Al, Bob and I (Jim) headed north from White pass on July 24, 2001, at 11:30 AM. Marlene dropped Bob of in Morton, where Al, Linda and I met them. Then Linda dropped off the three of us at the White Pass trail head. Bob shared nectarines with us and we headed up the trail. We had our lunch of rolls, with cheese and sandwich meat at Deer Lake. We past Sand Lake and Beusch Lake, hiking the 6.5 miles the first day arriving at Dumbbell Lake where we made our first camp. For dinner we had instant potatoes with dried chuck roast, and dried vegetables. All was reconstituted in one pot. The mosquitoes were thick so we spent quite a bit of time on the rock peninsula next to camp where there was enough breeze to keep most mosquitoes away. We all fit into a 9 pound tent and slept the night.
The next morning a Wednesday we had zoom mush and headed out about 9 AM. While moving on the trail the mosquitoes were manageable however when we stopped we put on some bug repellent which helped. We hiked past Pipe Lake, Jess Lake and Snow Lake. Then had lunch at Fryingpan Lake where leeches latched onto our feet as we soaked our feet in the lake. Bob went for a dip in the lake. ( We found the southern loop of the trail to Fryingpan Lake, shown on the PCT National Scenic Trail map 1986, has been abandoned which left us confused for a while.) There were a couple fish heads in the shallow water so where were are our fishing poles? We rested there several afternoon hours in the beautiful grassy meadow in the bright sun, with enough breeze to keep the mosquitoes away. We continued on to Fish Lake where we made camp overlooking the lake. We hiked 7.5 miles for the day.
We met five 20 year old guys heading through our camp at dinner time. They thought they were on the PCT. We gave them navigational instructions and they ended up staying at the far end of the lake. They mentioned the mosquitoes to the north were really bad. As we headed north we realized they had not seen bad yet! Mosquito Valley, which we had just come through was far worse! Poor guys!Bob made a fire. Al and Bob set up the tent while I made the dinner of macaroni and cheese, with the usual dried meat and dried vegetables. Al noticed a probably unopened can of pop in 5 feet of water and somehow we talked Bob into fetching the can. Indeed it was unopened so Al and I shared Simplicity ginger ale type sugar pop while Bob had a sip. The stove acted up and caused a little 3 foot flame explosion which we extinguished with a three cups of water. The stove's wick appears to be disintegrating and causing the stove's cap check valve to leak. We were able to clean the valve, fortunately. After dinner we normally heated water for coffee, tea, tang or cocoa. This night we also made pudding. We headed to bed just prior to dark each night at about 9:30. This night a bull elk stretched his vocal cords at about 11:30 waking us all up. Very impressive. Al slept on a high spot at his hips and had a disturbed night but commented, through it all he felt rested.
Al made oatmeal the next morning and we headed out at 8 AM climbing to higher elevation and detouring a little to Crag Lake. We rested at Crag lake in the meadow by the shore. We observed the remnants of three 12 inch fish in the fire pit. Another warm day as we relaxed. After 45 minutes we headed further up the mountain and had lunch at the top of the ridge with a great view of Mount Rainier. We then passed the Three Lakes trail and past the Two Lakes trail. The trail stayed on the ridge giving us lots of great views the whole sunny afternoon. At the top just before a decent, we met a 23 year old couple who had begun in Canada about 20 days earlier. They were hiking about 20 miles a day and looked fresh. We spooked six elk and they noisily left the area. Then by Bumping River we met a couple who asked our help to locate them on the trail. They were camped near Bumping River where the bridge had collapsed leaving two logs to cross over on. Bob and Al chose the higher while I crossed the slightly smaller but lower log. We all scrambled over easily. We stayed on the trail and arrived at Anderson Lake about 4 PM. We hike 10 miles that day. Both Bob and Jim swam and Al cleaned up in the lake while we waited for two guys to clear out of the campsite with a great view of the valley to the east. We found fresh bones of an elk near the water edge giving us some concern for the water's quality. We moved into camp at 5:30 and had a rice dinner with the same ingredients. We played with a small fire in the evening and all slept well on the level tent site.
We broke camp after a granola breakfast, heading down the trail by 7 AM, in our first light fog of the trip. We continued on to Dewey Lake arriving as most of the fog had cleared. We could tell there were clouds in the lower elevations. We enjoyed resting again at the lake edge in sunshine. A very nice lake. We moved to the other end of the lake and took time to view the pond off the end of the lake then came back and viewed Dewey Lake, laying in the meadow with a full compliment of flowers. Al calculated we had three or so pictures left on the roll of film and figured where we should take each picture. Both he and Bob had been on this part of the trail before. Well, after we climbed out of Dewey Lake the flowers were in their best form, so we had to load a new roll of film and the camera was clicking away. Eloise and Sherry apparently just missed us at the top of the hill. We suspect we heard each other but they had headed around a bend to make a loop out of their hike and were out of site. We continued out passing more and more people coming in for a walk in the meadows. We used the trail overpass, crossing over the Chinook Pass road and found Al's car in the parking lot.
We cleaned up some and in about 15 minutes Marlene found us and provided a 3 salad lunch which we all really enjoyed. Table cloth and all spread out on a rock bulkhead. 20 minutes later Eloise and Sherry joined us for the meal. Marlene also brought two desserts, a chocolate cake and apple turnover pie. We were happy campers for sure.
Both Bob and Al wore tennis shoes and had little problem with sore feet. Bob did have to pop a blister one evening, but did not appear to be suffering much. I had hiking boots and had real tender heels after the first day. Then at the end of the hike I developed blisters on the back of my feet, go figure. Due to the poor weather coming and my foot condition, I also came home at this time. We hiked 30 miles total on the Crest Trail and could add some more for the side trips. All in all we had great weather, great company, great scenery and a great hike.
PS Later discovered why my feet got sore! I hiked in some work boots instead of my hiking boots! They were Docker boots rather than REI - Raichile's. (To much diet pop.)
Jim