Short switchbacks among dwarfed hemlocks take us above the saddle, allowing one to view Mt. Index and the Olympic Mountains in the distant northwest. This climb then leads to a traverse below the tip of a crag to Needle Sight Gap. After a glimpse through this notch beyond the Burntboot drainage to distant Glacier Peak, we turn southeast for a long alpine traverse along the meadowy and rocky southwest face of Chikamin Ridge. Whole platoons of marmots may whistle loudly and then scurry from our approaches as we make our way across this headwall of Gold Creek, from which we can admire the placed sheen of Joe Lake, the twin thumbs of Huckleberry Mountain and Mt. Thompson, and the mirage-like dome of Mt. Rainier. On the way the trail crosses a few steepchutes that usually shelter slippery tongues of snow well into mid-season.

After climbing gently on the last third of this traverse, we reach Chikamin Pass, where we can look across Park Lakes' basin to Three Queens, Box Ridge and, in the distant northeast, the granite pyramid of Mt. Stuart. Now we brake down a couple of switchbacks into the lake basin, where mosquitoes swarm the subalpine meadows much more thickly than at the breezy crests we leave. Once on gentler ground the route passes campsites, then southbound Mineral Creek Trail 1331, and finally access spur that leads to more campsites. Weaving through this hummocky plateau, which actually straddles the divide between Mineral Creek and Delate Creek, follow the PCT generally east and then no east around the bowl of the northernmost Park Lake. The lake behind us, we climb a pair of switchbacks to pass some ponds and gain a northwest spur of Three Queens. Here you can look north over turquoise Spectacle Lake to the spiny metamorphic fangs, hanging glaciers, and alpine waterfalls of Lemah Mountain. The rolling Wenatchee Mountains rise in the more distant east.

Now we start a bone-jarring 2000-foot descent, twisting and pounding down literally scores of tight switchbacks -hairpins that continue from a chute on the east side of a knob down to the runout of Three Queens' avalanche slopes. As the trail drops into thicker forest we pass Spectacle Lake Trail 1306, which forks north, and below this we walk on a sturdy bridge across roaring Delate Creek. Just beyond, we find the old, steeper Spectacle Lake Trail, branching up the drainage, and then find a small campsite. The last series of switchbacks finally drops us onto a bottomland forest with fern glades, and we later cruise past eastbound Pete Lake Trail 1323.

Northbound, the PCT rounds a small knob and then gently descends northwest to the trunk stream of Lemah Creek, where there are many sandy-gravely campsites. From here the trail continues north, rising over a small moraine and then dropping to cross a bridge over North Fork Lemah Creek. Immediately after climbing out of this stream's ravine, our trail meets Lemah Meadow Trail 1323B which climbs northwest from Pete Lake. The PCT continues north past a couple of campsites, gradually leaving Lemah Creek, then passes through forest and meadow and across a freshet. It then comes to a switchback, from where an access spur descends 1/4 mile to more campsites back at Lemah Creek's north fork. Here the PCT embarks on a 2200-foot climb to the top of Escondido Ridge, a climb best started early in the morning if it's to be a warm day.

Not far into this climb we cross a couple of seasonal streams, but beyond these we must count on vistas through the cedar, hemlock, and vine-maple forest to inspire us on. Brief though they are, these impressive alpine views of Lemah Mountain, Chikamin Ridge and Three Queens broaden with every switchback. Eventually the montane forest wanes, and smaller mountain hemlocks and subalpine firs spread around us as we turn up a ravine into a secluded cirque with a chilly tarn. Camping is prohibited here, but after we switchback once more and contour southeast 0.3 mile through subalpine parkland we come to some designated campsites.

Continuing around point 5984, we reach another cirque, where camping is also prohibited, and we cross the inlet of the lowest of a chain of crystalline tarns before starting a gradually rising traverse across the next ridge. From the top of this ridge the PCT arcs around a sheltered vale, jumping its creek and passing a campsite a few hundred yards farther southeast. Next we exit this meadowy glen and emerge onto the edge of Escondido Ridge, where we have a view over Waptus Lake and beyond to ever-closer Mt. Stuart. Not far along the ridge we find Waptus Bum Trail 1329C, which continues down the ridge, whereas we switchback down and begin a 2200-foot descent to the Waptus River.

A grand alpine panorama oversees our well-graded switchbacks. Across the valley long waterfalls drain the lofty Mt. Daniel-Mt. Hinman massif, and at the valley's head, the impressive sedimentary slabs of Bear's Breast Mountain thrust skyward. As we stomp down the first switchbacks, pointy subalpine firs give way to open brush (a scar from the 1929 Waptus Burn fire), then we traverse north to the main bank of switchbacks, the last three touching a cascading stream.