Day 3 - North Cascades, Copper Ridge

Wow! It really rained last night. We got into our tent and within thirty minutes it began to rain, and it didn't let up all night. When we woke up it was still raining. Finally around eight am it tapered off But not before we had breakfast inside the tent. 

The weather remained unstable and we debated as to whether we continue to hike even further into the wilderness or to bail out and return to the car. 

It was obvious that it would probably rain again later in the day, the real question was how much? 

We decided to risk it and headed up the ridge to the lookout tower. The ranger would have a better idea of the forecast. An hour and a half later we arrived at the forest fire lookout.

At 6250' above sea level it was the highest point on the trail. Vic's leg was really bothering him so after carefully considering our options we decided to turn around and head out.

By lunch time we made it back to the hill about three hundred feet from where we camped. So we stopped for lunch after hiking all morning we had only made about three hundred feet of progress.

After lunch we began our descent back out the trail we hiked in on yesterday. I hiked on ahead because I needed some alone-on-the-trail time. The weather has been great, mostly cloudy and no rain.

The insoles of my shoes began to act up on me and I am not sure why. They both have felt the need to slide forward in my shoes and fill up all the space around and under my toes. So much so that the heel of my insoles were under the balls of my feet. I removed and hiked the rest of the day without them.