North Fork Tieton to Tieton Pass, Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) Section H - Bridge of the Gods to White Pass, Hidden Springs & Shoe Lake — Friday, Jul. 4, 2014

South Cascades > Goat Rocks

Headed to Goat Rocks for a relaxing holiday weekend. The road was still blocked, probably about about 2.5 miles from the trailhead now. The bridge that is supposedly out seemed totally driveable to us. Call the ranger station to see if the road has been reopened or plan on road-walking. We hiked up to Tieton Pass and spent the first night in McCall Basin. We failed to notice the trail ever steepening much. Didn't really encounter snow until the Basin, which was in the process of melting out, so there were lots of snow patches and standing water, but we managed to find some dry flat ground to set up camp. The next day we headed up to Shoe Lake. Patchy snow started shortly after the junction with Hidden Springs Trail. The basin was probably 90% snow covered and the lake itself was still iced in, but the trail up to the basin showed itself often enough to prevent any major navigation challenges. Camping is not permitted in the lake basin, but there are some nearby sites around Hidden Springs. Hiked out on Hidden Springs Trail, which was easily the steepest leg of the trip. Normally I would want to go up such a leg, but there are really great views of the peaks across the valley as you head down. This trail is also less maintained so is a bit trickier to follow at times. The snow level was between 5000-6000 feet depending on slope/aspect/other terrain features. The biggest obstacles were the blowdowns that hadn't been cleared yet for the season. Made for some exciting acrobatic maneuvers and scratched up legs. Bugs were out but not too bad yet.