We picked up our permits at Longmire and started the bike up the West Side road at 5PM on Friday. The road is in pretty good shape with some chunky spots here are there. I love this road. A big part of me wants to see it opened back up to cars so more can enjoy the beauty of the West Side, but the selfish part of me wants it to stay closed so it stays less crowded with that "remote feel". We locked the bikes up at Round Pass and then hiked the one mile up to Lake George campground. I was surprised to see an open campsite for Friday night…I guess people don’t like walking the road! We set up camp quick and hustled up to Gobblers Knob hoping that the clouds would clear but they never did…was really looking forward to that sunset but we’ll just have to get up there again. A few small patches of snow here and there but all super easy to cross and will be gone shortly I'm sure.
On Saturday (7/23) we hiked from the campground down to Round Pass and checked out the memorial, then up S. Puyallup River trail and checked out the lava tubes (or whatever they are called) then continued up the Wonderland to Emerald Ridge. What a site. Trail is snow free up to the ridge and looked like the descent down the wonderland to Tahoma Creek was melting out as well but didn’t get a great look. We headed back to Lake George. We saw seven hikers and a ranger on the trail from west side road up to the ridge and back. Not bad for an 11 mile hike in the middle of summer in a national park!
Another nice night at Lake George then a 20 minute bike back to the car on the road.
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