Wonderland Trail Day 12: Indian Bar to White River

Aug 20
Mileage: 13.5 miles
Indian Bar: 5120 ft
White River: 4300 ft


I didn't sleep particularly well as I was too wound up about finishing up.  I had set my alarm for 0500 and woke up at 0450, so got up and went up the hill for a facilities visit and to grab the food bag.  I had some tea and breakfast watching the sunrise and it was spectacular!  After that, started packing up and getting ready to go.  Also, I ate another meal and left camp around 0650 leaving my camp neighbors in their slumber.

Indian Bar shelter across

the river with the sunrise

I had to cross the river twice leaving camp once via the bridge the other via over a rock bridge and glad I left early in the day because in the afternoon the river runs higher with the melt-off so those rocks are under water.  I had to look for rock cairns to navigate through some of the river bed and then headed uphill towards the Panhandle Gap not knowing what really to expect up there.  By 0800 it was getting warm and I worked my way uphill and the scenery was really beautiful.  I kept turning around to look towards the south and Mt. Adams and for a while I could look down and see the Indian Bar group shelter.  Finally, I made the ridge and took a break and took a bunch of pictures as all around me were spectacular views.  I kept looking around for the Gap not knowing really what it looked like and kept guessing it was higher up.

Looking southeast to Mt. Adams

Beautiful!

Trail behind me

I kept walking and enjoying the view along the way and finally started a down the trail and crossed a snow field and kept picking up rock cairns to navigate through the area and then started back uphill to the Gap.  I then remembered reading that the PG (Panhandle Gap) had some trees by it and there it was right in front of me.   Finally, I ran into another guy solo hiker, we talked a bit and I told him about the bear.  He was surprised about that!  From that point the trail went up and down and I had to cross another snow field which had no rock cairns so wasn't sure which way to go after crossing it, but found some boot prints and kept moving.  I then had a long climb up to the saddle heading down to Summerland.  I felt good and also felt I was making good time.

Trail heading to the PG

PG in front of me

Trail heading to Summerland

I took some pictures atop the saddle as the views were...no words...I had the mountain to my left, blue lakes with Summerland below me and valleys along with the east Casade Mountains behind me.  About this time, I saw 2 hikers coming up the hill and what do you know, it was the brother and sister with the huge packs that I met on the west side.  Kelly and Doug introduced themselves and we exchanged stories about our trail adventures.  Kelly's pack was much smaller so she must have dumped some stuff somewhere and I told them about the bears.  I asked about camp and they pointed to where it was and mentioned that it was a very steep and rocky descent.  They then departed for the PG and I headed downhill.

No words!

They weren't kidding on the descent, it was all rock and very slow going for me with my knees aching and watching my step so my ankle doesn't roll.  Also, it was hot now and lots of day hikers out and about.  I ran into a foursome that I met on the west side and talked with them and they took a picture of me.  It is nice going CCW as one of the benefits of the direction is seeing people a second time and see how they are doing.  Another benefit is not many people go this way and it is nice to have some space.



Doug had told me to get water before going to camp as there was a stream by the river, so arriving by the bridge to Fryingpan Creek, I dropped the pack and took a break to rehydrate, rest and refill the bladder.  After hitting the trail again, I crossed the logbridge over the creek and the river was high.  The trail was still rocky, downhill and now slick with water.  I just took my time walking to be safe and stopped for pictures frequently.  Finally, the rock gave way to dirt trail and I was never so happy to see a dirt trail as I was at that moment.  My feet and knees were hurting bad and I began to wonder if I could make it to my car some 9.5 miles away.  I crossed small creeks and beautiful wild flowers some that I haven't seen before.  I arrived at the group shelter about 1115 but I didn't care that I walked a mile an hour here as this area is so stunning you have to stop and look or what's the point.

Rainer with Summerland

I dropped my pack and noticed a woman hiking in a dress and she was at Devil's Dream, so another person I've seen twice.  I walked towards the toilet as the toilet here is a solar powered compositing type.  Sitting in the shade was a group of asian women enjoying the lunch of sushi and bento boxes.  I just laughed about the fact that they hiked up here with those things in their packs.  As I walked by they all said hi to me and got all excited about something.  I went back to the shelter and broke out the stove and got some water started for lunch.  I had pulled out a chili with rice meal and got water on it to rehydrate it.  It was really good!


