Day Four: Slate Peak to Goat Lakes
The day started cloudy but that wasn't a big problem. As we hiked beyond Slate Peak, Kevin and Chuck got ahead of Bob and me. After a mile or so, we saw some campers below the trail. They were at the Benson Creek camp site. For once, the guidebook got it right, I thought. They waved at us but we continued on, thinking that they were just being friendly. We almost hiked over a ridge when we heard Kevin yell out our names. He and Chuck were at the camp with the other party.
It turns out that we would be playing "tag" with this other group of backpackers for the rest of our trip. It was a party of five from Gulfport, Mississippi. I was impressed that they would come all the way to the other side of the country to go backpacking. They were close to our own age--the far side of 40 for sure. The group's leader was a very talkative guy who told us how he survived the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina exactly one year ago. Then they left the camp, Chuck made breakfast, we watered up and washed the dirty dishes and were on our way.
But the day go colder and cloudier. Our destination was one of the Goat Lakes, but first we had to go over several passes and take a long, wooded descent to Holman Pass. When we got there, we rested for a few minutes, but suddenly a member of the Mississippi party turned up, asking about the next set of "lakes." Rest time was over and we quickly hiked out so that we'd get to the lakes first. This was my day to lag behind, and it took a long time to find the turnoff to the lakes. Chuck was kind enough to wait until he saw me to signal where to leave the main trail.
Bob and I had camped at the Goat Lakes in 1995 and I recalled large boulders near the tent site. Sure enough, we found the same site on the north side of the lake. The boulders had a slight overhang, which came in handy the next morning when it started to rain as we packed up. This was probably the coldest night of the trip, and we turned in early to stay warm.
