This is the 8th year my daughter Evie (age 10) and I have gone on an overnight backpacking trip. This year we went for 4 nights on the PCT from White Pass to Chinook Pass. It was an amazing time! The PCT never disappoints, and this is a great section.

Evie-Daddy Backpacking Day 1: White Pass to Snow Lake

Conditions:

• Mostly snow free
• Water easily available
• Tons of mosquitos
• Trail in generally good condition but with frequent water on trail
• Many hikers within 2 miles of the trailhead, almost none after that

Amazing father in law Kevin dropped Evie and I at the White Pass trailhead at 11:30 after leaving a car at Chinook Pass. In the car we stashed a cooler and a resupply bag, which we planned to hit on night 4. Evie quickly decided her goal was to make it to the car by night 3. So off we went on a 10 mile day, one of her longest ever. We eventually camped next to beautiful Snow Lake. The mosquitoes were awful. Evie got over 240 bites (she counted) even though we were both slathered in 100% DEET. I also realized that I brought one too few dinners and we really do need to make it to the car by night 3 or we won't have anything to eat. Oops. The frogs were incredibly loud. It was amazing - so much life. 

Evie-Daddy Backpacking Day 2: Snow Lake to American Lake

Conditions:

• Tons of snow, especially on the side trail to American Lake. It was always passable and had a boot track, but some sections were slanted and slippery.
• Still lots of mosquitos
• Few other hikers, but 2 other parties were camped at the lake

We got up and out of camp quickly to escape the bugs, leaving around 9. We just trucked all morning long, admiring the many views of Tahoma. We broke for lunch of bread, cheese and salami around 11:30. There was a ton of snow and it was sometimes tricky to avoid slipping. We still made it to about 5 pm before Evie felt like she wanted to stop, so we took a half mile detour off the PCT to camp at American Lake. We had only seen one person in days, but there were two parties camped at the lake already. American Lake seemed very appropriate for 4th of July weekend. Bugs were bad here too. But it was so beautiful! The drainage from the lake made a lovely background. This has been a tour of white noise machine settings, after last night's swamp sounds.

Evie-Daddy Backpacking Day 3: American Lake to Sheep Lake

Conditions:

• Less snow once we got a bit lower.
• Not as many mosquitos at Sheep Lake
• Much more traffic, including 3-4 other parties camped at Sheep Lake

We left American Lake and trudged back through the snow to the PCT. Heading North, we passed many beautiful lakes and valley and mountain views. At noon, we reached our car at Chinook Pass, where we got fresh clothing, a resupply of food, and a beer. The cooler was still full of ice and the fresh food was cold. We hiked to Sheep Lake, another 2 miles, and made camp. I improvised a double boiler to melt chocolate to dip marshmallows in, which worked well. Continuing the white noise theme, at Sheep Lake it was very windy. It was the first time I felt cold on this trip.

Evie-Daddy Backpacking Day 4: Sheep Lake

Conditions:

• Seriously people, if you’re going to walk through someone’s campsite at 8 am, at least stop your conversation.
• No significant snow on this section, though there were patches off to the side that we used to stay cool.

The nearest water source was 8.6 miles away, so we decided to keep our camp at Sheep Lake and do a day hike up to Sourdough Gap, planning to go 8 miles. It felt really nice having packs that weighed nothing. I used my bandana to carry snow down from higher elevation, which I used to ice my beer, quite effectively. We got back to back early and both took a nap, and then also went to bed early.

Evie-Daddy Backpacking Day 5: Sheep Lake to car

Last day! A short 2 miles downhill back to the car, and we were off to Mod Pizza to celebrate Evie’s first 4 night trip (mine too), her first overnight on the PCT, and our 8th awesome trip together! At 44 miles, this was also her longest trip by far, and our 14 mile day on Tuesday was her longest single day ever. And she read her book cover to cover - twice. What an amazing kid!

The heading is misleading. It says you can add a new hike but it will not do it. We hiked from Crystal Mt. via the Silver Creek Trail to the PCT/Bear Gap and headed south to Crystal Lakes on the PCT. It is about an 8 mile hike round trip. We sit above the lake and the views are fantastic. There were many flowers along the way, but it is hard to see them in a pic. They blend in with the rocks unless you are there in person. A picture is worth a thousand words, but seeing something in person is worth a billion.

The views along this section of the PCT are remarkable. Untouched forest as far as the eye can see. I included a pic of the forest view. There is a small lake at the bottom of the valley and you know all the woodland creatures gather round knowing no hiker will disturb them.

One of the best things about this hike-NO PEOPLE!  We saw no one until we reached the lake and then only 2 hikers. When they left, we were alone. On the way back, no one until part way down the Silver Creek Trail. Usually we do this hike later and we do meet thru hikers. We have met people from all over the world and they all think the northern Washington part is the best; then we already knew that.

Great hike if you don't get your reservation for Park entrance and the bathrooms at Crystal are totally upscale.

Started from Morse Creek Trailhead. The road is rough and trench like in places. An all wheel drive could make it in if the driver is comfortable with rough mt road driving. The road walk up to the trailhead is short and has only one washout section that is easy to negotiate. There was a low cloud deck and just the very lightest rain. Trail is steep and you quickly come to the first junction. Signage says "Fog City" to the right and it was definitely an appropriate name today. We opted for the trail to the left hoping to make a lollipop loop and exit on the fog city trail. Continuing to climb to the 5 way junction with the PCT. There was several types of scat along the way. One nice pile of fairly fresh bear poop. At the junction the PCT looked snow free, but the trails to Silver Creek and Hen Skin Lake were snow covered as you dropped off the ridge. Knowing we might get stopped by snow on our lollipop we headed south on the PCT toward Chinook Pass. We went just shy of a mile along the exposed cliffs and found no snow on the trail. The rain had intensified along with a cold biting wind so we opted to head back where the ridge would provide some protection. The flowers along the rock walls are stunning right now. Heading north along the PCT the flowers continued and we could hear the high volume of water below on Silver Creek which continued to be snow filled. We were able to make it past the hairpin corner before hitting a large persistent snow coverage. I am sure we could have made it at least a ways along here, but my hiking partner is not comfortable on the snow so we opted to return the way we came.Flowers start from the beginning and are prolific up on the PCT section. Some of what we saw: Silver crown,paintbrush, columbine,bluebells,waterballs,pasque,penstemmons,phlox, and buttercup.

Yesterday we did a through hike starting with Norse peak, descending to Basin lake and making our way to Crystal resort through Bullion Basin and Blue Bell pass. We had one car at Norse peak TH and one at Crystal. This hike was great, with views of Rainier, mountain goats, fall colors popping up, a fox and a gorgeous lake all to ourselves. Very few on this amazing trail. The goats were above Basin lake and never came down. The only portion of our adventure a little hard to follow was after Basin lake. The trail is faint and we ended up on an animal trail for a short while. Having gps is very helpful. This was about 13 miles all together, more then I anticipated. Worth it! 

Nice section of the PCT, went southbound. The berries were ripe and plentiful enough to power us up the hills to try e views. Water is getting scarce at higher elevations but so are the bugs. Saw a herd of mountain goats and plenty of proof of elk.