The Wonderland Trail

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. The Schmerse's (the in-laws) were back in town for a few days on there way back to IL, and we got to spend some fun time with them sighseeing. We headed down to Crater Lake, which was very fun and beautiful. We also got to see Smith Rock State Park, Tumalo Falls, and we took the ski lift up to Pine Martin Lodge at Mt. Bachelor to take in the view. Mark and I also climbed South Sister and headed over to Salem for a day to connect with Carmen, the senior pastor of Mountain View who is leaving. We had a great time getting to know him and his family, and he was more than helpful in showing us around and filling us in on the inner workings of the church (technical and otherwise).

Soon after the Schmerse's headed home, I finished up my work, and we headed out for a week to hike the Wonderland Trail that circles Mt. Rainier. It was a beautiful trail, but a lot of work. There is a lot of elevation gain and loss (20,000 ft total!), and we spent the first two full days in a cloud with misty rain. Most of the week was gorgeous, and the views were amazing!

The trail was well marked at each junction, and every once in awhile a sign showed up in places where there was still snow that helped reassure us we were headed in the right direction.

Beautiful wildflowers!

Hiking up Emerald Ridge in a cloud.

Most of the time there were bridges over the creeks, but every so often they hadn't gotten one fixed yet, and we would have to walk a big log. Many of them wash out each year and need to be replaced. Luckily we only had to ford one creek!

Misty, cloudy, forest.

Ipsut Pass.

There were two large suspension bridges that crossed over the Carbon River and Tahoma Creek. They are both glacial creeks...this one is the Carbon Creek Bridge.

The end of the Carbon Glacier. It was really cool to hike up next to the glaciers, because you could hear them popping every so often and see rocks falling off the end. It reminds you that it really is moving.

Close up of the Emmons Glacier.

Cooking in camp. Boy was I happy to have a tent on this trip! It was so nice to be able to get in and not worry about the bugs if I wanted to keep my sleeping bag open a bit at night. Also, the mosquitos weren't bad in too many places, but it was so nice to be able to get in and know they weren't coming under the tarp!

Heading up to Panhandle Gap. One of the few places I used an ice axe.

If you look closely at the snow slope (zoom in!) there are mountain goats!

The snow fields past Panhandle Gap and headed toward our camp at Indian Bar. You can see our tracks through the snow behind Mark and down to the right.

Mark hanging our food bags on the bear poles. We only saw a couple bears the whole trip, and those from a distance. We never had a problem with them in camp.

Martha Falls. The spray from this falls felt like air conditioning as we hiked by. It was 80 degrees or so and we were climbing, so we just stood there and soaked in the spray!

Rainier and Reflection Lakes.

Here we are in the Nisqually River Basin a couple short miles from Longmire and our finish of the trail!

A celebratory burger at the Copper Creek Inn. We ate here after our attempt at climbing Rainier a few years ago, so it was fun to return to a familiar place!

We were one of the first groups to finish the whole trail this season, and had a great time doing so. Now it's time to start packing up...moving time soon and then I'm off to IN for school!