30 June - 4 July 2008
Pictures from the Trip!
I left Seattle uncertain of exactly where I would go and what I would do, as there is an unusual amount of snow this late in the season all over the Pacific Northwest. My general plan was to enter the park from the SW side and leave through the NE, seeing what I could see and camping wherever I could, be it frontcountry or backcountry.
The drive in was uneventful, and included a brief stop at the "Little White Church" in Elbe, Washington, which is on the National Historical Site register. It is a tiny church that was built by the town so that they could have their own place of worship; the priest arrived by train and bicycle for the monthly church service.
Upon entering Rainier I stopped at Longmire to talk to the backcountry rangers about the conditions of backcountry sites. They were very helpful, providing lots of information. Unsure as to how crowded the campground would be, I drove 2 miles up the road to it, got a site, and then biked back down to Longmire to explore the trails, check out the museum, and get a backcountry permit for the following night.
The short interpretive trail in the Longmire area goes around the Longmire meadow and through the mineral springs baths that were originally set up in the area by the Longmire family when they ran a resort in the area. The springs were interesting, but I think I'm a bit jaded from Yellowstone. It was nice to get out and walk through the woods, although I had trouble remembering that not much higher up everything was snowcovered.
That night I went to the evening ranger program at the campground. I was very impressed with it; usually I already have a solid background in whatever the ranger is talking about. That particular evening the talk was on the "5 senses... no the other ones," which turned out to be Adventure, Wonder, Honor, Ownership, and Place. He presented well, and I really feel like he got to the heart of what OEE and interpretation is all about. He did a great job of starting with the familiar 5 senses and drawing from there, and overall I was incredibly impressed with the content and the presentation.
I spent most of Tuesday exploring the Paradise area and the main visitor center there. They still officially had 11 feet of snow on the ground, which did put a damper on the wildflower ranger walk I went on, however we did find some wildflowers at the edges of walkways, where the snow had already melted out.
My "major hike" of the day didn't cover much mileage, but I went up about 1,600 feet to 5,800 feet over the course of just over a mile & 1/2, and all of it was on snow. I'd forgotten how much hiking up snow sucks. Thankfully going back down was a lot easier, and a few short sections I was able to glissade down (kind of like skiing, but without skis... basically sliding down on your feet in the snow... the trick is to not fall over!) Upon returning to Paradise I went on another ranger walk - this time focused on the geology of the area. We walked the Nisqually overlook trail, which leads to an overlook where you can see the terminus of the Nisqually glacier. This also gave me a good view of my earlier hike, and verified that I had been looking down at the glacier; it was just covered in snow. Upon my return to Pardise I wandered about the visitor center and then headed off to my first night in the backcountry at Nickel Creek backcountry site.
The hike in to Nickel Creek, while only about a mile, was snowy for the last 1/3, despite the "snow free" map having indicated otherwise. I successfully reached my campsite despite all the snow, however I only knew I was there because I found the pit-toilet. All in all I had a good night - my tent did fine being pitched on snow and my little soda-can stove that I built didn't seem to melt down at all (it was on a thin metal piece), which kind of surprised me. I spent a solid hour working on setting up a bear bag, as trees that shed snow well aren't too conducive to holding up ropes.
Wednesday's highlight was by far the Grove of the Patriarchs, and old-growth area with 1,000 year old trees. I can't even begin to describe how amazing the old, giant trees are. Their presence can be felt throughout the grove of trees.
While I was unsure of the snow conditions I'd find up at my 2nd backcountry camp, at lower Crystal Lake, I was pleasantly surprised to find very little snow, despite the fact that I was up at 5,400 feet (Nickel creek was only at 3,400). I enjoyed a relaxing afternoon exploring the area, however my night was filled with thunderstorms. While I was in quite a safe area, it is hard to sleep amidst massive pyrotechnics going on all around.
Thursday marked the opening day of the road to Sunrise, and I migrated upwards. While I had planned on staying in the frontcountry campsite, there was a question of water quality and no one was sure if it would actually open or not. I opted to get another backcountry permit to spend the night out at Sunrise walk-in site, just over a mile from the Sunrise visitor center. I spent most of my time at and around the visitor center learning about glaciers. I went on yet another ranger walk, as well as a ranger talk on glaciers. The walk was led by someone who spent the winter working in outdoor environmental ed with someone who I used to work with down in California, yet again proving that the world of OEE is a small one.
During the glacier talk I learned a lot of cool things. In particular, there are ice worms that live in the glaciers on Rainier, as well as on glaciers in other mountains in the cascade range, up north through Alaska. They aren't found anywhere else in the world (as far as is known), and they can only survive at 32 degrees Farenheight. Above or below that they die. They regulate their body temperature by moving up and down in the glaciers through the small spaces between the ice crystals. They feed on the bacteria & algae that grow in the glaciers, and will occasionally travel into snow, but will not venture far from the glaciers. Very little is known about how they reproduce or repopulate areas. However, they have repopulated Mt. St. Helens post-eruption and now live in the new glaciers that have formed there. It is suspected that they may travel via birds which frequent both areas and eat the worms. However, due to their specific temperature needs no one knows how this would actually occur.
My last night in Rainier was by far the best. The hike out was quite enjoyable, I managed to find enough snowless ground to pitch my tent, despite the fact that the area was largely covered by snow, I had a relatively easy time setting up my bear bag, and went for a nice post-dinner walk. I also slept like a rock with near-perfect sleeping conditions.
Friday the rest of life called me back to Seattle to prepare for my next trip - 3 weeks in Costa Rica.
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