Mother nature snookered me a bit today as I tried to outsmart her. Rain on the west side? I'll go east, and heck I'll go for views! Turned out dry so a forest hike along a river would have been the best choice for photography, and even east the cloud deck socked in at 5500' which put me JUST into the clouds and no views! But I almost didn't hike anyhow after the amazing wildlife display I had just getting to the trailhead! I left home early....4:15AM...so I could be home mid-afternoon. With my planned trip taking me east of Chinook Pass down hwy 410 I had thoughts of elk in my sights throughout the Pleasant Valley. But the wildlife started early: 4:17AM I had a huge coyote along the road that heads downhill from my home. Just before the Crystal Mountain turnoff along hwy 410 a black bear yearling dodged across the roadway. And the elk...sure, I wasn't too surprised to see them east of Chinook Pass, but I saw them EVERYWHERE! The biggest surprise was just north of Enumclaw along my backroad short-cut around town, where I saw a cow elk and a very small calf come out of a farmers hay field and cross the road--it was just light enough at 4:45AM that I could watch them! Then, another cow and baby calf along hwy 410 just south of Greenwater. Once I headed down the Pleasant Valley east of Chinook Pass I was almost about to call it a day and just sit and watch them. Eight calves and 17 adult elk were seen in the 8-10 miles from Bear Gap to the Bumping River Rd. turnoff, and it finished off with two more cow elk with a very small calf smack in the trailhead parking area!! Alas, I somehow decided to go ahead at 6:10AM and hike anyhow. The Goat Creek trail is the easiest approach to hike up Goat Peak on American Ridge as the 2700' gain to the ridge trail junction is done over four miles. There were blowdown the entire way up but they were scattered and all fairly easy to get over. The forest floor's carpet of vanilla leaf was outstanding! At 3700' the open rocky areas were covered with lupines and paintbrush in full bloom. From 3700'-4200' the forest was alive with the loud calls of hundreds of Evening Grosbeaks who were everywhere in the trees at this early hour--this was the largest concentration of evening grosbeaks I've ever witnessed! An unidentified owl flew off a dead snag in the same area and soared down a gully below me. And the beargrass...a good mile of the trail passes through a complete change in ecosystem where the silver and grand firs give way to alpine firs and mountain hemlocks, and through here the trail was lined with the beautiful white bombs of beargrass in full bloom! A few calypso orchids were still blooming, and once I broke out of the forest the last 1/8 mile before reading trail #958 these bare open slopes were a landmine of phlox, Columbia lewisia, larkspur, and penstemons. Here too where the views open up magically, so did magically the clouds drop on top of me. Suddenly I was socked in and in a heavy drizzle. Upon reaching American Ridge Trail #958 I decided against going up another 700' to the Goat Peak summit that could not be seen in this soup I was hiking in. But I did venture westward another mile along the steeply up/down American Ridge trail to a high point over 6100'. What a gorgeous ridge hike this is! Trees dotting the landscape that are full of character, and the flowers were excellent! Two more elk came up and over the ridge in the thick fog not 50' ahead of me like ghosts looking for a quick way to get from one valley to another. Once the drizzle started getting me more wet, I packed up and began my 5.5 mile stomp back to the trailhead. On the hike back I again took the time to enjoy the beargrass and evening grosbeaks, and I also spotted a stunningly beautiful yellow and black warbler and a pair of Western tanagers. Oh, there was never a snowpatch to see...it's all gone but I'm certain a little bit is still on the north side approach to Goat Peak for a bit yet. I didn't see a sole until just 15 minutes from the trailhead I passed one fella hiking in, and then right at the trailhead a group of 12 heading in that must have been a Mountaineers group or plant society group. I drove on home still in a daze from the massive wildlife drive I had to the trailhead and surely plan on an early 4:00AM start to come down here again just to see and photograph the elk that dot the landscape!

Hiked American Ridge from Goat Peak to just below point 6162 above Swamp Lake. There are many blowdowns along the way--however the blowdowns are spaced far apart from each other. Horses can get around them except for one large blowdown between the intersection of trail 958B and the summit of Goat Peak. There are many places you will lose the trail when the trail enters meadows becuase of not enough tread and the meadows taking over the trail.

