The rain cleared and sun came out today, a big relief to be able to dry out gear and feel some warmth. We had great views of Mt Adams as we walked around the bushline. From the trail, we also saw Mt St Helens and Mt Rainier in the distance. The trail took us past Mt Adams and down the northern side, a distance of 12 miles, 19.3 km.

When I woke up this morning I was toasty warm, but my tent was frozen. With everything wet and frosty, it took hours to get ready in the morning. By the time I’d had breakfast and packed up, it was 10 am. The sun had come out from behind Mt Adams and we were able to walk under it’s warmth.

The trail meandered around the slopes of Mt Adams, offering views which had been obscured yesterday. I could see Mt St Helens behind me, and up ahead was Mt Rainier. The air was so clear after yesterday’s rain and the mountains stood out brilliantly.

As we circled around the mountain, we had excellent views of the glaciers on the upper slopes. The enormous river of ice poured over the edge of the mountain and down into the valley below.

After passing the mountain, the trail descended gradually for several miles. We dropped down into the forest, and continued under tree cover past silty rivers. At one point, we needed to cross a flooding river, but the bridge was out, fortunately we could make it across using debris which had been piled up on the remains.

Camp tonight was rather basic, we found some flat spots near a carpark on a forest road. Not as spectacular as last night’s spot, but definitely liveable. We set up a just after 6 pm and ate dinner barely before dark, the days are definitely getting shorter now.