Elevation Gain: Approximately 2000 ft.
Time: Saturday 11:15 am - Sunday 4:45 pm
Weather: Sunny, warm on Saturday, partly cloudy, warm Sunday. Perfect weekend in the PNW.
This was an interesting over-nighter. I had no idea where I was going to go this weekend until Monday. I hiked up to the Carbon Glacier with my good friend and wilderness mentor, Creighton. I got permission to use his first name in the blog. Has he said, it will be good for my readers to meet some other characters in my life as the blog starts to grow and take shape. He is a character indeed.
Creighton is a strong man. He is in his late fifties and hikes circles around me and just about every spry, young, cocky high school boy who thinks they are stronger than this skinny, "old," former professional runner. When I interviewed for my job, I visited his class. I remember thinking, if I get this job I hope this guy will be my friend. He took me on my first backpacking trip. He has taught me a ton about being and living in the wilderness. There aren't many situations that he hasn't encountered on the trail. The stories he has are epic to say the least. I have heard a lot of his stories, and many I have heard multiple times. A by-product of hiking a lot with him but having different groups of kids on those hikes. Although, I never find the stories dull or boring, quite the contrary. I enjoy hearing them, especially since the narrative only changes slightly and the details remain the same. I could talk a lot about him (and probably will in future blog posts), but I will end it here by only adding two more things. First, he has a capacity to bring love into each and every interaction he has with anyone, even the people you wouldn't think it would be possible to love. Second, he is one of my greatest friends, and my life is better because of him. This week marked our 15th weekend in the last year hiking together (more than anyone else).
On our way up to the glacier Monday, he was telling me about his plan to hike the Wonderland Trail in Mt. Rainier National Park in 3 days. This trail is 93 miles, and the cumulative elevation gain is almost 30,000 ft. His plan was to hike thirty plus miles for three days. He was also taking 2 students and an older brother of one of the kids. Half inspired, half shocked I was eager to help. I really wanted to go too, but my Friday was already booked. And to be honest, I am not in good enough shape to do this yet. Their second night was going to be at Summerland, a meadow below the east side of Rainier at about 6000 ft. To conserve weight, the 4 were not taking stoves and were going to eat no cook meals. I knew there was a trailhead a couple miles north of Summerland, and I volunteered to meet them Saturday night and cook them a gourmet meal. He was excited, and once I heard about dietary restrictions of the hikers (one is a pescatarian), the plan was set.
I got everything ready Friday night and Saturday morning. I left for the trailhead at about 9 am. I got into the park at around 10:30 and then hit a huge line of traffic on the White River Road up to the Sunrise Visitor's Center in Mt. Rainier National Park. The weather was amazing, and the late snow melt this year has hampered hiking in this high elevation area. Saturday everyone and their grandparents were out. I got to the trailhead and couldn't find any parking. I kept going up the road about a mile and found a spot. I starting hiding valuables and gearing up. As I was putting on my gaiters a nice couple from Gig Harbor came up right behind me and parked next to me. We chatted briefly, and they pointed out there was access to the Wonderland trail just a bit up the road. I was planning on hiking down the road, so they saved me a mile of road hiking. I took off at 11:15 am for the Summerland meadow 5.1 miles away with a 50lbs pack.
The hike up was great. I stopped once because I was sweating profusely and had to layer down. I got into the campground at about 1:45 pm. I was proud of the 2 mph pace with a 50 lbs pack. I set up camp, chatted with a cute ranger lady, dried my sweaty cloths in the sun, and took a look at my watch. It was about 2:30 pm. I wasn't expecting the 4 boys until around 6 or 7. I hung the food, took my camp chair and book, and set off for a spot in the meadow to read and relax.
There were lots of day hikers, and there were talks of marmots, goats, and bear. Now, I have seen a bear or two in my travels, but I had never seen one in Rainier. I still haven't. I have never seen goats in the wild. And I still haven't. And I have seen one or two marmots, but only in the Olympics (which are a different species of marmot than in the Cascades). I wanted to see marmots. I did not see any as I walked to a huge rock to set up a spot to read. I read for about an hour before I heard this whistling sound. I turned, and there on the rocks about 20 feet away was a fat marmot. I was excited and watched as he laid on the rock, up in the breeze cooling down in the late afternoon. I watched him for about 30 minutes. He walked along the rocks down into the meadow, ate some grass, drank from the stream, and then disappeared into a burrow. I was pretty happy and took a nap. I know I fell asleep with a smile on my face.
