Glacier Peak Meadows, Foam Creek Basin — Friday, Jul. 21, 2017

A pal and I jetted-off halfway through the work day to beat the I-5 northbound traffic to the trailhead. As you can imagine, this was a spectacular failure because there simply is no beating the I-5 northbound traffic. Regardless, we trudged our way riverside well into the twilight, barely noticing the ancient conifers that stand almost comically huge beside the trail. We camped near Mackinaw shelter which, if you haven't been, is reminiscent of the Blair Witch project, so maybe don't camp there alone. 

Day two started early and fierce, with several thousand feet of gain immediately. The switchbacks connecting up to the PCT zigged in-and-out of forest for a couple of miles and then suddenly emerged into sprawling slopes blanketed with acres of wildflowers. The colors and exhaustion of the climb engendered thoughts of those old impressionist landscape paintings, only sweatier. Meeting the PCT, we continued north through marmot-territory to Red Pass, which was a sight; To the south, a sea of wildflowers bordered by old-growth forest; To the north, the barren hollow of White Chuck valley and the enormity of Glacier Peak. 

We ate, drank, and marched down the PCT into a verdant valley that one passing hiker called "Shangri-La." And oh it was. Tucked into snowfields and cinder cones, it's the kind of place you only expect to find in poetry and kids' books. We basically frolicked our way through sweeping meadows (without damaging fragile alpine flora, duh) and east, along a barely-visible trail to the base of a stepped waterfall. From here, the trail climbs upward toward what the Green Trails Map calls "Glacier Peak Meadows." In reality, it was a three-tiered affair, with each little valley becoming progressively more snowed-over and austere. We lost the trail here for a minute and were forced to leap over a rushing (and not-so-forgiving-looking) stream. The final valley, 14 miles from Mackinaw is--as a colleague has dubbed--the "Barren Valley." It consisted mainly of marble erratics, glacial-blue tarns, pockets of sandy pumice-fields, and a whole lotta snow. It was a pleasant enough place though to set up camp and drink some canned-wine after a long day. 

In the morning, we climbed over snowpack to meet the Foam Creek Trail with it's packs of Mountain Climbers and nasty snowfield-crossings. Seriously folks, if you're going through here anytime soon please bring an Ice Axe. It felt pretty dicey without one. After sweating BBs through this section, we crested over the sunnier south-side of the Foam Creek trail and skipped merrily along towards White Pass and the Sauk River Trail junction. Again, SO MANY WILDFLOWERS. I probably blew through half my phone's charge trying to get an idyllic shot to send home to mom from here. 

We saw more marmots and grouse as we made our way back down to the stream valley. Tired and overwhelmed by the beauty of all things, we raced back through the trees towards our car, and sped-off to the nearest pizza joint available. 

Go check out Glacier sometime and take more time than we did. It was brilliant.