Katie was passive-aggressive beginning at 3:30am today! But I didn’t have to wake up until 4am. Katie was up and deconstructing camp while I took care of my belongings (note to self: purchase a newer, lighter, warmer, smaller sleeping bag. Thanks.) We grabbed our food off the pole and cooked breakfast (2 packets of oatmeal, some tea, and a granola bar) under the cover of darkness, lit only by a small crescent moon. We finished removing all traces of our stay by 5:40am.
The bridge over the North Puyallup was thrilling with the raging waters pounding into the cavern below, but we didn’t get a chance to dawdle, heading straight on the path to Mowich Lake (who thought fifteen miles was a good idea?!). After roaming through forest much like that of Twin Falls (a sweet, docile trail of 3 or 4 miles round trip), the sound of the river lessened and we found ourselves surrounded by huckleberries – bear territory. Katie and I began talking loudly about everything from tea to movies to pass the time and warn wildlife of our presence. We also clapped our trekking poles often, just in case there was anything around the corner.
After seeing no bears, we finally emerged from the forest vegetation and came out upon a dry, bushy ridge. Katie, in the lead, spotted a small (300 pound?) black bear grazing the grasses and berry bushes (where they were actually ripe). We had to wait a bit, yelling and clapping poles, but the bear moved slowly onwards and upwards off the trail in tandem with our approach. We would take a couple of steps up the trail, and then it would move a few strides up too, etc. It was completely unafraid and uninterested in us and didn’t show any signs of aggression. Perhaps there was some annoyance in both parties at the inconvenient presence of the other with the bear wondering why we had the nerve to interrupt breakfast and our concerns about the mileage and timing of our day. It eventually went off the trail and Katie held on to the pepper spray as we began to sing a long rendition of ‘Yellow Submarine’ with chorus variations (we now have a fleet of mossy, wood, spider, orange, pink, and Manduca submarines) that rang out completely off key. We didn’t see any other bears as we kept that up for a mile.
Soon we found ourselves at Golden Lakes, a beautiful little camp with great swimming water, according to its previous night’s inhabitants, and serene meadow and water views. Apparently a large bear had resided in the area the day before who was stubborn and undeterred by the vocal harassment of hikers. We took an hour long break here to tend to our feet and refill water bottles. Katie chipped a tooth on her water bottle here and used the mirror in the ranger cabin to check on it. The ranger kept suggesting Katie take a swim in the lake but with ten miles left in the day, we decided against the idea (but had plenty of inside jokes about how adamant the ranger was about Katie skinny-dipping).
Anyway, we forded the river with him, but I took a bit of a tumble. I fell, in such extreme slow motion that I overcompensated and tried to jump to the bank ahead of me, into six inches of silty glacial water. Let it be understood, though, that this fall was the epitome of grace! It all happened because of a shifting rock when I was in the middle of the running water. My left foot, knee and top tip of my pack found the cool water (with no electronics harmed in the making of this fall) but no real damage was caused, just a couple of shin and knee bruises. I stripped off my wet sock and Katie lent me a dry pair that was on the outside of her pack. We then headed onwards as if nothing had happened.
We paused after South Mowich camp to feed and water a bit, but began our ascent of 4 miles at around 3pm. It was the exact mirror of our descent before the river but a steeper grade and frustratingly switchback enthusiastic. Katie eventually began to tire of the lead (I don’t blame her, she keeps an amazing, steady pace and this thing was mean-spirited), and I took the lead for the remainder of the day. We passed over a lot of uneven, unstable dirt paths, watched out for falling trees (many are precariously set but more are reminders of the danger of gravity strewn along the mountain side). I eventually began to think that only a quarter mile remained after our switchbacks came to an end, but that really meant we had a long, eastern trail followed by another set of switchbacks and climbing. We never descended like the guide said we would but did cross several waterfalls and scaled a staircase (log of course) to the car camp parking lot and campsite. A quarter mile was realistically 1.25 miles but the belief in the shorter distance empowered me. To put everything in better perspective, we had hoped to be in camp by 8pm, but we made it in by 6! Katie and I were thrilled by our efforts.
We met a photographer from Tacoma, a group of hikers with four weeks to explore Rainier trails, and a family from Georgia with incredible generosity (they kindly offered Rainier cherries, lychees, and powerade to us… they even tried to pass on a yam and a loaf of bread but those were more than we could handle). I tried to offer them tea or cocoa in return but they declined. We invited them to dine with us in the morning, though. At dinner, the guy from Tacoma stopped by to offer advice on the Rainier trails, and gave us a couple of extra freeze dried dinners just in case along with a couple of cans of soda. Hopefully we’ll see mountain goats as he says we should. He’s offered to call Katie’s mom to make sure she knows we’re alright out here.After dinner (chicken breasts with mashed potatoes, hot cocoa, and peanut butter with crackers; chana masala for Katie with peanut butter and crackers as well), we made sure not to have any food or fragrance (Ha! We smell like marmots by now) in the tent due to bear activity and brushed our teeth. We noticed a couple of deer in the grassy rotunda behind our tent, and I can hear one as I write, clomping around quietly. At least I think there’s a deer and nothing more nefarious like a hungry bear or something as benign as the wind.
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