Rainier from Emmons vista

Little Tahoma Peak and Mt. Rainier as seen looking south from the Silver Forest Trail by Sunrise in Mt. Rainier National Park. A brightly colored glacier flour lake can be seen in the valley as can the White River that starts its life as a river from beneath the Emmons Glacier.

The Emmons glacier, like almost all glaciers on Mt. Rainier has been retreating since the late 1980's. Prior to the glaciers were in an "advancing" cycle. Glaciers advance when there is lots of winter snow and summers are moderate. Too little snow in winter and temperatures too hot in summer, and they retreat. Mt. Rainier's glaciers are currently retreating at a rapid rate.

In December of 1963 a HUGE landslide came down of Little Tahoma Peak and traveled over four miles down the Emmons Glacier and the White River Valley seen here. Scientists have theorized that the the huge rock slide may have been set off by a "steam explosion" at the base of Little Tahoma. Whatever started it and however it managed to travel that far, is vivid testimony to the active nature of the geological processes taking place within Mt. Rainier National Park.

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Three years ago while I was day hiking in the park, early on a foggy morning, I met two hard core backpackers along a trail. I helped them out a little by taking some of their gear to their car at a trailhead near Box Canyon as they were going to be forced to walk the highway at that time, since a land slide had closed the Stevens Creek Canyon portion of the Wonderland trail. We exchanged “trail talk”, exchanged contact info and that was that.

Recently one of those backpackers, I shall call CB and I finally got in contact with each other via email. CB loves backpacking and my love is traveling light whenever possible and only backpacking when it is the best or only ticket to backcountry that isn’t practical to visit as a “day hike”.

A serendipitous set of events was going to place me and CB in Mt. Rainier Park during the same week so we decided to team up for a few short, easy day hikes together. Turned out great.

Wednesday’s hike was where we had met three years ago, where the Wonderland Trail crosses the Stevens Canyon road, below the Bench/Snow Lake trailhead parking lot. We had both hiked the Wonderland Trail down to Box Canyon from there before, but decided it would be fun to do it again (almost all down hill, which I always appreciate).

CB’s sister joined us for this first hike in the park. It was a pleasant sunny day hike of four or five miles. We enjoyed stops along the way at Martha falls; Sylvia Falls; and took a look at the Maple Creek camp along the way. The landslide portion of the trail that was destroyed a few years ago requires a little attention but is not a problem. The nice wooden split cedar section of trail is now long gone, thanks to the landslide.

The hi-light of this hike was watching a black tail doe lead two young fawns (almost all fawn spots now gone), cross a swift section of Stevens Creek was surprising grace, aplomb, and without hesitation. It always amazes me that deer don’t break their slender legs with bold creek crossing such as the one we saw.

Along the trail we stopped and talked to two or three couples with full backpacks coming up the trail at us. They were doing the entire Wonderland Loop around Mt. Rainier (90 plus trail miles) and all were doing so in the clockwise fashion. A young couple from Germany told us of all the snow they had need to negotiate but how much they were enjoying doing the trip.

Another couple stopped to talk with us and I casually asked if they, by chance, were going to post any of their photos of their Wonderland Trail Loop backpacking trip, and they said they were…………on Flickr. When I asked what their flickr site names were, I thought I recognized the man’s Flickr site name. I told them I was “Oldmantravels” and they both broke into big smiles saying they both followed my photographs. I know I must have puffed up like a proud toad at hearing that. I felt like a trail celebrity.

We completed our Stevens Creek Canyon hike at Box Canyon.
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Thursday morning I met CB at Reflections Lakes where we left one vehicle. Then we drove to the tip of the one way road down the Paradise River valley. Here we left my car. We put on gaiters and took trekking poles as there was LOTS of snow. We had hoped that we would hike in deep snow, only up to the top of the Mazama Ridge where I thought the Lakes Trail might be partially snow free. Wrong!

So we hiked on snow up the connector trail and followed the easy to follow route (marked with bamboo wands) up to the top of the Mazama Ridge where the trail splits to go up to Sluiskin Falls or down the Lakes Trail to Reflection Lakes
[N46 47.42’ ~ W121 43.09’]. It was the Lakes trail I hoped we would be able to hike.

