We were obviously not the only ones to think of Indian Heaven on this beautiful day. All I can say is that this was the busiest I have ever seen a TH at an Indian Heaven trail!
We came around the corner at the north end, of Indian Heaven, where the PCT intersects Twin Buttes Rd.
We saw the sign first,
And then noticed all the cars parked along the road!
Don't let my ultra wide angle picture fool you. There were also 4 cars parked in an open lot across the road from the big sign. There were also PCT Trail Angels parked in this lot with an RV in tow. Four PCT through hikers (two groups) were leaving when we were getting ready to start our hike. A woman was taking down her camp to meet her fiance, who had been completing the hike alone. She also pointed to a mom and her 9 year old daughter that were on the trail!
Evidently, the mom was home schooling her daughter on the trail.
By the way, the little girl was carrying all her own backpack and supplies (I hope I got this story right?). We also saw at least 1/2 dozen trucks/cars drive by before we started the hike.
After a 1-1/4 miles we reached the Wilderness Boundary sign.
Shortly into the wilderness we came upon two men on horseback with a total of 4 horses between them. They also had two dogs following them. They were headed for Snoqualmie pass.
It wasn't long before we bumped into our first PCT through hiker "Mufasa". We talked for a short bit and we wished him good luck!
We met seven other PCT through hikers but didn't bother with pictures or taking time away from the hike. We also saw three other groups of people on the way to Wood Lake. We soon reached the lake trail intersection and turned right to go there.
On the way to Wood Lake we saw a beautiful unnamed lake.
And then we finally reached Wood Lake with a breathtaking view!
We turned around and headed back toward our car but decided to head up the Sawtooth Mt. trail. I wasn't sure what to expect but was astonished by the fantastic views from this trail!
The views of Sawtooth Mt. and Mt. Adams were amazing!
And looking back as we ascended up the switchbacks we knew this was really HEAVEN!
The trail went from facing east to a view that faced west towards Mt. St. Helens!
This is an HDR (high dynamic range) picture which is why the sun looks strange after the camera merges the 3 pictures together (for anyone interested?).
And one last view of Mt. Adams from the Sawtooth Mt. trail.
An added bonus was that there were no hikers on the Sawtooth Mt. trail and also Huckleberries on many plants!
Along the way back we stopped to assess some trail art?
It appears to be 2222.22 miles from the PCT TH near the Mexico border? I'm glad we took a picture as they are all geotagged.
When we got back to the TH the Trail Angels were still there but not any hikers!
The total mileage was 10.0miles with about 1650ft of elevation gain.
