Day #5

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: The heat of the morning was no surprise as we broke camp at sunrise. A few whisps of clouds mingled in with the still air of morning.

Heading out for a long day and the beauty of St. Andrews Lake, we anticipated dipping our toes and having breakfast on the trail after putting a few miles behind us. 

St. Andrews Lake was still ice covered. Just a few 100 ft above Aurora there were two different worlds, like fire and ice. We made our way across patchy snow and headed toward North and South Puyallup, a long trek downhill in the trees.

As we stopped for a break and snack, we crossed paths and met Mark, trail name "Jolly Rancher". Mark recounted his experience crossing the North Mowich River. 

Mark approached the crossing differently. In his years of PCT experience he had forded many rivers. This river being no different, he then attempted to ford the North Mowich underestimating the glacial force. 

With ice axe, poles, and backpack unbuckled he began to cross upriver and was quickly swept away by the strong current. Pulled under he thought he was going to die. He popped up downriver, only minus his ice axe and a pole, then miraculously his other pole popped up, spared, along with his life. 

By sharing our stories, we came to realize just how lucky we were having each other to share, discuss and problem solve throughout this journey. There will no doubt be more perils to work through.

As Emerald Ridge came to view and we crossed the suspension bridge of the Tahoma Glacier, I realized this is why we do what we do. The risk is worth the journey.

That was until I raced my way through Devil's Dream swatting insects the entire way!

Garmin

13.54 miles (+3352, -5022)

We picked up our permits at Longmire and started the bike up the West Side road at 5PM on Friday. The road is in pretty good shape with some chunky spots here are there. I love this road. A big part of me wants to see it opened back up to cars so more can enjoy the beauty of the West Side, but the selfish part of me wants it to stay closed so it stays less crowded with that "remote feel". We locked the bikes up at Round Pass and then hiked the one mile up to Lake George campground. I was surprised to see an open campsite for Friday night…I guess people don’t like walking the road! We set up camp quick and hustled up to Gobblers Knob hoping that the clouds would clear but they never did…was really looking forward to that sunset but we’ll just have to get up there again. A few small patches of snow here and there but all super easy to cross and will be gone shortly I'm sure.

On Saturday (7/23) we hiked from the campground down to Round Pass and checked out the memorial, then up S. Puyallup River trail and checked out the lava tubes (or whatever they are called) then continued up the Wonderland to Emerald Ridge. What a site. Trail is snow free up to the ridge and looked like the descent down the wonderland to Tahoma Creek was melting out as well but didn’t get a great look. We headed back to Lake George. We saw seven hikers and a ranger on the trail from west side road up to the ridge and back. Not bad for an 11 mile hike in the middle of summer in a national park!

Another nice night at Lake George then a 20 minute bike back to the car on the road.

If you have never done the Tahoma Creek trail you probably shouldn't. About a quarter of the trail is missing and there are hazardous areas. But if you are good with navigation and off trail hiking it is very doable. Definitely no kids. 

That said, once you reach the Wonderland Trail the trail is in great shape. At about 1/4 mile from Emerald pass you will hit snow almost the entire way to the switchbacks just below the pass. This snow is deep and will be there for some time. 

So here I am 8pm on the Westside road walking 2.6 miles back to round pass to get my bike that I left to "save time" getting back to the van. I am literally the last person on the road for today. This wasn't the plan. The original plan was to park at the end of the Westside road, walk a bike to Round pass, hike the South Puyallup trail, hook up to the Wonderland trail, see the mountain at the Emerald Ridge vista point and then drop down to Indian Henry's. From there, it would be a reverse hike back to bike and an easy 15 minutes of coasting back to the van.  

I walked the bike to Round pass. Had to lock it up at the Gobbler's Knob trailhead (there's no bike rack for the trail I'm taking). The map calls this the Round pass trail. It drops down to the South Puyallup trail. The trail is in very good condition which is weird since the only access to the trail is either by bike or hiking so limited use. I was the only person on the Puyallup trail up to the Wonderland. How do I know this? It's from the amount of spider webs I collected on my person and trekking poles. While on the Wonderland, it was busy. I ended up bumping into at least 30 people during the day all friendly and talkative. Most of the time people just blow by you with a quick grunt of hi or just a head nod. Saw the crazy basalt columns near the Puyallup campground before moving on to Emerald Ridge. Most the hike is under cover, so no sunscreen yet. Once you round the corner on the ridge, you are out in the open and the mountain is in full force and spectacular. Easily one of the top 3 views of the mountain in the park. Plenty of places to sit down and picnic while hearing the distant cracking of the glaciers. Now it's off to the Indian Henry patrol cabin. The trail starts getting annoying at this point. A few flat easy spots followed by an endless run of walking over medium fist sized rocks (very hard on the ankles). Once you start hearing the roar of the river, you know you are close to the suspension bridge. I can see how some people would be freaked out on a moving bridge 70(?) feet in the air. Every step you take it moves up & down and with every left /right step it also moves side to side. Very unnerving. Got to the patrol cabin. I missed the flower show by a couple of weeks. Even though I was bumping into hikers right and left, I was to only person at the cabin for the hour I was there. 

We camped at Lake George and went out to the end of Emerald Ridge as a day hike, following the South Puyallup trail and then on to Emerald Ridge instead of going left over river up to St Andrews.  The trail was clear but not easy, not only because of steady elevation gain, but also very rocky.  We want to alert hikers that about 2/3 of the way up from trailhead on S Puyallup starting point, there is a dangerous washout right above the river/glacier wash with a BIG drop off.  People created a way trail workaround that was dusty but passable.  If you do this with a full pack (for ex if you are coming over from Devil's Dream or doing Wonderland trail) BE CAREFUL at this spot. The view of Tahoma Glacier and Columbia Crest from the end of Emerald Ridge are terrific and worth the slog up there.