With 80 % rain forecast, we headed for Carbon River Ranger Station, hoping for the best. The road was free of snow.

The day started out very chilly then pleasantly mild. Shortly after the trail began ( the trail is now the washed out road which begins at RS ) we found icy patches; turning after about a mile to a mix of snow / ice. One new blowdown was not a problem, we easily ducked between the branches.

Currently, snowshoes would definitely work best on this trail to Ipsut Creek Camp. Some of the group opted for yaktrax, instep crampons or nothing at all; and as it turned out, post holing soon became a bit of a problem, with a few deciding not to continue on.

In deepening snow, the main group then turned back after about 4 plus miles without reaching our destination. This was really not a big disappointment as it was still a most enjoyable day by this beautiful river.

Map GT 269 Mt Rainier West

Finding an avalanche safe and accessible place to take the kids sledding has been difficult. The answer?? Drive along the carbon river road (as if going to ipsut creek campground) about 6 miles. The road is gated and beyond is great snow, no crowds and beautiful scenery.

Since the road has been washed out for some time now, in case you didn't already know. You have to walk in from the ranger station. Which is nice because it seems like there are less people around now. Today we headed out for green lake. You can manage without snowshoes until you head up from the trailhead.(3 mile mark)

ranger falls is about a mile further uphill and the lake is about another mile further than that. It was lightly snowing on us and pretty cool out. heard a few avalanche rumbles off in the distance. Never made it all the way to Green Lake though, we had a late start.

I hiked to the Carbon Glacier from the Carbon River entrance to the Mt Rainier National Park. Instead of being a 3.5 mile hike from the Ipsut creek campground, it is now a 7-8 mile hike from the Park entrance due to road wash-outs. Next time I do this, I will definitely take a bike to ride the 4 miles to the campground. The road does have a few places where you may need to carry the bike around washouts, but overall it would be a much shorter hike. About 2 miles from the campground you have a choice of going across the Carbon river on several new small log bridges and walking the east side up to the glacier or going straight and going up the west side of the river and then taking a suspension bridge across to the glacier. Go up the east side. The west side trail is totally washed out and impossible to get through now and the park service said it may be years until it's fixed. People were working on the east side trail today, putting a log across a creek. The trail from where they were to the glacier still has a couple of trees across the trail and a large slide area to climb across rocks and stumps, but all is easy to get through. Thank you trail workers ! I haven't been on this trail for 30 years and took pictures of the glacier to compare to my old pictures. After all the press, I wasn't sure the glacier would be there with the global warming, but it is. However, it has definitely moved back. Beautiful and warm day and great exercise. Saw maybe 15 people all day including the people working on the trail. Noticed 2 groups of campers at the now-walk-in Ipsut campground.