Nannie Peak Loop — Sunday, Jul. 19, 2020

I'll start from the beginning. The road up was dusty and a bit bumpy but any vehicle could easily pass. We started early-ish Sunday morning and the parking lot was already full (even in COVID times summer is upon us) so be prepared to park outside of the campground and walk the very short walk in. We did the loop counter-clockwise as we needed to hike out Tuesday for me to get to a night shift in Seattle so we had to make that the short day. We didn't have the continuous views mentioned in the trail description but the trail was less of grind as your elevation gain is a spread over more miles and the views still did not disappoint. Gaia placed the hike in at 10 miles w/ 2421 ft. gain. Mosquitoes were a nuisance pretty early on but were about to get worse. There were no other backpackers when we first got to Sheep Lake so had our pick of campsites, we chose the one with best Mt Adams views. Few had much shade to pop a tent under, so with the days being very warm and the mosquitoes horrible it left you with a conundrum, read in the shelter of your tent and roast in the sun or seek cooler temps under the shade by the lake but face the blood-suckers. On a positive note: the sunsets and stars were incredible, my camera did Neowise no justice! 

We stayed up there an extra day and on Monday day-hiked further north on the PCT. We didn't hit snow until about 3.5ish miles in but even then it would have been passable (clear tracks indicate people had crossed in the days leading up to us being there) but instead we stopped and enjoyed views while we snacked and headed back. That evening we decided to hike up to the top of the peak closet to camp to view the sunset. That was a mistake as the mosquitoes that seemed very annoying in camp were intolerable at the top of the peak. We explored around briefly and headed down. 

Tuesday we did the quick 4ish miles out. Recalling the bugs on the peak the night before, we skipped the push up to the old lookout site. Beyond saying goodbye to the mosquitoes it was an uneventful and pleasant hike out.