Mountain Loop Highway Mount Baker-Snoqualmie Washington August 13-15, 2016

Mountain Loop Highway Mount Baker-Snoqualmie Washington August 13-15, 2016 

After spending more than a month's rent ($1600) to have the brakes dealt with for the third time in year and a half, we thought we'd relax a bit at Gas Works Park at the north end of Lake Union in Seattle. The views were worth any hassle dealing with traffic to get there; watching the boats, the people, the dogs, the show of color on the wispy clouds at sunset. Of course it was dark when we finally rolled out of there. 

Darkness is a problem only in that it exacerbates my and Pam's usual poor navigation skills. When it rains and is dark, it's downright comical watching us get from point A to B without going through all the other letters in the alphabet along the way. Threading out way though the narrow streets of Ballard in Lucille is like taking the U.S.S Enterprise up a small river. You just know that you're going to go aground on some Honda Civic along the way.

We ended up in a place called Loyal Heights across the street from the neighborhood elementary school. We figured this all out in the morning, because when we found the spot we were only concerned about it being relatively flat. Finding someplace flat to park in hilly Seattle is a challenge. Not only was this place quiet and flat, it had a wonderful bakery just up the street! After an apple fritter and a cup of coffee, we were on our way towards Granite Falls and the promise of cooler temps. 
 
We stopped at the ranger station to make sure that our National Park annual pass was also good as a substitute for the NW Forest Pass. It is. We made sure that we could just find a place to pull over on the highway and park and camp. "Anywhere, but trail head parking and areas specifically set for day use" were OK for camping in the National Forest.

We stopped at a day use area, had lunch, swam in the river-- twice, napped, read, and cooked and ate dinner. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. 

About 5pm, we figured we should mosey down the road and find a place to camp to not have repeat of last night's adventure of trying to do that in the dark. A wide spot in the road literally sufficed as a campsite where we read the evening away. 

August 14th
Monte Cristo is a mining ghost town at the end of the paved road portion of the Mountain Loop Highway. In the span of a short 100 years or so, this thriving town of over 1000 people has faded back into the forest with only a few buildings remaining. Like of lot of business concerns, Cash Flow may be King, but Actual Profits are the Queen. And, we know who really rules the roost. After the initial boom in the late 1800s, a railway was built to get the ore to the smelter in Everett. It looked like the profits would really be coming in until a slide took out the railway and it was determined that rebuilding it would cost more than they were making. With the railway out and no way to get supplies in, the people of Monte Cristo had to walk out with what they could carry on their backs. 

It's easy to imagine how they lose whole cities in the Mayan jungles over a couple of centuries. The forest has nearly completely regained its natural reign over this space in just a short 100 years.

At he beginning of our walk into the town site, we met Patrick. He was originally headed for a side trail called Gothic Basin, but after hearing our stories about the town site he decided to follow us and see for himself. 

Patrick was good company on our 4-mile hike to the town. He came to the conclusion that working his entire life away wasn't working for him, so he down-shifted his role to something that did not consume his entire waking life and filled the free time with time outside hiking and biking. A true inspiration. 

I was headed down such a conclusion. I didn't have a good plan or rather a solid plan to do something specific after leaving my current work role, yet even so I was ready to quit and try to find a life outside of work. I was lucky to have a supervisor who was smarter than I was impetuous that convinced me to stay long enough to begin receiving my pension. This mere 18 months have given me enough time develop a good-enough framework for the next phase of my life while providing a trickling of income to make the savings last a bit longer. I expect to have to find work along the journey to supplement the larder, but it will be to fund-the-living as opposed to living-to-create-the-funds approach. 

We waved to Patrick as he was headed back home and we were headed into the unpaved portion of the Mountain Loop Highway. We drove for a bit looking for a suitable place to camp for the night. At a certain point, I just pulled off the road at a place that might make a good place to stop. It had a bit too much angle to the parking area to camp, but it was good enough for a swim in the river and nap. I turned off the refrigerator to prevent any damage due to the parking angle, got out and went for a swim in all my hiking clothes. It was a tad cold for any one with common sense, but luckily I don't possess enough to get in the way. I dripped dry long enough to not flood the van, changed clothes, ate a wrap that Pam had made. The next logical step was to take a nap. 

