[pct-l] Southern WA

[weathercarrot at hotmail.com (The Weathercarrot)]

Just finished hiking with Radar from Panther Creek to Snoqualmie Pass in 
southern WA. Great weather and general conditions. The huckleberries were a 
bit sparse in the northern end of Indian Heaven Wilderness, but they were 
amazingly abundant and at the peak of the season between Government Meadow 
and Mirror Lake. We had an 80 mile stretch from Snow Lake to Mirror Lake 
where we saw no other hikers at all, including day-hikers, and only saw two 
northbound section hikers, Manzanita and Old Pack at White Pass. Most of the 
northbounders who didn't flip seem to be 1-3 weeks behind. I hope they have 
some good stretches of weather in the first half of October.

In Goat Rocks, the glaciers and snowfields seem to be melted down farther 
than they have been in perhaps 50 to 100 years. No snow at all on the upper 
end of the packwood glacier where the trail crosses, and the snowfield 
before the Old Snowy Mtn turn-off is unrecognizable in comparison to the 
other times I've been there or any pictures I've seen from the same time of 
year in the past.  I know I'm going out on a limb by saying 50-100 years, 
but in comparison to 1998, which was previously the lowest summer snowpack 
on record, this year makes that one look very high. I will be interested to 
compare my '98 photos with what I saw last week.

Looks like I'll be hiking Echo Lake to Tuolumne prior to the Gathering. 
Looking forward to seeing that section in a different time of year, 
direction, and with no bugs.

wc