PART 1: VOLCANOES

PREVIEW

We left for the Charlotte airport before 5 AM on Saturday, July 20^th. We wanted to get there plenty early. We had two full suitcases and two large duffel bags, so we were concerned that our baggage would come under extra scrutiny. Fortunately, we didn't have any problems, and the plane left on time. Shortly after takeoff, we circled over southwest Charlotte. Christy's sharp eyes spotted a neighborhood near ours, and then our new house! We took it as a good omen as we flew over our house and headed west.

We changed planes in St. Louis, which turned out to be an old, cramped airport. Our flight was delayed, but we were eventually allowed to board. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the air conditioner, and the plane was packed full. We sweated for a good hour while they made repairs. The plane was beginning to resemble a third world bus when we finally pulled away from the gate.

The flight across the Rockies was uneventful, but got more interesting as we approached the Cascades. The main mountain ridges were far below, but the higher volcanoes stood out like snow-covered islands. We passed a whole row of them, starting with Mt. Hood, and continuing on to Mt. Adams, Goat Rocks, Mt. St. Helens, and finally Mt. Ranier. When Ranier finally appeared, the plane got very quiet. It seemed that nearly everyone, including some of the flight attendants, was looking out the windows. We passed very close to, and actually below, the summit of Ranier as we descended into Seattle. It was a spectacular start to the trip.

We landed, got our baggage, and eventually found our way to the Thrifty bus. Picking up the rental car was quick and easy once again. This was our second straight good experience with Thrifty. We were also happy to find out that we'd be driving a Daewoo again this year. This time we went with a mid-sized car, which swallowed our baggage without any problem.

We had just left the lot and made a turn when I nearly rear-ended the car in front of me. Our right turn had left us facing Mt. Ranier, and the view from city level was quite a shock. The mountain is absolutely immense. It looks like it could fall over and squash Seattle at a moment's notice. I was eager to get there, but first we had a few errands to run.

THE MOUNT RANIER SAMPLER PLATTER

My pre-trip research had resulted in an impressive list of hikes to do in Ranier. The Naches Peak Loop, Pinnacle Pass, Grove of the Patriarchs, Sunrise, Paradise, and Comet Falls were all places we wanted to visit. Unfortunately, we only had Saturday evening, Sunday, and possibly Monday morning to visit the park. What to do? We eventually decided to do some short hikes in different areas for a variety of experiences. As we left Seattle we tried to establish some priorities.

Cocktails:

After considerable discussion, we decided to stop at Sunrise on the way to the Ohanapecosh Campground. It was sort of on the way, although it was at least an hour of extra driving to get up there. It was far enough away from our basecamp though that I knew we wouldn't make it there if we didn't stop on the way in. We followed the long, winding road up the White River and on to Sunrise. It was a clear, sunny day, and views of The Mountain were stunning. We parked at the visitor's center, grabbed a water bottle, cameras, and the map, and hit the trail.

We hiked the nature trail up Sourdough Ridge, which seemed like an appropriate choice after a day on the plane. We reached the ridge crest, and opted for a slightly longer loop to the west. We followed the ridge past many great views of The Mountain and descended to Frozen Lake. It nearly lived up to its name, as there was still a fair sized iceberg in the middle. The lake was a bit disappointing though, as it is a water supply for the park. The lake itself is fenced off, so photography options are limited.

We left the lake and reached the Wonderland Trail. A little confusion led us to an unintended overlook, but eventually we got back on the right trail. We headed back down toward Sunrise, and the trail immediately crossed a long, slushy snowfield. I was in running shoes, and Christy was in something even less useful. After all, we didn't expect to need our boots for the nature trail. We debated turning back, but in the end we slipped, stumbled, and slid our way down the hill. It wasn't hazardous, but falling in the snow certainly does grab your attention. After the second snowfield, we were in the clear. The rest of the hike was an easy walk on an old-road. We enjoyed the mixture of conifers and meadows, and a crashing creek swollen with snowmelt.

We had squeezed in a 3.5 mile hike, but now it was time for camp. Our bodies thought it was already 10pm, and we were beat. We drove the rest of the way to the southeast corner of the park. We checked in at the ranger station, and got our reserved site at Ohanapecosh Campground. I had requested a site near the river, and we were not disappointed. We had a great spot amid huge trees on a hill above the river. The river roared through a series of rapids below us, which made for great sleeping. Most of the sites in the campground were pretty cramped, but ours was nicely isolated. We could really only see one other site from ours, and it was a good distance away. Ohanapecosh turned out to be our favorite car-campground of the trip.

