Packwood Loop Trail, Washington

 

After some discussion, Dad & I settled on a route to hike in Washington.  Rainier was too far, Adams had fires, and my bro-in-law had a trail book on the Goat Rocks Wilderness.  Truth be told, I think he had books on a lot of areas, but this is the one he pulled out to share.  He hadn't hiked Goat Rocks before, so I think he wanted a review.  No problem, because it worked out great for us.

 

We had 4 days to hike.  We probably could have chosen a longer route, but the 26.2-mile Packwood Loop Trail kept rising to the top of the list.  It was a test trip afterall--testing my equipment and Dad's feet.  Our intent wasn't to walk to exhaustion every day.

 

Monday morning we packed up and headed to the trailhead.  It was about a 2-1/2 hour drive and paved all the way.  We got our shoes on, made sure we locked the truck, got our packs on and adjusted, etc.  This took longer than it should have because we hadn't done it in awhile.  We were also trying trekking poles for the first time, so this added another item to adjust.  We walked across the parking lot to the trail, and read on one of the signs there that a parking pass was required.  We briefly considered taking a chance at a ticket and fee, but after calling for more information decided to drive the 6-7 miles back to the town of Packwood for a parking pass.  An hour and a half later we were back at the start of the trail with a parking pass in the truck and ready to begin hiking.

 

 

 

The first 4-1/2 miles to Packwood Lake were mostly level.  We passed a little stream flowing down from the hill to the side of the trail.  My water bottle wasn't full when I started hiking so I took this opportunity to fill it up.  First water stop and I didn't filter.

 

Packwood Lake is big, and there's a little tree-covered island in it.  We hiked along the lake (1.7 miles of it) and then to Beaver Bill Creek where we decided to make camp for the night.  The campsight was tree-covered and there was the sound of the creek all night long.  Before bed we had some hot Tang, a Classen family hiking tradition.  First day was a success.