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Day 12 (Thur, 8/7).  Devil's Dream to South Puyallup River (4004 ft elev).  Backpacked  6 miles with 2071 ft gain/ 2914 ft losss.

a.  Mirror Lakes and Pyramid Peak Day Hike (En Route). 4.2 miles with 2740 ft gain/loss.

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It was quite cold in the morning.  It was probably the coldest (or 2nd) night so far.   Our plan was to get to the Indian Henry and head to Mirror Lake.  Then to Pyramid Peak.    Since Dave visited the Pyramid Peak before,  he (solo) went to Iron Mt xxxx to look for a benchmark.     All left around 0630.    As usual,  I left 0640.    The skeeters were not present in the morning (too cold).   When I got to the Indian Henry,  all were gone to Mirror Lake.    I was doing a catchup.    After taking some pictures of the Mirror Lake (had almost perfect reflection of the Mt Rainier),  I headed to Pyramid Peak.    Interestingly,  it's trail was well defined.    In fact, the trail existed all the way near the top of the ridge (cedar strips were placed across the trail).   A couple of trail sections were fainted but, in overall,  trail was in good shape.     I cruised up the trail, and near the summit,  I saw our group coming down the Pyramid Peak.     It was buggy at the Peak.     After taking a video shot,  I started descending.     Suzy and I did some trail finding on the way down.   (Later, I realized that my thinking processes were not clear when body was tired.   Looks like much of the brain function was pre-occupied on the body soreness or muscle tightness. )  As Suzy left at the junction,  I took a little longer break near the Indian Henry.

I was looking forward to walking on the Emerald Ridge.    I was a bit tired with the full pack going up the Emerald Ridge.     When I was going up on the Ridge,  I was not quite impressive yet with the views.   When I reached the Ridge (I will call it the Emerald Ridge Pass),  the views were grandeur.   It was my first looking at the red water flowing so fast.    Here, I met another trail runner who was doing the Wonderland Trail loop in 3 days.     I saw a couple at the end of the visible trail on the Emerald ridge.      I walked toward them but turned around in the distance to have a snack break at the Pass where I left my pack.    Later,  they were scrambling up further higher.   It looked really fun.    When I was about to leave the Pass,   I met a couple who were from Chicago doing 3 days of backpacking.    They came from the West Side Road.    So far,  I met 3 groups from Chicago on this trip:  a couple at South Puyallup Camp site,  two ladies at Snow Lakes, and a couple at Emerald Ridge.    It's interesting that so many people were coming  from Chicago, or maybe it was just co-incident that turned out that way.   On the way down,  I met a solo backpacker who were doing 10-12 miles a day.   Interesting thing was that he did not have a permit (that he mentioned).   He wanted to see a Ranger to make an arrangement but had not met a ranger yet.   He said if he could not find a camp site,  he would continue on to next camp site.   So far,  he said there was no problem finding an empty camp site.  

South Puyallup River camp site was pleasant with roaring red water.   It had a big group site and almost no bugs.    At the camp site,   Fred and Kim talked about going home one day early.   They talked to a group who had permits at Golden Lakes but not all members showed up.   So, they had some opening at Golden Lakes camp site.      Some of us wanted to go home early as well.   It would be so nice to get home on Saturday, rest on Sunday, and go to work on Monday.     However, Dave wanted to stick with his original plan.    After dinner,  during a meeting,  I spoke out that I would stick with the plan as well.   Since it's not everybody's consensus to go home early,  it's not the right thing to do.   It's a terrible idea to break away from the group with just 3 days left.    I've sponsored many trips and I would like everybody stick together so that we could tackle any issues or help together, more importantly, finish the trip safely and happy together.

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