Day #6

I entered the early entry lottery back in March, 2022 and ended up with pretty much first pick of an itinerary. Pretty darn lucky.

Taking the last week of July for 9 days with a route heading counter clockwise, we started at White River so we would only have to drop one cache at Mowich the day before and then have my husband meet us at Longmire for the other cache.

The reports from WTA, the NPS, and rangers at all stations I visited the week prior made a huge difference in whether we changed our itinerary the day before. 

HAZARDS *** More details will follow in specific reports for each section but in general we were aware of the following areas prior to leaving for the 9 day circuit.

Mowich Rivers-At the time we started the Mowich River both north and south had no footbridge. The north would have to be navigated by bushwhacking and finding an alternate way using downed timber across the river. The south would need to be forded. We planned to get our feet wet. 

Snow- With the late spring snow, we took our micro spikes and expected to get wet. I wore my trail runners most of the time wet and went through several pair of socks.

Heat- What we never expected was the heat in the 80's-90's that started the first day of our trip.

Bugs- My friends were bit up! Devil's Dream was unbearable!

Section Details: Staying at Pyramid Creek BC Camp was the best decision after escaping the ravenous insects through Devil's Dream and a 13.5 mile day. The only choice of defense staying at Devil's Dream would have been rain gear, head netting and staying in your tent and that wouldn't have been comfortable given the thermometer reading above 90 degrees.

Pyramid Creek Camp had no water however so we ended up setting up our tents and trekking back across Pyramid to a nice spot on Fisher's Horn Pipe Creek for water. If you have a CCW route get your water before heading to camp is my suggestion.

Across the Kautz we once again forded several key areas early in the morning. I've been through this a few times before in the summer where the river can rise and spread across a very large area that can take hours to navigate. 

The morning was young and we easily crossed several branches with our poles without a lot of trouble.

Picking up the trail can be more easily found using a gps or looking for the trail uphill as you cross. You can see it just above the tree line of young alders here.

Longmire ended up being a great spot to meet up with our family and our caches around 9:30 and we were ready to go back on trail after a quick bite at 12 noon.

The heat through the valley of the Nisqually was starting to really catch up with me. At times I started feeling woozy and faint. I had been drinking a lot of water but between the sweat, water, multiple electrolyte tablets, and salt at lunch, and dinner, I began to wonder about my common sense to progress.

Luckily the Paradise River was up the hill only 1800' and a few miles and around the corner, where I spent an incredible amount of time sitting in the cold water and eventually finding my way back to camp and a salty freeze-dried meal with a gallon of water for dinner.

Garmin Pyramid Creek to Longmire 7.83 miles (+1469, -2349)

Garmin Longmire to Paradise River 3.76 miles (+1308, -94)

With the gate to Paradise closed and the foot bridge over the Nisqually to Carter Falls and beyond, my groups normal Longmire to Paradise hike/snowshoe fallback was out. Instead, we decided to go clockwise around a small part of the Wonderland Trail to and likely beyond Pyramid Creek Camp. The entire trail is covered in snow, but at this point it was only ~5-6" and not really worth strapping on snowshoes, though we did carry them along with other gear. Coming back, we saw quite a few people using their snowshoes (and not), and most without gear. Please remember, hikers: winter conditions can be very unforgiving.

We made it across most of Kautz Creek and, based on our GPS position, was just south of Pyramid Creek Camp. Unfortunately, while we were able to rock hop across most of the creek, we came to a section that was wider and a bit more dicey. Whatever bridge was there - and there should be, according to rangers I asked when we got back to Longmire - has apparently washed out. This is not surprising given that the road to Longmire was actually closed about a month ago because the Kautz Creek was about to crest at the bridge.

It's not to say that experienced hikers with gear and navigation expertise couldn't cross, but given our commute time back home we decided this was a good enough place to turn around and not risk getting soaked by icy water in freezing conditions.

Got to the trailhead a little before 9AM and there was still plenty of parking available.  Roads in were fine, though they were oiling some of the roads along 706 that caused about a 7 minute delay on the way in.  Signs were up, but at a different location, on the way out, but they seemed to be done for the day.  They were moving pretty fast it seemed, so hopefully they finish up soon.

Restrooms at Longmire were clean and stocked with TP and soap. Thanks to all those that maintain not just the trails but also the facilities associated with said trails!

Saw quite a few flowers along the trail including bear-grass, lupine, purple monkeyflower, yellow monkeyflower, vanilla leaf, trillium, coralroot, etc. Photos of a few above.

I felt a little conflicted saying bugs were an annoyance when I know today was nothing compared to how bad they are going to be in a month or so, but there were a lot of bugs flying around, including mosquitos out looking for a bite.  I only got bit twice, but I did see one hiker break out her net headgear, so be advised.

