Exploration-Northwest: Muzzleloader heaven

    So I start hiking at 10:30 am on 10-07-2014, S/B from Chinook Pass, and immediately came across two Elk hunters carrying muzzleloaders. They were wearing camo clothing, sweating heavily, and walking towards the parking lot without any killed animals or evidence there of. Don't mistake my tone for being anti hunting. I get it, and understand the sport of hunting. I used to hunt ducks and other small birds that taste good, but the expense of it just didn't make sense. After writing that, I just thought of the thousands of dollars I've spent in the last year to just walk and camp in the woods. I suppose the best part of hunting, when I used to hunt, was the wilderness part. Anyway, back to the hunters.
     I almost always stop and talk to people on the trail, hunters or otherwise, while hiking. I asked the hunters if they had any luck and they said they had not seen any "spikes" or "cows." And here I thought they were hunting Elk. Just kidding. I know what a "cow" is, but still not sure of what falls under the classification of a "spike." I'm guessing its a young bull elk. The sweating-heavily hunter said that they were within 50 yards of a bull, but neither he nor his partner had a bull tag. I should probably let you know that the temperature was around 70 degrees and I was wearing my running shorts and short sleeve shirt. The hunters were wearing heavy camo outfits so the elk ostensibly could not spot them. I thought elk, deer, and moose were color blind? I'd make a horrible hunter. If I were ever invited to go hunting, which is pretty much as likely as growing a full head of hair, I'd show up in a safety vest with an orange hat. Enough of the hunters, on with the rest of the hike.
    This hike was, in addition to enjoying the beauty of the wilderness, an effort to try out my new sleeping bag and tent. I'll do a separate write up of the reviews of each in the Gear Reviews (where else would I put reviews?).
    Hiking south from Chinook Pass (east side of Mt Rainier) the trail is "mostly" easy ups and downs At about 3 miles I came to Dewey and little Dewey lakes. A sizeable lake that appears to be quite deep on the side opposite the trail. I marched right on past the lake and continued to Anderson Lake at about 2 miles farther down the trail. Anderson lake is small, but beautiful. Another mile farther down the trail I came to the junction of the PCT and American ridge trail. I turned left (E/B) and followed the ridge trail for about a half mile to American Lake, another small, but beautiful lake. At 1.5 miles from the PCT trail junction, I arrived at another junction. There is a 4X4 pole with a pink ribbon on it marking the intersection. After spending about 45 minutes trying all the various trails that left in every direction from the intersection, I started heading down the correct trail towards Cougar Lake. So which trail is the correct trail? Easy, its the trail that is immediately on your right as you arrive at the junction/4X4 with ribbon. Just make a hard right turn (almost heading back the same direction you just came from), and you'll be on the correct trail. From the junction, it's .8 miles down to Cougar Lake. Which incidentally didn't look anything like a cougar, nor did I see a cougar...which is good. As I arrived at Cougar lake, or what I thought was cougar lake (it was actually a little lake next door), I made a mistake of hiking around the right side of little cougar. Here's what you do...stay to the left, hike past the big camp site next to little coug, and then turn right and hike on the strip of land between the two lakes. The good camp sites are on the far end of Cougar lake. Cougar Lake is hiding on the other side of the trees that are on the left side of little cougar. I found a nice camp spot on the extreme far end of cougar lake, about 30 feet from the lake.
    A word about camping next to a lake, at the bottom of large bowl during October. Don't. The amount of dew is pretty much like camping in the rain. Everything got soaked. The evening was exciting though.
    As dusk fell the bull elk became very active. I heard bugling for most of the night, but from across the lake. It sounded like one bull came closer and closer, but I never saw him. I also heard a loud BARK from the woods about 50 feet from my camp. At first I thought it was a dog, but then I realized it couldn't be. It must have been a coyote. I never saw him, either. Here are some pictures of the hike---