Bauers in Seattle

[Jack] We just dropped Chris and Matt off at the airport for their 9:45pm flight back to Iowa. We all had a great time hosting their visit to Seattle (and the mountains around here...) and recommend them as house guests to anyone that might be curious.

[Jack] The final big trip of Chris and Matt's visit was to Mt. St. Helens. A month ago Chris saw that Mt. St. Helens was again being opened to climbers after a 2 year closure. I got online and secured 3 of the 100 reservations for Wednesday, August 16th. Each day they allow 100 people to trek to the top of the volcano.

We headed south to the mountain early on Tuesday and signed in at Jack's General Store (nice name!) and got our actual climbing permits. Then it was off to the volcano.

First stop - the Ape Caves!

This is a cave that was formed when a lava flow came down the side of Mt. Rainier 1,900 years ago. It was discovered relatively recently - in 1947 - by a logger. The lava flowed down the mountainside and much like a stream in winter where ice forms over the top while water flows underneath - the lava solidified on the top while it continued to flow. The tube where the lava was flowing emptied into the countryside below and left a long winding cave.

We arrived at the caves and were just in time for the hourly tour by Sue, one of the National Forest rangers. We were also lucky because we were the only people on the 3:30pm tour. Sue did a great job describing the features of the cave, answering our questions, clearing up our misconceptions, and showing us around. We had two lanterns to light our way and after the 45 minute tour was completed the three of us wandered deeper into the cave.

The levels of past lava rivers were easily seen on the walls - ridges like on a riverbank. And the ceiling was almost closed off in several spots. Here's a picture of Chris and Matt underneath "The Meatball" - a large rock that got stuck in a narrow ceiling area (during a lower level flowing of lava a second ceiling - beneath the original high ceiling - almost formed here). The cave goes for a mile in each direction from the entrance and we had a fun time looking around.

Oh yeah - there are no apes at the Ape Cave. The name comes from the first explorers of the cave in 1950's - a group of boy scouts who called themselves the St. Helens Apes...

We then headed on to Climbers Bivouac to find a campsite for the night.

This is a drive-in campground that has recently been expanded to allow Mt. St. Helen's climbers an overnight location for starting hikes up to the top of the volcano. Our campsite had a couple spots for our tents, plenty of dry wood for our fire circle, and all the comforts of home. Well, almost. There was no water. But we had bought a couple gallon jugs of water at the Cougar General Store - so we were set.

After taking a hike up to the treeline (about two miles from camp) to check out the following day's route, we returned to the comforts of camp. Matt wrote a postcard to his girlfriend Bethany using his headlamp (check out the speed of that pen!) and we relaxed in anticipation of a big day.

We decided to leave around 9am since the previous day the clouds had broken up early in the afternoon. The morning was socked in - the afternoon was beautiful blue skies.

On the morning of the climb we woke to fog. Actually we woke to the inside of a cloud. It was misting slightly and cool. Visibility was very limited. We packed up the wet tents and threw them into the car along with the rest of our stuff. Then we hit the trail.

The first two miles was familiar - we had walked up there the previous night. That took us from 3700 feet in altitude to about 4800 feet.

Then it got rough. The trail - no, "trail" isn't the right word - the route went up steeply with a few standing wooden posts to guide us along the route. We followed them in the fog and climbed over large rocks that covered the volcano's side. This was tough and dangerous work. The rocks were sharp and rough. The clouds and mist kept us cool as we climbed. We followed footprints in the volcanic ash - but sometimes they either followed a bad path or just disappeared in the rockfield. We continued to climb from one pole to the next and eventually, around 6500 feet in altitude, we reached the top of the clouds and broke through to sunshine.

Then, instead of cool and wet it became warm and sunny. We continued to follow the rocks and sometimes it seemed like the poles were directly overhead - the climb was that steep.

Finally, the rocks gave way to volcanic ash. And it got even tougher to climb. The ash was thick and the trail went straight up the mountainside. No switchbacks. No easing of the climb. Straight up. With each step we would slide back half a step. The air was thin, the sun was hot, the ash was blowing around. It was tough. High above us the other climbers were in a line heading to the top and we could see some very tiny people standing at the top. When we got up there, it turned out surprisingly that they were full sized people!















