Trail is gentle (read: pretty much flat). crosses a few rock slides. Nice flowers along the way. Great views of the lake and what I believe is Nelson Ridge across the way. We made it to Boulder Creek (1.3 miles in) where we found it to be a bit too high to cross with a baby. We stopped and enjoyed lunch before we hiked back to the trailhead.

If there's anything better than being up at first light, warming yourself over a small fire, drinking a cup of coffee while watching fish rise on a mountain lake, I don't know what it is. I got dropped off Chinook Pass Sunday the 22nd, spent the night at Cougar Lakes, and came out at Bumping Lake the next day, about 20 miles all told. Cougar Lakes and Swamp Lakes have a plethora of small brookies, not too hard to catch. They're suppossed to have rainbows, too, but I only caught one little out of Swamp. The portion of the PCT and American Ridge Trail I traveled are in good shape, but the Cougar Lakes and Swamp Lake trails are about as bad a tread that I have ever walked-not that that should prevent anyone from hiking them-but be forewarned. There's all kind of flagging type on the Swamp Creek Trail as if there's a plan to reroute some of it-it could sure use it. Anuway, Cougar Lakes is in a spectacular setting, nestled in a deep valley with high rocks towering over three sides. Of course, getting there wasn't exactly ugly, with the occasional glimpses of Mount Rainier to the west and flowers blooming. On the PCT from Dewey Lakes Trail to the American Ridge Trail, the view of the American R. drainage is beautiful. American Lake, Cougar Lakes and Swamp Lakes are being revegetated, so many of the old camping sites are closed-but there are good campsites on the west of Big Cougar Lake. Mosquitoes were bad in the high country and flies were bad around Swamp and Bumping Lake. I did manage one big fish-out of Bumping Lake-as I was walking the section of the trail right along the lake I saw some bigger fish right in by shore eating, of all things, tadpoles that were swimming along in the water, then 'WHOMP,' one less tadpole. I thought the big fish were dollies, I remember as a wee pup my dad and I catching them out of Bumping. I made a couple of casts and on about the second I could see a big fish following my spoon, he hit it, then went nuts, coming clear out of the water and jumping over a stump that stuck about a foot and a half in the water three different times. I figured that I'd never land him, given all the obstructions in the water and logs-but I slowly wore him down and landed him, a 19 inch rainbow. Pretty cool way to finish the hike.

Spent two days doing the 21 mile loop from the west end of Bumping Lake up the Swap Lake trail, south along the Pacific Crest, and returning via the Bumping Lake trail along the Bumping River. With Tevas the river crossing at 0.5 miles was easy; but there's no way to do it and keep your feet dry so bring Tevas or sneakers. Earlier in the season I gather it's problematic. The Swamp Lake Trail is very pleasant and easy as it ascends about 1200 feet through open forest to Swamp Lake and then to Cougar Lake cutoff. American lake is pretty, with some views. No snow on crest, views were diminishing with the weather but I think they'd be grand towards Rainier and Adams, and the meadows were very beautiful with flowers going strong. Camped at Two Lakes, we were the only ones there. The morning was so misty we couldn't see any views as we finished the ridge walk and descended to Fish Lake and the Bumping River. Saw some geologists camped there for a mapping project, otherwise we had the trail out along the Bumping River to ourselves. It's generally an easy path through pretty woods, however several short sections are deeply rutted and a little muddy from horses. There are also many small sidepaths, probably game trails, on on or two occasions these were a bit easy to confuse with the main trail. A few blowdowns, might be hard on horses but no real problem for hikers.

On June 13, I hiked the Bumping Lake Trail-4 miles-very easy, then went up the Swamp Lake Trail to Swamp Lake. The trail is scheduled to be rerouted this year due to massive rutting-it will be interesting to see how it looks a year from now. Anyway, Swamp Lake at 4800 feet was about half under ice still and deep snow surrounded the lake-very few spots had melted to allow for a camp. Swamp Lake trail raises about 1100 feet from the Bumping Jct to the lake-a distance of around 3.5 miles. Oh-this was classic-apparently the NFS was marking water crossings on the Swamp Lake Trail where they had encountered what are commonly known as 'frogs.' I encountered one of such on my trip. The flagging tape read ""Cougar Lake/Swamp Lake amphib.""

Went hiking with a child this time. We took the nicely rolling trail along Bumping Lake. The far end of the lake is pretty pristine, with no camping allowed on shoreline anymore. Ended trip at Cedar Creek due to little feet getting tired. Good trip for children if you are camping in the area.