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