We climbed on and eventually joined the crowd at the rim - about 8100 feet.

Around us we could see Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Hood standing up through the clouds like islands in a huge white ocean. Inside the volcano was a huge lava dome that has been building up for several months. We sat with our feet dangling over the edge and watched as rocks fell down off the dome.

At one point a huge rockfall started on our side of the dome and continued for a couple minutes. It also sent up huge plume of smoke - just like a volcano!

We broke out the summer sausage, cheese and crackers (thanks Matt for carrying this 5 pounds of food!) and gorged ourselves until we could eat no more. All the while the volcano continued to rumble and shake below our feet.

Eventually, after about an hour, we headed down the mountain.

The first part of the trip down through the ash was easy - we almost slide down the moutainside as the ash was very easy to walk on and we made fast progress (though the blowing ash was a bit of a drag...). Then we hit the rocks. As tough as they were to go up - it was twice as tricky going down. We climbed over the rocks carefully and eventually reached the top of the clouds again. Down into the fog we went and the rocks continued to lay below us - only now slippery from the mists. We followed the poles and eventually reached the edge of the forest again. All safe and sound.

Through the woods and back to the car where we piled in and headed to Jack's General Store for some ice cream.

[chris] We covered a lot of ground this past weekend on the Olympic Peninsula but it wasn't much of a problem hauling the packs around since we had a nice $400 Celica to do all the carrying. We started off early saturday catching the 7:10 ferry and swinging by Linc and Donna's for another round of fresh blue berry pancakes. They were just as good as the first time and we even had the mother deer and fawn walk by the window as we were eating.

Next we headed toards Hurricane Ridge. It was a long road with a bunch of switch backs but eventually we got to the top of the ridge and visitors center. We had another perfectly clear day for a nice view of Mt. Olympus and a lot of the Olympic National Park. Matt and I took a short hike up to the peak of a near-by ridge and then we started back down the mountain.

Next we headed towards the Pacific Beach. It was a very scenic drive as we went by Lake Crescent with the road winding along the banks of the lake for approximatly 10 miles.

We stopped by the first national park campground we ran into and luckily found one of the last vacant campsites right before the campground full sign was hung. We set our tents up and headed towards the beach. There was a really weird cloudy haze that hung over the beach like a thick fog but only 1000 feet from the beach it was blue skys and sunny.

It was a rocky beach that had some towering cliffs off in the distance. The beach was also lined with huge driftwood trees and thick pine forests. After a short hike down the beach during high tide we decided to head back to town for dinner.

We had some excellent Mexican food and then headed back to the beach to see if we could catch the sunset. No such luck as the sun was bright up until about 1000 feet from the beach but the beach was covered by a thick fog out over the ocean. We spent an hour or so sitting on the huge logs then headed back to camp with our $3.00 firewood.

We hit up the nightly ranger presentation on the tidal zone and made plans to venture down the coast and catch the low tide the next morning to see everything we learned about.

I wasn't very hopeful of seeing all the creatures that we learned about the night before when we set out for the beach in the morning. However, we found almost every creature that Jen, the ranger, talked about the night before. There were Star Fish everywhere and we hunted around the rocky shore for hours looking at all of the creatures that we learned about the night before. Matt had some fun catching some small fish and feeding them to the sea urchins.














Once the tide started comming in we decided to move on and head down the peninsula to the rain forest. As we drove into the rainforest you quicly noticed the huge trees and thick undergrowth. We bought some subway sandwiches and took a short hike through the rain forest and had lunch on the banks of the Hoh River.

After our hike through the rainforest we started heading towards home. Jack had a little restaurant in mind for dinner on the way. We decided to swing by Port Townsend on the way to see this historic village on the northeast tip of the olympic peninsula. Many of the buildings had been restored to their original turn of the century looks. We took a short stroll down the mainstreet and a driving tour of some of the old mansions up on the ridge and headed to Fat Smitty's.

