Day 10 of the Wonderland: Nickel Creek to Paradise River

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

This day started at 7am. It was cool and slightly damp from the previous evening but no new rainfall. We decided to forgo pre-breakfast water filtering and made do without hot food items, munching on cashews, trail mix, and Clif bars instead. By the time we were packed and ready to go at 9am, the sun was beginning to break through the dense clouds, warming us and diminishing the threat of rain. We filtered water down at Nickel Creek and continued on our way at a brisk pace as the trail mostly descended into Box Canyon.

Here, there were several day hikers, cars, and port-a-potties. It was again bizarre walking across asphalt in full hiking gear; the trail is paved until you cross over the Canyon. We stopped to look at the rushing water some 100 feet below and climbed the trail a bit. Katie and I stopped at a viewpoint with sand to draw happy faces and to leave encouraging notes – our graffiti is temporary and well meaning! We continued on a very easy downhill though Maple Creek Camp.

There was some controlled rockfall happening across the river which was very noisy but interesting to catch glimpses of. The trail steadily became more vegetated and steeper, climbing up across roads all the way to Reflections Lakes. The flies here were awful and landed on us incessantly. I was really bothered by their determination. Eventually we found our way to the lakes which were beautiful despite failing their name on this day (the Mountain wasn’t out in the morning and the water wasn’t still enough to reflect anything). We rested at the second lake we came to for over an hour, seeing a deer, speaking with other hikers and a ranger, and waiting to see more of Rainier.

 When we finally left, the trail went all downhill and we decided to take a small detour to Nerada Falls – really beautiful for pictures. The water was very white and created a very refreshing mist for weary backpackers. It was only 0.7 miles to camp after this site – we made it by 6pm even with our frequent rest stops and lunch break. The group site is host to a field of boy scouts who are just starting from Longmire and are heading to Sunrise.

We’re in campsite 2, high above everyone else because we’ve become anti-social and our heads need room to ponder our great success! We were very lucky here because two deer visited and walked through the camp to check out the scents. I think one found urine or human food as it licked for ages at what I could only assume to be desired salts.

Katie filtered water and we ate dinner (oatmeal for her, beef stroganoff for myself). Today was amazing in that we crossed nearly 30 bridges! It was a nice, long, moderate hike to enjoy the last full day of hiking. Can’t wait for tomorrow’s shower and to be able to have things like bubble tea and fresh fruit again!