I took Daisy the wonder dog on a three day backpacking trip to the headwaters basin of South Fork Tieton river in the Goat Rocks wilderness from Sunday to Tuesday. The road to the TH is in fantastic shape. The trails are a bit powdered by horses, and ash from St Helens, but are otherwise in perfect condition. The eight miles to the first good campsites along the Cold lake trail (taking the ""non-Surprise lake"" fork in the Tieton trail) go by very fast, despite the elevation gain of over 2,000 ft. Due to our late start Sunday we arrived at camp in the dark, and settled in to the music of elk bugling, owls hooting, and coyotes howling, with the stars as visual entertainment.
Monday we headed over to Cold lake as a dayhike, five miles R/T with 1,000 VF. What a fabulous place! Towering peaks, hanging glaciers, a turquoise lake, rocks of every color imaginable, a whole herd of goats, colorful meadows, what more could I ask for? A truly magical place, and totally deserted except for one donkey packer who came over the divide from the N Fk Tieton and passed thru while I was at Cold lake. It really is cold at Cold lake, due to mountains blocking out the sun but not the wind. It felt like about 30 degrees colder than the trail less than a mile away. Back at camp, more stars and more elk and owl music.
Tuesday brought a weather change, cloudy and some drizzle, not enough to really get anything wet. I took a detour on my way back to see Meade glacier, making my hike out be nine miles total. I had been there before, but I couldn't pass so close by without saying ""hello"".
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