Assistant trip leader Eric reported for the Trip 4 team:

One anecdote from yesterday: “Mark and John, very exhausted, met a Pacific Crest Trail through hiker and asked if he’d seen our llamas. The through hiker thought they were hallucinating.”

This morning’s update (approximately 9:30 a.m.):

“Leaving camp in a few minutes. Destination Anderson Lake, campsite 5. Beautiful day. Humans and llamas are recovered from yesterday. All is well.”

This evening’s update:

“The llamas arrived at our Anderson Lake campsite at about 2:45 p.m. The last of our group arrived about 5 p.m. For the day: 6.6 miles, 1,215 feet up, 1,135 feet down.

“As indicated by the separation in arrival times, we have a very diverse group of hikers. Some personal limits have been pushed to the max. Everyone is OK.

“Manny and Aliana have been amazing support hikers. Very strong, considerate, helpful, and mindful of the needs of others.

“Good weather for hiking today. The air seemed mostly clear until we started getting open views of Mt. Rainier. Then the smoke and haze became obvious. We were mostly exposed today; temperature 10-15 degrees higher than perfect.

“Beautiful, spacious campsite. Llamas are happy. Tomorrow we hike our last 5+ miles to Chinook Pass Trailhead with some big up and down at the end.

“If we leave camp at 9 a.m., the last of our hikers might not arrive at Chinook Pass Trailhead until 2-4 p.m.”

Trail angels Mike and Mary are ready to meet the Trip 4 team on Tuesday with lunch at Chinook Pass Trailhead. Then they will haul the llamas back to White Pass Trailhead horse camp and spend the night there. On Wednesday, the Trip 5 team will begin their hike to Chinook Pass Trailhead with the llamas.