Sheep Lake to Sourdough Gap — Friday, Sep. 3, 2010

Mount Rainier Area > Chinook Pass - Hwy 410

We parked 0.2 miles east of the park boundary at the TH for the PCT. The trail is 6 miles RT from here with an 1100 foot gain. We had a beautiful sunny day and almost no wind at the gap! We have done this trail several times before and the weather has always been cold, windy, and foggy at the gap so this was a very pleasant experience allowing us to rest here for awhile. Bob went east of the gap along the ridge for a better view of Mt Rainier than we had seen on the way up. Mt Adams, the Goat Rocks and Mt St Helens could be seen in the distance. There were several camped at the lake and we met many day hikers coming out as we were going in. We talked to 2 groups of through hikers along the way. Coming down from the gap we spotted 4 goats on a ridge west of the lake. The berries along the beginning of the trail seemed small and dry and didn't say, "Eat me!"