Man Who Stares At Goats

20110910-064547.jpg

20110910-064608.jpg

I hit Snoqualmie Pass today in time for breakfast at the pancake house and a quick resupply before hiking north into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, totaling 24.2 miles. I am now more than halfway through Washington, past the 2,400-mile mark, with fewer than 250 remaining to Canada.

Northern Washington is very rugged, at least in parts, and this afternoon I traversed miles of steep, loose rock along crumbling ridges – difficult walking, for sure. On one such traverse, I rounded a corner to suddenly startle a half dozen Mountain Goats off the trail just a few feet in front of me – awesome! They scrambled a short distance up the cliff overhead then peered down from an impossible angle, evidently not impressed by my clodding footsteps – hooves would certainly be useful on some parts of this trail…

2 replies
  1. Zenobia in Portland
    Zenobia in Portland says:

    Wonderful! I was hoping that you would get to see a Mountain Goat – more than one is really awesome.

  2. Nikki Nickell [raennshadow]
    Nikki Nickell [raennshadow] says:

    I’m sorry we missed you. For weeks I had planned to offer Trail Magic for my stepgrandson at Snoqualmie Pass, and then I got sick, but my husband stepped in to help our son and his wife greet Will [Top Shelf] when he hit Snoqualmie Pass on the 9th…one day after you. We opened our condo for anyone traveling with or near Top Shelf for that weekend, and my husband got to meet “Wired” and “Yankee” because he sayed over an extra day. “Top Shelf” hopes to finish by next weekend…he had to spend this weekend waiting for the Stehekin P.O. to open. I congratulate you on your determination and stamina….good job, well done! A used to wanna do the PCT, But life happened and I got old…but still got to hike 1000s of other beautiful tails.

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply