Goat Rocks Wilderness Backpack Day 2: Old Snowy and the Knife Edge along the PCT

On the second day of our 3 day backpacking trip, we left our tents set up at the campsite and took lighter packs hiking out part way on the Knife Edge on the PCT and back about 6.5 miles and 1,800 ft of total gain.  Views of the meadows by our camp:

The haze was mostly to the south and east of us in the morning, so we enjoyed blue skies while hiking north on the PCT towards Old Snowy Mountain.

Lots of wildflowers for the first two miles or so.

We were happy to take our time, hiking slowly through this beautiful area.

Saxifrage in the rocks.

Old Snowy ahead of us, the trail surrounded by wildflower filled meadows.

The trail became more rocky as we gained elevation, here the wildflowers still lined the trail.

A lot of haze to the south, we could see a silhouette  of Mt Adams and could barely make out Mt St Helens due to the haze.

zoom of a hazy Mt Adams

Looking up towards Old Snowy Mountain (I inadvertently kept calling it Old Smokey on this day).

I love this part of the trail, where we look across to the cirque that holds Goat Lake, can see Mt Rainier to the right and have wildflowers in bloom at our feet!

zoom of Mt Rainier, the haze is moving to the west

We crossed a large snow field that is a remnant of Packwood Glacier.

Beautiful tarn at the bottom of the snow field.

At the junction of the PCT trail with the Horse Route, we opted to take the horse route to the Knife Edge.

Here we had one more snow field to cross with some steep runout. The views were gorgeous!

We wore micro spikes on this section.

Lots of large shale on the trail leading out to the Knife Edge.

I love hiking the Knife Edge, the views are spectacular, even on this increasingly hazy day.

For awhile, we could still see Mt Rainier to the north.

Photos along the Knife Edge as we continued hiking.

Pano to the east:

Pano to the west:

We stopped before the trail began to descend again for a lunch break,

and saw a large herd of mountain goats on the snow below us.

After our lunch break we returned back along the Knife Edge towards Old Snowy.

Back at the junction of the PCT and the horse alternate route. This time we opted to go up on the PCT over Old Snowy (trail to the left).

Looking back at the Knife Edge as we continue up the trail.

This section is very steep with lots of loose shale.

And then the trail becomes steep with loose dirt and rocks.

McCall Glacier on the east side of Old Snowy

View from 7,640 ft on the saddle of Old Snowy looking north.

The trail going down the other side of Old Snowy is more gentle, we had one snow field to cross on the way down.

We then continued back towards our camp, recrossing the first snow field,

and enjoying the views and wildflowers we had hiked past in the morning.

 

 

What a wonderful day! Some of the wildflowers we saw in bloom along the trail on this day.