[at-l] WT Journal part 1

[Mark Hudson]

 Wonderland Trail 2006



 7/24: Longmire to Devil's Dream -

Arrived in Seattle for a 95 degree heat wave, then drove to Mt Rainier
National

Park yesterday. Camped at Cougar Rock Campground near Longmire, very hot in
the

afternoon, even in the shade. Weather report calls for gradually lower temps
through the week,

by the weekend things should be close to the normal temp of 75 degrees.

Up early this morning, packed and drove down to Longmire. Had my permit

and got out on the trail shortly after 8 am, trying to get ahead of the
heat. Long, long haul up

Rampart Ridge, no views to speak of, but some nice forest walking. Met an
older couple at the

top of the ridge on their way out, and while chatting with them I was forced
to pull out the bug

dope. Unfortunately I'm a bit low and the store at Longmire was out.

Descended slightly to Kautz Creek and wended my way across. Apparently the

rangers come in each spring and replace the bridges, they're not nearly high
enough to survive

high water. A lot of new treadway after the creek crossing, and more endless
upward

switchbacks, and by now the heat was beginning to kick in. Finally had to
stop and cool off and

get the blood sugar back up.

Arrived at Devil's Dream just before noon. The ranger at Longmire said that
D.D.

Had the worst bugs on the trail and suggested that I spend the afternoon at
the meadow/ranger's

post one mile further up the trail. Quickly pitched camp and fetched water
and was about to head out when another WT hiker came down the trail and said
the bugs were just as bad up

there, so I crawled into the tent for some lunch and some reading.
Eventually I'm going to go

stir crazy and will have to brave the bugs and find something to do.

One other loud group passed by, I don't think they camped here, but I
haven't been

back out of the tent yet. I'm sure I won't be the only one here with all the
permit hoops to jump

through and the limited places to camp.

[Later] Well, crawled into the tent for the afternoon, ate lunch, read,
dozed, and

eventually had to get out and move around. The ranger gave me a really good
tip, Indian Henry's Patrol Station up in the meadow is a beautiful place to
linger. I want to spend a summer

in that cabin, tucked in it's idyllic meadow with Mt Rainier for a backdrop.

I had to run the mosquito gauntlet at Squaw Lakes on the way up, but also
found

a batch of little butterflies along the way. They lie almost invisible along
the trail until you

stir them up, then flutter about your feet like blue confetti. The
wildflowers are out in force

too, but the only ones I can identify are the avalanche lily and the Indian
paintbrush. There was

also a nice breeze up in the meadow, cool even, compared to yesterdays
blow-dryer breeze.

On the way back down I met a backpacker that was supposed to spend the night
here

I don't think he grasped the permit concept. And when I got back I met my
neighbors John and

Cathy from L.A. Nice couple, a bit older than me – we talked trail for a
little as I went for

water. It sounds like we'll be leapfrogging the whole trail.

Meanwhile the mosquitoes are still fierce here, so I'm hiding in the tent
waiting

to do dinner.


 7/25: Klapatche Park -

Some kind of allergies kicked in last night, saved by the Vysine, but it
took a while.

Up early, quite cool, but not cool enough to stop the mosquito feeding
frenzy, they had me

moving out up the trail at 6:10. Back up to Indian Henry's, it was a good
call stopping there

yesterday because the mosquitoes wouldn't let me slow down today. Long drop
through the

forest to Tahoma Creek and it's suspension bridge, quite a piece of work.
There followed the

really long climb to Emerald Ridge which called for morning break. Beautiful
views of the

mountain, wildflowers in full bloom, cool breeze... sweet place to sit
awhile... even saw three

marmots. Descending to the South Pullyap [Note: this is a test that
Washingtonians use to spot

outsiders – it's pronounced "Pea-allop"] I passed a group of four, then a
lone guy that looked

like a ranger, moved like a ranger, and was dressed like a ranger, but had
no ranger badges.