About that time, a guy came into camp and he looked familiar and a few minutes later the woman he was hiking with.  I then remembered meeting them on the west side and the woman starting talking with me remembering me as well for the GPS.  They ended up hanging out with me for an hour or so.  Again we compared notes and they told me that I gave them good info and that I gave the best tips on the trail out of anyone.  That was a nice compliment from someone.  Steph and Dave were from Vancouver, WA and pretty much did the same route as myself except they were going CW.  They asked about my food so I explained to them about dehydrating and making my own meals.  It felt good to sit and eat and take an extended break with my boots off.  After an hour or so, Steph and Dave were leaving and heading towards Indian Bar, so we said our good-byes. (Note to Steph and Dave; I've looked for your blog with no luck, so if you ever read this, email or leave a comment so I can contact you guys)

I got packed and ready to go and then the Asian ladies were all standing by the trail out of camp, so they all wanted to know about my trip.  A few knew English and translated for the rest of the group and they were all amazed I was hiking by myself and the distance I have walked.  They get together to day hike and go somewhere different all the time.  An older lady then came into camp with the Asian ladies all excited about her, so with my 15 minutes of fame up, I bid them good-bye and left camp at 1400.


Distances from this point forward vary and the rangers told me it was 9 miles, so that's what I was expecting with the trail signs showing less.  I left heading downhill in the heat of the day on a full belly feeling good except for my knees ached and my feet sore, but no worries, I was heading home!  I ran into a mother/daughter team out day hiking and talked with them and they took some pictures of me.  The trail went down via switchbacks until the second crossing of Fryingpan Creek and into the cooler forest.  Steph had told me that the trail was wide, very nice and flat in some parts.  She was right and it was a nice hike down but the knees and feet were starting to hurt in a big way and I began to wonder if maybe I should have stayed in camp.  Dayhikers passed me from both directions and finally I made to the junction that heads to White River with the sign reading 2.7 miles.  I was happy with less than 3 miles to go!  I just shook my head as the trail headed uphill.  This part of the trail is new and was completed in 2004, so I wasn't too happy to see any uphill at this point. I came to another junction with a trail sign saying 1.7 miles to White River and more uphill.  I was cussing at this point as I've just hiked all these miles and have to finish hiking uphill!!!


Actually, after this uphill climb the trail leveled out and was very nice and I was hoping to make it to the car in about an hour.  This is the part where the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I felt like I was being watched hoping it wasn't another bear!  I couldn't take another run-in with a bruin and up the trail I found fresh bear scat on the trail probably an hour old or so.  GREAT!!  I kept looking around and making heaps of noise to scare any potential bears in the hood off.  I also picked up the pace as the GPS showed me less than a mile away!  I was starting to wonder when I would head downhill when the trail headed down just for a little bit and then the trail popped out on the river bed.  Wow, I'm almost done!!!!

Heading out of the forest

to the river bed

White River crossing

I followed the rock cairns and trail to the log bridge and my last river crossing.  This one was the scariest of them all, as the river was really high and fast being late in the day and the log bridge was different from the rest as you crossed one and had to step down onto another.  I took my time and some pictures and walked through the picnic area to my car arriving at 1810.  I had just completed the WLT solo and probably walked 95 miles with the trail detours!!  There was no big celebration, just an urgent need to get my boots off as both my feet were numb.  I dropped my pack, got the boots off and relaxed for a bit.  I had a young lady walking through the parking lot take my picture, post hike celebration complete.  We talked for a bit and she was working a summer job up at Sunrise and had summited Rainier early in the season.

I got cleaned up, changed and packed up the car and left.  It felt weird driving again and I realized how exhausted I really was.  Both my feet felt like ground hamburger and were numb and I was worried about that and wondering why as well.  I drove to Enumclaw and did something I never ever do, stopped at McDonald's and got something to eat I was so hungry.  I sat in the parking lot eating and called both Jim and Dawn to let them know I finished and was on the way home.  


Post-hike

I had the next 3 days off of work and just did post hike recovery by sleeping and relaxing.  I did stretch as much as possible.  I couldn't wear shoes for like 10 days and even went to work with sandals on.
The following week I was back in the gym working out and getting back to my normal routine.

I tried to curb my appetite as I didn't want to eat like I was still on the trail.  Last time I did that, I gained a bunch of the weight back, so wanted to be conscious of my diet this time around.

People often asked me 'was it worth it?' or 'would I do it again?'  My intial responses were, 'not sure' and 'ask me in six months'.  Now after a month, I would answer 'yes' and 'yes' with looking at another go in 2012.

When I arrived back at work, my team of guys had a command post on the wall.   I was really touched.  They had put pins in the map when I arrived at camp and even printed out my SPOT maps for the all the days.  Nothing beats some crew love!!!

I hope you enjoyed this blog of  my journey around the mountain.

