I woke up at 6 AM like usual in a nice warm cozy bed. I was all packed up, so after breakfast, we were in the car. Mom and Carl drove me back to the White Pass trailhead. They dropped me off across the street at the trailhead and soon I was back on the trail. It was a late start of 9:15 AM, but I was not too concerned. I had a full pack and the trail was not going to be too difficult today. It was uphill through the forest at first, but there was only about 1000 feet to climb. There were many lakes around also which meant that there were also a lot of mosquitoes. I stopped at one to put on some bug spray and talked to a northbound hiker passing me by. When a northbound hiker passed me, I knew I would never see them again because they were probably moving too quickly.
For the most part, though, the trail was fairly quiet. There were many times that I had to turn on the GPS on my watch because there were very few PCT signs and the trail just seemed extraordinarily quiet. I was moving pretty well despite the 7 days of food in the pack as the trail was fairly easy to follow. I knew I had a ford to cross on the Bumping River. I was sort of excited to cross it because as kids we went to Bumping Lake so often. I also think that I crossed the Bumping River on a previous backpack and I was imagining this extensively large, deep river. Instead, it was pretty mild and there was even an easy log crossing right near the trail. After the ford, the trail began to climb again.
Here I would have to climb almost 2000 feet in elevation over a little more than 4 miles. This still was not too bad and there were some beautiful lakes and meadows. I had intended to stay at Crag Lake, but when I was near there, I still felt pretty strong. I got water at the Crag Lake outlet and ran into some more PCT hikers there. It always seemed like the water sources were the place where the masses congregated. I talked with them for a little bit and then I was on my way still climbing. The water source hikers passed me by easily as I was slowly plodding along getting my 2-2.5 miles per hour. It was getting late, though, and I was thinking that sleep might be the right thing to do soon.
Once it was after 5 pm, I started to look for the right place to camp. The views, though, were just starting as I entered the very eastern corner of Mt. Rainier National Park. There were big views of meadows and mountains all around. There were not many views of Mt. Rainier, but when I got one, it was mostly covered in clouds anyway. Eventually after climbing for some time, the trail leveled out. My goal was to find the Two Lakes trail and go downhill to the lakes to camp there. When I found it, I was surprised to see someone was camped right at the junction. I took my stuff and went down to the actual lake. When I got there, another tent was already there. I didn't see anybody home, so I set up a little bit away from the tent.
It was a nice quiet spot that really let me spread out a little bit. There was a stream running behind the campsite and the lake beckoned. Given that it was now approaching 7 pm, the lake was now in the shadows. I still managed to muster the strength to take a dip, though it was a very cold lake. I got myself all changed and ate some dinner. After dinner, I went to get water and the other campers were back. They were southbounders from New Jersey and Idaho. They were really friendly and we talked for a while during our water fill up. Afterwards, though, I did not see them anymore as it was time to get some rest. It was a nice quiet comfortable spot and I was happy to be back on the trail enjoying the cool evening.
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