Me 2007-09-02 The Knife Edge
September 2nd, 2007“We’re going to shake things up a bit” Angelhair announced. Instead of the standard 25 they were going for 29 which meant reaching the other side of ‘The Knife Edge’ in Goat Rocks Wilderness. Every day now involves a lot of climbing and a lot of descending so I figured now was ok to push it a bit. The morning was easy and I stumbled along as normal until I reached the climb when I got a strange rush and charged up to the ridge faster than I expected, passing a group of boy scouts on the way.
After lunch with the Noodleheads we ran into two southbounders who had a tiny bottle of some strawberry cream liqueur which I am now carrying as my celebratory drink at the border, just three weeks away.
Onwards and upwards we climbed. Leaving the forest behind we came into a new landscape of soaring jagged peaks and a formation that looked like the basalt columns of Devil’s Postpile and the Giants Causeway. These ones were well above the trail as we approached Cispus Pass and tilted so we could see the tops. I could feel vertigo setting in as I looked up at the tops of the rocks that usually I’d look down to.
The Cispus basin was gorgeous. Green all around and streams turning to waterfalls as they crossed the trail. Time was ticking on and we didn’t reach the official high point for the day until 6pm. With clouds blowing in and the sun lost behind them we took the precarious path above the Packwood Glacier. The soft gravel was sliding away in places and no-one would ever be able to take their horses over this part.
More photos of this day’s journey can be found at Cascade Locks to White Pass
Distance today: 29 miles. Total distance: 2287.3 miles
September 4th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
hey there. if i wanted to send you something, would snoqualimie be the best spot to do so? happy trails!
p.s. george and i think you should have stuck with sunwalker. heaps is a little awkward.