We were making out way slowly down the Mountain Loop Highway and right next to the river was what looked like a great campsite. I was wondering why it was still open since every other great spot already had occupants. Pam guided me between two large rocks and we leveled the van. with just a couple of 2x6s. Once I got to wandering around, I could see why the camp was empty is because the previous users of the site must have just left. From the pile of garbage bags, it seems like they must have been there for at least a couple of weeks. And, there must have been a lot of them. They were also the kind of campers that don't put out their fire, as it was still smoldering too. At least they piled the garbage bags into a couple large piles to make it easier for someone to clean up after them. 
 

Before heading out the next morning, I spent an hour with my litter gun and picked up a half another 33-gal garage sack of Bud Lite cans, juice boxes, Dr. Pepper cans from the river bank to the road. I was able to flag down a ranger that was going the other direction to have him send word in to have a truck and crew come out and pick up the pile of bags. 

We found a little gem of a State Park not far out of Sedro- Wooley called Rasar that had an opening. Very clean with nice showers and a dump station to boot. We walked down so I could go swim in the cool glacial silt colored river. The Skagit River is the 3rd largest river on the West coast.

We made it into Sedro-Wooley the next day, which was Tuesday, and talked with Marvin. We were still good with the schedule and Dana was planning on being there after work to take the window out. Before we settled down to camp in the grassy area next to Marvin's shop, we went to gather up supplies for our other project and some cash to pay Marvin and Dana after the window job had been done.

Mount Rainier-August 2016

July 30, 2016
Mount Rainier, Washington 

After writing all my good-bye letters, notes really,  to my co-workers and giving Stephanie and Hayden a hug, Pam and I headed out for Mount Rainier. It was about 4:30pm. Just getting the fuel for vehicle and fuel for cooking and fuel for us took a couple of hours plus. By the time we found a campsite that was unoccupied and got set up, the Stars were becoming solidly lit. In these latitudes in the summer, that means that it getting to be at least 10pm. 

Instead of the roar of the I-5 traffic to provide the white noise, we had a river of unknown name coming off of the mountain providing the ceaseless chorus. From the picture, it should be clear that this is not a sanctioned camping spot with the bathrooms and showers just down the trail. We were not able to find any "room at the inn", as it was a beautiful summer weekend and I'm sure that many folks were seeking refuge from the 80-85 degree temps in Seattle and Tacoma. 

This is spot off the side of Forest Service route 52 in some National Forest whose name I haven't caught yet. Dispersed Camping is the term they use for just finding a spot and settling in. The same 14-day rule applies, as they really don't want you settling in for the long haul. 

There is a REI event in the park area of Longmire that Pam signed us up for this weekend. Longmire is a set of government buildings and an Inn inside the park boundaries. Our campsite ended up being just on the other side of the river from Longmire and it was only about five miles to drive around. Even though we got a late start, the REI event was just getting set up by the information building and in front of the what used to be a gas station in the 1920s at Longmire.

Pam and I asked a lot of questions of the REI folks who were obvious enthusiast of the outdoors. We participated in a discussion on the relative merits of the different types of hiking poles. Whether carbon fiber was actually that much better than the slightly heavier aluminum ones. One of the instructors, Matt, who was a dedicated outdoors junkie in his mid-twenties, used poles made from half inch bamboo that he had crafted himself. The handles were made from leather hand stitched quite elegantly and the tips were made from a piece of steel rod embedded into the end solidly with epoxy. Matt's last set lasted him three years and these had gone through two years so far. The debate rages on. 

Chris, the older instructor with a bent for cool gear was like a kid with a new toy as he extolled the virtues of a combination of a fabric "water bottle" that connected nicely to an external filter. This lead naturally into the standard discussion around the limitations of each type of water treatment method. Drinkable water is an issue on every scale. 

