We were discussing our annual trips with the Castor’s. We all agreed on a backpacking trip out West. We also agreed on seven days on the trail the week after Labor Day. We disagreed on the destination and decided to vote. Damn democracy!
I love the Sierra’s and was anxious for a return trip. I was a little leery of Rainier because hiking there has been compared to walking on the edge of a pie crust, you are either going up or down
Full disclosure: this is the elevation profile of our trip and is not my fault!
Pie crust here we come: either up or down. I was a gracious loser and we set about planning the trip. One bonus of going to Rainier, it’s a national park. Another bonus it’s close to Olympic which is also a national park. We flew into Seattle rented a car and day 2 was spent at Olympic.
#44
The trees were big
The trees were also old. I always thought a slice of an old tree would make for an interesting table. Count the rings and add interesting dates. Whytes get married, Declaration of Independence, you know the really important stuff.
Our first plan was to complete a point to point hike and hire a shuttle. We quickly learned that it takes a long time to get around Rainier even in a car. We decided to hike the Northern Loop since we could start and end at the same place and save an extra day of drive time. Our trip began and ended at Mowich Lake.
Pie Crust Day 1 Mowich Lake, cross Carbon River and camp below Tyee Peak.
It rained on and off most of the day. This is one of the nicer bridges. We had a lot of river crossings and not all bridges are created equal.
The weather pretended to be getting better
This bridge is not as nice but we all made it across. Most of the creeks would have been tough to wade across since the water was really moving.
These are harder than you think. You are looking down to make sure your feet are staying on the log and all you see is the rushing water underneath you. It can be very disorienting.
Almost to camp, we thought the weather was getting better but it rained most of the night.
Day 2: Van Horn falls and camp near Van Horn Creek
Is that blue sky I see? The weather cleared and was nice for the rest of the trip
Beginning the long descent to van Horn Creek
Houston we have a problem, this bridge was a little short and the creek was too fast and deep for wading. Fortunately there was another log bridge nearby.
Leann did not like the next log much better. The top was rounded and the flimsy rail ended half way across. She felt better after giving the bridge a piece of her mind.
Van Horn Falls
The campsites at Rainier are very nice, they are well off the main trail which makes them very private
Day 3 more up and down but we had a flat section through a very nice meadow. This was a day hike with light packs since we were staying 2 nights at the same camp. It’s luxury when you don’t have to back up everything and head to the next camp.
Our first view of Rainier, it was worth waiting for
The Whytes at number 45.
Lenticular cloud or a space ship, your call.
This is the flat part of the day, very nice meadow with great views.
Last view before the descent to camp
Day 4: awesome day in the mountains: goats and glaciers
Ed, Anita and Leann. I can’t imagine how many trail miles we have logged together
Rainier is a very popular place for mountaineers practicing for Denali, I have no interest in climbing to the top
Anita loves goats and just saw her first one of the trip, more to come.
You can see the trail off in the distance more uphill in our future
Wonderland circles Mount Rainier, it’s 93 miles and rated as strenuous.
lava field and Rainier
Lots of goats and kids crossed the trail in front of us, pretty cool
Clampetts come to Rainier, we had crap hanging everywhere
One of the many glaciers on Rainier
This section of trail was elevated. I have no idea how it was formed
The devastation from spring run off is impressive
Mystic Lake
Clampetts Part 2
The composting toilets were a luxury in the wilderness, do your business and look at the mountains. Every once in awhile a helicopter would fly over with a toilet hanging underneath. Imagine the cable broke and you got crushed by a toilet. You would make global news, man killed by falling toilet.
Day 6
Oh boy, another climb
headed into Spray Park
Spray Park
Fall colors were really starting to pop.
Day 7, shower and nice dinner
Before breaking camp we did a quick day hike to Spray Falls, hard to tell but this is the trail
Spray Falls
Since this camp area was closer to a trailhead there were more people at camp. One guy was camped at the trail intersection and was the unofficial greeter to everyone that hiked by. We talked to him for a few minutes, told him where we had been. He told us we looked amazing, I have three witnesses.
Mowich Lake and back to our car
This was the location of our post hike meal, it was amazing, if you are in to roast meats. Yes please.
We decided to vote and rate our favorite backpacking trips in the West. Low score wins. Interesting that Alaska was last, little did we know at the time but Leann and I would be going to Alaska the next year and would return many times. Maybe we just like to be punished. Two of the top 4 are in the Sierra’s, just saying
HAPPY TRAILS, STEVE