Sourdough Gap Hike

On Tuesday, July 29th, we went on a family hike along the Pacific Crest Trail to Sourdough Gap. The central Cascades were in prime summer condition, with bright blue skies, abundant wildflowers, and sweeping mountain skylines. Jeff and Jay were worn out from running earlier in the day, so they only hiked 4 miles roundtrip. Rose, Amber, and I hiked the full 7 miles (roundtrip) with Grampa Dan. The mountains are my happy place, and it was the best kind of quality time to spend with my daughters and father-in-law. Hiking in such a beautiful place with my beautiful daughters was like spraying my eyes with a fire hydrant of beauty! That's a weird comparison, but we had a lovely time together on the trail for 3.5 hours.

Highlights from the hike:

• Wildflowers forever and ever.
• Satisfyingly jagged mountains along the skyline.
• The view of Mt. Rainier over Crystal Lake.
• My new Altra hiking boots were amazing! I have been hunting for a good comfy well-fitting pair of hiking boots for YEARS, and finally found these for 50% off on the clearance rack at REI when I was in Denver. Years of patience paid off!
• Stopping at Sheep Lake on the way back so Rose and Amber could make bark boats and sail them on the lake. This is our tradition that has carried over since our pandemic "Wedventure" mom-and-kids hikes we used to go on every Wednesday when school was shut down. I love it.
• Chatting with thru-hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail was pretty cool. I felt like I was meeting celebrities. These people are intense and fascinating. I can't imagine hiking 25+ miles every day for 5 months to cover the entire 2,600 mile Pacific Crest Trail, from Canada to Mexico! 
• I asked one of the thru-hikers what her native language was, and she turned out to be from France! I spoke French with her while I sat at Sheep Lake watching my daughters sail their boats. It was pretty idyllic. Jeff had already hiked back to the car by that point, so he didn't get to flex his superior French. It was up to me to uphold our family honor and converse in French. The woman complimented me on my French, and said she had fun speaking in her native language with me so there's that.

Here are a few (8) dozen pictures from our hike:

Rose, approaching Sheep Lake.

At Sheep Lake together, 2 miles down the trail, right before Jeff and Jay turned back and the rest of us hiked onward another steep rocky 1.5 miles up and over Sourdough Gap to see Crystal Lake.

Amber was an awesome hiker. She ran a mile at cross country practice before this hike, and then hiked 7 miles with 1500 feet of elevation gain, and she was happy about it. Not too shabby for a 10.5 year old. The girl is getting fit!

Amber brought an old cell phone to use as a camera, and she delighted in taking pictures of every different flower and every different animal that she saw--even people's pet dogs at the lake!

Amber!

Hiking up the final steep climb up to Sourdough Gap.

The view from the top of Sourdough Gap is amazing from two sides of the ridge-- this is the south vista with Sheep Lake and Mt. Adams.

The north side of Sourdough Gap.

Mt. Rainier peeked out at us as we approached Crystal Lake.

Crystal Lake!

The purple asters were collecting all the sunlight in such a joyful face-up way, I couldn't get enough of them.

This rock was our turnaround point. We hiked a little past it to see the view of Mt. Rainier over Crystal Lake open up a bit more, but then rested here before retracing our steps back down the trail.

Grampa!

Crystal Lake, with Mt. Rainier presiding above.

We learned that this is called death camus. Do not ingest!

Heading back toward Sheep Lake.

My boots! They are so lightweight and grippy.

The parking lot is in sight waaay off in the distance!

We stopped in Yakima at Costco for dinner during the 1 hour 45 minute drive home. Ice cream for everyone!