Wonderland Trail Day 4-Carbon River to Mowich Lake Walk-in

Aug 12
Mileage: 10.4 miles with trail detour
Carbon River: 3195 ft
Mowich Lake: 4900 ft

I didn't sleep well again but somehow didn't hear the alarm go off at 0500.  I awoke to heavy rain, I'm guessing the sun goddess didn't want to come out today.  I got dressed, ate breakfast and packed up in the rain.  Funny, the rain will slow down, but boy it sure does know when I'm trying to pack the tent up and it just starts coming down.  I left camp at 0800 and was excited to get to Mowich with my mind made up to move with a purpose today as I wanted to get there between 1400-1600.

The waterfall and river by Carbon River CG

Because of the trail closure just outside of camp, I had to detour back to suspension bridge to cross it again, which I love doing as it gives you a different perspective of the river and its banks.  Headed up the NLT (Northern Loop Trail) for 1.5 miles.  The NLT was pretty flat for the most part I was on it but it did have a few rolling sections.

Met up with 3 guys that were headed to Mystic but stayed somewhere else and decided to head back to their car because of the weather.  We crossed the detour of 3 log bridges across the Carbon River.  They headed uphill to the WLT and took off.  I stopped to pull some layers off as it stopped raining for once.

 One of the 3 log bridges on the detour

I was pretty excited when it dawned on me that I was now on the north side of the mountain instead of east or northeast.  The forest was thick and at times almost seemed like a rain forest.  This part of the WLT is really flat and I motored on it!  I made it to the Ipsut Junction in about 2.4 hours, which I thought was pretty good time for 4.4 miles.  This section of the trail had some damage from the 2006 flood.

Carbon River is clogged with felled trees

The sign at the junction said 'Ipsut Pass 3.5 miles and Mowich Lake 5 miles'.  In all fairness, I have to ask how the NPS measures the distances posted on the trail signs?  There were many times I began to wonder if they used a straight ruler on a map as this turned out to be a very long 5 mile hike.

The trail from the junction went up and was gradual and the forest gave way to rain forest fauna.  It was beautiful.  It started raining again but I was under the forest canopy so it didn't bother me that much.
I was beginning to wonder where the pass was as the climb up was getting steeper and the canopy thinned out a lot.

Waterfall along the trail

 

Bushy Trail heading up to Ipsut Pass

 

 

Some cool looking fungi  

I met a young guy who smelled nice and we chatted for a bit.  He was on day 1 and seemed pretty excited.  He was headed to Carbon River so I told him about the trail detour.  He didn't know and I was still surprised that the rangers were not telling people about it. I asked him how far to the pass and he told me about a mile and that I had the really steep part to climb. What!!!  The really steep part and I am on steep trail!!!   About that time, a guy came down the hill with a 2 year old on his shoulders and 3 more very young kids behind him.  He said that the whole family was out here doing the whole WLT!  Wow, very young children out here in this weather humping through the mud!  They were on day 10 and I repeated the detour to him as well.  I offered him money to carry me up to the pass and he replied that he was just about to ask me to carry him a ways!  We all departed laughing...in the pouring down rain.

I came to an opening and the canopy of the forest was gone and all of a sudden it quit raining!!! Could this be it?  No more rain?  Then a small patch of blue sky appeared and I grabbed a picture of it in case I needed it to remember what it looked like.  I still had no view of the mountain, but was happy with no rain.  It was about that time I realized what the really steep part just meant.  It meant almost straight up and this part of the trail is rocky and very bushy with Devil's Club.  I might add, Devil's Club that was over my head.

This part of the trail is Mt Si on steroids and is literally almost straight up and has lots of switchbacks.  I had to mountain goat up that and it was slow going.  I noticed the fog was moving back in and knew what that meant...yup more rain and it dumped down on me unlike anything I had gone through so far.

 Trail on the Ipsut Pass; looking back down

As I got closer to the top, I noticed that I was starting to get wet underneath my Gortex jacket and was wondering how water was getting in.  My biggest worry now was hypothermia as the temp was dropping with the weather and altitude gain.  Finally I made it to the pass and the sign said I had 2 miles to go.  I was almost running just to heat up and get to camp.

Lack of signs around Mowich Lake made it hard to figure out which way to go as there are multiple road access points on the trail.  I made it to camp at 1530 and thought about this; I hiked 4.4 miles in 2 hours and 20 minutes and it took me 5 hours to hike 6 miles!  Wow, that 'really steep part' cost me heaps of time.

