Surprisingly, for as much as I love hiking and camping, I had never had the opportunity to experience the two as one. When I first created the 50 b4 50 list, this was one of the first things we put on the calendar. Initially we (my running partner Kristen and I) were going to attempt to check off two at once by doing the Timberline Trail (#32). However, after much discussion and concerns about two different risky crossing areas, we decided to take our friend Shawn’s advice and move our trip to Goat Rocks. And we are so thankful we did!! With an early, early start and kinda crummy weather, everyone started the day sort of cranky. As it seems with every drive to a remote trailhead, it felt like it took forever to get there…especially the last 12 miles on the gravel forest road. After 3 ½ hours, we finally made it to the start! Admittedly we were all a bit nervous about what lay before us. The weather was cool, cloudy and a bit misty off and on. However, given that we were mostly hiking up hill, the cool weather was really refreshing. Even with the clouds, the scenery was still beautiful. We hiked up about 7 miles and 2000 feet, past Snowgrass Flats and found passable campsite just shy of Goat Lake. By this point in the hike, we were all ready to be done and take our packs off! Just as we started getting our tents out, the rain, started coming down steadier and the wind picked up. Needless to say, we were all cold, wet and tired. The first thing opened was the box of wine as we struggled against the wind to get the tents erected quickly. We all ducked into our tents once they were set up and huddled in our sleeping bags for a couple of hours…pretty sure we all ended up snoozing for a bit. The rain let off a bit so we could heat up our Chili for dinner and it was delicious and so, so very warm in the tummy!! However, almost as soon as we finished the rain and wind started again and we called it a night. The wind blew hard all night, but at least the rain stopped at some point. I will say at this point, I wasn’t really sure how much I liked this whole backpacking thing… Luckily we woke on Saturday morning to amazing views! At 6000 feet elevation, we were above the cloud/ fog and Mt. Adams towered in the distance. We watched the sun rise over the hills. During the day we took a hike over to Hawkseye Point to get a view of Mt. Rainier. It was a gorgeous day and we got to see marmots and some goats in the very far distance. We did have to do a lot of snowfield crossing and we were thankful we weren’t carrying our full packs. We had a much lovelier evening at camp, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset over Goat Rocks. However just after sunset, the wind started to pick up again and we called it an early night again. Sunday morning we enjoyed our last bit of peaceful escape before packing up and heading home. The hike out was much different than the hike in, given the weather and the different perspective. Aside from the unfortunate weather for the first night, it was an incredible adventure and I can’t wait to go backpacking again. Living off grid and surviving on just the items you can carry on your back, was fulfilling in a way I hadn’t expected. The one note to self, is to make sure I have a book next time in case of involuntary solitary confinement!
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