Shoe Lake in the Goat Rock Wilderness Summer Hike

 We decided to do a hike along the PCT south of White Pass into the Goat Rock Wilderness today. We hiked out to Shoe Lake and back, for a 12.8 mile trip with 2,220 ft of elevation gain. Most of the wildflowers were gone, but we did see lupine, larkspur, asters, among others, and lots of huckleberries!
The trail starts just east of the Ski area at White pass. And begins a nice accent in the forest.

As the trail climbed 1,000 ft over the first two miles, we enjoyed the many huckleberries along the side of the trail and had some peek-a-boo views of Mt Rainier to the NW.

We also me some PCT thru hikers today. Czech Mix, Lady Bug and Crow all started from the Mexican border this spring and are well on there way to Canada. Waffle Guy had started up north near the Canadian Border and is trying to see how far south he can get before his job starts in October. Happy Trails to all!

 We saw lots of these yellow birds today.

A little after 2 miles, we entered the Goat Rock Wilderness and took a short break at Ginnette Lake.

After skirting along the edges of the ski area (mostly hidden by the trees) the trail breaks out into the open along the east side of  Hogback Mountain at almost 5 miles and at 6,340 ft.

The next mile of trail stayed fairly level. We had great views to the east, over the foothills towards Clear Lake and Rimrock Lake. Panorama view to the east:

 We saw lots of pumice along the trail, interspersed with occasional wildflowers and butterflies.  In the distance to the left, you can see where the trail switches back towards the right and goes up to a narrow shoulder.

This shoulder is 6 miles from the trailhead and has an elevation of 6,600 ft. Panorama from the shoulder looking north to east. Mt Rainier is peeking over Hogback Mountain.

Laraine standing in the saddle, the Goat Rocks behind her to the SE.

After crossing the saddle, we decided not to hike 0.5 miles down to Shoe Lake, but to hike over to an unnamed peak on the west side for some views.

There is a boot track going up this peak, as we climbed up, there were great views of Mt Rainier to the north.

 Lots of great views!

 Goat Rocks to the SW, Mt Adams, barely peeking over the Goat Rocks.

Panorama to the west from this peak: Goat Rocks to Mt Rainier.

 Panorama to the east from this peak: looking down into Shoe Lake Basin

 Some of the plants and wildflowers we saw along the trail today: