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!

White pass to chinook was the plan, snow coverage enough that navigation was necessary and took considerable time as well as lots of postholing. Not dangerous but just more work than we wanted to do without adding more days to the hike. At PCT Bumping lake trail we headed to Fish Lake trail and exited at Bumping  Lake Camogrounds. 
Fish lake and bumping lake trails were beautiful with meadows and only patch snow. Water crossings were not bad. 

Overnight to Cougar Lakes via the PCT south from Chinook Pass.

The route passes Dewey Lakes, Anderson Lakes, American Lake, and finally Cougar Lakes. Each lake is better than the last until the real
gem of Lower Cougar Lake.

Trail conditions: the PCT is on good condition. Thanks to the PCTA crew at work near Dewey Lakes.

The turnoff to the Cougar Lake trail from the American Ridge trail is unsigned and easy to miss. Look for a small cairn.

Camp conditions: I was a little worried about the condition of Cougar Lakes based on a previous report by a ranger who packed out tons of waste a couple of years ago. Thankfully, the camping area was pretty clean apart, oddly, from a single shoe. We were all alone on a beautiful fall weekend!

After setting up camp, we took the rough trail south that goes along the isthmus and leads out of the lake basin onto the ridge. While we didn't find it as bad as described in a previous TR, I would say it's not mandatory. The view is good but not spectacular and there is no Rainier view from the ridge. It does, however, feel very quiet and remote. Lots of elk sign.

Wildlife: a couple of goats on the scree across the lake, and a coyote (?) heard a couple of times.

Berries: none. What a stinker of a year for berries.

Fall foliage: popping. This being my first hike in the area immediately south of Chinook Pass, I can't say for sure, but I think the fall colors really made the place spectacular.

TUE 05, 2023, ~06:30 i was the 3rd to arrive at the PCT White Pass TH parking. And i went for a ramble - CW-Loop 7x Lakes: TH > Deer Lake > Sand Lake > Beusch Lake > Dumbell Lake > Cramer Lake > Dog Lake > Leech Lake > TH. When i got back to the TH parking, there were 5 vehicles.

Foggy and misty, and chilly ~low 50s_F (with blowing breeze) from TH till just before reaching Cramer Lake. After which, sunny low_60s back to the TH. The ramble was generally under forest shade.

Beware of a water-crossing (North Fork Clear Creek) ~1 mi from Dog Lake (as shown in attached picture). Average-depth of the water was ~3 ins. i rock-stepped across with my Poles, v cautiously cos the rocks were mossy.

Encountered a total of ~11 people & 1 dog during my 6+ hours on-the-trails.

a) Between Sand Lake & Beusch Lake : 1x Back-Packer who's heading Back,
b) After leaving Cramer Lake : 2x Day-Hikers - they were heading to Tumac Mountain,
c) Dog Lake Day Use parking : 4x Back-Packers who were preparing to go OUT (in to the Forest), and
d) ~1 mile before reaching the PCT White Pass TH - coming UP : 2 x NOBO PCT Hikers, 2x people walking their dog.

Everyone was courteous and friendly :)

Happy Trails Everyone 🌈

Below are the conflicting - and possibly errorneous stats of this ramble from my Gaia_GPS, Alltrails, and Caltopo; i don't think i did more than 15 miles.
Alltrails : Distance 20.2 mi / EG 2,162 ft / Moving Time 6:02
by Caltopo : Distance 22.5 mi / Total Time 6:40
by GaiaGPS : Distance 35.1 mi / Ascent 7,178 (-7,247) ft / Total Time 6:39

This was a hike I’d been wanting to do for a long time.   

A friend and I parked one truck in the empty Bumping Lake TH lot on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.  We hiked up past Swamp Lake to the American Ridge trail.  The grade was moderate for the most part, the trail was well maintained, and there were a handful of campers at Swamp.

Once on the ridge trail we hiked west for a couple miles to American Lake.  This was very nice meadow country, with occasional views, but nothing too grand as the clouds were coming in.

At the junction with the Cougar Lakes trail be sure to bear to the right - I didn’t, and added about a mile to my day.

Once we got to American Lake, the clouds were there to stay and the winds picked up.  There were about 3-4 other groups camping at the lake when we arrived, and a few more came in during the late afternoon and evening.  Lots of dogs….and no necessarily the obedient kind.

I fished for a while with no luck.   As the clouds were getting lower, the temp was dropping, and the wind was picking up we opted for dinner and bourbon around 7pm and then tucked in for the night.

It didn’t seem to rain much overnight, but it was definitely chilly and the winds kept up.

In the morning, things were pretty well soaked and I had a breakfast in the fog.  We didn’t linger too long and we’re back on the trail - heading towards the PCT - by 9am or so.

Once on the PCT we headed north towards Dewey Lakes, and got a few views along the way as the clouds began to break up.

Just south of Dewey, we turned east on the Dewey Lake trail and enjoyed a descent into the valley for the next several miles.  This trail was very cool - though the upper portion does not appear to have seen much maintenance in many years.  It would be unfortunate if this trail disappeared, and I am afraid it just might.

The trail started steeply downhill before crossing a few meadows and a marsh and returning to the big timber forest.  There is a 2-3 mile section which involves going over and/or around hundreds of fallen trees.   This really took some steam out of us.

However, we also saw a beautiful terraced waterfall and heard a bull elk bugle a few times.  I really thought this neck of the woods was a gem.

At the valley bottom (after a simple crossing of the American River), we dealt with a few more logs until noticing the horse poop - and then some trail maintenance.   This was a big relief as we were pretty worn out by now.

The last few miles amounted to a pleasant forest walk to the American River (another simple crossing) and my truck at the Mesatchee Creek TH.

All in all I’d guess that we did about 21-22 miles (including turn arounds and wandering), and our elevation gain/loss between the trucks and the PCT was around 2500’ or so.  I don't really keep stats.

Anyway, I hope somebody gives the Dewey Lakes (American River) trail a try.   It’s worth the effort.