One of the things I love about being on the Pacific Crest Trail is the fact that every night you get to sleep somewhere new. Setting up and breaking down camp gets a bit taxing at times, but the experience of walking from one beautiful area to the next is something I'll always remember.
Tonight I'm camped in the Goat Rocks Wilderness. It is rugged country and I've not even gotten to the most rugged part yet--that comes tomorrow. The views remind me of the Sierras. Large mountains and peaks with equally large valleys sporadically sliced by melting glacier water. Less than a half-mile away from where I'm camped is a 20'+ waterfall where I filled up my water bottles. Seriously, how cool is that?!
Of course, not everything strikes me as beautiful or pleasant to walk through. Earlier today, in fact, was pretty boring. Boring and slow, because I was eating huckleberries along the way, which are beautiful in a different way. The terrain was definitely lacking, however.
But then, this afternoon I had another one of those smack-you-in-the-face moments where you get to see some fantastic scenery. It usually happens when you see something from a distance and then not again until you are right underneath it. My last moment like that was seeing Mt. Hood in Oregon. Anyway, I came to the top of a saddle and all of a sudden I could see just a huge set of pinnacles. They nearly took me by surprise even though I knew they were going to be there! I continued my climb for about another mile to Cispus Pass and then began a slow descent. Soon after, I came across a distant heard of mountain goats--probably numbering about 50. They were just white specks for a while and then when I got close enough to see that they were indeed goats, they saw me as well and were gone soon after. But it was a cool experience to see them because not many people get to see them from what I hear.
So now I'm camped across a valley from where I saw the goats and the wind is blowing and the skies are mercifully clear. Tomorrow I've got about 20 miles to go to get to White Pass. I'll pick up my bounce box and a resupply box there and then keep motoring along on Thursday. I chatted with some folks on horseback today and they said it's supposed to cloud up on Thursday and showers are in store for Friday. I'm really hoping that doesn't happen.
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