and 5) coming down. They were all still on ropes.

The upper stretch towards Snow Dome is somewhat steep. The only section I was able to glissade down. The top of Snow Dome is flat, wide and pristine. By then (~12:30), the clouds had risen. We didn't get a good view of the west side of Glacier Creek. We were afraid of not able to get up the scree in case of a whiteout, so we decided to call it quit here. From here to the saddle seems again straightforward and easy. The summit of the west peak is still ~1200' up. If we started earlier, I should be able to get to the saddle at least, maybe even the false summit. Before heading down, I walked to Panic Peak, easy solid rock. There's a cabin, an outhouse, solar panel, and a monitor device atop a tripod.

My water bottle fell out when glissading the upper slope. The last group of 5 was behind us. Someone shouted if anyone lost a bottle. Then a lady leaped down to hand me my bottle. She was so fast, not even wearing crampons. She's in her 60's, in much better shape than I am. I asked her about the hut. She said it belongs to U. of Washington.

Back down at the Blue Glacier. One guy of this last group has 2 small Star Spangle flags in his day pack. While the rest of his group sat and rested on a rock section below, this guy went up a bigger snow patch more north, so he could minimize the time on the scree slope. The lady who handed me my bottle said: don't follow him. We went up at approximately where we came down. It's still bad, but going up is easier, and I know where I should be going. At the top of the moraine, the guy with American flag said wherever he came up is equally bad. He said, he's done this 6-7 times, and this would be his last time. 20 years ago, the Blue Glacier was twice as high. Going down the scree was much shorter and easier. We had a long break on top of this lateral moraine, enjoying the view.

Back at the camp ~4pm, all tents were gone, except this last group. Dumped the climbing gear, washed and aired my boots. After the break, I headed up to the terminal moraine alone. It's an easy walk about 30 minutes. Clear path to follow. More rocks on trail. Not meadow-like. The moraine here also had quite some flowers. Paintbrush is scarlet here. Near the end of the trail, I found a lot of tubes. Not sure what the park is planning to build here. The rocks are rusty iron color. Sharp. Too cloudy to see much. I waited for 15 minutes. Gave up, and walked back to the camp. By then, the last group also left.

Warmer tonight. Nice to have the whole place to ourselves. Went to sleep early for an early depart tomorrow.

Today's step count: 28K.

7/6, Monday. Up at 5:30am. Cooked breakfast. Very wet tent. Packed up, and hiked out in an hour. We went from above the clouds, to in the middle of the clouds, and most of the time, was under the clouds. I wasn't happy to repeat the ladder, worrying that my arms couldn't hold me. At least, we didn't need to wait. We met the first couple of hikers at the new bridge. Took a few long breaks at 12.4 mile camp, Lewis Meadow, and the log, more short stops so I could take the load off my shoulders. Heard elk bark. Couldn't see anything. Too thick bushes between the trail and the river. Met more and more hikers as we got closer to the TH. Had to step aside and put on surgical mask again and again. Took about 8:50 hrs to reach the parking lot. Still about 3/4 full. We used the washroom by the parking lot for hikers, instead of the one by the visitor center. It was empty, 2 stalls. Cleaned up a bit, donned a fresh set of clothes, ate some soup, and drove out at 4pm. Not much traffic today.

I was dropped off ~8:30pm. Today's step count: 44K.

Total of the 4 day trip: 2 bee stings, 10 mosquito bites, sore shoulders, one pheasant, two bald eagles, unforgettable view of Blue Glacier and Snow Dome.