Ascended Goat Peak Trail from Hwy 410. I've hiked it a couple of times before and remembered it as a steep but quick climb. This time with a 35-40 pound pack, it was steep and slow. Absolutely clear skies in spite of fires. I could see plumes of smoke from fires in the Kettle Creek drainage. From Goat Peak I headed west on American Ridge. Tough trail, up and down. Dry. In places the trail disappeared. I completely lost the trail on the west side of Kettle Creek basin. I was off trail (unintentionally) from there to the ridge heading west at the bottom of the north-south ridge above Big Basin. From the Mestachee Trailhead to the PCT the trail was well-traveled and obvious. It was a great hike--about 20 hours total hiking time including scrambling steep hillsides looking for the trail.

Day trail run, would be a wonderful backpack trip with great camping options. The Mesatchee trail starts with a couple creek crossings in the first 1.5 miles but I was able to get through with dry feet this time of year. I took the dewey fork and headed deep into the forest with only a slight climb for several miles. I passed a few hunters headed home, then a couple miles later trophy bull elk standing on the other side of the creek! Only in the last mile does the trail start to switchback up and you get a glimpse of the falls coming out of Dewey Lake. Your first view of Dewey Lake has a magnificent backdrop of Mt Rainier. I was wishing I had something better than a cameraphone to do it justice. There is some camping there, and only .3 miles from the PCT. I took the PCT south which was a nice downhill cruise in and out of the national park. When you are in it, there are some great views of Rainier. Then it drops over the other side of the ridge and meets up with the west end of American Ridge. I took this trail east to American Lake which is one of the prettiest alpine lakes I have seen, especially with fall colors reflected in it. Great camping there too, though a bit horsed up. I think i could spend a week there, with all the potential side trips in the area. Definitely visit Cougar Lakes (see my trip report from oct 6). I stayed on the ridge trail and was rewarded with some great views of swamp lake, cedar lake and even bumping lake in the distance. This trail is less travelled but easy to follow. Note no water on this section. The turnoff to masatchee ridge is an unsigned hard left, but the more obvious trail vs. continuing on up American Ridge (dont do that by mistake, see my other trip report on American Ridge). Masatchee is a fun downhill ride the whole way with switchbacks in the last mile. it is quite dusty from all the horse traffic however. There is a great waterfall once you get into the switchbacks, be sure to check that out. The total loop was about 2 miles.