Day 3 of the Wonderland: South Puyallup River to North Puyallup River

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Our day began today at 6:40am with Katie rustling around with her morning stretches. I followed suit, then began packing the tent interior. We ate a full breakfast (tea, oatmeal, granola bar, fruit leather, and half a liter of water). We packed the rest of our camp up under the watchful eye of one particular chipmunk (it was too optimistic considering how completely we ate this morning) and went back towards Devil’s Dream again to filter water at our great water stream.

We were on the trail again at 9:20am, and I felt great as we went uphill for 2 miles (gaining 2000 feet). After this, I slowed a bit when we emerged from the forest cover. It was considerably warmer in the sun and there was some altitude under our feet by now. Perhaps the bush-whacking while getting up the trail brought on a bit of fatigue. Whatever the reason, my pace slowed here a bit, but eventually we climbed to the top of an immense ridge.

It was GORGEOUS seeing Mt. Rainier shrouded slightly in an ominous cloud and mountains endlessly on the horizon. We met a very kind ranger on this path and ran into a couple doing the western leg of the Wonderland who stayed at South Puyallup with us last night (they are finishing at Sunrise). Wild flowers were absolutely everywhere and when we began our ‘flat’ section along the ridge, I spotted my first marmot perched on some rocks above us! We kept going, fighting mosquitoes again, past the frozen (Andrews) lake. There was a beautiful, breathtaking scene with Rainier and waterfalls seemingly cupped in a bowl – we made sure to appreciate it all before starting the descent.

We met two people on an amphibian counting expedition and a man from Anchorage trying to complete the trail in three days (oh, reader, how I envied his small backpack!). Klapatche camp had a serene lake complete with a horde of tadpoles and a mother frog.

After the lake, the trail became heavily vegetated again (very dense and lush) and consisted of many narrow switchbacks. We made great time on this portion, though my toes and ankles didn’t appreciate the consistent downhill. We stopped at a cold stream with a log bridge that I used as a bench to sit on while purifying water once the trail leveled out again. After Katie and I had 2 liters of water each, we finished up our day’s hike with less than half a mile and were in camp by 4pm.

It’s been consistently sunny and mid-70 throughout our trip – no sign (except for the cloud above Rainier) of the forecasted thunderstorms. The hike was difficult today overall with the gain and loss of those 2000 feet, but this campsite is particularly worthwhile. We have the huge group site here which means we have an enormous amount of space, a gorgeous view of a tip of the Puyallup glacier and waterfalls, and we are closer to the toilet (this is vitally important!!). The North Puyallup River runs behind our tent and roars in the background. Sitting on a boulder on its bank for a quarter of an hour was very serene. I wish we had another day to spend at this campsite.

Dinner was delicious tonight with beef stroganoff and a cup of chicken soup. Katie’s been chastising me about low calorie intake (1500ish), but hiking doesn’t make me hungry enough for 4 additional Clif bars a day or endless packets of trail mix. Although eating less, I am making sure to drink plenty of water (most of our rest breaks consist of asking Katie to pull my bottle out for me). I really enjoy purifying stream water and love the steripen. So far so good in terms of effectiveness (no beaver fever yet).

Tent pitching and hanging food on bear poles are new qualities I can add to my life-skills résumé – I am proud to say that I am particularly efficient at completing the latter. Tomorrow is our fifteen mile day, and I am honestly nervous considering the last six miles will include a large altitude gain over a short distance. Hopefully, with an early start with pre-filled water bottles, we’ll be able to make it before dark to Mowich Lake. It’ll be incredibly weird to see cars and more than ten people in one place again! I’m looking forward to the trashcans too! Less weight = too good to be true. We’re going to purify water right now and will go to sleep around 8pm tonight.