Set out Saturday morning dropping our first car off at the Packwood Lake trailhead and headed to the Lilly Basin trailhead to begin our five day loop. Lilly Basin – day 1 Driving up to the Lilly Basin trailhead the road was washed out about six miles in with about five miles left to go. We were going to hike in but a nice family from the Portland area was able to drive through and offered us a ride - I hope they made it back out OK. The Lilly Basin trail was beautiful with plenty of views of Mt. Rainier as there were no clouds and the air was clear. Along the trail we encountered several hikers with their dogs running free; this was annoying. Once at Heart Lake, we camped on the south end of the lake among the trees, there were also nice campsites on the north end in the meadows. Bugs were plentiful and annoying as well Lilly Basin to Snowgrass Flats – day 2 We hiked out of the basin without trouble until we reached some large snow patches along the wall of the basin that covered the trail – it was very easy to slip and fall; I would recommend trekking poles for additional support. At the very last snow patch we decided it was too dangerous to traverse and decided to scramble around heading down the soft shale wall of the basin. At the base of the snow patch we found an alternate route and we took this trail that finally looped back to the main trail. Once on the other side of the ridge we didn’t have any more issues with snow. At the top of the ridge we took in the infamous world class views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens – gorgeous! Fortunately for us, the weather was still accomodating. At this point we had the option to drop our packs and head up to Hawkeye Point for an even better view. We started out for Hawkeye Point but about half way there we realized there was more snow to cross and we had already spent a fair amount of energy with our first detour so we decided to forgo the side trip. Instead, we enjoyed lunch, recovered our packs and headed down the other side of the ridge to Goat Lake. By Goat Lake we saw several nice campsites near the lake with several groups of day hikers and a few folks spending the night – the lake was still frozen over. We continued on to Snowgrass Flats where we had heard it would be crowded and the bugs would be terrible. Once we arrived at Snowgrass Flats we found that the bugs were not as bad as at Heart Lake so this was a pleasant surprise. For bug repellent we tried a natural spray which consisted mostly of Eucalyptus that worked fine for both of us. Snowgrass Flats was crowded with lots of good campsites that have fire pits – it is such a large area it is difficult to navigate around all the trails to find the “best” campsite. We selected a campsite primarily because it was close to a water source but later found some that offered more privacy. Cispus Basin/Sheep Lake – day 3 We day hiked to Sheep Lake from Snowgrass Flats which took us through Cispus Basin. Cispus Basin had 3 or 4 nice campsites – more private than Snowgrass Flats and fewer bugs. We crossed paths with three PCT hikers on their way to White Pass. Cispus Basin was incredible – Sheep Lake was nice but nothing spectacular. We hiked back following the PCT to trail 96, we came across a great spring with refreshingly cold water! If you follow the PCT past trail 96 you will find some lovely campsites – they are exposed with beautiful backdrop views of Mt. Adams. In addition, the meadows were full of flowers blooming and gorgeous in the summer sun! All throughout the Snowgrass Flats area we were impressed by the amount of meadows with flowers in full bloom. Snowgrass Flats to Packwood Lake – day 4 Our original itinerary was to take us to Beaver Bill Creek or Lost Lake but we decided to take a shorter route and descend to Packwood Lake. On the way out of Snowgrass Flats we had to navigate some tricky snow patches again – trekking poles will help here! These patches were close to Old Snowy Mountain – other than these patches the trail was fine. We also considered the route that loops up to the top of Old Snowy Mountain but decided against this. We continued along the Knife Ridge and once across we sat and watched for mountain goats finding several among the rocks – we also saw a harem of elk! This part of the hike had the best views although you are completely exposed for about 1.5 miles so make sure to consider the weather before setting out. Once across the ridge we dropped in elevation to the tree line and into the woods. It started to rain and at that point we decided to make our way to Packwood Lake instead of following Coyote Ridge to Lost Lake because we had heard the this trail was very exposed and it was recommended we avoid it from hikers coming the other way; so we dropped down along trail 71 to Packwood Lake. About 6 miles from the lake we encountered thunder and lightning and severe rain – as it turns out, this trail does not appear to be maintained. We had to climb over blow down and many patches of the trial were overgrown and difficult to find. In addition, swollen creeks from the rain washed through the trail and added to the difficulty in following the trail. We finally made it to the lake and camped on the north end of the lake not far from the “ranger station”. There were many nice campsites along the lake but unfortunately the rain didn’t let up until morning so we had little time to explore – however, the lake was pretty. Packwood Lake trailhead – day 5 We were still wet from the night before but hit the trail early and hiked the three miles to the trailhead. The hike out was uneventful but we did have the sun emerge and were able to dry out once we reached the trailhead. All in all this was an amazing loop with unbeatable views and amazing flowers. I would highly recommend this loop!