At the trail junction I diverted for a bit to check out Mt Rainiers version
of the Devil's Postpile,

then started the last long climb of the day. Besides seeming endless the
heat was starting to

kick in, so every time the trail broke out of the forest it was way too hot.
Made it to St Andrews

Park and had to stop for lunch to get the blood sugar back up. A beautiful
pond with a nice view

of the mountains, while there I got to chat with a young couple passing by.
Of course right

after leaving the lake I ran out of water, so I couldn't linger long at the
next awesome viewpoint.

Met one more couple here at K.P. On their lunch break. Got some good info on
the trail ahead,

including the Spray Park option to consider.

The best news is that while there are a lot of flies here at K.P. I seem to
have

left the worst of the mosquitoes behind.


 7/26: Golden Lakes -

Jim arrived in the campsite yesterday afternoon, straight from Longmire and
doing

the trail in six days. He was followed by another couple doing the trail
counter-clockwise.

More Vysine last night, whatever it is bothering my eyes it only happens in
the

evening.

Cloud cover blew in last night ruining any sunset pictures, but during the
night it

blew out again and let the stars shine through. Also had a deer in camp last
night, enjoying the

"salt licks".

Left camp about 6:50 this morning and was actually the last one out. Long

switchbacked descent to the North Pullyap, and caught Jim near the bottom.
The two of us

managed to hike together from there to here. Not long after leaving the
river we heard a

chainsaw and then caught up with a Forest Service crew removing blowdown, we
told them

they'd be hitting some interesting stuff on the other side of the river.

Somewhere in there we stirred up some grouse, which explains the clucking I

heard at K.P. yesterday, and then we entered and old burn area where two
couples told us there

was a bear grazing nearby. The trail circled the end of the ridge, and Jim
and I poked about

150 feet off the trail up the ridge and found "him". He wasn't concerned
about us at all, but I

think the picture I took is going to look like a black spot.

Much longer drop than I expected from there to Sunset Park (another
beautiful ranger

cabin), found a beautiful campsite overlooking the valley, and went for a
clean-up swim in the

lake – which is quite warm. Apparently John and Cathy slept in this morning
because I

haven't seen them yet...

Had a mouse scamper past me when I came out from my swim, and there was

a lone duck on the lake when I arrived – a real wildlife day so far!

Even more wildlife, while sitting down by the lake I noticed something
moving

near my foot, a small racer snake out for a swim. Joined by plenty of bugs
and a few frogs.

Then on the way back past the ranger cabin I almost stepped on a grouse hen,
she calmly

walked off the trail while her little ones took flight, and they were just
big enough to fly.

A young man pulled in early in the afternoon coming in from S. Pullyap, a
pretty

good haul. He was followed by John and Cathy.

Surprise, surprise.... there's actually a group in the group campsite
tonight.

Got fried out of my campsite for a while because it's getting the full
afternoon sun. When I

pulled in it was #4 that was getting cooked so I took nice and shady #5 and
told John and Cathy

about #4...

Gotta decision to make in the next couple of days, do I stick to the
Wonderland

Trail or take the Spray Park "cut-off", longer with more climbing and
descending but with

spectacular scenery.? Going to be a tough call.

Another wildlife note: been hearing a bird call that sounds like a cousin of
the

veeries back east, but I'm pretty sure their range doesn't extend this far.

And a side note, I was reading Stacy's CDT journal before I left, especially
about

her 35 mile days, and I feel a bit guilty that today was less than eight
miles.

Wow! More people coming in for the group site! And it was so quiet here all
day....


 7/27: Mowich Lake -

Up early because nature called. Another blue sky sunny morning, celebrated
with

a wake-up dip in the lake and then hit the trail with Andrew.

Long, long drop to the Mowich River through green northwest forest. The
first

appearance of the river lead to fears of a "bridge to nowhere", worse yet
the bridge was on the

wrong side, this was quickly corrected when the view opened to show the
upstream bridge on

our side. The connection between the two bridges was a collection of large
logs which had

washed down the river, not too bad a crossing but the iffiest thing I've hit
on the trail so far -

pretty minor.