Well, rarely do things go as planned. There was a ton of snow on top of Mazama Ridge. The trail up to Sluiskin was wanded and well traveled, so we knew we could hike it. But, the Lakes Trail had no wands and only one fairly old set of boot prints heading across the snow in that direction. I have hiked the Lakes trail both ways many times over the year but I didn’t feel like trying it with the trail covered in three or four feet of snow, no marker wands, and no booted snow trail to follow.

So up to the Steven Van Trump memorial bench we hiked mostly on deep drifted snow, but with solid footing (no post holing). It was a wonderful sight and we were evidently the first up there that morning, so we had the entire landscape to ourselves. We decided to hike up across the snow on the Paradise Glacier trail (By taking a left instead you would climb up to the Golden Gate then down Edith Creek or up to Panorama Point).

I guess what really drove home the point to me about how much snow pack was left up in the mountains this year was the tarn that I took a “reflection photo” of Mt. Rainier exactly one year ago, was completely frozen over and covered with snow this year. If you hadn’t been there before you wouldn’t even know it was there.

We followed the obvious route up the Paradise Glacier trail then scrambled up the outcroppings that give you an outstanding view down at the birth of Stevens Creek; across the canyon to Williwakas glacier; and across the Tatoosh Range all the way to Mt. Adams, standing tall in the distance.

A most unusual cloud had formed on the summit of Mt. Rainier while we were hiking. Most of the time the lenticular clouds that form there are flat inverted saucers in form. This was like sea fog rolling about on the summit giving it a unique look.

We ate our trail snacks, I snapped lots of photographs and we headed back down, intending to backtrack down to the connector trail (rather than try the unmarked, under snow, Lakes Trail).

When we arrived back at the trail junction (where it would have been had it not been under six feet of snow), a fit young man with a wooden hiking pole approached and asked if we knew the way to Paradise. I told him the fastest and shortest way (back down the way we had come). Curious as a cat, I asked where he had just hiked from. “Reflection Lakes” he told us.

I quizzed him at length and we drew maps on the snow and consulted the maps in our packs. I wanted to make certain that he had just traveled the trail from the SMALL Reflections Lake up to Faraway Rock and then up from there. That is the route CB and I had intended to travel to our other vehicle. When he confirmed that it was, we all smiled at the irony of the situation. His information gave me the confidence to go ahead and hike the Lakes Trail route down to Reflection Lakes and though he would have no doubt soon discovered the way back to Paradise on his own, he seemed happy to have encountered us. So off we headed, following a combination of the young man’s boot prints, the old solo hiker’s boot prints, and at times catching glimpses of melted out trail.

The trail was snow free from Faraway Rock, down to Reflection Lakes. Another good day of hiking.
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I know that Sunrise at Mt. Rainier Park is 1,000 feet higher in elevation than Paradise in the park. But I also know that Paradise gets much more snow than Sunrise (Mt. Rainier really does influence and make its own weather). So I honestly didn’t expect that the Burroughs or Mt. Fremont fire lookout trail would be good hikes yet. But I wanted to drive up and look around and see the new remodeling that has been done at the small museum there. So on Friday, I once again met CB, this time at the White River entrance to Mt. Rainier Park and we drove one vehicle on up to Sunrise.

When we got there, there were a million people swarming everywhere. But I was told by a ranger that the Mt. Freemont trail was “open”. As is often the case the steep snow field you cross on the trail up Burroughs, would require “care” (I had my ice axe with me). But having arrived late in the morning and all the people, I decided I would wait until another day for hiking at Sunrise, when I could arrive at Sunrise, closer to sunrise.

CB and I took a short two mile round trip walk that neither of us had walked before, along the Silver Forest trail at Sunrise. No snow, lots of flowers and excellent views of Mt. Rainier, Little Tahoma, and the White River far below. It was a good walk, followed by a meal at the Sunrise Inn cafeteria.

After returning to CB’s car at the White River entrance I headed over Chinook Pass towards home.
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NOTE: Major construction work is happening on White Pass with two hours delays. Chinook Pass is currently the “designated detour” and most of the traffic that would normally cross White Pass is now crossing Chinook Pass…so be ready for lots of traffic and delays, no matter how you travel the area. ALSO: They will be closing the Stevens Canyon Road for the season, early this year as well as the next two years for major road construction projects. This year it will close September 6th. OMT