Saturday August 24, 18.9mi/30.4km

Baker Lake Road / Concrete WA (829.8/850ft) to Pioneer Horse camp (848.7/2090ft) (WA)

I slept in until 8:30am, and then organized my stuff, and walked next door to the outdoor sports store. Unfortunately it wasn’t a store for hiking gear, just fishing. So I didn’t get any stove fuel or a tent stake (I had broken one). I walked a little further down the same shopping plaza, and bought my groceries. I was all packed up by 11:30am, and went out to the road to hitch. One of the motel owners saw me and offered me a ride for the first part of the journey. Within 5 minutes, I got another ride for the final part of the journey to the trailhead. It was a popular trail, with some interesting cars parked there.

It was lightly raining, maybe even misting, so I used my umbrella the entire way up to Park Butte Mountain. I got some curious looks from other day hikers, but I was dry!

A few miles in, the trail crossed a glacial river that looked like chocolate milk.

It was a very well kept trail, and very popular. I saw 45 people in the first hour.

After the summit though, I saw no one, and the trail was much less wide. And I entered another wilderness!

It was a foggy, drizzly day, so I didn’t take any more photos. I got to my planned campsite at 7:30pm, and thankfully it had temporarily stopped raining. I setup my tent, and made a hot dinner while in my sleeping bag. Hopefully tomorrow is dry!