It was a fun little restaurant with dollar bills plastered all over the walls and ceiling from past guests. Matt and I both ordered the Fat Smitty's special which ended up being two large hamburger patties, bacon, cheese, and 3 buns with everything on them. They were very good.

We then hit the sunday night rush hour on the ferry and had to wait a little over an hour in line on the side of the highway before we could make it back to the mainland and head home.



Tomorrow we're off to Mt. St. Helens. I think we've all been looking forward to this hike since we were able to get our reservations over a month ago. We're planning to swing by Mt. Rainier on our way and hit some of the Mt. St. Helens visitors center along with Ape Cave tomorrow. We will then set out early wednesday morning to climb to the top from the south and hopefully make it down in time to visit the north side of the mountain wednesday afternoon.

We will try to get a post up late wednesday night or thursday morning when we get back.

[Matt] Friday Jack took us around Seattle to see the sights. We stopped at the famous Seattle landmark of the troll under the bridge. After that we went down to the lock and dam with the salmon ladder. It was neat to watch the salmon swim up the ladder and we also got to see several boats go through the locks. We hit up the little museum about the locks and had a pretty laid back day.











Sat. we took off to the Olympic coast to do some more sight seeing and maybe some hiking. We didnt expect to be able to find a camp site but took our camping stuff just in case. Once we arived we did end up finding a site so then could relax and take our time seeing the views. I had thought we were going to do some hiking once we got to the beach but it seemed again all Jack wanted to do was sit around on drift wood and watch the waves or do cross words. Later that night we went to the ranger talk because a cute ranger girl came around to our camp site and told us about it. It was kinda interesting but I am not much for sitting around and listening to people talk. Reminds me too much of school. Anyhow the next day we hiked like a mile and a half to a beach where we could see all the creatures and things that the ranger talked about.

[Jack] We got an early Saturday morning start to this trip and caught the first ferry over to the other side of Puget Sound. Linc and Donna, uncle and aunt to Chris and Matt, had invited us to breakfast of pancakes and freshly picked blueberries and we certainly didn't want to miss that!

As Chris and Matt have described, their house is beautiful and overlooks Point No Point on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A deer and her fawn wandered just outside the dining room window as we arrived. And a plethora of birds were constantly at the nearby feeder (along with 3 little douglas squirrels picking up the sunflower seeds that the birds tossed their way.

Breakfast was as delicious as we had imagined and it got the day off to a fantastic start. Thanks Linc and Donna!

We eventually pushed out chairs back from the table and headed west to the Peninsula. Crossing the floating bridge that connects Kitsap Peninusla with the Olympic Peninsula was fun for the young engineers.

We headed directly to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. It's a scenic drive up the mountainside to an overlook with views into the center of the park. The weather was perfect and the vistas from up on top was as great as we expected. Chris and Matt rambled off on a short hike up to another small knob and I re-sorted the car (we had thrown everything in this morning as we stumbled around in the early morning light...).

From Hurricane Ridge we headed further west on Highway 101. Next destination the beautiful Crescent Lake (not to be confused with the Crescent Lake we hiked cross country to on the Northern Loop Expedition earlier in the week...). We bought some Subway sandwiches in Pt. Angeles (Chris was surprised that a "cheddar loaf" wasn't one of the bread selections...) and stopped at a picnic area for lunch. Kids were swimming at the small beach and a water skier was cruising across the water.

Then it was off in the car again to drive along the south shore of the lake (sometimes just a few feet from the water). This, to me, is one of the most beautiful stretches of highway in all of Washington. The lake is a deep blue and the surrounding mountainsides covered with green trees is spectacular.

We eventually found our way to the Mora Campground on the beach at the Pacific Ocean. I didn't have much hope of finding a campsite on a Saturday afternoon - but we got lucky and there were 3 empty spots to choose from (out of about 100 total). We grabbed space C49 and set up our two little tents amid the RVs and large family tenting estates. After we got the tents up, it was time to head for the beach.