With our free trail mix that we were able to make at another demonstration station, we got some guidance on which trail to spend the day on. We took the Rampart Ridge trail, which was only 4.9 miles and returned on the Wonderland Trail back to Longmire. It was a good, steady climb for the first third, fairly level for the next third and the remaining going down the elevation we went up in the first third.

Rampart Ridge Trail

The Wonderland trail is 93 miles long and does a circumference around the mountain. Just as we were connecting with the Wonderland Trail, we met a young gal who was just completing the trail by herself. She had started out with a friend who walked with her for a couple of days, but spent the remains five days on the trail alone. She looked more refreshed after seven days on the trail with a full backpack than Pam and I did after just a couple of hours carrying only day packs. 

Our spot was still available for us when we drove over to the other side. Pam made a nice stir fry dinner that made enough for leftovers for tomorrow night. We will be tired from an eleven mile hike we have planned for tomorrow, so the leftovers will be welcomed.

The hike on Sunday will be the Wonderland Trail from Longmire to Paradise and back to Longmire. Monday, we plan an overnight backpack to Snow Lake. The trail to Snow is not a long hike and not a lot of elevation gain. We have to study the map for what other trail to backpack on Wednesday/Thursday. Maybe we can do a two-night trip to return on Friday. Saturday, we plan to be in West Seattle to have a meal with our friends, Carlos and Nancy.

Sunday, July 31, 2016
So much for thinking that we going to get an earlier start this morning. We were still feeling the effects of watching Hayden for a couple weeks and probably that 4-hour hike yesterday surely had a part to play. By the time we made it to the park, messed around at the REI event--again--got our permit to do an over-nighter backpacking trip and got our stuff ready for the day hike, we were looking at lunch time.

Once Chris, of the REI crew, found out that Pam was interested in doing a chunk of the AT next year, Tessa was immediately called into the conversation. Tessa is the PCT Marketing Coordinator or something like that for REI. Titles are such interesting things--often meaningless--and are much better when they are as colorful as Tessa's hair color. A veteran of long-trail hiking and willing to answer some questions allowed her to be cornered by Pam's curiosity and enthusiasm about the subject. Tessa was so gracious and after a time patient too. She wanted to do everything possible to keep the enthusiasm going in Pam. Subjects from trail footwear to staying comfortable in an always wet environment were addressed and like all efforts where individualism is a strong component the discussion could have gone on forever.

One of the costs of taking so long to get to the permit station is that our first choice of Snow Lake was already filled. We ended up getting a permit for a campsite at the opposite corner of the park, Upper Palisades Lake. In order to get there before it got dark, we going to have to keep our hike to five hours. We had planned to do the Wonderland Trail from Longmire to Paradise, which is 5.9 miles one way. This doesn't sound that bad, but we are really, really slow. Especially going uphill, which getting to Paradise is mostly.

The two trails that we have hiked were wonderful. Wonderfully groomed, wide a lot of the times, and  mostly in the shade. We went up the trail 2.5 hours and it only took us 1.5 hours to return back to Longmire. We were able to reach a point in the trail where three bridges were close to one another, not quite all the way to Paradise.  Empirically, it takes longer to go uphill.

The road trip to Sunrise Point took a couple of hours including requisite stops to pay homage to the great white mountain. To avoid being reminded in the middle of the night that we did indeed know that we were not supposed to be parking/camping in the parking lot at the trail head, we went back down the hill to the White River Campground in the hopes that they had an open site. For only $20 we were able to park in peace. 

Monday, August 1, 2016 
White River Campground 
Mount Rainier Washington 

Ah, Vacation. Even with just a few days left on the payroll, I feel the freedom afforded by not having to report to the office. 

A babbling brook lay just outside the boundaries of our campsite and I barely noticed last night. We had just semi-leveled Lucille and went inside to clean up and got into bed. Pam is considering Advil this morning to alleviate some of the soreness from yesterday's walk that has been heaped upon the previous day's walk. Stretching my toes a bit, I think I'll find that bottle for her. 

Trail to Upper Palisades Lake

Today, we prepare for an over-nighter to Upper Palisades Lake, which is a mere 3.5 mile hike. As I recall from the three-dimensional map at the permit center, there is not too much elevation gain. This is our first time out since the initiation trip with the Mountaineers in late June. Pam's direct question to the permit ranger about the presence of snow at that campsite indicated clearly that she was not over the cold night we spent camping on the snow at Hannegan Pass. 

