Washington PCT 2015: Day 20

Day 20 was a bit chilly and overcast. Laura and I really liked resting and put off leaving all morning. Finally, after lunch at the Aardvark, we started under Hwy 90 toward the trailhead.

Cool Bavarian cabins at Alpental

We walked about a mile and a half down a road past the traditional PCT trailhead. We had chosen to take the alternate route past Snow Lake, the Goldmyer hot springs, and over dutch miller's gap. 

Steps like this only happen near roads

Looking down Alpental valley

Climbing over the ridge on the right

There were literally hundreds of people hiking up to Snow Lake on that Sunday afternoon. It is a great day hike and I don't blame them. It is funny passing day hikers though because they are doing the same thing at the moment but it is not the same experience. It is also funny to smell them. To a long-distance hiker, the day hikers often smell like fresh laundry! I am not kidding!

It was rocky

Hiking along a cool rock face

Looking back from the top of the ridge

Hello Alpine Lakes!

We finally climbed to the top of a ridge, passing into the Alpine Lake Wilderness, and looked down at Snow Lake. It is surrounded by bright white rock that can often be seen under the surface. It was a cloudy day and also the end of a weekend so there were few camping spots. We looked around for quite a while among the weekend campers. We came upon an old stone house during our search and wondered what its history was.

Snow Lake

Cool old house of stone!

Siting by the lake cooking?

Finally, about 2/3 of the way around the lake, we found a small site that would fit our tent. It got dark quickly in the valley on this overcast day. After dinner, we relaxed in our tent and listened to a light drizzle on our tent. It was the first bit of rain on our hike. We were happy to be on the trail again and feeling good after our short 5 mile day.

Laura setting up the tent

Our campsite

Relaxing in the tent