I looked around for Dawn but didn't find her so headed for the new toilet which has an overhang to find 4 people huddled under it.  They had finished the NLT & WLT in 12 days and were waiting for a ride.  I quickly got my pack off as I knew I hypothermia was close to setting in as I was a cold,wet and teeth chattering puppy.  I ripped apart my pack to find my other clothes and got them on pronto.

Dawn finally showed up and it seemed really confusing to me as what I needed done, finally deciding to get food and get in the car and turn on the heater!  I needed to get warm, eat and change clothes.  The rest could wait.  It was also still raining very hard, so when it stopped we would jump out of the car to get my pack, set up the tent or swap out my stuff and when the rain returned we would race back to the car and turn on the heat.  It was crazy and miserable at the same time.  Also, discovered in my haste to leave my last camp, that I left behind a tent stake, so I improvised with a stick.

 

Me in a race against the rain 

setting up the tent

One advantage of having friends bring in your food cache was she brought me some really fresh good food and drinks.  Our original plan since Mowich has picnic tables was to have picnic and that didn't happen with the rain storms.  I had a Cobb salad, fresh fruit and some baked goods from the wheat-gluten free bakery in Kent for dinner. Yum!

I really wanted to go to  Carbonado so I could dry out with my tent and but my friend had to work the next day, so that plan didn't work out.  I really didn't want to spend another night in a cold wet tent.

Another advantage of having friends come out is bringing out fresh clothes, so got the food swapped out and then the clothes.  After I changed and gave her everything I wanted to get rid off, it was time for her to go.  I remember thinking as I saw her drive off was "why am I still sitting here in the pouring down rain?"  That was a tough moment for me.

The four were still waiting so I went to talk with them for a while.  I fessed up that I had a sat-phone if they needed to call for another ride to let me know.  Another rain storm hit after that with a torrential down pour just as I got in the tent.  One of the women came over to ask to call her mom for a ride.  We got a hold of her mom and her brother was on the way.  It was now 1930 and they had been sitting there since 1330!  One of the guys' wife was supposed to pick them up and hadn't shown up yet.  When the rain stopped, I went back to drink a root beer that Dawn left and talked with them some more.  Finally, I left heading back to my tent and possibly some sleep.  I fell asleep hoping for the sun, some better weather and at 2200 the sound of four people running to a pickup truck.  Their ride had finally arrived after sitting there for 8.5 hours! (Note to any of the four, if you read this leave a comment or email as to what happened to that guy's wife and glad you all finally got picked up)

Wonderland Trail Day 3: Mystic Lake to Carbon River

Aug 11
Mileage: 5 mi
Mystic Lake: 5570 ft
Carbon River: 3195 ft

Guess the ranger was right about the rain starting on Tuesday.  Man, I was really hoping the weather would hold and I awoke to rain beating on my rain-fly at 0630 after another restless night of sleep and weird dreams. It must have been that beef stew I had for dinner.

I thought about getting up but waited to see if the rain would stop and nobody else in camp seemed to be stirring, so they must have had the same idea.  The rain stopped about 0830 and I got up for a loo trip and to get my food from the bear pole since they were both on the other side of camp across the trail.

I wasn't in a big hurry this morning since I had another short day of 5 miles, so I took my time and the sun peaked out so I decided to try and let the tent dry some.  That turned out to be a mistake because about the time some of the last hikers left camp and I started to pack my tent, the rain let loose with a downpour!  Crap, you have to be kidding me!!!  I got the tent packed up and the rain gear on and left camp around 1030 in a rain storm as day 2 of rain was really about to begin.

I headed up the hill to Mystic Lake and it was beautiful even with the rain and fog.  I briefly spoke to 3 guys camped out at the lake which surprised me as I thought you had to camp at the camp sites.  It must have been okay since they were right by the ranger station.

 

Mystic Lake south shore

 

Once on the south end of the lake and passing through a field and bit of a forest the trail headed up hill to Moraine Park.  The wild flowers were out in bloom so the trail uphill was absolutely gorgeous.  The 3 guys at the lake caught up to me at the top and then as suddenly as they appeared one of them headed back downhill.  I never saw them again which surprised me as  I thought they would pass me.  They were hiking to the Northern Loop Trail. 

