Gayla and I got out of the mountains on Thursday morn and we took some notes and pics along the way. Here are our highlights (or at least what we can remember!)
Day 1
We picked up our permit for the
Wonderland Trail (a 93+ mile trail that goes around Mount Rainer) at the Longmire Ranger Station on Wednesday July 21st. We had called earlier in the morning to tell the ranger we were running late because being the skilled navigators that we were we somehow managed to get caught in the never ending vortex of route 512 that kept us going around in circles for several hours...but that is another story! Anyway, we finally managed to find one of the tallest mountains on the North American continent and happily picked up our permit to begin our adventure. Dan-the-Man ranger explained some of the pitfalls of the trail, mentioned something about snow fields and rock scrambles and other minimal dangers and off we went.
We had a relatively easy day with about 7ish miles of hiking. After climbing out of the Longmire area we decided we would try and count all the flat parts of the trails...I can tell you now that we never went over one hand. We camped at Snow Lake on the first night. This was a beautiful alpine lake that was about a mile of the Wonderland trail (WT). We had a deer in camp that night that was apparently deaf, a small problem with the wind and our first experience with a mountain toilet...a throne like latrine that usually sat high atop the mountain with no walls or covering of any kind.
Day 2
We hiked to Nickel creek on day 2. The hiking generally went something like this on the WT....go up for miles and miles. That's about it! I still can't figure out how they did that :)
That evening a couple of guys came into the camp. They looked like an older father and son. They were harrowed and exhausted and told us some crazy story about trying to do the snow crossing that we were supposed to experience the next day and falling a zillion feet loosing such prized possesions like sleeping pad and spoon. Hmmm, that was weird since Dan-the-Man and several girls we ran into didn't mention anything about falling to our deaths. They ended up back tracking and circumventing the snow area.
Day 3
The next morning a couple of young hikers that were also camping in the area told us they bypassed the snow area all together. They weren't going to have any part of that fun!
So Gayla and I confidently climbed up the mountain ready to take on the challenge.
It was a challenge...let me say first I thought we were off to a pretty good start. The trail climbed up the mountain and we started hitting patchy snow...the kind of snow that covered the trail a bit but still let you see the trail. Well this isn't too bad, I thought. HA! Very quickly the trail disappeared under a compete blanket of snow and we were left to wander following a few scant footsteps and trying to stay on our compass bearing. The area had a very strong gamey smell to it and we later found out that a huge herd of Elk live there. We saw hoof prints and poop but nothing else.
I am not going to bore you with the gory details of the day but here are a few things we learned about ourselves that day:
we are both scared of dying or at least getting all mangled up
my steri pen does not like icy cold water
my new favorite piece of gear is a stick I found lying in the woods
I have nothing nice to say about little red flags
Suffice to say it was an incredibly long day and we arrived at Summerland campsite sometime around 8:30 that evening. Do you know what they say about simple pleasures? That day/night was all about the simple pleasures! The Summerland campsite was awe inspiring. An alpine site that sat on the side of this cliff that looked out over miles of snow capped peaks and valleys. We saw our first bear. We set the tent up inside a historic shelter. We did our business in an outhouse that had walls! We had a full moon that danced for us. We both slept the night through without so much as toss or a turn. It was a beautiful thing.
Day 4
We took off Saturday morning heading down and then up (go figure) to our resupply point at Sunrise. We passed a large group of mountaineers heading up to do several ascents of the mountain and stopped and chatted for a bit. It's with a really heavy heart that we believe it was one of these folks from the
Washington Alpine Club that fell to his death this past Tuesday on the mountain. Our prayers go out to his family and friends.
We had lunch at White River campground where we had our first encounter with some trail fairies. A couple of women sat down next to us and proceeded to feed us...that's right, feed us fresh vegetables. I realize now that I probably didn't have the best of manners when I was shoving those 6 tomatoes in my mouth but what can I say :0 Gayla and I both happily ate the tomatoes and the whole carrot they gave us. We had a lovely lunch, a nice chat, a good bathroom and off we went. We climbed up (are ya' getting the theme here?), to Sunrise and picked up our resupply bucket and then had ice cream at the store. I bought a cheeseburger that I wrapped up for dinner and would have bought a Mount Rainier beer also but the 5.50 price tag was a bit much for that Budweiser type brew.We camped at Sunrise that night and there began our mosquito misery. Kind of like the mosquito switch had been hit because we battled those blood suckers pretty much the rest of the trip. We quickly ate dinner and jumped into the tent.
Day 5
We hiked through a very popular area that day because of it's proximity to the trail head and the sheer beauty of the place. The WT along with several other popular trails wound it's way through this valley surrounded by snow capped peaks and lovely streams/waterfalls and green pastures. It was incredible.
We had an animal hat trick there...a bear sighting, a mountain goat herd sighting and a ton of marmot sightings. We also ran into a couple of other WT hikers who put the fear of god in us about an upcoming scree field and also more snow. Great!
A pretty interesting occurrence we kept having was passing WT hikers that were doing the entire trail in the opposite direction of us! I swear we seemed to be the only ones that hiked the trail counter clockwise. We later asked the ranger who said that although everyone actually does hike the trail in the clock wise direction there is no other reason but that is what people seem to do. Strange...We camped at Dick Creek that evening on the edge of a high bluff that overlooked Carbon Glacier.
Day 6
We saw a cool suspension bridge that day, went up the scree field that was fine, fretted about a mom and her passel of 5 kids that didn't seem aware of how far she was hiking, passed Mowich lake that was gorgeous and Mowich campground that was nasty. Chatted with some other WT hikers and learned about the weird couple that passed us earlier that day that was actually running on the trail (they were doing the whole thing in 3 days!!!). We hiked through an area that was covered in downed trees that we learned had been taken down about 6 years ago in a freak wind storm. We camped that night on the South Mowich River in an old growth forest. We also did some laundry and tried to clean up a bit :)
Day 7
Another day of all ups (I am kidding, sort of...) Had another bear sighting, this time a big cinnamon colored bear. Saw our first snake. Camped at Klapatche Park campsite near a Mom and her 2 boys. We also saw the older Dad and son hikers that had told us about their harrowing snow experience earlier that week. Apparently snow is not their forte since they had just had another harrowing snow experience earlier that day on a small snow field. Klapatche Park campsites sat beside Aurora lake which was very shallow, warm and full of frogs.
Day 8
Day 8 was interesting because we were nearing our end of the WT but because we had chosen to do the trail backwards from every other living WT hiker we saw lots of people just starting their journey. That was pretty cool. We went over another way cool suspension bridge, hiked through a lava/glacier field, saw a pica and camped at Pyramid Creek one of our least favorite campsites. Last bittersweet night!
It was just a short 3 mile hike out the next day and we wrapped up our 95+ mile Wonderland Trail journey around 9:30 am. We climbed a total of
22,000 feet and I am sure descended a similar amount although it didn't feel like it! I am incredibly proud of my friend Gayla for stretching herself, trusting me with her very first backpacking adventure and giving me company, counsel, stories and meaningful relationship throughout the experience.
My backpacking journeys are really about seeking. I seek a spiritual connection. I seek ways to be a better Mom, wife, daughter. At this point in my life I seek meaningful relationships. I seek simple pleasures. All of these things I find when I wander in the woods. I am drawn to it in no other way than simply I just am...
We see all the time that life is precious and quick to change. Right now, right here, I am extremely grateful to breathe it all in.
later, rob
