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williswall poser
Joined: 30 Sep 2007 Posts: 1963 | TRs | Pics Location: Redmond |
Yes, you can do the Wonderland Trail right now. I figured I'd take advantage of this unusual year to hike the better portion of the trail when (according to the rangers) no one has done it yet. It can be done, but not without some difficulties. Incredible flower show, bordering on overload, which fortunately is not possible when it comes to flowers.
Day 1: Longmire to Golden Lakes (25 miles)
This first day was basically a piece of cake, with no impediments to hiking the trail worth noting. There were a few blowdowns but hardly worth mentioning. I ran into 4 people the entire day, out hiking parts of the trail from the West Side road access. Swarming bug fest at Indian Henry's, almost as many mosquitoes as there were flowers. The day was hot but not unbearable, and the good forecast allowed me to tailor my kit: I was going really light with small packs (back and front), and my sleep system for the one night at Golden Lakes was perfect: NeoAir XLite, EE 50 degree quilt, and MLD 2.8 ounce "bivy."
1. Wonderland Path 2. Kautz Creek view 3. classic Indian Henry's view 4. rare water reflection Indian Henry's 5. let the riot begin 6. Chocolate River-Tahoma Creek 7. Tahoma Creek suspension bridge 8. flower sample1 9. budding evergreen shrub 10. approaching Emerald Ridge 11. riot patch on the moraine 12. Emerald Ridge pano 13. Emerald Ridge crowding in 14. unbelievable! 15. descending to S. Puyallup 16. swollen South Puyallup river 17. the butterflies are out 18. tandem flight 19. fly and flowers 20. path decorations 21. approaching St Andrews Park 22. St Andrews Park 24. St Andrews Park 25. St Andrews lake 26. flower carpet approaching Klapatche Park 27. crowded field 28. living up to the name 29. a filled Aurora Lake 30. Klapatche Park 31. creek near North Puyallup 32. North Puyallup River 33. North Puyallup River 34. waning light on N. Puyallup 35. North Puyallup bridge 36. setting sun approaching Silver Forest 37. Silver Forest 38. after sunset Silver Forest 39. Tacoma straight ahead
ATTN Wonderland hikers: The major point I can make for people planning the trail is this; although the conditions snow and weatherwise are like August, the fact of the matter is the Park has done no trail maintenance. This is as close to a wilderness hike on the Wonderland as I'll probably ever experience, due to the fact that the Mowich Lake road is still closed and both crossings over the South and North Mowich Rivers are out. Unless you are willing to hike the Mowich Lake road (like two guys I ran into in Spray Park did), the west side of the park is empty. No rangers had even been to Golden Lakes yet (no bear poles). I was a good boy though and got a permit anyway.
Day 2: Golden Lakes to Sunrise (32 miles)
This would prove to be a difficult day for me, not just because of the distance but my bod just didn't want to get in gear right from the beginning. Still recovering from surgery? 60 years old? Slowed down by "trail difficulties? Don't know, combo of everything I guess. This is not to say this wasn't one of the coolest hikes I have done despite some small amount of suffering, but that just comes with the territory. The first obstacle, and in fact the only one I was slightly concerned about, was crossing both the raging Mowich Rivers. This is the sort of thing that would discourage "traditional" backpackers expecting a nice manicured trail. However, the crossings weren't that bad, and although the South Mowich is heavily braided, I was able to find 3 logs to handle each section and stayed feet dry. After a break at the S. Mowich River camp, I was able to cross the North Mowich with just a little bit of bushwhacking and 1 log. These rivers are bursting at the seams so fording is not a good idea.
