Day 126, 22.7 miles

This morning we all woke up at the sandy beach at Sand Lake. All of our tents were soaked and frozen! The temps had dipped down low last night and condensation was really bad. Even though the top of my bag got wet I stayed nice and warm all night. I think everyone slept in later than they planned due to the frigid morning. There was a beautiful low mist that shrouded the area and nearby lake.

Frozen bag

The morning moon

Verde and Clean Turkey

Sand Lake

Although packing up and getting started was tough in the frigid cold, the morning was super beautiful! Soon it became warm enough to take off my gloves and jacket, and I was in a great mood just flying down the trail! Although we all camped together I hiked solo for 80% of my day. Seeing people at different water sources along the way.

2,300 miles!!

Blueberries!!

Fatty ones!!!

This next statement deserves its own paragraph; I LOVE BLUEBERRIES!! Maaaaybe even more than huckleberries but I’m not sure, haha.

Snow Lake

10:30am pack explosion (drying my gear)

Snow Lake

Today was such a neat day! I hung out at mosquito-free Snow Lake where I dried out my things and took a bunch of pictures, ate a lot of food, and hung out with dragonflies while soaking in my pretty surroundings. After leaving I went through an amazing thick forest section which was full of mushrooms! There were almost as many as the day I hiked with Caleb! Following are waaaaaay too many mushroom pictures:

The Grandfather!! This one was over 1.5ft tall!!!

King Beletus, harvested to eat but it dropped out of my pack later :(

Whew!! I TOLD you I saw a lot of mushrooms! And those were only my favorites!! After hiking with Caleb for these day I’ve developed a keener eye for spotting them, and it’s really fun to take pictures of them! One day I’ll learn all of the wild species of mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest! 

After I broke out of the forest I saw Verde and Google at anneat water source. Then I went across a couple beautiful meadows before starting a STEEP four mile climb up a huge mountain! We heard from some southbounders that there was a good view of Rainier at the top, and that definitely motivated me to FLY up the hill! The way up was so beautiful and scenic! Here come way more pics!!

Meadow

Neat boardwalk

Climbing

Then, at the very tippy top, I saw it!

Mt. Rainier!!

So big, so beautiful, so clear, so majestic, so stunning!! I’ve never seen Rainier from this close on such a clear day! It’s shrouded in clouds around 90% of the time and here I am just staring at it crystal clear!! I feel so lucky and I’m SO stoked to be in Washington seeing all these beautiful sights! Rainier just moved up to my second favorite mountain! (After Hood of course)

Gah!

Looking East into the valley I just came up from

I stopped for a late lunch around 1:30pm at a place with a great view of Rainier. It wasn’t really an obvious break spot, and I was off the trail and ~20ft up a steep hill on a small flat landing, so I got to see and surprise all my friends who I had passed on the big hill as they walked by unaware of me!

Great spot for lunch

I blew up my pillow to dry it it in the sun and this butterfly really loved the air valve for some reason.

I took so many pictures today! (As you can clearly see). It was just so gorgeous and I feel so blessed to finally be having this clear weather and great views after those many days of non-ideal conditions. I finally feel like I’m in Washington! The weather looks clear for the rest of the week minus a slight percent chance of rain on Thursday.

Today was a fun day sprinkled with great friends. All of us minus Hiker Box Hero ended up camping in the same place tonight. The night isn’t as cold and I’m camped in some trees, so I doubt tomorrow morning will be as wet and miserable. Looking forward to more beautiful days like this in this amazing state!

Thanks for reading!