My friend and I left Olympia Friday morning for a visit to Mt Adams. We decided to go up the Divide Camp trail, which involves a steady ascent 3 miles to the Pacific Crest Trail. Along the way are several viewpoints of Adams Creek, rushing down the mountain, laden with silt from the Adams Glacier. After 2.5 miles, the trail enters a large meadow with a snowpack measurement pole standing prominently in the middle. The view up to Mt Adams is stunning from here with the Adams Glacier plunging down the mountain right in front of you. After spending some time enjoying the view here, we proceeded up to junction with the PCT.
We turned right (southwest) on the PCT and proceeded another mile to a small creek crossing, hopping across the raging Lewis River along the way. Here we found a great campsite right above the PCT just behind a large pile of lava.
On Saturday we dayhiked along the PCT over to Sheep Lake and scrambled up to Crystal Lake, several hundred feet above the PCT. We returned to camp just in time for an afternoon thunderstorm. In the evening, I wandered up to the terminal moraine at the base of the Adams Glacier and watched a dozen mountain goats graze down the slope in front of me.
On Sunday, it was time to pack up and return to civilization after a great time at the base of the mountain.