I wanted to do the alternate route over Spray Park to check out the snow levels....August, anyone? Lower Spray Park was bursting with flowers and conspicuously absent of humans. The route over upper Spray Park is easy to follow with short snow sections. I'm thinking the snow will all be gone by July here, very unusual. This day would see more blowdowns with some serious work to do by the trail crews, more to come. The trail was fine until reaching the South Fork of the White River, an area that was trenched by an outflow event some years ago. For the rest of my hike I was in darkness and the trail is gone here, necessitating a steep scree drop (40 feet) where I had to be careful about dislodging rocks and boulders on the slide down to the river. Crossing is easy but the shorter scramble up the opposite bank proved interesting with avoiding joining the rocks and scree slides produced by me trying to climb. Getting over the lip was like climbing out of a crevasse, but once out I managed to regain the trail on the other side without much problem. I was very happy to see that the bridge over Winthrop Creek was intact. The next obstacle is a section of trail just above Garda Falls that simply collapsed. It looks like a small creek eroded this section and schwacking above it looked too tedious. I had to drop 8-10 feet into a small ravine that angled steeply to Winthrop Creek but veggie belays helped tremendously in finding purchase in both descending and climbing the opposite bank. After this the going was good and due to the lateness I probably would have just camped at Granite Creek, but my pickup was already at Sunrise so I simply soldiered on. Things were slow but fine with me enjoying short rest breaks with the star show above. Approaching Skyscraper Pass brought me into a different weather zone though, with 25 knot winds and cold temps. My last concern proved warranted, as there is a large snow section right on the north side of Skyscraper Pass, and I had to traverse on the high side using ridgeline veggie belays as the 60 degree drop wouldn't have been pleasant due to a slip. The snow wasn't frozen though and the last difficulty of the night was downclimbing the loose steep boulders to regain the trail after the snow about 20-30 feet below me. The rest of the slog to Sunrise had me crossing some snow patches but easy walking, still accompanied by the biting winds and sometimes stinging dust. Although it was dark here, I did notice that the flower show is yet to come in the meadows above Berkeley Park.
40. Golden Lakes early AM 41. Golden Lakes 42. another flower shot on trail 43. looking across S. Mowich braided area 44. N Mowich mess 45. another water source on the WT 46. my perennial friends 47. approching Spray Park 48. not white! 49. nature's perfect patterns 50. Spray Park 51. Spray Park path 52. uh huh, there's more 53. upper Spray Park 54. future flower field-upper Spray Park 55. not August! 6000' 56. trail descending to Seattle Park 58. not all gone yet 59. Mist Park 60. Seattle Park 61. a splash of red 62. trail to Carbon River 63. going to seed already 64. CZEK sucks 65. trail next to Carbon Glacier 66. springing forth 67. delicate details 68. another water fillup station 69. Moraine Park 70. Moraine Park 71. sunset on the rock 72. Mystic Pass 73. approaching Mystic Lake 75. Venus in Mystic Lake
The trail crews probably won't get to serious work until July, so I'm not sure when the trail will be "normal" for hikers. The enticement of hitting the trail now is the isolation, wilderness experience (if anything happens out there you are on your own) and obscene flower show, I've never seen anything like it. The crowds will start hitting the Spray Park area after the 19th when the road opens, but right now nobody's there. In the 30 or so times I've hiked this trail, experiencing it in June before it is "open" ranks as one of the most immersive and rewarding (and a little hard) hikes I've done.
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Distel32 Member
Joined: 03 Jun 2014 Posts: 961 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, WA |
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Distel32
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Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:27 pm
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both for the trip and pics.
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iron Member
Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 6391 | TRs | Pics Location: southeast kootenays |
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iron
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Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:50 pm
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Roly Poly Member
Joined: 02 Jan 2013 Posts: 711 | TRs | Pics
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Those wildflowers are amazing! And you really covered some distance!
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Don Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 2013 | TRs | Pics Location: Fairwood, WA |
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Don
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Fri Jun 12, 2015 5:07 pm
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What a crazy year. Awesome trip and photos! You cover some amazing ground!
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JVesquire Member
Joined: 28 Jun 2006 Posts: 993 | TRs | Pics Location: Pasco, WA |
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bobbi stillaGUAMish
Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 8012 | TRs | Pics Location: olympics! |
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bobbi
stillaGUAMish
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Fri Jun 12, 2015 9:06 pm
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what can i say about YOU! absolutely crazy and fabulous! you da man
thank you for the beautiful flower show! incredible!
bobbi ૐ
"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!" - Oh, the Places You’ll Go! By Dr. Seuss
bobbi ૐ
"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!" - Oh, the Places You’ll Go! By Dr. Seuss
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marydave Musical Hikers
Joined: 11 Aug 2010 Posts: 182 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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marydave
Musical Hikers
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Fri Jun 12, 2015 9:35 pm
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Stunning flower pictures, and amazing work as always.
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Magellan Brutally Handsome
Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 13116 | TRs | Pics Location: Inexorable descent |
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Magellan
Brutally Handsome
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Fri Jun 12, 2015 10:09 pm
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Fantastic pictures WW! Thanks for the writeup, and I hope I'm half the hiker you are when I'm 60.
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mbravenboer Member
Joined: 20 Oct 2013 Posts: 1422 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
Great flower photos! Must have been great fun.
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