Goat Rocks Wilderness, Washington
Aug. 29 - Sept. 1, 2002
This backpacking trip reignited my passion for wilderness. It had everything: wildlife in abundance; a glorious ridge top hike along the Pacific Crest Trail under feathery clouds; a high country campsite where we had a whole mountain valley to ourselves; a campfire with Karen and her good friend; elk bugling at twilight; and the last of the summer wildflowers.

Our companion Joan, a retired nurse, was enjoying her last backpacking trip before leaving on a Peace Corps mission to Nepal at age 60.

This hike was the sort of experience that only comes along occasionally; I hope the photographs and descriptions convey the spirit of the American wilderness.

We camped in McCall Basin, then hiked up the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) where it climbs high on the ridges that were once part of an ancient volcano.

Along the way, we met several PCT through-hikers who had already hiked from the Mexican border up through California and Oregon; they had about four hundred miles to go to reach Canada. One 30-something married couple, from British Columbia, were hiking light with tiny packs (especially compared to our humongous, heavy packs) and running shoes. They were in superb shape and good spirits. Averaging 25 miles a day, their only complaint was sore feet. They had just come off the long ridges of the Goat Rocks Wilderness and declared that it compared favorably with the best of California's Sierra Nevada.

Another hiker, a young man travelling alone, was tired and depressed. Hiking long distances is a psychological game, and loneliness can unleash the demon of doubt.

From our camp in McCall Basin, the evening sun lit the surrounding mountainside beautifully.
On the trail up through the high glacial cirques, I found these tiny flowers (3" high) along several rivulets from melting snow. Called Alpine Willow-herb, they are related to Fireweed.
Three young Mountain Goats test their climbing abilities on the sheer cliffs above Upper McCall Basin. When leaping to another foothold, a shower of rocks clattered down the rock face.
We watched a band of 32 Mountain Goats in Upper McCall Basin, and attempted to approach them. Unfortunately, another group of hikers surprised the goats and sent the herd running across the North Fork Tieton River and up the mountainside. They stopped and grazed in the lupine meadow in the above photograph before disappearing over a high ridge. There were several young in the herd, and we observed them dashing around together, clearly enjoying their youth and vigor.
Mountain goats on a high snowfield above the Upper McCall Basin. We have seen Mountain Goats and Elk taking refuge on snowfields when mosquitoes or flies are particularly troublesome, but that didn't seem to be a problem on this beautiful day.

Other wildlife experiences on the trip included a hummingbird buzzing my magenta socks while I rested at a pass, and a Great Horned Owl hooting when I rose in the middle of the night to venture outdoors.
Below a snowfield studded with suncups (dish-shaped depressions in the snow), erosion channels gouge the soft earth.
Elk pause to look across the valley at the photographer. We observed ten elk in this band, including three young, travelling single file side-slope down the valley. It was clear that Elk like to follow well-established Elk trails across the scree slopes and through patches of forest. These are not human trails, and Mountain Goats generally don't walk single file.

The Upper McCall Basin has a wide gravel bar covered with shrubby willows--many of which had been clipped off by browsing Elk. Elk trails also led up to the passes.
A dramatic vista along the Pacific Crest Trail as it traverses long ridges above timberline. In one place the trail was so narrow that the U.S. Forest Service had a very old sign warning that herds of up to 20 sheep had priority over hikers and that it was the obligation of hikers and horsemen to wait until the herd had passed the danger zone.

In the far distance towers Mt. Rainier. The Goat Rocks lie roughly halfway between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams; in some high places in the Goat Rocks Wilderness, the two peaks look like mirror images of each other.

By late summer the wildflower meadows have mostly gone to seed, but gentians are still in flower, lending their touch of deep violet well into September.
Stories and photographs Copyright © 2004 by Lee Rentz
LEE RENTZ PHOTOGRAPHY
Copyright © 2003 by Lee Rentz. All rights reserved.
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