Rampart Ridge Trail

Not too much to add here that hasn't already been said.  The eastern part of the loop is definitely the steeper part, so the choice is whether you'd do more stairs/ steep sections going up or down.  I went clockwise today, adding a quick trip out to Pyramid Creek Camp for a total day of 8.08 miles with 1836 ft of elevation gain (per Gaia).

Another access point for the trail if there are no parking spots left at Longmire is the small parking area on the east side of the road about 0.3 miles north of Longmire.  The trail is on the west side of the road and well marked.

Trail was somewhat busy for a Thursday, with lots of rampaging retirees rowdily rollicking along Rampart Ridge (sorry, I just had to).  Saw about 30 people all total on the Rampart Ridge portion of the day. 

The long area of boardwalk along the eastern part of the trail could use a bit of TLC.  Several of the boards slightly tilted, sank, or shifted in other fun ways when stepped upon. Nothing that would impede travel, but further degradation could lead to more serious challenges.

Pyramid Creek Camp

On the way down from the Rainier viewpoint on the Rampart Ridge trail I took the turn north onto the Wonderland; it's about 3 miles from the TH (going in the CW direction).

Snow patches appear on the trail about 0.15 miles after turning onto the Wonderland trail and continue off and on for maybe 300 ft.  The longest patch is about 15 ft, the rest are more in the 4 to 6 ft range.  All are fairly thin (max height of any around 12 inches when I was there) and thankfully above solid trail.  At least when I was there they were very easy to traverse.

There is a great view of Rainier as you descend to Kautz Creek just before the final switchback. Watch your footing though; that part of the trail is a little more loose dirt/ gravel than the rest.  This is also the last really good view of Rainier to be had, so soak it up.

There are several small water crossings required to get across Kautz Creek.  None are bridged, but all were achievable today with rock hopping - though with the heat wave coming I imagine this might change.  As always, I was very happy to have my poles for this bit.  Then you need to navigate the rock field to get to where the solid dirt trail picks up again.  Look for cairns and boot prints and in general stay a bit more to the west.  There's actually a good bit of solid ground you can use to minimize the amount of rocks you need to traverse; you just need to find it...

There's a bridge a bit before Pyramid Creek Camp that's missing a couple of floor boards, though still felt solid crossing.

Had lunch in the shade at the camp then started back, completing the rest of the Rampart Ridge loop on the way back.  Fantastic day!!

Early overnight trip to Pyramid Creek. After getting permits at Paradise, I parked at Longmire and began the very steep ascent up Rampart Ridge. Snow began about a half mile before 3600 feet. After that the snow cleared out. Then began again after the trail turned left and ascended to 4000 feet. Snow continued until the switchbacks began for the descent to Kautz Creek. There is no bridge to cross Kautz Creek however the crossing is not difficult yet. There is a tricky traverse to the south of Kautz Creek where crampons might be nice. Once you cross Kautz creek snow begins again and becomes very deep. However it is compact and snow shoes are not required, I would recommend micro spikes. Snow continued all the way to Pyramid Creek. All of the campsites are snow-covered, Could not find the toilet. Overall I would recommend the trip for solitude.

However, I have to be the nanny that reminds you that you need to bring the gear necessary to survive an extra night when you're traveling during the shoulder season. I was surprised at the number of people who were traveling deep into the back country for a day trip, crossing snow fields, not carrying the tools necessary to self arrest, not for prepared for bivouac, etc.

Please don't make a Ranger come out and rescue you.

We headed out at 8 AM on a Wednesday to avoid the weekenders. Going clockwise up the Rampart Ridge Trail from the Longmire parking lot, the trail was clear until 3960 ft. Then we had intermittent snow, but it was very packed and easy to walk. I used microspikes and poles, but my husband didn't need either.

We turned left, north-east, at the trail intersection toward Pyramid Creek Camp. The snow by then was deep and constant, still easy to hike. Getting to Kautz Creek, the snow became intermittent again into the river basin.

Crossing Kautz Creek, we had to look for rock cairns and flags to find a route. Thanks to those before us who put them up. We carried on toward Pearl Creek.

At Pearl Creek crossing, the water was over the bridge too deep and fast for us. We scouted around and crossed using a large tree across the creek a bit down stream.

Heading back up another set of switchbacks, the snow became much more irregular- packed, then loose, melting or hard. Our pace slowed noticeably and we hit our turn around time, having only gotten maybe a mile past Pearl Creek.

Heading back to our trail head, we took the left turn again at the trail crossing of Rampart Ridge Loop, in order to complete the loop. The trail back was much faster, and we made it back to the truck sooner than anticipated. On the lower side of the Rampart Loop, by now the afternoon, we were encountering occasional other people.

It did snow on us in the morning as we hiked. We were grateful to be prepared for it.