Wonderland Trail Day 5: Mowich Lake to Golden Lakes

Aug 13
Mileage: 10.2 miles
Mowich Lake: 4900 ft
Golden Lakes: 5130 ft

I woke up at 0600 and it was still raining and its interesting how you adapt out here going to bed at dusk and waking up at the first crack of dawn.  I rolled over and went back to sleep for a little bit and finally got up as I knew I had a long day with a heavy pack full of resupply. 

I had 2 guys next to me car camping and said they were heading to Oregon to fish and another guy on the other side heading CW.  It had finally stopped raining and the skies cleared out a bit.  I went to get water at the lake and as I was pulling out my water filter my bottle adapter went flying in a part of the creek off the lake, filled up the bottle and bladder and went to get my hiking pole to fish it out and did that with no difficulty.

 

Mowich Lake

I had breakfast and starting packing up hoping to get out of camp by 0830-0900 and it was very nice to have a picnic table there even wet for packing and eating.  I was almost packed sans the tent and what do you know, the skies cleared and the sun came out!  I ran over to it, just to feel it and felt better. Funny how a little sun can change your attitude and disposition!   Ran back over to the tent and grabbed it to put in the sun to dry out.  It stayed out for about 45 minutes until the fog rolled back in, so one of the car camping guys came over to talk some more and I asked him if he had a spare tent stake, he did and gave me one.  I was very grateful and offered him a few bucks but he declined.

I finally left camp very late at 1015 much later than I wanted to, but I got a chance to dry some stuff out and figured it was a good trade.  Headed downhill with the rain gear on and I have to admit this pack was heavy as I had 5 days of food in it.  I ran into some thru-hikers and we chatted about the trail and the rain.  Most of them were going via Seattle Park.

 

 WLT heading down to river

 

Banana Slug enjoying the trail

I got down by the river and was overheating, so stopped to take off the rain gear.  I was a little anxious about crossing both Mowich Rivers as they tend to run high and take out the bridges.  I got across the North Mowich River safely and you cannot get complacent during a crossing because if you fall in, you're done!

 

North Mowich River

I stopped at South Mowich River campground at the group shelter to have a snack when reflecting back on this should have broke out the stove and ate lunch.  A ranger named Paul showed up, looked at my permit and we ended up eating together.  He was heading up to Golden Lakes as well.  We talked about being a ranger and I asked him what the ranger GS pay grade scale was.  He told GS-5-7 and that made me hack some.  Wow, I would have thought higher for all that they do out there.  I realized an hour went by and jumped up to get going.  As I was leaving camp a fog rolled in and it started to drizzle.

 

South Mowich River

Back on the track to cross the South Mowich and stopped to put on the rain gear again.  I made it across and started up the hill to Golden Lakes.  This climb is insane with something like 32 switchbacks on it.  The climb itself is gradual but the switchbacks are very long.  It seemed like I was hiking from one end of the hill to the other.  I ran into a few hikers coming down but really didn't see many people today.

I stopped to take off the rain pants as I was overheating again but left on the jacket.  I finally made it to the ridge and the sun was out!  Wow!!!  I knew I had about 2 miles to camp and the ridge was flat to rolling and I was walking as fast as I could to make camp to let the sun dry the tent.  Sunset Park was beautiful with small lakes and I was hoping site #4 was still available, but knew it probably wasn't since it was getting late.

 

Ridge looking west

 

 Sunset Park

I arrived at the ranger hut in front of the lake and campsite at 1830 and I kid you not, it starts to thunder.  I found site #4 occupied along with #5, so headed back to look for a spot when it starts to downpour and the temperature starts to plummet.  I found #1 & #2 vacant about the time the skies opened up and let loose.  I found a tree at site #1 to huddle under, got the rain pants on and pretty much lost it at this point.  Then it starts to hail!  Site #1 was starting to flood since it was downhill of everything else, so I ran to site 2 to dig a trench where the previous tenant had the night before and I started going off. I'm sure my site neighbors heard me just a cussing and probably thought a sailor was moving in next door!  At one point I screamed at the sky, "Is that all you got?"  and "Can I just get an hour to dry out?"  You can add in the F-bombs on your own.

I got the tent up and noticed again the symptoms of hypothermia coming on and I was freezing cold.  I had a decision to make, get water, eat and settle camp for the night or get in the tent and get warm. Looking at my options here, site #2 had very little tree cover so to try and stand outside to cook was going to be hard.  Additionally, I needed water so a trip to the lake during a torrential rain storm was out.  I didn't want to cook and eat in the tent as I didn't need a bruin visit during the night, so I crawled in my sleeping bag with layers on trying to get warm.  Once in the tent,  it took me a couple of hours to get warm and debated whether this was the right decision.  I went to sleep on an empty stomach and along with being dehydrated it really soured my mood.  The thought of quiting at this point dominated my thoughts as I drifted off to sleep with the rain and wind beating against my tent.

 

The view from site #4 the next day

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)