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.