It looks to be a beautiful, clear sky day and I'm sure that we'll have epic views of the mountain throughout the trip. This is special, since the mountain does not reveal itself often. The table here at the campsite is clean enough that it will make a perfect packing surface. Time for some breakfast and getting ready for our trip.

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It's been a few days since I wrote about getting ready for our backpacking trip and a lot has happened in that time. It's already Saturday afternoon, the 6th. 

Our trip was gorgeous and I'm sure that the few pictures for you will allow you to agree with me on that assertion. While the profile at the permit center showed a fairly flat profile for this route, it was from the scale of Mount Rainier. It was not a flat route. We went up and over three fairly good-sized hills in those 3 1/2 miles to get to the campsite at Upper Palisades Lake. We wandered around another good 1/2 mile or so trying to find the actual campsite, but in doing so was treated to a magnificent view to the northwest over endless mountains. 

Meadow wonder

There were only two campsites, we had number 2. It was conveniently placed across a small spring-fed stream and on the way to the toilet (a box with a seat placed over a hole in some attempt to contain the expected waste). It was clean and the tent site flat-enough. The trade off was that the site has been used every day of every summer since the Civilian Conservation Corp built the trail in the 1930s (give or take) and that tent site was as packed as hard as concrete. 

 
I putzed around with my new assemblage of water filter parts and filled our water bottles down by the lake shore. The water was so clear, but not as cold as I thought that it'd be when I waded in to fill my water sack. 

At first we just put up the netting tent, but I figured that we'd wake covered in dew. We missed out on the star show, but were asleep so quickly that I doubt it really mattered. We were probably asleep before it got dark enough for stars to show themselves. I was woken up by the sides of the tent flapping with a good bit of wind that come from somewhere and when it finally settled down the rain started. Not hard, but enough to get everything good and wet. It proved to be good luck that we put the tent up after all. 

By the time we crawled out by nature's alarm clock, we were standing in a cloud. The forest and lake looked eerie in the low light and mistiness. We made our breakfast scramble wraps and started packing up. By the time we got it all ready to head down the trail, the sun was beginning to peak through. 

The wild flowers were at peak explosion. Brilliant fuchsia-hued Indian Paintbrush and thick patches of violet (need name of plant) and Suess plants and everything was in bloom. The only thing that we were not able catch a glimpse of were the many elk that matched the huge hoof prints that were criss-crossing the trail regularly. 

We had a good hike out and I think we would have huffed and puffed up the hills with only our day packs, let alone our full packs. 

I knew by the time we got back to the van that a good cold had settled in. We drove into Packwood to do some laundry at the Cascade Peaks RV park and get some groceries, fill up with gas and deem ourselves too tired to cook and get a pizza at Cascade Pizza. Plump full and tired, we set off down the road to find a campsite. Our Free Campsite book led us to the Summit Creek campground not too far up the road. We found the campground mostly empty, found a spot at the far end, leveled Lucille and went to bed. It was still light and it was well into the next day before I came around. I was only up for food and watering and then slept the afternoon away too. 

We left the next morning as approximately 200 teenage girls were getting set to learn how to repel off of the nearby bridge.  Those Mormans know how to organize events. 

The van was running rough on the way out and we figured that we must have got some bad gas in Packwood. We chugged back into the Park and decided on visiting Paradise, as I wasn't feeling my strongest. We hiked around the trails for a few hours and given the condition of the van decided to head back to town. Getting stuck on the mountain would not be a cheap event. 

We stopped by and saw Stephanie and Hayden. Chris poked his head up a few minutes when his Mom and Charles called and let him know they were on the way over. Some scrumptious birthday cake later, we all headed out. We decided it would be a good plan to go visit Dave and Lori up in Seabeck, as this might be the last time we see them for awhile. On the second day there, I found the loose spark plug wire that was the cause of the mis-firing. I lost count, but I think this takes us to Saturday morning.