More than expected - by Dan C. Thursday, December 29, 2011 @ 08:06:27 AM
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Took this hike in Sept. 2010. It was mid day when we began. I'm in my late 60's but live in the hilly part of NJ where I take my walks, so I felt I was in shape. I wondered why people were equipped with walking sticks, hiking boots, backpacks, wide brimmed hats, and large amounts of water. After all its only a mile and a half. I was armed with baseball cap, liter bottle of water, light jacket and old sneakers. It's a fairly easy hike if you take your time. Sunscreen is a must, one of the hikers saw I was cooking and gratiously gave me some lotion. Many hikers lose their hats near the summit from the wind gusts, including myself. I ended up coming down with my jacket covering my head and neck.
This is spectacular scenery beyond description, One should properly should prepare with sturdy shoes, sun protection, and water. I hope to take this hike again!
IH by way of two trails - by Milt Friday, October 21, 2011 @ 09:46:00 AM
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My sister and I took this trail in mid September. There seems to be several ways to get to Indian Henry's. We decided to do the double car route. Parked one car at the Kautz Creek trailhead and then drove the other car to the Wonderland trailhead just a little ways past Longmire. The plan was to get to Indian Henry's by way of the Wonderland trail and then come back using the Kautz Creek trail. The Wonderland trail is very well maintained. The only bad part of the trail is where it crosses Kautz Creek. The whole place is a disaster zone and it was a bit tricky to figure out where to go. Once we got past the Devil's Dream campsite, the bugs came out to make our lives miserable. A cloud of skeeters followed us all the way into Indian Henry's. Bug spray is a must. I came home to realize that the back of each arm had over a dozen mosquito bites. It was the only place that I didn't get with the bug spray. Once you get to Squaw Lake, the real views start to show up. Thousands of late blooming flower were everywhere. Arriving at Indian Henry's was spectacular. The mountain was HUGE and the patrol cabin couldn't have been more photogenic. Definitely a special place to visit and take lots of pictures.
We also hoofed it over to Mirror Lakes which was just a mile away. It's now unmaintained, but still in ok condition. The lakes were a bit dried up, but you could still get a picture of the reflection of the mountain in the lake. After heading back to the cabin for a rest and snacks (still being attacked by skeeters), we headed back to the other car by way of the Kautz Creek trail. If you are thinking of going to Indian Henry's by using only the Kautz Creek trail, you are in for a miserable climb to Henry's. The trail can be broken up into three distinct sections. The first section is from the trailhead past the Kautz Creek mess to a small creek bridge. This section is very well maintained. The second section is about two miles of dull, uphill trail that has seen little attention by the trail crews. The last mile and a half section into Indian Henry's is the only redeeming part of the trail with it's carpets of wildflowers and Rainier coming into view. Since we came back this way, we had the advantage of going down the trail rather than grinding it out going uphill.
Started at 9am at the Wonderland trailhead, got into Indian Henry's around 1pm and finally made it back to the second car at the Kautz Creek trailhead around 6:30pm.
Summerland/Panhandle Gap - by Milt Friday, October 21, 2011 @ 09:38:57 AM
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Took this trail in the middle of October. Weather reports made it seem that this might be the last day to hike around the higher elevations without piles of snow. I was going to do something at Sunrise, but they closed the road at White River. Time to use plan B - Summerland. I stopped the car at the first trail sign on the way back to see if it was the trail to Summerland (it was). I parked the car and started hiking. About a mile in, I came to the Summerland trail that everybody uses. It seems that I started at a Wonderland trail access point a mile up the road from the trailhead parking lot. Looks like I'll be hiking an extra 2 miles today for not reading the map right!
The trail is one of the best in the park. Wide, smooth and well taken care of. There was talk of running into bears, but I only ran into piles of bear poop. Summerland had about 4 inches of old snow. Only a handful of hikers on a Monday. I looked up and spotted the snowy footprints up to Panhandle Gap and decided to go for it. The snow was over a foot deep, but hard and walkable. Once I was out of Summerland, I had the whole place to myself. Temps were in the low 50's and little wind. The trail did have a tricky section of snow at 40 degrees just before the Gap, but past hiker's footprints had iced over to solid steps. Once I crested the Gap, Mt. Adams came into view. There were hundreds of mountain goat tracks everywhere and even my cheap pay-as-you-go cellphone worked at the top. I was able to send pictures to all my friends at work. While they sit in their cubicle, I'm on top of the world. I just thought I'd let them know that.
I'll be back next year during the summer, but this perfect weather fall hike in the snow really did give me a sense of adventure.
Mosquitos - by Monday, September 19, 2011 @ 05:13:25 PM
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I have been to Rainier many times and to pass the time for something a little different we did the Reflection Lakes Trail. It was OK but in all my years at Rainier I have never seen so many mosquitos. A decent kike but take the bug spray.
