All in NW Hiker's Day

White River Area, 7/13/08, 9 miles, 1000 elevation

Wildflowers and Snow. Waterfalls and Meadows. Forests and Frogs. A Lake and a River. A lost route. Two trails. Eight Friends. And one very large mountain. Yep. It's all in a NW Hiker's Day. At least in July of 2008. The snows that had hindered us on most trip planning had struck again as we attempted to hike into Grand Park on the north side of Mt Rainier.

I love Grand Park with its great unforested expanses of wildflower meadows that lead your feet and your attention to the hulking massive of Mt Rainier. It's a fantastical place that is a favorite of many hikers I know (including myself) and several naturalist friends. So when they offered it in the Mountaineer's Conditioning Hike Series, we signed up. However, this year nature had other plans - the trail reports coming from the National Park Service did not bode well. The report for the week prior to our trip stated the trail was still 100% under snow. But we decided to attempt it anyway.

Several hours later after spending half our time unsuccessfully route-finding in large snow fields insulated by the forest and tramping through the ankle-deep mud of the lower meadow, we sat on the banks of Lake Eleanor contemplating our next move. After all, we had only accomplished a small portion of our desired mileage and elevation. And it was still early enough in the afternoon to get some more trail under our feet. We settled on Skookumchuck Flats along the White River to the falls. Although that wouldn't add elevation to our day, we would be able to get in another 5 miles.

I had often thought about hiking along the White River past the falls but had yet to check the trail off the list. It's a nice trail frequented by mountain bikers out for a rolling pedal through the woods. But we met few on the trail this afternoon as we easily passed over the meadows through thick stands of Douglas Fir and twin-flowers. I left the trail much happier than when we left the Grand Park trail earlier - we were able to hike with a faster trek and I was able to feel the burn in my calves and hips as I stretched before heading off to dinner. But smiled a bit about hiking in the northwest and how sometimes you just have to stay flexible and have an alternate plan in mind.