Day 133: Mt Rainier Views
Date: Tues 8/28
PCT Start Mile: 2320.4
PCT End Mile: 2351.7
PCT Mileage for Day: 31.3
Total PCT Mileage: 2351.7
The Highlights: Mt Rainier, bark beetles, and burns
This morning we pushed back our start time to 6:30am, which we plan to continue doing. Our normal 6am time has become dark and dusky enough to warrant a later start time and for this, I rejoice. I’m a huge fan of more sleep.
Heading out of our tent site this morning, steam was rising off the surface of Large Dewey Lake. The morning was cold, as usual, but warmed up nicely as the day went on.
The day started with a short but steep climb of about a mile before descending along nice, well-groomed trail to Highway 410, one of the major routes into Mt Rainier National Park.
Heading toward the highway, we could see the domed snow covered peak of Mt Rainier, and the trail crossed the road right next to a park entrance.
Just a peak at the top of Rainier.
Along the trail high above a trailhead parking lot, we found a small white styrofoam cooler. Trail magic! A few full sodas were still left in the cooler.
This was the first time in quite awhile that we had found trail magic that had anything left. We have passed several empty coolers in northern Oregon and southern Washington, so we were pretty shocked to find a few sodas remaining here. Thank you mystery trail angel!
By mid-morning the sun was high and warm and life was good. The trail routed along the mountainsides allowing beautiful expansive views of the surrounding mountains and valleys, the sun was shining, and the temps were perfect for hiking.
While other mountains had been obscuring good views of Rainier for most of the early morning, we eventually got some amazing views of her, and she remained in view off and on throughout our hike.
Shawn and I have actually been to Rainier twice. The first time was a very cold and wet mountaineering expedition that we did for our honeymoon (!!). Due to the weather, we were unable to make a summit attempt.
On our second trip to the mountain we did a three day summit trip on the Muir side, which also ended without a summit when, not feeling well, I was forced to turn around at – fittingly – Disappointment Cleaver. Shawn got the husband of the year award when he turned around with me instead of continuing on. Third times a charm? Maybe someday.
Throughout Northern California, Oregon, and now Washington, we have been hearing and seeing a lot of bark beetles.
I’ve mentioned these little guys before. They look a lot like grasshoppers and make a loud noise like a sprinkler system or sputtering lawn mower when they fly. Hiking along a mountainside in the late morning today, we went through an area where there must have been hundreds, the sound of them flying around the trees in the valley and mountainside was so loud. I took a couple of videos to capture the sound, will see if I can get one posted here.
That sound in the video is the sound of the bark beetles. At one point in the video, I attempt to follow one with my phone – you can see the yellow wings.
For our lunch break, we stopped at a tent site in the shade of a stand of pine trees, hanging our tent, rain fly, and sleeping bags from small pine trees to dry out, having gotten wet with condensation over night.
While the day had some spectacular views, we also went through some extensive burn areas, some just from last year. Some of the areas still had no vegetation growing on the ground yet, while others were in varying stages of regrowth.
We met a couple hiking who were on their way to the woman’s father’s cabin. It was the first time they had been able to hike out to see whether it was still standing after the fire last year and they had no idea what they would find, if anything.
Late in the afternoon, we arrived at the Mike Urich Cabin at Government Meadows.
The cabin was constructed and maintained by a local snowmobile club and open for public use. Our only interest in stopping was that earlier in the day, Mitty had mentioned to us that he heard that SOBO HOBO might be doing trail magic there today.
He said “don’t quote me on this”. But I did. I totally got excited for grilled hot dogs, maybe some more of their chili. Unfortunately, we found nothing there but other hiker trash, including Mitty.
I beat my fist into my hand when I saw him, like… you got some ‘splainin’ to do! All in jest of course. Even as we’d hiked toward the cabin, we had determined that it didn’t sound like there was even a road that lead to it (there wasn’t), so it would be awfully hard for someone to do magic there. Sigh. I would just eat couscous and Fritos for dinner, I guess.
After chatting with the other hikers a bit, signing the log book in the cabin, and filtering some water from the nearby stream, we hiked on about another five miles.
The tent site we stopped at had a few other hikers scattered around in tents, but we were still able to find a relatively flattish spot to set up our own tent. Sonic and Fish were also at the site. We had first met them in northern Oregon and been leapfrogging with them a bit the past couple days. One of the other married couples on the trail, they are super nice and it’s always great to see them.
For dinner I ate my leftover couscous, Fritos, a Slim Jim, and a bunch of candy. Super healthy. If the furnace is hot enough, anything will burn.
Without any signs of rain, and the night seemingly a normal cold and not freezing cold, we slept without the rain fly. May be asking for trouble in Washington. May be fine. Time will tell.
Less than 300 miles to Canada!!!
