September 12

End: camp near tieton pass.
Daily: 23.5
Total: 2291.3

My favorite flower, the gentian

So tired. Such a pretty day. The Goat Rocks is a beautiful place. I really don't know what else to say or how to describe it, because I am so worn out.

We climbed up above timberline to take lunch today, and made it an extra long lunch since we are ahead of schedule anyway and we knew we loved this place (came here last year with Bubs). Then the climb up to the top of the hiker PCT, and since we were so close, to the top of Old Snowy. A little bit of rock scrambling to get on top and we were there. A nice climb.

Then came the really hard part. After spending almost all morning climbing, the trail traverses the Knife's Edge. This has got to be the thinnest ridge I've ever walked on (except maybe the Hog's Back on Hood, but that was covered in snow). The ridge is no wider than the trail in some places. There must be a few thousand feet of glacier-covered almost vertical slope on either side, flattening out into huge valleys. Then, of course, our first view of Rainier. So beautiful!

But the trail follows the ridge up and down for three miles or so, and the grade is really steep, so going up is hard because it's work and going down is hard because the rocks roll out from under your feet and make you slip and almost fall onto glaciers. Yup. An exciting day!

We had planned to go about 3 miles further today but with our extra long lunch, climbing Old Snowy, and the difficulty of today's hike, we stopped here. So glad to be going to sleep now. I'm excited to look at my pictures of today, because there was so much reason to take pictures.