Day 2 of the Wonderland: Devil's Dream to South Puyallup River

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

We woke up at 7:40 am and stretched until 8am. Had a slow morning routine of packing up, heating water, eating (a granola bar, packet of oatmeal, cup of cocoa, a lone banana, and previous night's mac and cheese dinner for me; red beans and rice, gummy bears, a sachet of apricot rice pudding baby food for Katie), brushing teeth and bug spraying intensely. They don't call it Devil's Dream for its luxuries! I do have to admit that the stalled toilet was fantastic - very clean and comfortable as outdoor toilets go.

We ended up leaving camp at 10:00 am and went uphill a short distance until we came to a meadow. The scene was quite idyllic after the distress of the previous evening. There were wildflowers everywhere, a small babbling brook, snow patches, tall peaks, and statuesque trees. The only problem was the persistent mosquitoes - they found the area idyllic, too. We kept going up along the trail and passed an adorable ranger's cabin with a stunning backdrop view of Rainier. We wanted to stop by and say hi but there didn't seem to be any ranger present and we had plenty of trekking to do ahead of us.

The trail eventually descended and we passed over our first suspension bridge. We took a lunch break for clif bars and Katie went off to filter more water from the Tahoma River. We began to ascend again, getting a great side view of the suspension bridge we had just crossed, and went up until the trail changed from a heavily vegetated rock path to open ridges with our first open vistas of Rainier. We paused for a bit on the Emerald Ridge to admire the views, snap pictures, and check for cell phone reception (we were unable to find any along the entire western leg of the Wonderland). We then descended as quickly and carefully as we could because Katie was nervous about the trail being on the literal edge of a cliff. This was one time where taking the less beaten side-trail through some flowers seemed justified. The trail was steep going down into camp, the rocks underfoot were free to move about so Katie and I kept some distance between ourselves to prevent the domino effect if one of us fell.

By the time we reached South Puyallup River camp, my toes were acquainted with a soreness that would persist on long downhill days, but the ~1.5 miles to camp were really quite enjoyable as I explained to Katie the plot and awesomeness factor of ‘The Sound of Music’ (you can’t help but want to sing “The hills are alive” on top of Emerald Ridge). At camp, we took site #4 which was furthest from the far removed bathroom (which is next to one of the neatest geometric rock formations I've ever seen), but it was also far from the bear pole, uphill, and has an additional side lot for cooking shielded by a wall of roots.

From this camp, we can hear the muffled roar of one of the 'chocolate milk' rivers which adds to the ambiance of being outdoors. For drinking water, we decided against the trickling creek in camp and hiked back about a quarter mile towards the ridge again to a stream for our cooking water. Despite the fact that we'd been hiking all day and that we had to go uphill again, we moved so spritely without the burden of packs!

We heated up dinner (Italian puttanesca and hot cocoa for me, veggie lasagna and fruit leathers for Katie; shared cranberries) together in our cooking nook while being visited by several chipmunks. After two bathroom trips (taking wrong turns on the way back both times) and a change of clothes – bed by 9:15pm!