Day 161: most fun day of hiking!!

Wednesday 9/26/12
Miles 2265-2288 (23 miles)
Elevation 6,000'

So, last night I made a pact with Washington. I said, if Washington will hold off bad weather til we and all the hikers around me get to Canada, I will take back every negative thing I've ever said about Washington (and Portland), and never talk bad about WA or Pdx again. :). I talk a lot of smack about the crappy weather in WA and pdx. Not as much as I talk smack about SoCal, but pretty close. Lol! Honestly though, I think WA has the better end of this deal. All it has to do is hold off bad weather for a few weeks, whereas I have to not talk bad about WA or PDX forever! And I'm not even asking for perfect weather, just decent. :). Anyhow, I think WA accepted, because today the weather was absolutely perfect. <3

We entered the Goat Rocks Wilderness today. It was the most fun day of hiking ever!! It really really reminded me of being in the sierras again, except there were more trees. What made this day super fun was the ridge walk that we did. They call it the Knife's Edge, because you're walking on the spine of a super steep ridge. It reminded me of hiking on Oahu. But not as scenic. Lol! That's my favorite kind of hiking. I love walking on super narrow spines with 1,000' drops on both sides. It's so cool, makes me feel like I'm floating. :)

We saw the sunset from the top of the Knife's edge. It was absolutely incredible. It was possibly the most dramatic sunset I've seen in my life. And this is coming from someone who lives in Hawaii, the land of epic sunsets. :) The progression of light and illumination as the sun went down was like an ethereal light show. The sun was blood red and it made the entire horizon look like glowing fire (well, the area around mt Adams actually was on fire). It was so cool. And Mt Adams was on one side and Mt Ranier was on the other. I took so many pics. :)

The consequence of this amazing sunset was that we now had to walk the knife edge in the dark. It's a gnarly section of trail to do in the daylight, much less at night. Lol! Dang I'm so stoked I didn't slip and fall, the result of that would have been very terrible. There have been hikers who fell. I imagine the steep rocky cliffside would be like a cheese grater on the skin. Yikes! Plus several of the sections of trail were so eroded it was seriously hazardous. Those were the sections you'd most likely slip and fall off the mountain.

The funny thing is, when we were on top of the ridge we saw 2 headlamps down in the valley. Based on the footprints I've been seeing all day I think it is Doe Eyes and Scrub Rat. Then in the middle of the night, a hiker passed by our campsite. Yikes!!! Whoever that was, did the entire Knife's edge walk in the dark. That is so gnarly!!!

Anyhow, I highly recommend this hike if any of you are in the area. Easiest access point is from White Pass on highway 12. But don't do it if the weather is bad or if it's high winds. If you can get it on a clear sunny day, it is absolutely breathtaking. <3