Wonderland Trail Day 11: Maple Creek to Indian Bar

Aug 19
Mileage: 10 miles
Maple Creek: 2815 ft
Indian Bar: 5120 ft


I woke up again at first light and got moving this morning as I knew I had a long walk most of it uphill today so I wanted to get an early start.  Also, I wanted to beat the heat of the day as I was going to be exposed to the sun most of the day.  I had breakfast and got packed and ready to go along with the guys next to me.  They got up, packed the tent and left without eating anything and that is something I couldn't do as I need my energy.  I left camp quietly at 0700 as the other in camp were still sleeping, heading towards Box Canyon which was some 2 miles away setting a 1 hour goal.  I wanted to make Nickel Creek 3.3 miles away by 0900.

The hike started out flat to the river crossing and then the trail started uphill to Box Canyon.  The climb wasn't too bad and the morning started to heat up.  I arrived at Box Canyon around 0800 keeping the pace I wanted to.  The trail turned into cement for the tourist so that was kind of nice for a little bit.  I had never been to Box Canyon so it was pretty cool to see the Cowlitz River run through it as well to see what the river had carved out.  There were no people there at 0800 so I had the place to myself, sweet!  I took my time looking around and taking some pictures.

Stevens Creek

Box Canyon & the Cowlitz River;

Bridge to water, 115 ft

Box Canyon with the 

road bridge

Getting on the trail again and heading uphill to Nickel Creek through a forest and crossed Nickel Creek.  I wanted to stop and have a bottle of water with a Nuun tablet in it.  I was feeling dehydrated already, but wanted to go to camp too so I arrived at camp at 0900.  I took a break there and wanted to get water, but found out from some guys in camp that I had to hike back to the creek and I didn't want to walk backwards, so didn't go.  I had a snack and started back on the uphill climb to Indian Bar.



I met a couple of older men on the trail heading to Maple Creek, so we talked for a few about the trail and the campsites.  They told me I was in for a treat once I got to the top of this climb and that Indian Bar was really beautiful.  I told them about Maple Creek and they were in the forest for the rest of their hike.  After I left them, an older man and then an older women with her granddaughter passed me from behind on a day hike to Indian Bar and they were all moving pretty fast.



I made it to the top and started climbing up some more but I was in the open and finally could view some scenery and it was beautiful.  I turned around and I saw Mt Adams to the south, that was cool!  At one point, I heard a jet engine and knew that noise, it was a Mcchord C-17 flying overhead and I got a picture of it.  I'm guessing they were coming from the Yakima area since they were flying low level.  That was cool and unexpected.  I stopped under a tree for a break and a break from the heat.  The black flies were out in full force bugging the hell out of me.  You try to ignore them, but some of them little bastards started biting me.  The wild flowers were beautiful and the scenery gorgeous especially to the east and south.



There were times where Rainier would be visible and it was breath taking to see it especially after my first 8 days.  I was hoping to find a creek or some water but so far, nothing.  There were some flat meadows and a few downhills along the way and this area started making up for the first part of the trip.  Funny how a moment in time can make the past seem irrelevant or just flat out move your soul and I was having one of those moments.  My camera cannot do this area any justice!

Beyond words

There have been times in my life that scared the crap out of me most of it having to do with flying until today.  I was walking along ridge line about 2.2 miles S/SE out of Indian Bar with a slope to my right and an uphill climb through a field of wild flowers via switchbacks on my left. The only bear reports I heard of were at Mystic Lake and that was way behind me.  I was minding my own business and all of a sudden I hear this pounding of weight with growling noise come flying down the hill at me.  I damn near jumped out of skin and looked to the left to see a blur of cinnamon colored fur going flying by me.  I froze knowing it was a bear, but didn't see it and couldn't hear it and I was looking all around trying to find it.  I didn't know if I had walked upon a mom and her cub or what, but I was way scared as I knew it was close.  The black bears in the park are benign and there are no documented cases of black bears attacking humans in the park, but that doesn't mean anything.




I was standing on the first switchback making noise, banging my hiking sticks and talking out loud to scare the bear as the rangers suggested but didn't see or hear anything, so I had no idea where it was or went.  Also, I didn't see a bear run back up the uphill and the only thing I heard was my heart pounding in my head.  I slowly headed up the switchbacks making noise and taking my time keeping my head on a swivel here.  I got to the last switchback that headed to the meadow, so started to walk and about step 2, I heard a snorting noise and froze in mid-stride.  There about 5 feet from me was a juvenile male bear with his butt towards me eating flowers.  I banged my sticks and we both jumped as he swung around to face me.  Again, I banged my sticks trying to look bigger and started yelling at the bear to GO.  He didn't and stood there looking at me.  I got a picture figuring it was proof and if he got me, the rangers would know what bear to look for.  I started a mental self-assessment, thinking that I couldn't run as I had a pack on, the bear can run up to 35 mph, climb trees higher and faster than I could say it and I was born a slow white woman, so this was definitely a lose-lose situation.  At the same time, I'm looking around for the other bear that came down the hill.  The bear turned and faced me head on, crap now what do I do?!!!!

