My sister and I started at the Berry Patch trailhead on August 2nd. 1/4 mile away from parking, we hit a very sharp rock and got a flat. We decided the flat tire was a problem for Friday! I was going quite slow up the road, but a reminder all the same to have a spare! We hiked clockwise along the Goat Ridge Trail (95) and stayed left for the lookout. TONS of wildflowers, beautiful trail. We passed Goat Lake, lots of stunning sites I see why it is so popular! We hiked to Snowgrass Flats, people on way up kept telling us to 'push on' to find some good campsites, but when we made it to the sign, there were lots of trails and we took the wrong one and ended up descending on the Snowgrass Flats trail back towards TH. We should have stayed left and followed the trail that parallels the Lily Basin one, this takes you up towards the PCT junction/Old Snowy and there are some STUNNING sites up here. Most looked dry, we ended up at a site closer to where the Snowgrass Flats starts and had a water source right by camp and views of the meadow. This was a 10.06 mile day for us (including the wrong way we took towards the end which was probably 1 mile total).
Morning 2 we woke up and did a stunning day hike up to Old Snowy. Only 1 major snow crossing and we didn't find this one particularly sketchy, good boot path. We did the small scramble to the very top of old snowy, had a snack, and then hiked down and took the regular route down towards the knife. Fairly steep descent with lots of sharp rocks. We hiked along the Knife to Elk Flats, then turned around. Saw TONS of thru-hikers, always so special to talk to people along the PCT. A handful of them said "this is the best day on the trail," which was a lovely reminder that we live near some truly world class hiking. The views of Adams, Helens, and then Rainier when you make it over are just incredible. We opted to take the alt route on way back up towards Old Snowy to avoid the slog up, there were 4 snow fields to cross. We had poles and felt safe, but they are along steep sections--so I would suggest sticking with PCT route if you feel nervous about that. Hiked back down to camp, about 9.86 miles total.
Friday we hiked out along Snowgrass Flats/96 trail. As someone previously noted, at about 4.8 miles there is a sign that says "Horse Route 96", take that right to get back to the Berry Patch TH. 5.28 miles total this day.
Got to car, moved car, and the KINDEST dad asked us if we needed help changing the tire. My sister and I were pretty convinced we could do it ourselves, but he stuck around and jumped in when we asked (mostly to get the original tire off, the bolts were so hard to move and I don't think we could have done it alone). He was so thoughtful with how he helped us, we still felt we had agency... it's hard to explain, but it was just a really lovely model of how to help someone with a lot of humility and grace. Had to stop at the Napa in Packwood and of course change all 4 tires which was the worst part of the trip. Beautiful few days! We did this as an alternative to the longer Berry Patch to White Pass route since we didn't have 2 cards. Would highly recommend! And go mid-week if you can!
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