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Ice Girl
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Joined: 30 Apr 2002
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Ice Girl
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PostThu Aug 08, 2002 9:56 am 
Monday, July 29, 2002 Rainy at home, got a late start. Drove down and made camp at Cougar Rock, nice campground. Drove around a little bit after dinner, looking at the sights. Tuesday, July 30, 2002 Up early, we drove to the trailhead of Comet Falls, also Christine Falls is just a ¼ of a mile north. It was extremely foggy this morning. As we climbed up the trail, a very steep trail, you follow the Van Trump Creek, I believe. After hiking for about ½ to ¾ of a mile, the trees started dripping a lot of water down on us. The fog was still pretty thick, we talked it over and decided to go back down and wait for another day when it wasn’t fogged in. After I hiked all the way up Mt. Pilchuck and the fog never lifting, I didn’t want to do it again at Comet Falls. The girls would be really mad at me, if they hiked in and then had to rehike it. After getting back to the trailhead, we then went to the Carter, Madcap Falls trailhead. You cross the Paradise River, on some rather rickety bridges. The trail goes to follow an old rd. for a while, then steepen into a trail. You come to Carter Falls first; it’s very hard to see the falls from the viewpoints they give you. One could probably bushwhack around and get to a better point. But with three girls, one can’t just go off bushwhacking. Madcap Falls has a very good viewpoint, and both falls are more than worth the short hike to go and see. We then went down the rd. to do a short loop hike on the Twin Firs Loop; the trail goes up into a grove of Douglas Firs, Red Cedars and Western Hemlocks. The Douglas Firs were rather large, Red Cedars were very few, and Hemlocks were there but nothing out standing. After dinner we drove to Paradise and check things out up there. We also hiked the Trail of Shadows, of which gives a history lesson about the Longmire area, very informative. Wednesday, July 31, 2002 Drove to Paradise again and then decided to go and checkout, Reflection Lake and Lake Louise down the rd. a little. Both lakes sit right on the rd. you don’t even have to get out of your car to see them. We then drove down the rd. to look for waterfalls on or list of to see things. We came to the trailhead for Bench Lake and Snow Lake, we decided to go ahead and hike into them. The trail was rather dusty, a lot of up and down, upon arriving at Bench Lake, (as I read in the book, it doesn’t have anywhere to get down to the lake shore, we continued on the Snow Lake. What a lake, I have never seen a teal colored lake. It was really nice lake, small, with lots of bugs; we ate lunch in a rush and took our pic then left. On the way back by Bench Lake I did notice a shoreline that I thought a trail probably went to. After our two-lake hike, we headed back up to Paradise to hike around some of the trails up there. As we drove around the one-way loop, I waited for a car to pull out so I could park. As the car pulled away, another car came driving in going the wrong way and took the parking place. Of course this upset me, but what came next was totally unbelievable. A man a couple cars away from me walked over to the car that had taken my parking spot, and started talking to the driver. In the mean time a man from the passenger side of the miss guided car got out stomped around the car and hit the man. Knocking him unconscious, and he melted to the ground. I jumped out of the car and went to check on the fallen man. Only to hear the hitting man saying if he got up he would knock the f### out of him. I ask you what is the word coming, too. After Rangers and Police Rangers came got everyone’s statement and everything. The other people in the misguided car came back, to say they didn’t know the guy, they picked him up, ect… bull sh##… After about 3 hr. they let most of use go about what we were doing. Then about ½ hr. later they came to ask us to identify the man, they thought they caught him at Narada Falls. Most of us were found and went down there. Wanting this kind of thing not to happen again. We id. him and they took him off to jail. Now I wish nothing bad on anyone at anytime, but this man, disrupted a great many peoples lives and upset a great many people. With out no really cause or reason. I did wish him to have a ruff night in the jail. My children also witnessed this, which is not something you wish for them to see. I was very impressed at the way the Rangers, (of which, probably have little experience in this type of problems), handled everything quite well, and actually caught the man. Thursday, August 1, 2002 Got up and ate, then set off for another day of adventures, first stop was the Narada Falls, short hike down the hill. The viewpoint gave a very good view of the falls, even got a rainbow in the pic. Then we proceed to go up to Paradise to hike around. We started out by hiking up the Nisqually Moraine, the hike was moderately steep but nice, and most of the trails are paved in Paradise. Probably to help prevent erosion. At the cross trail here we saw a huge Marmot, just sitting on a rock. We then cut across the valley on a couple different trails; Skyline trail to Alta Vista, climbed to the top to get a good view of Mt. Adams and St. Helens was vaguely recognizable on the horizon. Then down the hill and stopped at a windy spot, next to a snow patch to eat lunch. Then we hiked down and back up the Myrtle Falls. The viewpoint gave a very good view of the falls, too. After that we proceeded to Ohanapecosh campground to set up camp again. We drove into Kentwood, about 11 miles south, for ice and supplies. There is no place to by food or ice in Rainier. Except if you eat out, of which is really, really spendy. Friday, August 2, 2002 We did one hike, the Emmons Vista, only .5 of a mile. Unfortunately I got a bladder infection and couldn’t hike to far from the bathrooms. I was glad that we didn’t go very far. We did these hikes on Saturday and there is not place to use bathrooms and way to many people. We did go to a Ranger talk and campfire, about the Emmons Glacier. Saturday, August 3, 2002 Another person in our party came down to join us; we then set out to take a Ranger hike, to the Emmons Moraine. The hike was a first for us, but the girls were interested in doing it, and it was one of the hikes I wanted to do. It proved to be very educational and nice. A lot of people actually showed up and did the hike. Afterwards we proceeded to go up to Sunrise and do some hiking. We hiked up Sourdough Ridge via Frozen Lake a very pretty, aqua blue lake, of which supplies Sunrise with water. It was still partially frozen with ice breaking off on the far side. We also saw a large herd of Mt. Goats climbing up a patch of snow. Then we circled around to Shadow Lake and back to Sunrise, for a record breaking 4.5 miles, plus 3 in the morning for 7 miles. I was really proud of the girls. Later at night the rest of our party showed up, they were staying over at Crystal. The girls went back with them to swim and take showers. Sunday, August 4, 2002 Woke to rain, went to Crystal Mt. for breakfast and a shower, had a bunch of hikes planned. But we ended up driving to Naches Peak Loop and looking at the Tipsoo Lakes and driving east to a campground to check it out. Having lunch then heading for home. tongue.gif cool.gif

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