This is one of those weird moments in my life as I'm standing here talking with a bear trying to keep the moment lite and you are told is not to look a bear in the eye as they take it as a challenge.  I asked the bear what he was going to do, and looking at him I could almost hear him say, " Lady, you are in my space, interrupting my lunch, DO YOU MIND, so get lost!  I apologized to the bear for interrupting his lunch and asked for permission to move on.  The bear then laid on his left side and continued to eat his flowers.  I side stepped past him and kept walking.  Holy shit!!!!  I can't believe that just happened to me!  About 20 minutes later when the adrenaline wore off, I bent over breathing heavy.  To quote my friend Brian, "You step off the cement, you are now part of the food chain".   I kept thinking, first I get a mountain goat following me up the trail over in the Olympics and now this!  Can I see a marmot please?

The walk through the meadows were spectacular and the mountain views were beyond words.  Walking on your feet can most certainly take you to some great places.  Heading uphill some more, I was stopped under a tree for a shade break and the older lady and her grand daughter came down and we stopped to chat for a few minutes and she asked me if I had seen the bears.  Uh, yeah I did and it didn't seem to be a big deal to her.  She told me up over that ridge I would start heading down to camp and they left.  So I finished climbing up and then started my 1800 ft decent into camp.  It was about this time I ran out of water and was not happy about that.

Camp ahoy!

The decent down was steep and tough on the knees after a long day and some people were now coming up and were breathing pretty hard.  I finally made it to camp and saw a stream to my left by the group shelter and a bridge to my right.  This guy came from the bridge and asked him if this was the place to get water and he said yeah and that the individual sites were to my right.  I thought he was a hiker but found out later, he was part of a trail crew working at the camp.  I dropped my pack and sat by the creek to rehydrate for a while and it was really hot now.  I was curious about the group shelter but wanted to go check out the camp sites first.  The bridge was missing a side of railing so you needed to pay attention so you wouldn't fall in the Ohanapecosh River and the Wauhauhaupauhen Falls, which were really loud.

The camp is built on a hill and I started looking around and I was the only one in camp again.  I chose site #2 but didn't want to sit there as it was very open with no tree cover.  I grabbed my water filter and some snacks and headed back to the creek.  I filled my bladder up along with my bottle and went into the group shelter which was bigger inside than I thought and also much cooler inside.  I was wondering where the guys went that I saw sitting here and were wondering if they were staying at the group shelter.  Finally, they came back and then I found out they were trail crew.  I told them about the bear and told them I may just stay in the group shelter if I'm the only one here and I wouldn't have to set up my tent.  One of them said I had a good chance of staying there but if someone else came and had the site on their permit I would have to move.  They left and I went and got my stuf2f to move it to the group site since it was already 1730 and nobody else had shown up.

Group Shelter at Indian Bar

I was nervous about staying here figuring someone would show up late and I'd have to move in the dark.  I had lunch and dinner, cleaned up but really never unpacked in the event someone did show up.  Two guys showed up but went to the individual sites and didn't come over to where I was.  I just hung outside in the shade enjoying the stunning beauty of this area with the sun setting upon it.  It got to be about 2000 and I decided to risk it, so put the food on the pole and started to unpack.  My original thought was to just pull out the sleeping bag and sleep on one on the bunks in the shelter, but then the mosquitoes came out and I heard some mice scurrying about.  I set up the tent in the shelter to get away from the bugs.  It was fun just to set up the tent that way and to sleep in the shelter.  On the other hand, no cross breeze.  About 2100, some Russian guy stuck his head in the shelter asking about a camp site, so told him how to get over there.  No one else came to camp, so that was good for me.

The view from my front porch

I wanted to get up a 0500 and head up to the Panhandle Gap before the heat and the trail crew guy told me it should take a couple of hours to get up there.  I went to sleep knowing this was my last night and that I had a big long day in front of me as I decided to not stay at Summerland and finish up the WLT a day early.

Wonderland Trail Day 10: Longmire to Maple Creek

Aug 18
Mileage: 11.8 miles
Longmire: 2800 ft
Maple Creek: 2815

I woke up at 0600 again and took a long hot shower as I wouldn't have one for another 3-4 days, so I took advantage of it.  I wanted to be in the dinning room about the time they opened since service is slow.  I got downstairs about 0715 and had breakfast.  Back in the room, finished packing and got ready to leave.  Believe it or not, I did think about asking the rangers if any of the them were heading over to White River as I wasn't quite sure I still wanted to walk any further.

