PCT Government Meadows to Crystal Mountain Ski Resort July 11th to 12th 2009

The trip actually started off of forest service road 7080 roughly a mile away from Government Meadows. The plan was to hike all the way to the far end of Bullion Basin and drop down the access trail to the Crystal Mountain Ski Resort base area. The total mileage was roughly 26+ miles, as always it depends on which map, sign, or guidebook you are using to determine the actual mileage. As Sarah said before the hike, "It's flat along the ridge line," even though there was plenty of elevation gain and loss over the whole trip it seemed to be in such gradual grades that it's not that difficult (in most all places). The party consisted of Steve, Sarah, and Teresa.

As for the rest of the details of the trip you can check out Sarah's 2 part blog part1 part2, Teresa's blog, or Steve's trip report if you want to hear about nearly exploding Steripens and direct details. They seemed to cover it all well, so I'm just going to make this a photo memoir. More pictures can also be found at the above links.

My gear list for the trip can be found here
Gear List

Government Meadows, 1 mile in.




Teresa, Sarah, and I at the Cabin in Government Meadows


Teresa, Sarah and Steve Leaving Government Meadows.


Last open View of Government Meadows


Rod's Gap


Steve at Rod's Gap


Teresa and Sarah nearing Louisiana Saddle


Steve at Louisiana Saddle


On the way to Arch Rock Springs


Raven's Roost in the distance






Sarah rounding a corner




a ridge line meadow and I


Steve on the PCT






Teresa and Sarah coming up the trail




The old airplane wreakage off of the Arch Rock way trail.




Back on the PCT Headed to Martinson Gap.


Above Morgan Springs.


On the way to Martinson Gap.











Martinson Gap area




Martinson Gap






Steve hiking somewhere between Martinson Gap and Little Crow Basin


Little Crow Basin


Little Crow Basin from Hayden Pass






On the way to Big Crow Basin


Steve trekking along


The hordes of elk we saw in Big Crow Basin. There was a good 50 to 75 elks in the basin, the picture is barely covering a small fraction of the Basin and it was filled in the trees and all the open areas. I have never seen so many elk in my life!


Big Crow Basin/Camp


Camp






More Big Crow Basin


Above Big Crow Basin




A great mountain shot along the way.


Basin Lake in Lake Basin


Towards Scout Pass from along the trail in Lake Basin below Norse Peak




looking down the trail from near Scout Pass


Teresa remarking one of the many missing or unmarked signs at Scout Pass.


Heading to Norse Peak






Lupine + Rainier! What great views we were treated with!


From the summit of Norse Peak, 6800 something feet






Rainier with the bowls of Crystal Mountain Ski Resort lining the base.


More summit views


Crystal Mountain Ski Resort base


Heading down the peak




If you look carefully there's a blue dot at Scout Pass below, that is Sarah waiting at the pass below.


At Scout Pass, the view at lunch time! Over Crystal Mountains bowls again. The backcountry snowboarding potential is huge in this area!




Bullion Basin and the steep trail down comes into view.


The ridge along the top of Bullion basin to the main trail down into Bullion Basin.







Looking back before we descend into Bullion Basin.