Arch Rock, Government Meadows — Saturday, Jul. 21, 2012

I have now knocked off one star from Dan Nelson's book "Day-Hiking Snoqualmie Pass Area" after hiking to Arch Rock. We started from Govt Meadows and proceeded to the PCT which is on a ridge, yet is mostly treed. In the early morning fog, we saw a few through-hikers slogging along. We made good time until we took a side path to Arch Rock itself. It was totally worth it, as it is very unusual and looked very dramatic in the fog. We lunched near the Raven Roost junction, looking east toward green hills, then made our way down to the Airplane Meadows Trail. That was the second highlight of the day: an airplane, False Hellebore and Mt Rainier. Third highlight was running into the Backcountry Horsemen as they were logging out a section but then getting sucked into mud caused by horse travel. GPS recorded a total of 16 miles and 1,000' gain for the round trip hike.