Belated Blogging

We visited the mountain on Presidents Day (yes, I know - almost two weeks ago) and are just getting to the blog now! We had been looking forward to a day that we could almost completely dedicate to time on the mountain, and, as Presidents Day approached, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to spend a good chunk of time hiking and soaking in the beautiful snow and granite. However, plans are good enough, but not set in stone. A couple of things came up and we were left with about a 4 hour chunk of time to be on the mountain. 4 hours is still pretty decent, though, and we were excited to get some serious hiking in - or so we thought.

After our last hike, we left the Wonderland trail at the point at which it passes Cougar Rock campground. The Carter Falls trailhead (part of the Wonderland trail) is in just about the same spot (within a tenth of a mile), so we decided to pick up the trail there. It was spectacularly beautiful as we entered the park that morning - sunshine, glistening mountain, iridescent green trees - and we were excited to spend some time stretching our legs and really getting into the trail. As we got out of the truck the wind hit us in the face. It was COLD. But a little cold wind couldn't stop us from our hike. We put on hats, packed the bag with snacks and cameras, and headed to the trail.

Not even a quarter of a mile into the trail, we approached a river. This is right near the spot where the Nisqually River and the Paradise River join - so it's a sort of delta with several streams all mingling together and apart. The view of the mountain was incredible, as it was catching the full morning sun. We stopped to take some pictures, freezing while we waited for the timer to shoot. We continued onward. As we got closer to the water we saw the footbridge, on its side, twenty feet downriver from the trail. We immediately began looking up and down the river for possible crossing points, and then began walking up and down the banks. There were a couple points over which we could hop from rock to rock, however there was one other rogue element that we didn't anticipate - the frosty river rock. It was about 8:30 in the morning, and the river bed was still in the shadows. All the rocks we were walking on along the river banks were super slick, and the ones in the water were no better. Karina, the daring one of us, made her way across one fork of the river, but couldn't find a way across the other one. I stood on the banks, nervous, holding out my hands to help her back across. Alas, there was no way across!

We hiked back out, hopped in the car and decided to drive up a little further and catch the trail up a ways and hike down. It was about 9:30 at this point, and we were still anxious to get some mileage out of our day. We made our first stop, which happened not to connect to the Wonderland trail (poor navigating on my part), but did give us a nice view of Christine Falls - that is, once we ambled down the slick snowy slope of a trail to the viewpoint. Again, Karina was the daring one, sliding down, whereas I was doing my best to dig in with each step and inched down the trail. The view was fine and dandy, but it wasn't our trail, and we quickly left to go to our intended destination - Narada Falls, which connects with the Wonderland Trail.

After walking for that short bit at Christine Falls, we weren't surprised to see that Narada Falls was pretty snowy, and other hikers preparing for their days had hiking poles, gaters, and some even snowshoes. Our time had diminished significantly and we were not prepared to hike on snowy terrain. With a deep sigh we decided to call it a day and swing through Paradise before heading out, this being our second or third failed attempt at hiking (remember our friend the fox and his interference with our hiking?).

We headed to the visitors center, made our way through the HUGE crowds there to sled, and then found a pullout on our way back down the mountain to stop and take in the views. Karina sketched and I wrote poetry. It was a decent way to end a hike-less day on the mountain.

As we approach spring and summer, we are beginning to anticipate backpacking trips and long days of hiking. Look forward for some planning blogs to come!

**Also - We'll get photos up from this non-hike, and the last hike soon! It's been a hectic month!

Fresh 2010

We FINALLY made it up to the mountain this January - barely! Our new year's resolution is to hike twice a month, or every two weeks. The last time we hiked (though not on Rainier) was just before Christmas at Cascade Head, on the Oregon coast. However, we have done plenty of venturing around Seattle, and we're going to count those in on the resolution. Don't fret, the final constraints of our resolution is as follows: hike twice a month, at least once on Rainier. Wonderland, here we come!

So, in honor of our resolution as well as in search of respite after a challenging week, we headed up to the mountain bright and early Saturday morning. After dropping our good friend Claudia off at the airport at 7am, we headed straight to the mountain, stopping only briefly for some espresso. Once we entered Mt. Rainier National park we decided to drive all the way up to Paradise to see what we could see, and play in the visitor's center for a few minutes, before embarking on our hike. Our hike was to be a short one, as I was limited on time, but we made sure we would cover some new ground on the Wonderland trail. After reaching Paradise, we quickly discovered two things: one, the snow was falling and the roads were getting slick - this side trip was going to be more time consuming than we had thought, and two, the visitor's center was closed for cleaning (on a Saturday morning!!!). So we used the facilities, and quickly jumped back in my truck to take it easy back down toward Longmire, where we would begin our hike. Time was ticking, and we hoped we would accomplish the small chunk of the trail we had chosen for the day.

Arriving back at Longmire at 9:45 or so, we quickly jumped onto the trail. We were going to hike the section of the Wonderland trail that goes between Longmire and Cougar Rock campground. We weren't ten steps in before Karina stopped walking and started feeling nauseous. Because she was "probably going to throw up," we walked over into a picnic area alongside the first leg of the trail, to clear the way for other hikers. After a few moments of indecision and upset stomach, Karina decided she was ok and that we should continue forward (though should she feel sick again we would turn right back around). So we continued forward.

This section of the Wonderland trail is pretty easy, with some rolling terrain, but no significant elevation gain whatsoever. For a good portion of this 1.6 miles out hike, we lumbered along the Nisqually river, which provided the few stunning views we experienced. The more interesting parts of this trail were the several upturned trees, exposing vast root systems beneath. We hopped over a couple of fallen trees and Karina even squeezed into the cavern created by a giant fallen tree. All in all we made it out to the junction with Cougar Rock campground before our turn-around time, and returned to Longmire with a few minutes to explore the gift shop and invest in some Mt. Rainier paraphernalia to display: two stickers and a patch.

Mileage completed on the Wonderland trail 1/30/10 - 1.6
Total mileage completed on the Wonderland trail - 7.11