I slept for about 30 minutes before I was woken by the bite of a horsefly. Trying to battle the culprit, forced me up and away from my spot. As the fly continued to follow, I figured best to get back to camp. I gathered my things and took off. On the way back to camp, I walked through the Summerland marmot convention. There were easily 7 marmots out and about, including two smallish marmots that I think were pups. Not to be too sappy, but they were so cute. I got the food down and was in camp at about 4:30 pm.
I started piddling about camp, getting all the stuff ready to prepare a 3 course meal. The appetizer was Ritz crackers, cream cheese, and strawberry jam. I figured a no cook appetizer would be good while dinner might be cooking. Dinner was a Salmon Alfredo Penne Pasta with corn and basil. The dessert was going to be chocolate brownies. My campsite/kitchen had a view to the south of the boot path in the snow leading down from Panhandle Gap. This is where the group would be coming from.
Around this time, two really cool guys from the next site came over. We chatted and had a really good time. They were nice company as I started cooking dinner. They went off to have their own meal, and I got down to it. I had everything ready and it was 6:30 pm. I thought this was perfect. I added the sauce to the pasta, but was going to wait on the salmon until I saw the boys coming. I sat and watched the snow patch. Six thirty became 7, and 7 became 8. Then 8 became 9, and the sun was well behind the mountain and light was disappearing. I started to think I was in the wrong site, or worse something terrible had happened. Still worried, but not really able to do anything, I packed dinner into a clean ziplock bag, put camp away, and crawled into bed. I couldn't do anything in the dark, and I was going to hike towards them tomorrow morning. With an alarm set for 5 am, I fell asleep about 11 pm.
I awoke to voices, headlamps, and two eager young men. The two students found my campsite at 1 am. I jumped out of my bag and tent. We exchanged hugs, and they told me the story. Apparently the older brother injured his ankle and was walking slow. Creighton was walking with him and had sent the boys ahead to meet me. The idea was they could hopefully get to me before dark, but some trail issues and sore feet pushed their pace back too. I got the food down, and started reheating dinner. The two boys ate like they hadn't had a meal in weeks. They loved the appetizer and the dinner. I was not going to make the brownies, but I kept shoveling the group food I had hiked up. By 2 am, their bellies were full and sleep was setting in. I cleaned up, rehung the food, and we were all in bed by 2:15 am. The plan was to wait in the morning.
The next morning, we were up at 8 am. I kept feeding the boys like the evil witch in fairy tales. I kept heating water and fixing them oatmeal, hot chocolate, and anything else I had. It was around 10, when I decided to go up to Panhandle Gap and wait for the other two. Hiking up to the snowfield was easy enough. As I started walking on the snow, I had no idea how those boys did this at 1 in the morning. As I got up higher, I spotted Creighton. I shouted, and he called back. A quick hug and chat confirmed all were okay, if somewhat tired and sore. Creighton was carrying both his pack and the injured older brother's. I was pack free and took the second pack. We made it into camp at 11 am.
The next hour consisted of a lot of feeding. The pasta was being passed around like an antipasti, I made the brownies, I was boiling water for hot drinks, and the three healthy boys were loading up for the final push, a 30+ mile hike back to their car. I suggested they give me gear they wouldn't need or to take the side trail and leave gear at my car five miles up the trail. They did both. I carried their trash and some other things, and when I got back to my car there was a ton of gear stashed under my car. The three boys took off at 12:15 pm. Aiming to be done around 1 or 2 in the morning. Crazy, inspiring, awesome stuff, huh?
I took the next 2 hours to clean up and pack camp away. I had the older brother laying down with a ziplock bag of snow on his ankle. I was ready by 2. I taped his ankle before we took off, and I took a bit of his gear and stuffed it in my pack. We left at 2:30 pm. We hiked out at a nice pace. He felt pretty good, all things considered. We were down 4.1 miles to the first trailhead by 4:30 pm. He stayed here, as I hiked up the last mile to my car. I hiked the last mile in 15 minutes.
Orchid: Marmot convention 2011.
Onion: The frightening feeling of thinking something bad happened to my friend and our students.
Picture:
Google map
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