Sept 25th - Mountain Goats

The clouds rolled in over the ridge leaving droplets of water to fall on me during the night. Debated setting up my tent at 2am but braved it with only some dampness. Great sunrise but Raineer was socked in the clouds. While hiking the ridge I got one small window in the clouds with a view of Mt Raineer so I waited half an hour hoping it would clear. No joy, it just got worse.

Saw two mountain goats about 100 feet above me on a rock ledge. Rocks tumbled down at me as the scrambled away. Lots of fresh elk tracks and trumpeting again today.

Made a hot lunch at Urich Cabin at Government Meadow. Glad I didn't spend the night because the log book says the mice crawl all over you at night. Really nice cabin other than the mice.

In the afternoon the sky cleared but now I only had a distant view of Raineer and it was directly into the sun. Made for a poor photo. Lots of nice cold springs today.

Saw a note on the trail about a short bushwhack to a view at the knife edge cliff on the summit of Blowout Mountain. It's socked in with clouds but I am camping on the summit hoping for a view in the morning.