[Perry]

I was able to get out on another pack trip with the goats last week. I again took Grant, Albert, Bryce and Benson. This time we were out for 4 days. Tuesday, 7/28 we started at the Little Wenatchee TH and headed up Cady ridge. The east Cady ridge trail starts with well graded switchbacks, but then about 1/3 of the way up, it heads straight up the ridge line. That section is steep, but not extremely steep. At about 4 miles from the TH, the trail gets onto the top of Cady ridge. From there it’s a ridge walk, mostly through meadows, with some ups and downs.

Tuesday evening, we camped on Cady ridge with a nice view of Glacier Peak.

Wednesday we continued on the last mile of the Cady ridge trail to connect to the PCT and headed north, in meadows much of the time. We went about 7 miles that day and camped at Reflection Pond.

Thursday morning, we headed north through the meadows for a little over a mile to the Glacier Peak white pass area.

The hike had been beautiful, but generally warm, about 80F, and often quite buggy. There tended to be gnat and mosquitoes in the mornings and evenings, and biting flies during the day. The bugs weren’t bad all the time, and sometimes breezes made the temperature more comfortable. I’d seen the main area that I want to, so decided to turn around at that point and started heading back. The meadows along this section of the PCT are a lot lusher than those in the Chelan Sawtooth area. Thursday evening, we again camped on Cady ridge. This ended up being a fairly long day, about 9 ½ miles. Benson was dragging behind some the last 1/3 mile or so. He perked up after a good rest at camp. Friday morning, I woke about 4:30 am to the sound of rain drops on the tent. It rained lightly for a little while. When it got light around 5:45 am, I got up and packed. It was surprisingly warm and muggy. And there were lots of gnats buzzing around. The hike back to the trailhead was uneventful.

I met a few people on the trail each day, but not a lot. I really enjoy this area of high meadow country.