Carbon RiverRecent Trip Reports
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This 10 mile hike is another very pretty hike inside Mt Rainier Park boundaries. The drive to the Carbon...
This 10 mile hike is another very pretty hike inside Mt Rainier Park boundaries. The drive to the Carbon River entrance was both shorter and easier than I had expected. We will definitely do this section of the park again.
The Carbon River road is closed at the park entrance due to major washouts in the past 5 or 6 years, but the road is now a very nice trail for both hikers and bicyclists. There have been several areas with washouts but these areas now have foot bridges or well managed detours. Most of the road is still in great shape, with just a few rocky or uneven sections. About one mile past the entrance we found a trail to an old closed mine. This ¼ mile side hike climbed a couple hundred feet through the old growth forest. At 3 miles is a trail to Green lake and at 3.7 miles is a “closed” trail to falls, which are on the opposite side of the Carbon River. The Ipsut Creek Campground is at 5 miles from the entrance, and the end of the road. The Wonderland trail is just .3 miles past the campground, which is a far as we hiked today. We saw 9 deer in the old growth forest. Multi-night backpack
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Snow on trail | Bugs
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Started at Mowich Lake around 9 am on Saturday. We got the last spot in the parking lot - cars...
Started at Mowich Lake around 9 am on Saturday. We got the last spot in the parking lot - cars after us were starting to park on the shoulder of the road in. We had left Seattle shortly after 6 am to drive down, the drive included a short detour to the Carbon River ranger station to pick up our permits.
1st day: Hiked the Spray Park trail up through Spray Park, Seattle Park, and down to Cataract Valley where we camped. We did take the short detour to Spray Falls - we were slowed down by several large families navigating the narrow trail, but the side trip was worth it. Spray Park was beautiful, but the bugs kept us from lingering too long. My 18% DEET bug spray was no match for them. Cataract Valley was a nice camp - very quiet, no long distance views but beautiful forest. Not as many bugs there as up in the park. 2nd day: Hiked down to the Carbon River, to meet up with the Wonderland Trail, took a short detour to the Carbon Glacier overlook, then followed the Wonderland Trail to Ipsut Creek campground where we spent the night. There were not nearly as many bugs at the lower elevations. Note that the Wonderland Trail now goes only on the east side of the river, so we got to cross the river twice - I think these crossings (first on a suspension bridge, and second on several log bridges with views of Rainier) were the highlights of our trip. Ipsut Creek campground felt eerie since there were many remnants of the old road and the old life as a car camp. The spots along the river were the nicest, and we enjoyed the time here. 3rd day: Woke early to cook breakfast and pack up, hiked out to rejoin the Wonderland Trail heading up to Ipsut Pass and back to Mowich Lake. The initial climb up to the pass was through forest with many waterfalls and cascades. Upon leaving the forest, however, the bugs descended on us and the trail turned very steep. The good part was that the bugs kept us moving quickly up the steep and difficult terrain all the way to the pass. I have heard people recommend hiking this loop in the opposite direction due to this steep section, but I'm not sure that it would have been that much better going down. We were happy to get to the pass, and the last section of the trail (relatively flat, mostly along the lake) was heaven. All in all, a great trip - less crowded than other parts of the park (except for the parts closest to Mowich Lake) and highly recommended. Multi-night backpack
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Overgrown | Mud/Rockslide | Water on trail | Snow on trail | Bugs
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7/21 hiked in to Ipsut and camped there (5 mi)
7/22-23 camped at Carbon River camp & did day hikes from...
7/21 hiked in to Ipsut and camped there (5 mi)
7/22-23 camped at Carbon River camp & did day hikes from there towards Mystic and Spray Park 7/24 – after lunch hiked out from Carbon R. Camp to Carbon R. Ranger Station (8.5 mi/3 hrs) Overall - NPS-quality trails with recently installed stringers over every water course, newly worked drainage, and excellent signage. This is an amazing area with few visitors, lots of snow-free destinations (even this year!), and all the flowers, mountain views, stream/creek/river beauty, and wildlife you could possibly absorb. Ranger Station to Ipsut – totally clear and well maintained – a lot of bicycles this sunny weekend so watch for that. Most bikers were very good about yelling as they approached which was nice with the sound of the river making it otherwise hard to hear. Campground is also well maintained and had few other campers the Thurs night we were there. Pit toilets and bear poles for food provided. Ipsut to Carbon River Camp – the trail on the west side of Carbon River is closed, so you must cross the river to the trail that runs parallel on the east side. This adds only ½ mile total and allows you to cross the amazing suspension bridge more often! The trail is completely snow free with no issues all the way. Carbon River Camp had no other campers Friday, but someone left a tent in Site #2 – if it was you, the Ranger, Kyle, was going to go get it, so give him a call. Nice camp but tent areas are small (some site support only one tent) and the nearest water source is Cataract Creek a little way down trail – bring a water hang bag if you have one. Carbon River Camp has a toilet and bear poles, which are really rodent poles as a bear could knock them over with a sneeze. However, we saw only one very shy black bear and