Day # 2
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!
Section Details: Leaving Mystic Lake in the early morning was a breathtaking mirror of mountains not void of biting bugs.
We headed up again to be met with the Winthrop and Carbon glaciers to our left. There were a few lingering snow fields leaving the meadow and as the Carbon Glacier began to appear so did the grinding heat.
Resting often and filtering cold water as often as we could, the trail turned to snow fields heading up Seattle Park.
Opting for micro spikes in order to make our work a bit easier we eventually crested and made our way to Spray Park later in the day.
Arriving at Mowich a bit late at camp that evening, we fell asleep with a flapping tent most the night that kept the bugs at bay.
13.38 miles (+4152' -4855')
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