July 22
It is definitely is getting light a little bit later each morning. I got a good picture of the sun rise coming up over the hill through the trees. We started walking this morning at 6 AM.
Mount Saint Helens is clearly visible in front of me. It is easy to identify as it is missing its top from the 1980s eruption.
Mount Adams is off to my right with some wispy cloud, inversion layers along its upper half. Mount Rainier is between the two, but it’s not clear enough for a picture with a light haze in the air.
I love the mix of ferns, moss, and spreading branches in the trees.
I arrived at Rock Creek, which is a good place for a second breakfast and short break.
Shortly after leaving rock Creek we come to and crossed strong Creek another beautiful mountain creek
There is short break in our forested area and then we popped out over this short stretch of water.
We came to some really cool rock outcroppings right along the side of the trail.
Down below us is a river that we occasionally see from trail. There is a very short side trail that leads to a big outcropping that we could stand on and look down
We stopped at the foot of the bridge of trout creek had a snack and a short break before continuing on the last 5 1/2 miles to our campsite.
The trail followed a dirt road for less than a quarter mile then entered and went across this large open field before continuing in to the Forest.
We crossed a couple of paved roads, the last of which we followed about a quarter mile down to a public campsite. We were looking for the camp host to see if there were any sites, and some other campers asked if we were hiking the PCT and told us they had reserve two sites and we’re only using one and we were welcome to the other. We set up our tents, had dinner and rinsed off in a nearby river and headed off to bed.
Today’s PCT miles hiked 22.0
Total PCT Miles hiked to date 1640.3
PCT mile marker 2183.0
(Flipped over 542.8 miles)
