We attempted to leave the house by noon but didn?t actually leave until 3:30. We had planned on backpacking along the Dutch Miller Gap trial in the southwest side of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area in the Cascades. The planning was quick?some would call it shoddy. I made a quick call to the ranger station to check about permits and we were off. All in all, it probably took us about 30 minutes to pack our bags and be gone. Anyway we were on the road and in a hurry because 1) we were already behind schedule 2) had no idea how far we had to hike to our first campsite (not a good idea when it?s getting dark fast and you have no headlamp!) and 3) had only basic driving directions to the trailhead. The trailhead is 30 miles off interstate 90 but the road quickly became really shitty. I have never seen a drivable (?) road in such poor condition. There were muddy puddles and gigantic rocks. I actually felt like I was in one of those Hummer commercials where it climbs rocks and such (except I was in a sedan J). Turns out you really, really, really, need a high clearance vehicle to make it to the trailhead. After one and a half hours of driving, having performed more off-roading than I ever have, brushing the side of my car against nasty bushes, and hearing way too much of the Crrrrssshh sound from rocks scraping the bottom of my car, we decided to turn back.
Oh, anyway we instead decided to hike the Deception Loop Pass on the eastern side of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area. Apparently there was a wildfire in the area but that didn?t stop us. Actually we didn?t see any signs of fire although it was so hot hiking, it sometimes felt like we were in a fire (). The views were amazing (as expected) but there were sections of trails that weren?t well maintained. We did however run into several groups of forest service people (volunteers?) that were helping to restore the trail. We ate this dehydrated mountain chili over Ramen noodles and drank water from the many streams and lakes (iodized of course). I had a big blister on my toe by the end of the 15.5 mile trip (I should have cut my toenails before I left!) but otherwise it was enjoyable.
I?ve decided that if you don?t have a job, during the day Tacoma sucks but during the nighttime things heat up (been drunk a little too often 
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