We cruised up the mellow grade of the PCT until it turned and went away from our objective. So much for easy trail walking. Now we were off-trail and had to find our own way to the ridge where we'd be in the zone (above 5,250 feet). The beta from Adventure Scientists indicated the ridge was a good candidate for whitebarks, but...

Alas. Nothing. I mean, there were plenty of other trees. Just none of the ones we were chasing. And to make matters less joyous clouds obscured all our views (which would have been epic looking north into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness) and it was starting to rain.

The one good thing (other than just getting out into the mountains with the boy and the dog) was it looks like you could do a great ridge walk from Kendall Peak to where we were. Now we just need a day with decent conditions to give it a go. That's not likely for another... <checks watch> seven months. Lots of time to plan, I guess.

📍On the lands of the Snoqualmie people.