We decided to celebrate the return of our son who had been serving as a missionary in Honduras for the past two years by taking a backpacking trip as a family. We didn’t want too long of an adventure and I had kept Sheep Lake on my list of easy trips for a while and decided this was the time to make it happen.

We got up early and made our way to the trailhead before the lot was full and the sun got too fierce. It was fun to get the family out on the PCT, even if it wasn’t for a long stretch. The trip to the lake is quick, about 2 miles and everyone was eager to continue.

The climb up to the top of Sourdough Gap got pretty steep once we left Sheep Lake. The gain from the parking lot to the gap was about 1200 feet.

The views of Adams and the surrounding peaks were amazing and the trail was actually pretty empty.

I had seen Crystal Lake on the map and thought it would be a great site to camp for the night. Unfortunately, I hadn’t realized in my planning that we crossed into Rainier NP shortly after we started back down the other side of the gap.

We were committed to seeing the lake at that point and a little extra elevation with a pack is no big deal, right. The kids didn’t really agree (about hauling their packs for no reason), but we had a great picnic at the side of the lake and enjoyed the rest before making the trip back up. We were able to enjoy some amazing views of Rainier for our efforts and no one really complained about the mistake in planning on my part.

Finding a campsite was much more difficult than it would have been when we first passed Sheep Lake, but we made it work and enjoyed the evening by the lake. The water was much warmer than a usual mountain lake and felt great after a couple of very sweaty trips over the ridge.

In the end, it wasn’t the trip I had planned, but a good a trip as could ever be hoped for! We had the added bonus of getting back to the car early enough to add the Naches Peak Loop Trail and more amazing views of Rainier.