We managed a dinner of chicken fajitas and a couple of beers before we passed out.

Appetizer:

Naches Peak Loop was the first hike on our agenda for Sunday. I wanted to do it first because I'd heard that it can get crowded by mid-day. We drove back north to the Tipsoo Lake picnic area, where we found 2 other cars. The lakes were still mostly frozen, and all of the hillsides were snow-covered. We had quite a bit of trouble finding the actual start of the trail in the snow. We eventually spotted it farther up the hill in a sunny spot that had melted. We headed for it, and found that the trail followed a pattern. While the shady areas were still snowy, the sunny spots were clear and covered with blooming avalanche lilies. These yellow and white flowers were beautiful, and seemed to cover every snow-free spot.

We stopped for numerous pictures before hiking on. Soon the trail crossed the highway on a bridge, and we joined the Pacific Crest Trail. I'd like to thru-hike the PCT one of these years, so it was exciting to be able to hike a couple of miles of it. We were on it for a couple of hundred yards when we encountered our first hazardous snowfield. There was a steep chute of snow running across the trail. It was soft, and traction was good, but one slip would result in a long fall. We were very cautious and went slowly, and got across without trouble. This turned out to be the first of many snow chutes, but our confidence grew with each one.

It was a very sunny day, and the glare off the snow was painful. I wore the sunglasses Christy had bought me for my birthday, and they were a real savior. It's the first time in years of hiking that I actually needed sunglasses.

We hiked on, through more snow, conifers, and flowers. We worked our way around the east side of Naches Peak and approached a small pond. We stopped for a break, and some more attempts at photography. However, the mountain views were only beginning to get good.

We hiked around to the south side of the loop, and found ourselves looking down on Dewey Lakes. These lakes are a beautiful green, and are surrounded by mountains covered in conifers. Indian Paintbrush was blooming, which added to the beauty. Then, we turned another corner, and Ranier made its first appearance of the day. The hike had been scenic to this point, but The Mountain really stole the show. More wildflowers enhanced the scene as we looped back toward the picnic area. The last mile or more had us walking toward Ranier most of the time, which was very dramatic. Towards the end, we found a good overlook where we stopped for lunch. Afterwards, it was a short easy hike back down to the parking lot to finish the 3.5 mile loop. We had started to see other dayhikers in the last hour, and the parking area was a very different place. It was full of motor homes, motorcycles, cars, pickups, and even a bus. We left in a hurry, and headed for Paradise.

Salad:

It was a hot afternoon, and the air conditioning felt great. We headed up the road towards Paradise, but got very sleepy along the way. We stopped at the Cowlitz Box Canyon to shake off the cobwebs, and we were glad we did. The short loop trail crossed a bridge high over the narrow canyon of the Cowlitz River. The river is only a few feet wide, as it is squeezed between narrow rock walls. It reminded me of the slot canyons of Utah, though with much more water. We returned to the car, and resumed the drive.

Entrée:

We parked at Reflection Lakes, and enjoyed another great view of the Mountain. Next on our agenda was a short but steep hike up to Pinnacle Pass in the Tatoosh Range. I was looking forward to more good views of Ranier, plus more vistas to the south. I had called a ranger on Friday to check trail conditions, expecting the worst. I was surprised when he told me that the route was open and safe. He did say that the saddle at the trail's end was buried, but that it could be avoided by hiking higher up on Pinnacle Mountain.

We hiked up through a deep, dark forest, which provided blessed shade. Then, we had our first real scare of the hike. Christy was ahead of me, and reached another steep snow chute. This one ended a short distance below, at a cliff. She was half way across when she slipped and barely caught her balance. When I reached the chute, she had regained her composure. She warned me, and I stopped to put on my ice cleats. I picked a path a little higher up, and the extra traction helped me get across. A minute later we reached another chute, and Christy put her cleats on, too. We got past this, and soon we were out in the sun. We didn't find anymore snow, even in the saddle at the top. I'm not sure what the ranger was talking about, as hiking higher up on Pinnacle Mountain looked pretty impossible, anyway. There was a sheer cliff above us, so it was fortunate that the snow was gone.