Hard but worth it! Cant wait to do it again! - by Wednesday, August 31, 2011 @ 07:36:32 PM
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My husband and I hiked this trail, after we had our first child, back in 1989. It had only been three months, and I did half of it. Of course I was not in shape at that point, and was surprised I could do any of this fantastic trail. We are going to do it again. We have been up there several times since then, but that trail has stuck in my mind, and I really want to do it again. Especially, since I am a runner now, and feel like I am in far better shape than before. I recommend this trail to everyone who wants to have one of the most amazing experiences of their lives.
The scenery is like the kind of mountain pictures they print on post cards! I will say that once you hike this trail you will have dreams of returning until you do!
Big payoff at the end - by Milt Monday, August 22, 2011 @ 10:17:55 AM
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Finding the trailhead is a bit tough. No trail sign is posted at the side of the road like all the other trails in the park. To get there, pull into the Longmire parking lot. As you drive through, there is a road that goes back into the staff quarters and maintance facilities. Follow it to the new wooden 1 lane bridge over the river. The trailhead is just a stones throw from there. There is a pullout in front for only two cars. You'll have to park at the Longmire lot or maybe at the comunity building lot past the trailhead if the pullout is full.
The trail is well maintained, but a bit lumpy from rocks and roots. The trail gets better at the 1/2 way point after you cross the stream. Once you get out of the trees and into the open things get a little haywire. You are now stepping on bigger rocks and having to take big strides up and over obstacles. The flies can be a problem at this point, so bring some bug spray. The very last of the trail is really a climb UP. Some steps are foot and a half high and a bunch of ridiculously short switchbacks make you pay for the AWESOME view at the end. At the end of the trail, you are in the saddle between two peaks, none of which look hikeable without safety equipment. Follow the trail to the right to find several places to sit and get a better view of the mountain. Don't forget to BRING BINOCULARS!
You don't want to do this hike - by FabulousFreddyFarkwater Monday, August 15, 2011 @ 03:25:15 PM
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See, I set the rating to poor and the difficulty to strenuous so as to turn off more hikers to what is without question the very best hike in the park. There are 10000k of hikers who crowd this trail and parking and even if you get there real early you'll park about 3 miles from the TH and come back to your dust and dirt covered vehicle. But of course that's after you've stuck your hot feet into Mowich and kooled them very nicely. I guess if I really had to say something bad about this it's the bugs so take bug juice and enjoy sticking your hot, tired radials into Mowich. Can't hide it forever. All seriously now, go when the wild flowers are at the peak and when you summit over the last little ridge before being (in what I call Spray Park) you will get the most beautiful fragrance you've ever come across provided the wind is blowing down the hill. Take the side journies to OB and Echo rocks and climb them a bit if you can (about 500' if I recall correctly) and you'll see a grand site. Not to mention the mountain of course. Enjoy!
Perfect day - by Milt Tuesday, August 9, 2011 @ 06:51:10 PM
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Climbed this mountain Aug 2-3 with a guide that I hired (didn't want to take any chances). The road to the South ridge trailhead is pretty awful, so don't bring your sports car. It seems that snow was blocking the road right up until very late July, so if you don't want to hoof it an extra mile or two, I suggest climbing it in Aug. After driving through hundreds of acres of dead trees (bark beetle?) we finally hit the trailhead. The first mile or two is dusty dirty before getting into snow. After that, it's becomes a snow hike through the woods and around the lava rocks. Didn't need cramp-ons to the Lunch Counter, just lots of kick-stepping to the campsite. At the campsite, the weather was perfect with temps in the 40's. We left the tent at 6am to tackle the "ski slope", the steep rise to the false summit. It was one step after another for 3 hours. The only creepy part was the section before the top of the false summit. It's pretty steep and I never looked up to avoid getting discombobulated. I just followed the guide's footsteps.
After cresting the false summit, it flattens out to a nice level surface before dipping into a huge snow covered valley. The true summit rises up from this valley and is another hour of climbing away. Once you arrive at the top, Mt.Rainier pops into view. The old cabin at the top was still buried in snow and the weather was perfect. Temps seemed to be in the 30's with constant low wind blowing by. The views were amazing with such clear weather. The way down is pretty interesting. The guide gave me some pointers on how to slide down on my a$$. I slid down rather quickly from the summit into the valley. Once I got the hang of it, it was time to try out the drop from the false summit back to the tent. What took almost 3 hours climbing up to the false summit, only took less than 20 minutes sliding back down. It would have been the greatest fun on earth, but my climbing harness was giving me a wedgie from hell. We packed up camp and headed down. There were several more areas to slide down, but they were not steep enough to move me forward quickly enough. The last 1/2 mile back to the car was the worst. I had burnt myself out at that point. Well, better here than at the top of the mountain. Climber count was about two dozen on the way up, 6 people on top (10am) and ran into about a dozen on the way down.
Strange to think that this mountain is the second highest in the state, but gets so little respect from the government agencies. There is no visitor's center, no paved road to check out close-up views of the mountain and little to no maintance of roads and trails other than chainsawing fallen trees out of the way. If you want to climb a big Washington mountain without the dangers of avalanches, rockfall, crevasses and get the same views as Rainier, Adams might be the mountain for you.
