Packwood Saddle to Lost Lake

I had been a little cool the first night, so decided to close up the front of my tent the second night.  Big mistake when I learned in the morning that the stars had been pretty impressive that night.

We tried to break camp a little quicker this morning, but it still took us about an hour.  We didn't even fix breakfast!  Our plan was to hike a bit and then stop for food.  We were enjoying Mom's trail mix and grabbed a few handfuls before beginning the climb up and around Chimney Rock.  The trail came very close to the ridge and we decided to stop here and refuel.

This part of the trail had some more climbing, and was rockier than what we'd experienced the day before.  There were some stream crossings that thankfully had no water in them.  They were steep and rocky--exciting enough without the added challenge of rushing water!

As the trail wound around Chimney Rock, I decided to try again to get a text out to family to let them know we were doing well.  I had tried at Packwood Saddle and the PCT junction with no luck.  This time I finally had success.  It felt great to connect with them even if it was only a one-sided text message.  Another high point.

Once we rounded Chimney Rock, the trail began its descent.  We saw pikas for the first time--small animals from the rodent family that live in the rocks.  We were also treated to a view of Mt Rainier and stopped for the photo op and a snack.

I told Dad he would never see a picture of me sitting on a ledge with my legs hanging off.  This rock was as close as I was going to get.  Mt Rainier looks tiny in these pictures.  It was more impressive in person.

Lost Lake was just half a mile off our trail and the gal who sold us our parking pass said the view was glorious so we decided to make it our destination for our third night on the trail.  She obviously hadn't seen the view from the PCT junction or Chimney Rocks because this paled in comparison.  Still, a nice place to make camp.  Once again, we had the place to ourselves.  It felt great to wade in the cold water and rinse the trail dust off our bodies.  There were fish jumping in the lake.  We took a walk around part of the lake and found a stream where we filled up our water bottles.

Learning my lesson from the night before, I kept the vestibule at the front of my tent open so I could see the stars through the netting.  I had a bad angle, so got out of my tent at one point to look up at the sky.  I stood at the front of my tent for a minute or so to take in the view and then crawled back into bed.  At some point I was awakened by what sounded like a small animal brushing the sides of my tent.  I flicked my hand on the side of the tent to encourage the animal to move on.  It was relentless (there's that word again!) and would not leave the tent alone.  Several minutes later I realized that the animal making the noise was INSIDE the tent!  Dad came to the rescue with a light and we got the mouse out of the tent.  As I'm sure you can imagine, it was a little tough to sleep after that!  There were no holes in the tent, so we determined he must have come inside when I stepped out to see the stars.