West Fork Pasayten River, Seven Pass Loop (Pasayten) — Monday, Sep. 21, 2009

Spent four days, three nights hiking part of the PCT from Harts Pass to Holman Pass and then made a loop back on the West Fork Pasayten River trail. 27 mile total. Absolutely gorgeous weather. Chilly at night, but no bugs at all. From Harts Pass to Holman Pass trail was in good shape and views were amazing. Water is scarce but there is some to be found. We saw a few people, though not as many as we expected. On the loop back, on the West Fork, we took two days and saw absolutely no one. What we did see (again, not what we expected) was a male moose running full force through our camp at Shaw Creek. Apparently, there are moose in this area. We believe it was answering the call of a female moose up in the woods. We were in our tent at the time, so the moose did not see us, though we definitely heard and saw him. We did not see any bear or deer or elk the whole loop, just this moose. The trail on the West Fork was in pretty bad shape in the valley. Horses had completely mucked up the trail in many many spots. We had to either walk through thick glops of mud, or go off trail. Once out of the valley, things were better. Went through a beautiful alpine meadow and the views were stupendous. The last mile of the trip is back out of the valley to Slate Peak. This trail is blasted out of the mountain and in a few spots in quite narrow and a little harrowing. All in all a great trip, especially views and for solitude.