Just a mile down the road is the Pacific Ocean - Rialta Beach. What a difference that mile makes! We had been basking in beautiful blue skies and warm sunshine all day. The campsite was the same. The ocean beach was very, very different. Cloudy. Cool. Breezy. It was like a gray curtain was pulled down just before the beach.

It was high tide and we wandered up the beach and looked at the huge logs that had been tossed up, the bits of driftwood, the many smooth rocks, and the birds flying about. After an hour or so of this, we jumped back in the car to head back to camp and then off to Forks (the closest town) for dinner. As we left the beach the eerie clouds disapated and we were back in sunshine at our campsite. Weird...

We headed to Forks and on arrival noticed some signs along the side of the road leading into this small lumber town announcing the "City Faire". We stopped at this bit of local color and found it a bit disappointing. A few stands selling geegaws, two food booths that didn't really look too appetizing (or healthy), and a blue grass band (which was kinda fun) was the sum total. A fifteen minute circle of the small park and we were back in the car looking for some Mexican food for dinner. We found it and it was delicious.

Back at the campsite (after driving around to find a bundle of firewood) we took in the nightly educational program at the camp. It was an introduction to intertidal zones (the area between high tide and low that is open to discovery during low tide). We learned about barnacles, sea stars (NOT starfish!), urchins, hermit crabs, and other sea creatures. With a low tide the following morning at 10:00am, it was all good information.

We shuffled back through the dark to the tents and had a restful night (though a bit noisier than we're used to in the wilds of the Northern Loop...).

Early the next morning we struck camp and were one of the first cars leaving. We headed over to nearby La Push (a town on the Indian reservation) and after a quick circuit of the tiny village headed to the trail head for "Third Beach". Orange juice and cinnamon rolls was the breakfast menu in the car at the trailhead and we soon headed off down the green trail to the beach. Of course, as we neared the ocean, it got cloudy...

Third Beach was a good destination as there are many tidepools where the intertidal sea creatures could be viewed. We saw them all. Sea stars (NOT starfish!), urchins, shrimp, fish, crabs, etc.

After climbing rocks, viewing the wildlife and generally having a fine time for a couple hours at the foggy gray beach, we headed back to the car. Just a thousand feet or so up the trail we were walking with sunny blue skies over our heads.

Our next destination was the Hoh River Rainforest - another part of the Olympic National Park. This would be the third very distinct part of the park that we had visited - Alpine (Hurricane Ridge), Beach (Rialta Beach), and now Forest (Hoh River Rainforest). The rainforest included a mile long hike that had a comfortable bench overlookint the Hoh River for our lunch (Subway sandwiches again - they are the choice of lazy hikers everywhere...).

The HUGE trees, lush green mosses and plantlife in the rainforest made this a very nice walk. Maybe a few too many tourists - but I guess we couldn't really complain on that point since we were part of that problem...

Then it was back in the car for the long drive back over the same route home. Crescent Lake was just as beautiful as ever. A side trip to Port Townsend gave us a chance to walk along the historic main street (this was a boomtown in the 1890s when it was assumed the railroad from California would end here - instead the railroad chose to go up the east side of Puget Sound and terminate in Seattle - Seattle boomed and Port Townsend busted). Many of the old mansions and historic buildings have been (or are being) remodeled to their 1890s splendor. It's a very nice stop.

After this jaunt, we headed back to Highway 101 for dinner at Fat Smitty's. This grease pit is a traditional stop for hikers on the Olympic Peninsula on their way home. The walls and ceiling are covered with dollar bills that people have pinned up with messages written on them. The general decor is full of signs to "Support our troops" and also a lot of pro-lumber ("Are you an environmentalist or do you work for a living?" and "Hug a lumberjack and you'll never hug a tree again").

The burgers are legendary. Oh, did I also mention huge? Two (count 'em - 2!) 1/3 pound beef patties on a triple decker bun arrangement along with lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, cheese, and bacon. When the Smitty Burgers arrived at the table they were about 5 inches tall! Chris and Matt gave them two thumbs up!

We waddled back to the car and had an uneventful (other than the one hour line to get on the ferry) journey across the Sound and back home.

