White Pass to Chinook Pass — Sunday, Jul. 30, 2017

Bugs and smoke! This was a wonderful hike, lots of wildflowers in bloom and amazing views of Rainier, but the mosquitoes were a constant annoyance. We started at White Pass with family, unfortunately one of my nieces got sick the day before, so my son and I stopped at Sand Lake and waited to see if the rest of the group would catch up. Next morning hiked to Snow Lake and ran into a WTA/PCTA log crew heading out to White Pass after a weekend of trail work. Thanks for a great job! Trail is in very good shape! We only had to go around one down tree just before we met this crew, and I'm sure they cleared it on their way out. Great swim to cool from the heat! Day 3 we stretched a bit and hiked about 13 miles to American Lake. Quite a climb from Fish Lake over Carlton Pass, but worth it to get great views of Rainier on top! Note: Green Trails maps show side trails to Two Lakes and Cougar Lake, but we couldn't find the southern end of either trail. So don't rely on taking these like we did! Next morning at American Lake the smoke rolled in. We didn't know at that time where the fires were, so decided to skip Cougar Lake and head north to Dewey Lake and the Chinook Pass. Later found out this was smoke from the fires in BC that cover the whole state! Tried to get a sunset pic of Rainier from Dewey, the whole mountain was totally covered in smoke. Met up with my brother and nieces (yes she had recovered by then) at Anderson Lake, spent the last night together at Dewey, then out to Chinook Pass. A great hike, but you might want to wait for cooler weather, less bugs and no smoke.