12 miles of hiking • 4500' elevation gain • 1 night
Weekend backpack w/ Water (Matt) to Glacier View Wilderness on the west side of Mt. Rainier. This trail starts in Glacier View and crosses into the Nat'l Park beyond Goat Lake. We went up to Mt. Beljica for some great views before descending down to Goat Lake and setting up camp.
Fish were plentiful, but the lake was shallow and swampy at the edges and not conducive to easy casts. Water caught 4 trout, I caught 1. I also lost a lure and broke the tip of my pole. So yeah.
After making the long climb up to Gobblers Knob where there is a lookout tower maintained by the park service, we each enjoyed a Ft. George microbrew as the sun set on gigantic Mt. Rainier to our East. It was fun noting all the peaks and features 360 degrees around, and listening to Water expound on his climbs to the top of Tahoma.
After returning to camp, we made dinner and relaxed by the fire. It was absolutely silent at night, except for a few haunting hoots from a not-too-distant owl.
The next morning we hiked out under a sunny sky and headed to Longmire inside the National Park. (to be continued)