There is a trail? - by Jared Wednesday, August 3, 2011 @ 12:17:16 AM
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As the previous reviewer mentioned, just about anyone and everyone can get from the Sunrise Road to the Tamanos Creek Campground (or at least to the bridge just before the campground). Very uneventful portion of the trail, pretty but uneventful. This was the 4th day of our groups 5 day trip which began at the Carbon River Ranger Station (open) following the Wonderland Trail until jumping over onto the Owyhigh Lakes Trail and finally hiking a section of the Eastside Trail ending at the Ohanapecosh Ranger Station (closed). This was by far my favorite day of the trip. The funs begins after the Tamanos Creek Campground. The next 3.5 miles passing the Owyhigh Lakes and continuing on toward Deer Creek Campground has 90% snow cover with very few traces of the actual trail. As we left the White River Campground that morning the ranger told us that we would have to route find over an area where an avalanche had taken out the trail. What an understatement. Obviously not many people if any had been through the area. We encountered no less than 7 different avalanche areas which completely covered the trail, still under 4-8ft of snow, with 'mountains' of debri. A Map and Compass are useful if unfamiliar with the surrounding topography or traveling in poor conditions. However, between the ridge lines and the main SE flowing creek to follow, the general pathway from the pass at the South end of the Owyhigh Lakes to where the trail picks up again 2 miles from Deer Creek is quite obvious even without a trail to follow. The highlight of the day came as we crossed the first avalanche area into the meadow above the Owyhigh Lakes. As we entered a small undamaged section of trees we were startled by a farely large black bear rooting about in the meadow about 50-75 yards away, positioned between the lake and the trail. We noticed the bear a few moments before he sensed that we were there. Half of our group was approx. 5 minutes behind and as they approached the bear promply stood up on it's hind legs and began to weave back and forth looking around the trees. I sensed a great deal of intelligence in the way the bear acted. As soon as the other half on the group came into the bear's view he immediately dropped back down to all four and began looking for more things to snack on. We were of no interest to him at all. Even so, we decided to increase the distance between our party and the bear before we stopped to take pictures and gawk (easy with a good pair of binoculars). The bear was quite large for a black bear and had still not shed the excess fur from winter even though it was now the 28th of July. We eventually moved on and left the bear in the meadow. After passing the lakes it was pretty much all downhill from there. We kept to the east side of the creek, traversing through snow buried trees and glissading down snow fields. This was very fun for many in the group that had never experienced any level of true route finding or navigation. Those in the group that had been quite tired after 3 days of hiking found renewed energies. We avoided several snow bridges that were quite unsafe. We regained the trail and passed several wonderful little waterfalls before coming to the Boundary Creek Crossing. There is a large volume of water flowing very swiftly at the crossing and the original log crossing has been broken. The original log is still spanning 90% of the creek. The NPS has a new log in place but it has not been scored and cut. It is not recommend to cross here. Possibly because we were not thinking very clearly from the euphoria of our hike to that point, most of the group crossed on the old broken log and I crossed on the newly placed uncut log. Looking back we probably should have gone upstream to find a safer crossing but based on the flow of the river that may have been quite a distance upstream. The views of the creeks converging in this area culminating in spectacular waterfalls were amazing. We continued on to the Deer Creek Campground making a brief side trip of 0.8 miles up to the road and back to get some great views of a very impressive tall waterfall. The campground at Deer Creek was the favorite of the trip with the clear creek rushing by. The Owyhigh Lakes Trail rivaled anything we had experienced on the highly touted Wonderland Trail. I would highly recommend this trail to anyone.
All uphill - by Milt Saturday, July 23, 2011 @ 08:20:17 PM
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As of July 2011, you need a state Discover Pass to park at the trailhead. There is only one place in North Bend at the moment to get one and that is at the local Ace Hardware. There is no sign at the parking lot that says "Mailbox Peak", you just have to know it's the right place. It seems that the first mile was somewhat civilizied by a trail crew a while back, but don't let that fool you! It gets steeper, muddier, and then you realize that you are pretty much on your own following reflective diamond markers. If you are not a crazy fitness nut, I HIGHLY suggest that you use trekking poles to keep yourself upright and not face planting on rocks and roots. The trail is a basic scramble up a hillside. You gain altitude with every step. 98% of the trail is on an incline of some sort.
The "rockpile" is your first hint that you are getting close. The trail goes around this obsticle, but it's just as bad as if you were climbing the rockpile. Once you get above the rockpile and out of the trees, you can see the top (if you know where to look). The famous mailbox comes into view anbout 20 yards from the top. Once there, you get a awesome 360 view. Sign the book inside the mailbox, but save the beer stashed inside for someone more needy. Some show-off left a 50 pound weight at the top! I ran into 4 people on the way up and 10 on the way down. It took me 3 hours to get to the top and the same to get down. The trekking pole were a lifesaver on the way down. It kept me from getting muddy & bloody.
Great climb if you are getting ready for Rainier or St. Helens.
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