~Trout Lake to ~White Pass.

Miles 2,239 – 2,308.

Days 109 – 111.

After Trout Lake, the Pacific Crest Trail passes near Mt Adams, a large volcano with permanent snowfields. Hikers also get their first views of Mt Rainier in the distance. Most excitingly, this section of the PCT goes through the Goat Rocks. Goat Rocks includes some of the most spectacular ridge walks and passes thru-hikers have seen since the High Sierra over 1,000 miles ago.

Day 109

I woke up in a pretty meadow on the edge of the burn area with excellent views of Mt Adams. Since I slept in, as usual, it felt quite warm by the time I started hiking. I was a little nervous about the heat, since I didn’t buy any electrolyte packets at the General Store at Trout Lake yesterday. At $3 a pop, I convinced myself wouldn’t need them. But the cool rainy weather of last week is long gone. I just hope my salty chips are enough to compensate for my lack of packets.

First thing, I passed by some trail maintainers, working with a crosscut saw to remove fallen trees from the trail. These maintainers must do all their work by hand, due to wilderness area regulations. Machines like chainsaws are not permitted.

In addition to views of Mt Adams, I got my first glimpses of Mt Rainer today. Both mountains have lots of snow, and even glaciers on them. On the trail below Adams, I saw plenty of evidence of more widespread glacial activity in the past – including wide fields of glacial till and moraines. The creeks ran whitish – though this could be due to the glaciers or the burn area I suppose.

Speaking of creeks, I crossed a creek with a broken bridge today. I’d heard about this bridge long ago from southbounders. Fortunately, crossing wasn’t too tricky, since the water levels are quite low.

The afternoon miles took me away from Mt Adams, through conifer forests with tons of huckleberries in the understory. I don’t know how anyone gets any hiking done out here with millions of berries just waiting to be picked. Case in point: as I rounded a corner I found Swish hunched over in a particularly dense patch of huckleberries.

He looked up from his foraging as I approached and asked if my plastic cold soak jar was clean and empty for collecting berries.

My jar was, in fact, clean, and soon we were both at work in the shrubs with purple-stained fingers. I spent the next 20 minutes filling my plastic container all the way to the brim with a pint of huckleberries. They made a delicious dessert upon reaching camp, though I now realize that a pint of huckleberries is perhaps a bit more than the human digestive system is designed to handle.

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Day 110

Today, I hiked through the Goat Rocks Wilderness Area. Southbound hikers speak highly of Goat Rocks’ beauty, so I went into the wilderness with high expectations. And it more than delivered.

I got going more than an hour and a half earlier than yesterday. Never would I have thought I’d be proud of an 8 am start. But these days that’s pretty darn good for me. The day started with a big climb up to Cispus Pass. The walk up gave me excellent views of the nearby sharp, black peaks of lava rock.

I passed by several waterfalls on the downhill after the pass. I stopped at one of the waterfalls to eat lunch, crouching in a tiny patch of shade. There are relatively few trees up here, despite the elevation only being around 7,000 feet above sea level. I guess this far north, 7,000 feet is just about treeline!

I wasn’t done climbing for the day. After lunch, I ascended some switchbacks up towards a spiky peak called Old Man Snowy. From there, the trail followed an amazing, sharp ridge. This technically wasn’t part of the PCT, but an alternative route. The actual PCT cuts across the side of the mountain, below the scenic ridge. This is one of many examples demonstrating that the best parts of the PCT are often not on the official route of the PCT. Other examples include:

• San Jacinto Peak
• Mt Baden Powell summit
• Mt Whitney
• The Crater Lake rim trail
• Eagle Creek (Tunnel Falls) trail

Strangely, the PCT gets near these really cool sites, without actually going to them. I never feel bad about abandoning the official route to walk through something more interesting or scenic.

The ridge after Old Man Snowy is definitely a highlight of the trail so far, if not my favorite part outright. Southern California might have been the desert of the PCT, but Washington is the dessert of the PCT!

Even though I hiked only 25 miles today, I was thoroughly spent by the time I reached camp, just before dark. The climbing and downhills on loose talus today definitely exhausted me as much as some of my days walking through snow in the Sierras. Plus, things were a little extra challenging now that I’m down to just one trekking pole (the other broke near the WA border, and rather than try to replace it, I committed to the one-pole lifestyle).

But the scenery today was worth the tired legs. Goat Rocks must stand for Greatest Of All Time rocks – because these rocks can’t be beat!

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Day 111

The beautiful views continued this morning! After a steep climb uphill from where I camped, I crested a small pass with views back to the ridge I walked on yesterday. The views of Mt Rainier are also getting better, as I hike closer and closer to it. The PCT doesn’t actually get particularly near to Mt Rainier. But it is such a large mountain that it looks huge on the horizon.

I could tell I was getting close to the trailhead, since I started seeing many trail runners, out for their weekend-long runs. I found myself feeling slightly jealous of the way they moved so quickly and freely down the trail. This area would be amazing for running. While I love backpacking, I am certainly looking forward to returning to my trail running routines once I finish this hike.

Around noon, I arrived at the trailhead at White Pass. After a quick 0.6-mile walk on the side of a highway, I found myself at the White Pass “Kracker Barrel” store. This is really just a gas station with a convenience store.

When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find a hiker hangout area around the back of the store, complete with picnic tables, awnings, a charging station, a sink, and a hiker box. They even offer laundry and showers for the price of $10 each. I skipped the pricey shower and laundry and simply hand-washed my socks and underwear in the sink.

It is a little strange, to arrive in places like this gas station and find designated hiker areas and services/commodities catering to hikers. It is very different from when I hiked the Appalachian Trail back in 2014.

Back then, when I arrived in a town, I’d often find myself sitting alone on a curb in front of a store, awkwardly repackaging my food into Ziplocs, with my phone plugged into the only outdoor outlet behind a freezer, all while getting weird looks from passersby. While I appreciate the hiker-friendly businesses and convenience of the many services offered to hikers on the PCT in 2025, it makes the trail feel a bit more commercialized. Thru-hiking certainly is a different experience, 11 years later.

I returned to the trail in the afternoon with clean(ish) socks and undies, a full food bag, and fully charged electronics. I hiked another 10 miles to Snowy Lake with Swish. Along the way, we stopped and picked berries again. In addition to huckleberries, I’m now seeing blueberries too. This time, I picked only 2/3 of a container – hopefully, this amount will be easier on the digestive system.