If there's anything better than being up at first light, warming yourself over a small fire, drinking a cup of coffee while watching fish rise on a mountain lake, I don't know what it is. I got dropped off Chinook Pass Sunday the 22nd, spent the night at Cougar Lakes, and came out at Bumping Lake the next day, about 20 miles all told. Cougar Lakes and Swamp Lakes have a plethora of small brookies, not too hard to catch. They're suppossed to have rainbows, too, but I only caught one little out of Swamp. The portion of the PCT and American Ridge Trail I traveled are in good shape, but the Cougar Lakes and Swamp Lake trails are about as bad a tread that I have ever walked-not that that should prevent anyone from hiking them-but be forewarned. There's all kind of flagging type on the Swamp Creek Trail as if there's a plan to reroute some of it-it could sure use it. Anuway, Cougar Lakes is in a spectacular setting, nestled in a deep valley with high rocks towering over three sides. Of course, getting there wasn't exactly ugly, with the occasional glimpses of Mount Rainier to the west and flowers blooming. On the PCT from Dewey Lakes Trail to the American Ridge Trail, the view of the American R. drainage is beautiful. American Lake, Cougar Lakes and Swamp Lakes are being revegetated, so many of the old camping sites are closed-but there are good campsites on the west of Big Cougar Lake. Mosquitoes were bad in the high country and flies were bad around Swamp and Bumping Lake. I did manage one big fish-out of Bumping Lake-as I was walking the section of the trail right along the lake I saw some bigger fish right in by shore eating, of all things, tadpoles that were swimming along in the water, then 'WHOMP,' one less tadpole. I thought the big fish were dollies, I remember as a wee pup my dad and I catching them out of Bumping. I made a couple of casts and on about the second I could see a big fish following my spoon, he hit it, then went nuts, coming clear out of the water and jumping over a stump that stuck about a foot and a half in the water three different times. I figured that I'd never land him, given all the obstructions in the water and logs-but I slowly wore him down and landed him, a 19 inch rainbow. Pretty cool way to finish the hike.

Hiked American Ridge from the east side to the knob about 3.5 miles. Beautiful hiking weather, absolutely no snow in sight, trail dry and minor blow-down. Twenty-nine flower varieties - lupines and orange paintbrush coming on. Oregon Grape at its peak; flox almost gone. Everything is green and the views are good.

To beat the heat in Yakima (over 90F) we decided to head up to American Ridge. This is a classic hike in the American River/Bumping Lake area, but one that I've never done. We started out on the trailhead near Cedar Springs CG, not too far from Hwy 410, on the Bumping Lake Road. The trail doesn't hesitate, climbing quickly above 4,000 feet through open, east side mixed conifer forest. Grand fir, douglas fir, lodgepole and ponderosa pines predominated. There were steep, rocky areas of the trail and some more mellow portions. Several overlooks open onto views of Bumping Lake and the ridge across the way, all the way to Old Scab Mtn and Mt Aix('). We finally reached a point about 4,500 ft. which allowed for views to the north towards Fifes Peak and to the west towards the Crest. Flower coverage was modest, but pretty. In the woods we saw vanilla leaf, wild strawberry, tropical-looking luina, purple and yellow violets, trillum and the aging glacier lilies. Out in more open spots there were rock penstemon, desert parsley, oregon grape, death camas, lupine, mule's ear, luina, senecio and tiny alpine larkspur. I also noticed some whitebark pine, alpine fir and even some red cedar growing high on the ridge. We took a first lunch at the 4,500 point and then followed the trail a bit farther. At this point it drops quickly about 300 ft and then traverses along beneath the ridge line above the upper reaches of Fifes Creek. The forest is thick and shaded here. We discovered a seasonal stash of morels. They quickly disappear with the heat. Looking around, it was easy to see it's going to be a dry year in the Southern Cascades. Be advised to be very careful with your matches. The forest was already getting somewhat dry. The last stretch of trail we did had not seen much usage. There were portions where the tread had deteriorated in slide areas and then some brushy stretches overgrown with mahonia nervosa (creeping oregon grape). One large dead silver pine had crashed across a portion of trail in a grassy area. The more heavily used area up to the look out point that received a recent brushing out and at least one new water bar. Thanks, guys. This was a great hike, but next time we're going to try the more direct route to Goat Peak.