[Matt] Chris did a good job of summarizing the trip so I am just going to throw in some comments and a few thoughts. The trip started out great with nice weather and everyone ready to go. I then quick realized that I was in for a lot more than what I had bargained for. It was about this point that I realized all the up and down we were going to be doing on the trip were going up the side of a mountain and then down the other side then find another mountain in our path to go over again. The first two days were filled with wonderful views that made the hiking all worth it.

Then things took a turn for the worse. Jack found out that with my Sprint cell phone I got coverage way out in the middle of no where so I had to keep fighting to get him off the phone. Then to top that off all he wanted to do was lay down and take a nap it seemed like. He had brought a crossword along for the trip and I don't know how many times I heard him say he was going to go crawl in his sleeping bag and do the crossword.










Then to top things off the weather took a turn for the worse. We lost all the good views and instead got wet, wet, wet clothes. Then we had a really long day and my pack weighed about 10 pounds more from all the water. This was the day that at one point I let out I was about borderline having fun and Chris and Jack seemed to think that was funny. I made it through the day and at the end got some of my clothes dried off so ended up having a great trip.

All of my photos from this trip are available here


[Jack] I haven't read Chris or Matt's reports - so this is a fresh view and might be redundant. Or it might have a totally different tale to tell - as if we weren't on the same trip at all. If so, sorry about that...

This was my second excursion around the Northern Loop Trail in Mt. Rainier National Park. I made the same trip last year (with stops at different campsites) with 4 friends. It was such a great trip that when Chris, Matt, and I were unable to get lucky in the lottery for Wonderland Trail campsites (that's a 100 mile hike entirely around Mt. Rainier) I thought this would be a perfect replacement hike.

Monday and Tuesday were beautiful in the weather department. Sunny and warm (70s) during the day and warm (50s) at night. Wednesday and Thursday turned wet (as it often does at Mt. Rainier - the mountain grabs clouds and "makes its own weather") and we struggled a bit with plodding on through the moisture.

We left the Sunrise Visitor Center relatively early on Monday (around 9:30 I think) after stopping for a robust breakfast in Enumclaw on the way and another stop at the White River Ranger Station to get our permit. The sun made the mountain a bright beacon to our left as we headed to our first destination - Frozen Lake - just west of the visitor center. We met few hikers this early on a Monday morning - the tourists hadn't arrived yet - and the hiking was fun (with a few concerns about how winded we were just heading up the trail behind the Sunrise restaurant).

At Frozen Lake we met a volunteer out on his first day of duty patroling the trails and helping tourists identify marmots and lupines. Frozen Lake wasn't frozen at all - but there was a snow field on the far side still waiting to melt away in the summer sun. This lake is the source of water for the visitor center just below and our volunteer got his first day started off with a bang when he spotted a tourist sitting well inside the wire fence with the "DO NOT ENTER" sign...

We continued on to the west over rolling hills usually dropping in altitude (something we didn't really notice until the last day when we had to trudge back up the slopes...) until we met the fork in the trail. Left went to Mystic Lake (where we would be 3 nights later) and right was our Northern Loop Trail. We took the right fork and just along there we noticed a young marmot peeking out from between rocks on the trail. Then we spied a second. And a third. Uphill was mama marmot. A nice start to the trip!













This was probably the most beautiful section of the trail. Wildflowers everywhere. We took our time (mostly due to my constant requests to stop for pictures) and really enjoyed the walk down along the rolling brook covered with flowers. The trail winds around along the stream for a couple miles and eventually we had a short climb (though at the time it didn't feel that short...) to one of the more remarkable places in the park - Grand Park.

This is a valley that at some time in the distant past was filled with lava. It's completely flat and a couple miles long. In a world that is all up and down - this flatness looks very strange. We threw down our packs in the shade of a tree and took one of our lunchtime breaks. Beef jerky, trail mix, candy bars and power bars were pulled from the packs. Matt checked for cellphone and GPS reception - see picture - and Chris and I gave helpful comments from the shade - "maybe if you held it up a little higher it would be closer to the satellite..."