I left the NPI at 0900 in shorts as the day was supposed to be warm and this was a big swing of the pendulum here, rain my first 8 days and now leaving in shorts and its warm outside.  I was moving along the trail, and popped out by Cougar Rock campground pretty fast.  There are places on the trail that the signs really need to be re-aligned with the actual trail and this would be one of those spots because the trail sign looks to be saying continue on straight ahead when it really means to say 'take a right'.  After looking for the trail, I looked at the map to see if Carter Falls was along the way, and it is, so off to the right I went and crossed the Nisqually River.  I talked with a couple there and they took my picture with the mountain!

Nisqually River

Me on the Nisqually with

Rainier in the background

From that point on, guess what?  That's right, it was all uphill! Carter Falls were cool to see however the tree cover does just that, cover, so snapped a few pictures and it was on to Madcap Falls.  I made good time to the Paradise River camp and then it was on to Narda Falls.  I talked to a few people on the trail and kept walking.  I was supposed to meet a friend at Nards Falls but didn't hear from her, so pretty much knew she wasn't going to show.  She wanted to hike to Maple Creek and spent the night out there and then hike back.  I made it through the forest to Narda Falls, got a few pictures and waited about 20 minutes to see if she would show and  I left there about 1220 solo.  Heading uphill some more and I  have to say its really weird hiking this part of the trail as you can hear the cars and lots of day hikers.

Madcap Falls

Bridge being rebuilt; temp bridge in

Narda Falls

I arrived at Reflection Lake and took a break  to enjoy the beauty of the day and scenery.  The pack was heavy from a re-supply so a break felt good after the uphill climb.  The lake was a bit choppy but I managed to find a spot  to get a partial reflection off the lake for a picture.  The fish were jumping out of the water too.  I put the pack back on and headed towards Louise Lake and at this point of the trail you have to walk along the road, which I didn't like much.  Finding the trail again,  I started heading downhill and thought about stopping at the lake, but kept going as it had to be like 90F.  I had heard this part of the trail being very bushy and that the trail crews have a hard time keeping the trail up.  I crossed the road for the final time and then it was all downhill to the Stevens Canyon River.  I just hiked along through the plants, grasses and forests and kept moving eventually coming out down by the river and having to walk over a very rocky trail. There was a trail detour right before camp, but it didn't deviate too far.  I crossed Maple Creek by the falls and found the camp arriving at 1530.  There were 2 groups here already in camp having come in from Indian Bar.

Reflection Lake

Louise Lake

Rainier from Stevens Canyon

 I took site #3 really wanted #4 but the sun was hot and that spot is wide open, so took #3.  I got the tent set up minus the rainfly.  I haven't set up my tent without the rain since day 2!   I have to say, I like it better that way.  The black flies were bad and at night the mosquitoes came out.  I grabbed the water filter, bladder and the bottle and headed for the stream to cool off and rehydrate.  I had run out of water about 1.5 miles out of camp and  I could have stopped but wanted to get to camp more.  There must have been something going on with the filter and it me a while to get the filter going.  It was nice to relax in a shaded cool spot.  I cleaned up as well when one of the boys from one of the groups came down.  We talked a bit and I wanted info about tomorrow since it looked to be all uphill.  He told me that Indian Bar was awesome and that I would like it.  Then I remembered that I had run into his group somewhere on the west side.  I might add here that this camp had the nastiest toilet on the trail!

Stevens Canyon Creek

Maple Creek Falls

Back at the site, made dinner eating only one meal as it was a meal for two.  I got things ready for tomorrow and just hung out in the tent to get away from the flies.  Around 1900, a few helicopters were flying to the south and west so I was wondering what was going on, maybe a search and rescue or something.  They finally quit flying overhead and it was quiet again.

It was almost too hot to sleep, but tried anyway and decided that on the last day I was going to hike out and not stay at Summerland.  I was okay with that decision knowing it was like 14 miles but I wanted to be done.  I'll say this part of the trail with the exception of Reflection Lake was pretty boring, hence the not too exciting blog entry.

Wonderland Trail Day 9: Longmire

Aug 17
Mileage: 0
Longmire: 2800 ft


I woke up again at first light after a restless night of sleep in the back of Jen's car.  Come to think of it, I have slept restless this whole trip so far, which is unusual for me especially in the back-country where I sleep very well.  I got up and walked around Longmire for a bit.  It is a peaceful place in the early morning and without the hoards of tourists around.  I went and got my camera to get some pictures before the place got busy.  Jim found me and we walked around looking at stuff and talked about my hike.  I told him at this point I wasn't sure I wanted to finish, but we'll see tomorrow.  It then dawned on me that I was on the south side of the mountain and 2/3 of the way done!  Wow, guess I have walked a long way already!

