The Mt. Rainier Wilderness backpacking trip was amazing. AND I survived 4 days of backpacking that I did not adequately train for. The first day was about 7 or 8 miles of steep downhill, which RUINED my quads. So much so that I could hardly sit down that night and could barely walk the next day... ooops!
View of Mt. Rainier on the drive to our starting point
The view before we started our 7 mile descent
The gang hiking down on the first day
White River
Crossing one of many many log bridges
The best suspension bridge EVER! Crossing at dusk to get to our campsite before it got completely dark.
We had a fairly large backpacking group and the national forest requires you to get permits and plan out your campsites before you set off, so we had to break into two groups of four. Originally Lucas and I were grouped with Nate and Kimber, which worked out well the first night. Our site was the first one and we managed to reach it just as it got dark, while the other group had another mile of uphill to climb before they reached theirs. They told us the next morning that they'd gotten in so late and were so tired that they set up camp on the trail and went to bed without dinner.
On the morning of the second day, I knew I was in trouble when I had to lean on my tent to stand up... Which didn't go so well and kind of collapsed under my weight. My unseasoned hiking legs had to take many breaks throughout the day, which was full of hills and valleys, and I had to stop at the other groups campsite. Travis and Katee were kind enough to switch groups with Lucas and me, so we set up camp with Jeff and Amber while Nate and Kimber continued on to their campsite... another 4 miles away...
Coming over the suspension bridge on the morning of the second day
Amazing views of Mt. Rainier with members of my new group
Hiking along the Wonderland Trail on Day 2
Blue Lumiens in front of Mt. Rainier
On day three, I was still sore, but feeling a million times better than the previous day. Jeff, Amber, Lucas and I hiked another 4 miles to the next campsite where we arrived around 1:30 and settled in early. We passed the afternoon playing cards, and lounging by one of the many streams. Sadly, our group ran out of toilet paper and we had to resort to using my face wipes.... We were also sadly low on hot cocoa and completely without bug spray... Lucas and Jeff enjoyed a bottle of whiskey to drown their sorrows, Lucas spilled dinner everywhere, and we called it an early night.
Crossing another of the many log bridges
Pumping water by our campsite
Soaking my poor exhausted feet in the ice cold stream
On the last day, we left camp early, around 8:30, to meet up with the other group three miles down the trail, and hike the rest of the way to the cars, another five miles downhill. Along the way, we had some more amazing views of Mt. Rainier and got an awesome group photo at the top of the pass.
Back at the cars, the boys who had raced ahead had lunch ready for us to make and eat while we waited for them to fetch the car we'd left at the starting point. Nate had gotten a flat tire on the very first day on our way to the starting point during his boyish detour onto some rugged rocks with this truck. So he spent an extra hour changing his tire when they got to Mowich Lake. All said, Lucas, Kimber, Katee and I spent nearly five hours entertaining ourselves playing cards.
This was year two of a four year trip to hike all of the Wonderland Trail. I didn't get to hike it last year because I was at Bryann's Nationals Softball Tournament. But I plan on going for the next two year to finish out the trail. Perhaps I'll train a little more next summer so that my legs won't be dead 1/4th of the way into the trip with no easy way out.
Spectacular scenery! Thanks for posting the pics.
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