An hour of lazying in the sun rejuvenated us for the trail ahead.

Our first night's destination was the Fire Creek Campsite about 1.5 miles from Grand Park. The trail had a couple of spectacular viewpoints back up the trail that we had taken (see photo below - Chris and Matt are pointing to our earlier location at the far end of the valley) and also of the deep valley that we would cross on Tuesday morning. About a quarter mile down the trail I realized that something was missing. My hiking stick! I left my pack (Chris and Matt nobly offered to watch it - they didn't mention walking back UP the trail to our lunch spot at Grand Park) and went back for the stick. Mission accomplished, we continued on.

Fire Creek Camp is about .4 mile off the trail. All downhill (which we noticed the next morning). It's a relatively dark camp with three individual sites (all were filled that night) and a group site. We were the last party to arrive and we took site #3 furthest down in the valley. It's typical of Mt. Rainier campsites - away from the trail in the trees, water close by, and a bit dark due to all the towering Douglas Fir and cedars.

On arriving at camp (around 4pm) Chris and Matt had immediately cooked their dinners and we spent the rest of the evening waiting for the sun to go down. I was a bit more patient with my dinner - but I still had a couple hours until sundown (8:30pm) when I wrapped up dinner (noodles with a can of chicken - it was the heaviest (by 4 ounces!) of my three dinner choices, so the logical first night menu...).

We sat around waiting for it to get dark.

It really takes a long time in the woods to get dark when your watch says 7:10 and sundown in more than an hour away.

A really long time.

We had a deer come and visit for about 20 minutes. It wandered around eating about 50 feet from our campsite as we watched. It seemed to be plagued by bugs - constantly shaking ears, tail and hind legs. We were slightly more comfortable as there were some mosquitoes, but not really too many. We did get the deet out to keep them away and it was the only time on the trip that we needed the insect repellant.

Then we waited some more for it to get dark.

Eventually, around 7:45 or so, we gave up and crawled in our sleeping bags even though the sun was still shining high in the branches of the Douglas Firs.

The next morning Chris said that he slept pretty well for the first 8 hours - but not so good after than (another 4 hours or so...). It was also a long night in my tent.

We headed down the mountainside on Tuesday morning with our destination for the day about 8 miles away - Yellowstone Cliffs Camp. It was nice to stretch our legs on the descent and we hit the bottom of the hill at our first river crossing - the West Fork of the White River. It was definitely white - full of "rock flour" from the Winthrop Glacier (which we would walk along on Thursday). The glaciers grind up the rocks underneath their massive weight and the result is a white water that is death to water filters. We crossed the log bridge with no problems and a short distance further stopped beside a beautiful waterfall (non-glacial water). It was a good chance to throw down the packs and relax for a few minutes. Matt and Chris investigated the waterfall and I pumped water from the clear stream (all the water on our trip had to be pumped through water purifiers to remove nasty bacteria or protozoa or something equally unsavory).

The climb up from the West Fork of the White River was long with plenty of switchbacks in the thick forest. We eventually reached the top and a short distance further we found Lake James - another good spot to sit and rest. But not too long. Ahead was another big climb and (for me) the most spectacular scenery on the trail - Windy Pass and the Yellowstone Cliffs.

We climbed up to Windy Pass and this was probably the toughest climbing we did up to this point in the trip (actually every climb up a mountainside seemed to be the "toughest climbing we did up to this point in the trip"!). The climb ends with a series of log steps to the pass high above. Eventually we drug ourselves up there and collapsed in the shade of a few bedraggled trees at the pass. We took an extended stop here and Matt discovered that his cellphone could get a bit of coverage (not quite digital and definitely roaming). We used it to call a few family members to say hello from on top of a mountain pass.

This was an area that bears are often spotted (last year on this hike we spotted several) but this year we didn't see any. That was about the only disappointment on this hike.