 

Back of the NPI

 

Sunrise on the mountain

 

Front of NPI

Old gas station and Kenworth

shuttle on display; NPI in back

Jim and I headed to breakfast as Jen was sleeping in, so we talked over coffee.  Jen finally joined us and we ordered and had breakfast.  I really needed to dry everything out in my pack and swap the rest of my stuff out, so we grabbed my pack and spread everything out in the back of Jim's pick-up and I mean everything!
My first-aid kit was soaked through, so ended up throwing most of it away and dried out the gauze pads and a few other items.  The tourists started arriving at Longmire and looking at the truck funny, as they were trying to figure it all out.  Jim and Jen left to go up to Paradise and I hung with my stuff trying to catch up on my journal and flip stuff over to make sure everything was dried out.  The late morning sun was hot and it was a beautiful day!

Jim's pick-up gear drying service

I swapped out the food and my clothes and started packing up my stuff as things were drying out.  A family walked by and the dad asked what I was doing as I had nice stuff so I told him.  His 8 year old daughter swung around to face me and asks me if I'm staying out in the wilderness as there are bears out there, I'm not allowed to be out there!  We all laughed and I told her that I hope not to see any bears at least up close.  It was cute, but I think she jinxed me too!

Mt Rainier

Jim and Jen came back from Paradise saying it was already too crowded, so we finished packing everything up and went to eat lunch.  After that, they wanted to head home and I found out I couldn't check into my room at the NPI until 1600, which left me sitting around for a few hours.  Jim and Jen left and I was awaiting the arrival of a friend who was coming out to hang out and stay the night.

I finally got checked in my room, took a nice long soaking bath and just hung out to relax.  I also wanted to do a load of laundry getting my "camp clothes" clean for the next part of the trail.  So, I hung out on the inn porch and doing laundry. There was a note on my door saying my friend wasn't coming, which made me mad as I could have invited someone else to come out.  Oh well,  I went and had dinner and headed back to the room to finish packing and finally went to bed.

This day and a half off at Longmire was a very good thing.  It rested my feet, dried out my gear, restocked my food and changed out my clothing.  In other words, I had an attitude adjustment!

Wonderland Trail Day 8: Devil's Dream to Longmire

Aug 16
Mileage: 5.8 miles
Devil's Dream: 5060 ft
Longmire: 2800 ft

I woke up around 0700, got dressed and the tent was wet as it was pretty foggy outside but at least it wasn't raining.  I had breakfast with the mosquitoes swarming all around me and started packing up.  I seemed to be having a problem this morning getting going and packing up for what ever reason.  The sun came out and was shining on my tent, so once again while I ate another meal, I let the sun shine on the tent.



I left camp at 0945 with a goal of arriving at Longmire about 1300-1330 and today was mostly downhill except for a climb up the Ramparts.  Today was the first day since day 2 that I left camp without the rain gear on and it felt weird not wearing it.  I had a long sleeve shirt on to keep the bug bites to a minimum.

Right after camp is a canyon that had pretty cool rock formations and it was really deep from the ridge I was standing on.  Passed heaps of people on the trail many of whom smelled like soap and fresh clothing unlike me who hadn't had a shower in 8 days.  I talked with some and other just said hi to others.  One group of 3 were pretty funny and I enjoyed talking with them.  They stayed at the Pyramid Creek campground.  Huh?  That campground is open again?  For those of you who don't know, that area sustained heavy damage during the flood of 2006 and the campground had been closed since then. 

I made it to the Pyramid Creek crossing in about an hour, dropped the pack, took off the long sleeve shirt and had a snack.  The sun was out and it was starting to get pretty warm.  Finally, a nice sunny day and it felt wonderful!  Made it across the creek and came upon Pyramid Creek campground.  It must be open as the signs are up for it.  That's good news for hikers and the park!

 

 Pyramid Creek crossing

Pyramid Creek

Right after passing the campground, came to the Kautz River crossing.  The trail was blocked off and again heavy damage from flooding.  The trail had moved to the left and it was marked with ribbons.  I could see the trail down on the river bed, I just could not find the trail to get down to it.  I walked to the last ribbon and looked around to no avail, so started over and repeated.  However, turning to my right, behind a rock I saw a pole hole and a foot print, and found the trail down.  The ribbon should have been by the rock not on a tree away from it.  Made my way to the log bridge stopping to look at the flood damage, Wow!

 

Kautz Creek

Flood damage by Kautz Creek.  

Look to the right for the trail down.

