Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Way back in August (remember August, month of heat and smoke?), I spent 8 days hiking the Pacific Crest Trail through Washington's Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Last weekend, I finally finished editing the photos. Here's Part 1 of the report, the first 2 days (and 20 miles), from my trailhead at Surprise Creek to Peggy's Pond up on the shoulder of Mt. Daniel.  I was basically picking up the PCT where I left off... in 1990. I did shorten it a bit, starting at Surprise Creek instead of climbing up the ski slopes at Stevens Pass (I hiked most if not all of that trail at one point or another back in the late '80s). This bought me a day to use later in the trip for more fun stuff. Day 1: Surprise Creek TH to Glacier Lake Loaded up and ready to go! Photo by Tom Dempsey, www.photoseek.com My brother- and sister-in-law drove me to the trailhead and hiked the first couple of miles with me. Corn lilies along the trail. About 5 miles in the Surprise Creek trail intersects the PCT. The

I returned just over a week ago from 8 days on the Pacific Crest Trail through Washington's Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Naturally I haven't even edited 5% of the pictures, so I just picked a few to share and did a quick clean-up on them as a teaser. It may be a few weeks before I get back to editing these and get a full report out, since I'm heading out again, this time for a road trip with camping, hiking, and backpacking! This is one of the times of year when I don't care to sit at home. My brother-in-law snapped this one for me at the start point. Yes, I really do have everything I need for 8 days in that pack, including food. Carrying water for a few hours. Glacier Peak looking bare of ice, and the first hints of trouble to come, lurking in the valleys off that way. The pika may be my favorite animal in the world. A tidy and respectable camp scene. Alternatively, we have my entire kit spread out on the rocks as I prepare to pack up. Yes, Stinklet was along for the ride

Part 1 of this series was up on the South Rim . Part 2 took us down the Bright Angel trail and out the Tonto West Trail to Horn Creek . Part 3 is Monument Canyon and Granite Rapids . Part 4 took us to Hermit Creek and Hermit Rapids, where we finally saw some decent wildflowers. Today we'll finish the backpack trip with the scenic hike up the Hermit Trail (much less strenuous to look at than to hike) and some bonus photos from the drive out of the Park to the east. Day 6: Up and out After a couple of very hot days down in the Canyon, we figured we'd better hit the trail early to beat both the heat and some very high winds forecast to pick up during the day. We'd be hiking fairly light: down to a single small lunch (to be continued on arrival at the rim if necessary) and knowing we would be able to refill water at Santa Maria Springs before beginning the final climb. We did our best to crash early, with alarms set for 4:30 a.m. In the event, we were up at 4:20, really at the

Part 1 of this series was up on the South Rim . Part 2 took us down the Bright Angel trail and out the Tonto West Trail to Horn Creek . Part 3 is Monument Canyon and Granite Rapids . Below the Rim, Days 4 & 5: Hermit Creek and Hermit Rapids Days 4 and 5 continued the easy pattern of our Granite Rapids day. On the other hand, temperatures were climbing steeply, meaning we weren't going to want to do a lot of hiking during the middle of the day. So on Day 4 , despite only having about 4 3/4 miles to go (and some 1200' of climbing along with a goodly drop to Hermit Creek Camp), we chose once again to start as early as possible. First sun on the canyon walls. Time to get moving! Back up past the monument we hiked, stopping for a few photos and to fill water bags before leaving the creek. 8:25 a.m. and it's already bright and plenty warm, a harbinger of what's to come. Out of Monument Canyon, with just one more climb ahead of us. Passing near the edge of the Inner Canyon