After getting back to feeling human (that hike up to the pass is a killer) we headed along the trail towards our evening destination. But along the way I pointed out a thin line on a rockslide on the south side of the valley (the Northern Loop Trail goes along the north side of the valley). I had noticed it last year when I was up here hiking and wanted to see where it went. Chris and Matt were game, so off we headed cross country to see where that thin line lead. We eventually managed to find a faint trail - maybe more deer and goat than human - and found the rockslide area that we had looked at from across the valley. We crossed it and immediately lost the trail, but discovered a lake. Crescent Lake.

From above the lake was beautiful in the afternoon sun. We decided to head down there and possibly spend the night there instead of at our assigned campsite. We wandered around the lake looking for a flat sandy place to hike (the mountain plant life is too fragile to just throw a tent on top of it...) and eventually found just the spot at the west end of the lake. We dropped our packs and did what we traditionally did after taking off the packs - drank some water and fell exhausted to the ground.

After a while Matt headed off to explore and we heard his shout from far up on the mountainside. Chris and I thought that looked interesting - so we headed up there too. When we met Matt he said he had been face to face with a mountain goat - about 15 feet apart. We kept our eyes peeled for goats (and had an explanation for all the white fur we found attached to branches down below...) and headed on uphill. We climbed (it was easier without the packs, but still a tough workout) and eventually reached a high ridge on Crescent Mountain above the lake. We took a timed group photo and headed back down (which was trickier than going up had been). We all arrived back at the lake safely.

When we were up on the ridge we noticed some dark clouds moving in from the west. Very dark clouds. Totally different from the clear blue sky that had been over us for the first two days of the trip. We had a conference and decided it would be best to head on down the trail now and stay at our assigned campsite. We also decided that from the map, a shorter route would be to contour around the mountainside to the far end of the valley. The altitude of the lake (5565) was about the same as the trail on the far side of the valley. So off we went bushwacking around the valley.

It was a Bad Plan. A Very Bad Plan.

What we didn't take into account (and what the map failed to really note) was that there were several streams that cut down the mountainside with very steep cliff-like sides. Very steep. We would bounce along the rocks and trees for a ways and then hit a cliff. Up we would head to find a safe crossing and then off again until the next precipice stopped us. Matt stopped to add some moleskin to his sore feet and lost his pocket knife when he left it behind after the footwork. I didn't stop and ended up with a big broken blister on the middle of my right foot that hobbled me for the rest of the hike.

Eventually (and I mean eventually!) we found the trail that we had left up at Windy Pass. We took a left turn and passed a marmot or two on our way to camp. It had two campsites and the other was filled with a party of three women that also had been at Fire Creek the night before.

We set up our tents, pumped water, and cooked up dinner. We again waited for it to get dark - but gave up and headed for the sleeping bags while it was still light out...

It rained all night. Not much more than a drizzle - but constant.

We woke in the morning and prepared breakfast. Somehow I lost my Grapenuts (thinking back about it while walking along the trail I decided I might have left the ziplock sandwich bag with the Grapenuts, sugar, and powdered milk next to the stream when I was pumping water for breakfast...) and that became a side-theme of the trip whenever talk turned to breakfast. Being one breakfast short - I survived on a Yogi-ed granola bar from Chris on Thursday morning. ("Yogi-ing" is what hikers call asking people for food along the trail).

We also woke to a wet campsite. My little tent isn't too rain-friendly. It's very light (just 3 pounds) but to get to that lightness it has to cut edges on the rainfly and other protections. While I didn't get wet, I did have my backpack splattered by mud from falling rain (even though it was under the tiny rain cover of the tent) and I found that it's better to sleep towards the head of the tent as the foot of my sleeping bag got moist from touching the tent fabric down at that end.

But in total - things were ok.

We had breakfast (I ate my last bag of Grapenuts...) and headed down the trail. This was to be a very long day. It got even longer as we waded through the wildflowers along the trail - actually they pretty much covered the trail in many places. Our pants were totally soaked from the rainwater on the plants. Fortunately, it was relatively warm (mid 50s probably) and with hiking our pants quickly dried out. But about the time they got dry - another brushy stretch of trail!

It was lightly raining. Constantly lightly raining.

