Westside, Part V

Wonderland Trail, 8/26-30, 32 miles

Maybe we should have called this the "wetside" of the Wonderland. After several years of failed attempts on the westside of Rainier, we finally made it to Lake Mowich. Two years ago, we trekked from Longmire to Klapatche Park. Our plan had been to go all the way to Lake Mowich, but were chased off the mountain by snow still lingering in the trees and clinging on the slopes. Last year we were thwarted by the floods the winter before. So this year we planned to head up the Westside Road and hike into Klapatche Park from there to continue along our northward route.

Because of continued road repair, our trip started in the Glacier View Wilderness outside the park. It was a beautiful day as we made our way past Goat Lake and over Gobbler's Knob to Lake George. Amazingly, we were the only campers at the lake so we decided to take over the shelter and a good thing too. The weather began to turn and before the sun was completely down it started raining. It continued to rain off and on for the next 3 days. We were soaked, our gear was soaked, and our mood was soggy. I remembered stories from a friend who had attempted to hike the Wonderland but hiked out after he opened a ramen package and it was already wet.

As the rains settled in the 4th night, and after talking to the ranger who informed us that the freezing level would be dropping over the weekend, Michael & I came to the decision to call my sister for a pick-up at Lake Mowich. We had hoped to hike over to the Carbon River and back in a loop on days 6 & 7, but the fact that I was already sleeping in the emergency blanket in side the sleeping bag made it clear that wee should have come prepared for winter camping instead.

But that's not to say it was all misery. A break in the rain at Klapatche Park let us wander around the flower garden around Aurora Lake. We spotted moving white dots on the cliff face over the North Puyallup River and surmised they were Mountain Goats. During a patch of sun, I stepped over a fresh pile of purple bear poo only to have Michael stop me dead in my tracks by saying "Bear! On your right." She was just 30 feet away grazing on the plentiful berries and paying us no mind. And the relief as we finally gazed at Lake Mowich knowing we had finished our task.