several NOT shy rodents, so the poles seem adequate. The chipmunks and mice do show up every meal like long-lost relatives hearing of a lottery win, so guard and hang your food! I turned my back for a second to find a very cute mouse rustling in my food bag. Carbon River Camp toward Cataract and Spray Park – if you like Glacier Lilies, is this the trail for you!! They carpet the woods like I’ve never seen, along with numerous other wildflowers. There are a few downed trees/debris on the trail before Cataract Valley Camp, easily negotiable. A WCC crew was working this trail when we were there and had been for 9 days. The sections they have worked are stunning – textbook tread and drainage maintenance and improvements – thank you so much!!!! Cataract Camp was NOT melted out in 4/6 sites as of 7/22. One site that was not entirely snow had a substantial pool of standing water and was basically a marsh. The one dry site was in the very back against the scree field - #6 maybe? Pics of several sites on Flickr link below. Back on the trail toward Spray Park, solid snow starts shortly after Cataract Camp, so we turned back there. Carbon River Bridge towards Mystic via glacier and Dick Creek – trail snow-free until about 1.3 miles past Dick Creek with no other issues except some mud/water on trail in a few spots. The views are spectacular of both the mountain and the glacier, as well as surrounding crags. Wildflowers, pika, and cool insects abound (mosquitoes not too bad yet, though) on this indescribably beautiful section of trail. Dick Creek is completely melted out and in good shape. Snow starts in earnest about 1.3 miles after that. We encountered some hikers coming down from staying at Mystic. They were camped on snow, but the lake was starting to melt out and they hiked without crampons, reporting it wasn’t bad. We went only a bit past the snow to catch some views from the ridge. All in all, this is a fantastic option for this crazy late-melt year. There are several destinations completely snow-free (in addition to those described, day hikes could include Yellowstone Cliffs and soon to Spray Park and Mystic Lake), no avalanche danger, and very few visitors. Link to full photos (which I’m posting as I can – keep checking back for more! I’ve got most of the described spots pictured at least some): http://www.flickr.com/[…]/ Overnight
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
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Hiked up the Carbon River road from the ranger station to Ipsut Creek camp ground. The pit toilets at...
Hiked up the Carbon River road from the ranger station to Ipsut Creek camp ground. The pit toilets at that camp ground even had toilet paper (a luxury when in the backcountry), and there was a lovely picnic table right next to the river in the sun for us to eat lunch on (4.9 miles to Ipsut Creek from the camp ground, but pretty flat and on a gravel/rock road). Taking a mountain bike to Ipsut Creek is definitely the faster way up and down.
After eating lunch we hiked up to the Carbon River camp ground. Again, there was a pit toilet (no TP though). The camp site even had a nice table made from a section of a tree trunk. We where the only one spending the night, but there was 3 other "single" spots and one "group" spot. Each spot has pretty good privacy. The weather was perfect, not to hot, not to cold. I was surprised to see a tiny patch of snow in a hole next to the camp site... a fun novelty. The next day we crossed back over the suspension bridge to return home, but instead of heading North to go home, we went South toward the glacier to get a better view of Mt. Rainier and the glacier. A large chunk of snow was still next to the trail, but not a nuisance. It is sad to see how much the Carbon glacier has receded since I last visited it. I think my last visit was about 10 years ago, and I remember being able to easily see the glacier from the suspension bridge... but now to get a good view of the glacier you need to hike up a good way more. Overall, this was a great trip. Minimal elevation gain, and a modest 8.7 miles in each direction. There isn't very good views of Mt. Rainier... you are just to close to it. But some of the other attractions are the Carbon River Glacier, Snow if you keep hiking up the trail far enough, the suspension bridge, lots of sheer cliffs, and lots of beautiful waterfalls.
Carbon River
— May 20, 2011
— gsbarnes
Day hike
Issues:
Mudholes
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Scouted out the Carbon River Road from the Mt. Rainier National Park entrance up to Ipsut Creek Campground on mountain...
Scouted out the Carbon River Road from the Mt. Rainier National Park entrance up to Ipsut Creek Campground on mountain bike, for a possible bike camping trip over Memorial Day weekend.
There are at least 4 trouble spots for a mountain bike, but they wouldn't be a problem to walk your bike (or hike) through. The worst one is after the Chesnuit Falls trailhead, where the trail becomes a pile of softball-sized rocks that I can't imagine anyone can bike through. I also had to walk near the end, where the road has apparently been diverted uphill and resembles more of a classic forest trail (including roots, rocks, and mud), as opposed to the flat hard-packed dirt that you'll encounter for most of the rest of the hike/ride. If you're more of a mountain biker than I, or if it's drier, you would probably be able to bike this section (which ends with a neat new wooden bridge over Ipsut Creek). No snow on the trail or at the campground, and the ranger at the entrance station said you could hike up to Green Lake 'in tennis shoes', although there is still some snow. He also said the trails out of the Ipsut Creek campground were only snow-free for '1 mile or so'. Will investigate this weekend and report back. |
WTA volunteers are building a trail along the Carbon River, which was washed out in a flood. Photo by DaveH.
2010
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