We descended the long drop to the Carbon River. From 5,200 feet down to 2,800 feet of altitude. Switchback after switchback in the dark green forest. Eventually, on my sore foot, we reached the bottom and turned left along the Carbon River. Our destination was the swinging suspension bridge that crosses over to the west side of the glacial white river. When we arrived there we threw down the packs, stuffed some trailmix and candy into ourselves, and Chris and Matt investigated the construction of the bridge. We puttered around there in the rain for a while and then headed up along the river towards the Carbon Glacier.

The water from the glacier is a thick milky brew. Hard to believe that Sylvester Stallone is marketing this water as "Glacial water from Mt. Rainier is the finest drinking water on earth" - http://www.glacianova.com/productSly.html

Whatever.

Our trek up the Carbon Glacier gave us a close look at this massive river of ice. It's covered in a thick layer of rocks (the result of a huge rockfall off Mt. Rainier many decades ago). We walked along the glacier for a couple miles and then left it for the switchbacks of the mountain side. Again. Switchbacks up a mountain side...

Up, up, up to the ridge above Mystic Lake and then down to the lake and past it to the campsites. Seven of them here, along with 2 group sites, and an area for trail workers. All were full by the end of the day. When we pulled in there were several empty sites to choose from and we took the one that actually had sunlight hitting it (the sun had some out occasionally through the day - though the usual experience was a fine mist). We immediately spread all of our clothes, tents, rain flys, etc. on a line in the sun and on top of every available bush and tree branch. The drying process was short lived though as rain again started and we quickly set up the tents to find some shelter.

I crawled into my sleeping bag to facilitate the drying process - not to take a nap. I might have dozed off though. Maybe for like an hour or more. Eventually we got up and into our evening routine - pump water, make dinner, wait for it to get dark, give up on the wait and crawl into the tents when it's still light...

Thursday morning we woke to blue skies. Amazing. We quickly packed up and headed down the trail. A short trip to a stretch of new trail that replaces a washed out section (the people working on the trail had been at Mystic Camp with us the night before) and to the bottom of the Winthrop Glacier. Remember that one? That's the glacier that produced the water for our first river crossing on Tuesday morning.

The blue skies disappeared and the light Northwest mist returned.

The moraine at the foot of the glacier is a wilderness of rocks piled all over the place. A trail weaves through these rocks and we looked up the valley to the massive glacier and some views of Mt. Rainier through the clouds beyond. A large waterfall comes down the mountainside east of the glacier. We rounded the foot of the glacier and then began our last big climb - up to Skyscraper Pass and a couple miles beyond - Sunrise and the car.

The climb was long. And steep. And eventually we arrived at Skyscraper Pass - the highest point on the trip - 6,700 feet. The pass was covered in clouds and we decided not to hike up to the top of nearby Skyscraper Peak for a view of our route from above. Plus it was getting cold. Real cold. The wind was whipping across the pass and we quickly bundled up and headed back to Sunrise.

The trip from Skyscraper Pass to Sunrise was a LOT longer than any of us wanted it to be. I was a bit gimpy with the blistered foot, and we were all tired of carrying wet heavy packs. Plus the curious tourists strolling around in daypacks and tennis shoes didn't boost our mood. One even asked if we had been to Burroughs Mountain (2 hour round trip hike - and us loaded down with our heavy packs...).

As we got closer to Sunrise, it became more and more difficult to see. Not because of exhaustion
but because of the fog. Sunrise was stuck in a cloud and visibility was probably about 20 feet. Thick.

We managed to find the car, get our fresh clothes that we had left there, and change in a convenient restroom. Being in clean clothes and tennis shoes certainly made me feel better - though the tennis shoes hit my sore foot in an entirely new way and led to some short term limping...

We visited the Sunrise Visitor Center with its displays of flora and fauna, history, and mountain lore. Then it was back to the car for the drive home (past about 15 bicyclists climbing the road up to Sunrise!). The fog eventually cleared and we got as far as Enumclaw where we pulled into a McDonalds and devoured 6 double cheeseburgers, a quarter pounder with cheese, two regular fries and a large order of fries, drinks all around and 3 ice creams for desert.

Ahhhhh.... Civilization....