Safely across the river and back on the trail heading up the Ramparts and ran into a Canadian couple who were out hiking the PCT and decided to add on the WLT!  That's way ambitious!  They were caught in the 5 days of rain as well on the PCT and were happy to see the sun.  Coming down the hill into Longmire, I could now hear the Harley motorcycles screaming along as well as cars.  The trail pops out by the road and when you have been out in the woods for 8 days, your senses are heightened, so smelling car exhaust was not a pleasant experience.

I made it to Longmire at 1315 and started looking for Jen.  I made my way to the National Park Inn (NPI) porch and sat for a while, putting on my sandals.  I cannot tell you how great it felt to do that.  I wanted to go into the restaurant to eat, but wanted to find Jen first.  Longmire was way too crowded and loud for me and I found out it was a free weekend at the park, so no admission.  Around 1430, I headed over by the store and looked for a place to dry out the tent and some other things.  I had the tent spread out all over the grass out back and people looked at me funny and I was daring any of the staff to say anything, but they must be used to it.  The afternoon sun was so hot that it took all of 30 minutes for all parts of my tent to dry, so got that packed away and saw Jen driving around the parking lot, so I waited by the parking lot door of the inn.  Jen and Jim came out Longmire to bring me my food cache.

Jen finally showed up and had checked into their room already, so we had to walk all the way back to her car to get my clothes.  I finally had a shower, but it was short and sweet as it was 1610 and the dining room closed at 1630 for lunch.  We got a table at 1629 and the wait staff was upset about it.  At the NPI restaurant, the food is okay and over priced, the service mediocre and once you realize that you'll get along fine.  If you are expecting something great or in a hurry, try something else.  I ordered a cheeseburger because I was craving salt and its a backpacking tradition!  It tasted good enough that I ate it down pretty fast.

 

Mt Rainier

 Me at Longmire

After lunch, Jen and I went out to her car and changed some things out as well as get the car set up for me to sleep in.  Yes, I had sleep in the car and no I didn't mind as it wasn't a wet cold tent!  We also moved the car before dinner at 2000.  Jen and I had a late dinner hoping Jim would join us, but he didn't show up yet.  Jim finally showed up and we talked about the trip and he walked me out to the car and helped me get settled.

All in all a good day and I was happy to have a rest from the grind of the trail and for a chance to have my feet out of my boots for a few days.  Best of all, it wasn't raining!

Wonderland Trail Day 7: Klapactche Park to Devil's Dream

Aug 15
Mileage: 10.7 miles
Klapatche Park: 5515 ft
Devil's Dream: 5060 ft

I woke up at the crack of dawn again and was actually in a good mood wanting to be positive about moving forward a day on the trail.  Also, it was not raining, but a heavy misty fog and it was cold.  I got dressed and had breakfast of cold cereal.  I had an energy bar in my pocket night before I went to sleep, so stuck in my pot hoping the mice wouldn't get to it, but they did, not leaving too big a mess.  Hope those dates gave them stomach problems. :)

Got my pot cleaned up and heated up some water and ate another meal as I was still hungry.  This is becoming normal for me eating two meals at breakfast and dinner.  I wanted to be by the lake on the phone at 0730 talking with the rangers to see if I could go on to Devil's Dream today and before they gave out permits to walk-ins.  I called the White River Ranger Station, however, they didn't have the computers up yet, so I had to wait until they had it up and running.  An expensive 15 minutes later, I got confirmation to go on to on to Devil's Dream, so I was really happy and knew I had a long day again.  I called Jen to tell her I would meet them at Longmire on Sunday and if they couldn't get me a room for Sunday night, I would  sleep in one of their cars.  I went back to camp to pack up and left camp at 0855 and took a few pictures of Klapatche Lake.

 

Klapatche Lake

 

Headed uphill to St Andrews Lake and the park was gorgeous with the fog and the morning dew.  My plan was to arrive at S. Puyallup River Camp in 3 hours since it was 4 miles away and have lunch, so wanted to move as fast I could today.  I hit the ridge line and a miracle happened, yup after 7 days on trail, there was the mountain and the sun came out!  I grabbed my camera and took some pictures watching the fog roll up from the valley below and then no more mountain.  Well, that made my day and put a spring in my step.  The mountain is beautiful up close like that.

 

WLT uphill thru Klapatche Park

Klapatche Park

 

Hey look, sun and Mt Rainier

 

Just that quick, the fog rolls in

I arrived at St Andrews Lake and the sun came back out and the fog was rolling about and got some good pictures there.  I dropped my pack and had a snack for a few minutes and then moved on.  The trail heading up and up to the ridge line.  Also, it dawned on me that I was half way done with the WLT and on the west side heading to the southwest, cool!  I met a few thru-hikers along the way from the Midwest so we chatted a bit and I had one guy from Ohio get my picture.  I met another group of hikers and traded camp info and the woman like my GPS so we talked about it for a bit.

