Day 109 - Saturday, August 14

Glamping at the Boardman Group Campground in Northern Washington (left PCT at mile 1847.8). A zero day.

Another relaxing early morning led to some late morning adventure. After some discussion, we all decided to go to a short hike a few minutes up the road to the Big 4 Ice Caves (named so for the snowfield on the mountain which is in the shape of a "4". The mountains that we could see were pretty cool but most were obscured by haze and smoke.

We got to the trailhead and stated down the well-maintained path to the caves. After half a mile or so, we had to ford a river as the bridge was being replaced.

Here, there were a ton of people which made both Frank and I a little annoyed and anxious. Not sure how we'll be able to reintegrate back into society after this hike, but it'll probably have to be done slowly. Anyway, after the ford, we hiked another mile to the ice caves. Photo: Radar, Katie, Frank, and Laddie in front of an ice cave.

These caves were really neat to see. They're formed when snow from avalanches falls off the mountain into a pile. As the snow melts in the spring, tunnels form as the snowmelt rivers carve their way through the snow. We saw this big cave and then myself, Kaurine, and Pete scrambled up to another area for even more spectacular caves, including one with a waterfall behind it.

We all hiked back to the parking lot and Frank, Kaurine, and I went up the road to the general store for some ice cream.

When we got back, Frank's friend Liz had arrived as well as Jesse (who came to visit us in Yosemite) and his friend Dan. The latter two are traveling around the west coast for a week or so and timed it to spend a night with us here at camp. For the rest of the afternoon, a bunch of us relaxed in the river again, ate dinner, chatted. It was a very fun and relaxing day.