I made the summit of the hill I was climbing up and there was another trail there but nothing was marked, so I stopped for a snack and updated the POI in the GPS and I knew from looking at the map the night before that it was downhill the rest of the day to the camp and the Carbon River, so I headed that way.  It was about this time playing with the GPS that I realized I had forgot to reset the trip computer at White River and I didn't have the data for just this trip.  Sigh...

Once down on the back side of Old Desolate Mountain there was Moraine Park and again beautiful with all the flowers.  It had also stopped raining for a brief time and I became aware of a weather pattern on the mountain; the rain would clear, maybe a sun break and then the fog would roll back in to bring in more rain.

Trail and wild flowers                                                        Thistle

I ran into 2 guys who were part of a large group heading to Granite Creek and talked with them for a few minutes. One of them was wearing cotton... I have to say it...WTF!...anyone with any sense knows you DO NOT hike in cotton anything!  He was soaking wet from the rain as well, so hope he stayed healthy.   I walked through the park enjoying the visual and scents of the different flowers. Also, it was nice to be on some flat ground as there is not that much of it on this trail.


 Moraine Park

Heading down hill the rain had started again and I ran into another solo hiker from the Norther Loop Trail and guess what, he was in cotton too!  We talked for 10 minutes or so before he stated that he needed to get moving as he was cold!  Well, yeah that happens when you wear wet cotton.  Actually, this day I was surprised on how many hikers I saw with cotton on.  Glad it wasn't me!!!

Downhill I went for probably 3 miles or so it seemed and mostly in the rain.  I was going CCW (counter-clock wise) and those coming CW (clock-wise) I felt sorry for them.  Most of them were bending over from the climb up and most of them called this the "death hike" and was wondering when it would end.

Some of the trail was extremely rocky and slick from the rain, so it slowed me down as that type of trail just kills my knees and feet.  I'm also one not to rush to camp because once you set up and eat there is really not much else to do.

                                                                   

Once I passed Dick's Camp there was a trail detour because of a landslide.  The fog was rolling in and out so I catching glimpses of  the Carbon River and glacier.  The fog stayed out long enough for me to see the river coming out from the glacier and it is pretty cool to see the beginning of a river.

 Beginning of Carbon River from its glacier

                                                                                     

 

Carbon Glacier

Almost at the bottom of the hill, I ran into a couple that had quit their jobs and had met on the AT (Appalachian Trail) and gotten married.  Tina and Eric were very nice and now they were traveling around the US in their car, hiking when they could.  Their web site is footpounder.com

Finally, came to the suspension bridge to cross the Carbon River.  About time the Park Service and the US caught up to the Kiwis.  In New Zealand, most big rivers have suspension bridges, not the log bridges currently on the WLT.  The river was swiftly moving, loud and full of glacier flour, so started across the bridge and since nobody else was around got a few pictures in.

Now the map shows the campground right by the bridge and someone had told me the same thing, uh, no.  It's actually down the trail a 1/2 mile or so.  I arrived in camp at 1530 and I have to say, I did not like this camp at all.  I'm not sure why either.  Maybe it was the fact that the other camps where flat and spread out where Carbon River was narrow and the sites were uphill.  When you come into camp, site #1 is right there with no tree cover so that site was out since it was raining again.  Then the group site is across the trail and looked nice.  Walking further into camp is the bear pole and going straight back was a very treacherous trail to the toilet.  My first though hiking back here, was "Hope I don't get diarrhea and have to run back here"!  Sites 2-4 were UPHILL!!! A very muddy and slick uphill I might add.  I took site #2 and ate lunch and took the tent out to dry it out during rain breaks to no avail.  Getting water required walking back to the stream coming into camp at the junction for Spray Park, so it wasn't exactly convenient.  Since it quit raining for a bit, I went to get water and decided since it was getting late and dark that I would wait a half hour to see if anyone else would show up and if not, move to the group site.  Around 1800, I did just that and moved everything back down the hill and wouldn't you know it as I'm setting up my tent, another down pour.  I have to get better with my timing!

I finished dinner and prepared camp for another wet and cold night.  By time I crawled into the tent, I was still the only one in camp which is weird since the WLT was fully booked for the season.  I had decided since tomorrow was day 4 and I was meeting Dawn for my resupply, I was getting up early and hitting the trail.  I set the alarm for 0500 and again fell into a restless sleep praying for the sun goddess to show her glorious self the next day.