 

St Andrews Lake with Rainier

 

Me in St Andrews Park

After that it was downhill the rest of the way to the S. Puyallup River Camp.  I met this bother-sister on the trail as they were humping up and they had these humongous packs!  OMG!  I had to wonder what they were carrying that was so big.  I told them about the rain and how I yelled at the sky at Golden Lakes and they laughed about that.  I made camp in 3 hours after crossing the river, right on target so I was happy about that.  Small victories work wonders sometimes.  I pulled into the group site and got some water and wolfed down 2 meals.  Here lately, I'm just hungry all the time and really eating heaps of food.  I wanted to lighten up my pack going up to the Emerald Ridge as it was going to be a nasty uphill for a while.  I walked to the camp toilet and forgot that this camp has the lava rock formations, so ran back to get my camera and took a few pictures.   Pretty cool rock formations!  I think they call this Devil's Organ Pipes or something like that.

 

S. Puyallup River

 

Lava rock formations

I left camp at 1330 and headed uphill for the ridge and stopped along the way to take off the rain gear.  It was not raining, just foggy and I was hot climbing the trail.  I stopped and talked with several people comparing notes about the trail, weather, rain and camps.  I met on couple from Wisconsin and like me were disappointed in the trip so far with a lot of hiking and no views.  They had been on the trail for 6-7 days too!  I asked them if they were enjoying the mountain view and they asked where the mountain was and I pointed behind them.  The Tahoma Glacier should have been in our face, but all we saw was fog.

 

View of Tahoma Glacier from Emerald Ridge

The trail along the Emerald Ridge was thin, very steep and dangerous.  I had to keep telling myself if I fell to fall right.  A fall right would hurt but a fall left was fatal as in 5000 ft to the river.  It looked like a major portion of the trail here had given way to a landslide, so it wasn't a nice part of the WLT that is for sure.  This also jogged my memory of the woman I met who fell and cut up her face as I guessed this is the part she fell on.

Steep trail on Emerald Ridge   

                                                

Trail on Emerald Ridge 

Finally got up to the ridge looking for Marmots but didn't see any and up to this point hadn't seen any in 7 days.  That is not common in the sub-alpine areas as they are usually everywhere.  The trail started downhill and turned to rock, which really slows me down.  About this time a group came from behind and scared the crap out of me.  I know I startled them as well and they were the first people who passed me from behind in 7 days, not counting the ranger.  They were moving fast, so I just got out of the way.  Ah, to be young again and have the ability to move fast without the knees hurting.  Still heading downhill to the Tahoma River met a large group and spoke with them for a bit.  There were several women and one guy who had his wife with him, so I teased him a bit about  being the only man of the group.

The trail heading downhill now got bushy, rocky and muddy so again took my time walking through it all.  I finally came another suspension bridge this one higher and longer than the Carbon River one.  I walked across it and had taken pictures before crossing and it was cool to see how the river flowed from up above.  After making it across the river the trail sign said I still had 2.9 miles to camp.  Again, I set another goal of 2 hours to make it 3 miles and was hoping to get to camp by 1900.  I stopped for a break, took off jacket that I had put on coming down the ridge and hit the trail.  The 1.8 miles to Indian Henry's was all uphill and very steep.  It wore me out and at this point just wanted to get to camp and out of my boots!  About an hour later I arrived at Indian Henry's Hunting Ground and it was very beautiful so took some pictures.

 

Suspension bridge over Tahoma River

 

 Tahoma River

Indian Henry's Hunting Ground

 

Ranger Patrol Hut

 

Indian Henry's

The trail sign posted Devil's Dream about 1.5 miles away.  I had a snack on the move and saw the ranger from the hut there come out and start heading my way on the trail.  He caught me asking me where I was going and he would check my permit there and took off.  He did say the rest of the way was down hill and it was.  I arrived at camp being the last one in at 1915 and got site #2 which is what I wanted per a recommend from a hiker.  Got to the site, set up the tent and unpacked and headed to get water.  Water access here is a bit tricky as the area is dark, damp and very slick with mud.  I wasn't too happy about having to hike up and down a muddy slope to get water, but got water and back to camp.  This camp was dark, damp and the mosquitoes were out in full force, which is the first time they have been a problem on this trip.  I made dinner and got camp bedded down by 0845 and it was dark outside by time I crawled in the tent.

I was tired as all get out after a very long strenuous day, so tried to stretch out and relax and then fell asleep knowing tonight was my last night in a wet tent, at least for a few days.