The view from the pass was outstanding. To the south was the impressive bulk of Mt. Adams, which served as something of a mirror image of Ranier to the north. From the pass, we had several options to consider. We could rest before our return, or we could try to climb one of the nearby peaks. Pinnacle looked intriguing, but I had heard that it was a tricky and somewhat hazardous scramble. A group was climbing ahead of us, and it was apparent that they had their hands full. Shouts for rope, curses, and cries of "ROCK!" were all too frequent. Instead, we decided to try our luck with Plummer Peak.

We followed an unofficial path to the west along the ridge. We made easy progress until we reached the worst snowfield of the day. It was long, steep, and very hazardous. A fall would likely be fatal. Unlike the others we'd crossed, this one only had old, faint footprints. To make it all worse, coming down would be extremely steep. I think we could have climbed it, but getting back down would have been more excitement than I was looking for. I was all for turning back, but Christy wanted to continue. I agreed to let her scout, and she scrambled up the rocks adjacent to the snow. She passed above the snowfield, and disappeared. Several minutes later she appeared on top of the ridge, waving me up.

The scramble started easy enough. After passing above the snowfield, I found that I needed to climb up through a gully with an 8' high block of snow. I wormed my way up between the rock and snow, which was strenuous and damn cold! I eventually crawled to the top of the ridge, only to find that we still had quite a bit of mountain to go.

We climbed more rocks and arrived at an interesting passage. The ridge was very narrow, and there was a huge tree growing right in the middle above us. There was no way around, so we literally climbed the tree to get up to the next ledge. From there, it was only a few more boulders to the summit. And boy was the effort worth it! The 360 degree view from the top was a jawdropper. The jagged peaks of the Tatoosh Range extended east and west. To the south, Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens were clearly visible. And of course, Ranier encompassed the entire view to the north.

After a long break and lots of photos, we had to head back down. The descent was pretty easy, as we avoided the rock climbing around the upper snowfield by following a different route. The rest of the descent was uneventful until we reached the lower snow chutes. We stopped to put our ice cleats on, when disaster nearly struck. I was stretching the cleat along one boot when it slipped from my fingers. Since I had it pulled taut, it sling-shotted out into the middle of the snow. Oh goody. I spent a few moments reflecting on the irony of the situation. How pathetic would it be if I fell to my death trying to retrieve my ice cleat? Luckily, my hero Christy put hers on and bravely retrieved it. I was much more careful putting them on after that, and we had no further excitement in our return the car.

We had entertained thoughts of doing another 3.5 mile hike to Comet Falls. We were pretty beat though, and it was getting late. Instead, we decided to head up to Paradise to see the visitor's center and use the showers. We had heard that they have coin operated showers there, and that sounded wonderful. It wasn't. It turns out that they have exactly two showers. There was a whole crowd of people waiting, too. At this point though, Christy had her heart set on a shower. So we waited. And waited. One couple thoughtfully doubled-up, and as a result they get my vote for people of the year. Once we got in there, it seemed almost worth the wait. However, while we were waiting the visitor's center closed, so we didn't get to see any of the actual exhibits.

We headed back down to Ohanapecosh, and arrived well before dark. We had a dinner of Jambalaya, and even enjoyed a campfire before heading for the tent.

Dessert:

We had a quick breakfast of french toast and sausage and broke camp. We needed to head for Mt. St. Helens, but I wanted to do a couple more short hikes in the park before we left. We drove a couple of miles back up toward Paradise. At the Ohanapecosh River bridge we parked and walked the wide, flat, easy trail to the Grove of the Patriarchs. This short hike leads to a grove of huge, ancient trees on an island in the river. The trees were spectacular, and it was very quiet in the forest early Monday morning.

On the hike back I stepped badly on a rock, twisted my ankle, and fell in a heep. I couldn't believe it - I had just taken a fall on a trail that was all but paved. I was concerned about my ankle, since we were climbing Mt. St. Helens the next day. It didn't seem too bad though, so I swallowed some advil and dunked it in the river. Cold! Can you say glacial runoff and snowmelt? That did quite nicely for icing it. I was able to walk the rest of the way out without trouble.

Coffee:

Our final stop in Ranier was Silver Falls. Just downstream from the Grove of the Patriarchs, the river spills over Silver Falls. It was a short easy hike down to a bridge below the falls. The cascade was impressive, and the water was a beautiful, icy shade of blue. We explored the area and took several photos before it was time to head south for Mount Saint Helens.

Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports

Home

Please remember to Leave No Trace!