Then came the long endless up north of the river. After a break at the
bottom we

needed another break about halfway up. We went on to the last stream
crossing where I felt like

I was running out of steam, but we figured we didn't have that far to go and
we'd be done for the

day at the top.

Not much farther on we hit a sign saying the campground was 0.2 miles, but
it seemed

like it was all vertical distance. Walked out at the trailhead to a couple
cleaning out their cooler

before going hiking; "Would you like a turkey sandwich?" "How about a
hard-boiled egg?"

"Some fresh blueberries?" "A cold beer?" - died and gone to heaven... what a
lunch! Greatly

appreciated.

Andrew managed a swim at the lake, but with some clouds moving through and a


good breeze I could only manage soaking my feet – I did finally wash my
socks though...

John and Cathy pulled in about 2 pm, but they were expecting two mail drops

here and only found one – fortunately the one with all the munchies – then
they managed to

splice some meals together from the hiker box.

Looks like I'm heading for the Spray Park section rather than the W.T.
Proper,

everyone else has a campsite at Cataract Creek while I head to the Carbon
River camp, after

that our schedules get screwy ( I have a four mile day in there) so we may
end up leapfrogging.

 7/28: Cataract Creek Camp -

Pulled into camp yesterday with the outside of my left calf in pain, figured
I

tweaked it on the long morning descent so I borrowed a couple of Tylenol off
of Andrew. Later

on I found a red bite mark on my calf, but I have no idea of what bit me or
when.

Woke up about 5:30 to clouds, thinking they would ruin the Spray Park
detour,

but by 6 am they had completely cleared off to blue skies and sunshine – Day
5 of awesome

weather! I think Jim and Ginny and I might have finally killed the
"Weatherwitch" curse this

year.

Actually cool enough this morning to make tea. Yesterdays raid of the hiker
box

contributed some coconut to my cereal, add in the trail magic blueberries
and breakfast was

pretty good.

Andrew and I got a comparatively late start at 7:40, heading for the Spray
Park

junction. Somehow knowing there was a days climbing in front of us I
expected the trail to

start climbing right away, instead it descended or ran flat for quite a
ways, most of the way

to Spray Falls in fact. In a day of highlights I'm not sure where to put
Spray Falls – I think

they may be the prettiest falls I've ever seen...

>From the falls the serious climbing started, until we broke out at an
awesome view

at the start of Spray Park, where we met a solo woman backpacker from
Seattle and also

stopped for our first break. The views of the mountain and the collection of
wildflowers in

Spray Park were some more highlights, then we traversed some snowfields to
descend into

Seattle Park. Not wanting to leave the high country we took a very long
break in the lee of a

tree island (I didn't mention todays very cool breeze). We finally tore
ourselves loose for the

descent to Cataract Camp, an alpine start to our hike and a forest finish.
Passed the cataract

on the way down, if it was warmer I'd think about heading back for a shower.
I was supposed

to be at the Carbon River Camp but I think I'm going to poach on Andrew's
site here.

Last night we had a marmot for entertainment, right now we have picas

chirping from a nearby rock field, but forget getting a picture! [they're
just TOO fast].

Andrew was taking a good ribbing last nigh because he put in for his permit

ten days before he left, and the available campsites gave him a Sunrise –
White River day, a

grand total of 2.6 miles! Hardly worth packing for...

Meanwhile even more thanks for the nice weather, the privies here are

open to all of nature...

Hikers have been pulling in here all afternoon, I think every site except
the

group site is full. There's one couple that came in from Mowich Lake and is
heading back the

same way to get twice the enjoyment out of Spray Park, they have a good
climb ahead of them

in the morning. And there's two couples here finishing the W.T. tomorrow at
Mowich Lake,

and one of the couples is from East Schodack [conversation arose because he
had a ADK 46-R

patch on his pack – my first hiking club, and East Schodack is the next town
over from where

parents live]

Temp down to 54 degrees before dinner, we can't figure out why we are so
cold,

but five days ago it was 40 degrees warmer – and there's a very chill breeze
here. The morning

temp here will be interesting...