Memorial Weekend 2012 Mt Rainier Trip

Here we go…this is my very first post of my very first blog! I’m stoked that my first entry is going to be about the AMAZING weekend I just had!

We celebrated Memorial Day weekend in the traditional outdoor fashion by kicking off camping season in an epic way. Myself and 6 others, officially dubbed The Action League, spent our 3 day weekend out at Mt Rainier camping hiking, and good ol’ craziness.

The Action League @ the base of Narada Falls, Mt Rainier (Photo Nolan K.)

Some of the Action League doing the YMCA

We stayed at Cougar Rock Campground in the southwest corner of Mt Rainier. This is a first come first serve campground so most of our group got down there earlier on Friday to secure a site. Unfortunately I did not have Friday off of work so I rushed down to the big mountain after picking up our friend, Stephen, from Fife. The two of us had a fun little road trip but got to the campground after dark, mainly because I had an hour late start due to Jasmine (my pit bull) running away right as I was leaving…but also because we stopped for a few geocaches. Cougar Rock was much emptier than I expected. Many open sites and a few loops were even closed, it was great! I was dreading spending a weekend camping in a jam packed area….after all you go camping to get away from the city life! I would probably come to this campground again. Here’s a link for more about Cougar Rock and other campsites around the mountain. 

Mt Rainier

Saturday:

I was up at 6:30 because apparently I just can’t sleep through nature! I left for a long walk because I am simply not the quiet type and I wanted to let my friends sleep. I checked out the campground for the first time in the daylight. They have a small amphitheater there, I’m sure it will be used more in the warmer summer days but nothing going on this weekend. Only saw one other person walking around the campground taking pictures and another couple a few sites down were sleeping in the car with the motor running trying to keep warm I expect.

Today is a big day, our first hike of the weekend is planned: Cougar Rock Camp to Reflection Lake via Narada Falls. I had checked my trusty Washington Trails Association before we left for the most recent trip report on the hike and the group that went back in April snow-shoed it. Knowing I was the only one with snowshoes I wasn’t sure how well this would work for us, I didn’t bring them since that wouldn’t have been fair! We started hiking right from camp where we jumped onto the Wonderland Trail for 2.7 miles, bringing us up to Narada Falls. There is a nice sandy path leading through the river rocks that brings you to a sturdy log bridge you use to cross the Nisqually River at the beginning of the hike from camp. 

Bridge across the Nisqually River

The rest of the trail follows along the Paradise River and in just over 1 mile we came across Carter Falls. By now we had been hiking in straight snow for at least half a mile if not more, but this made a nice midway stop to take some pictures and climb down to the river. It’s another 1.6 miles from the small Carter Falls until our main goal Narada Falls. Not much elevation gain until we get to the falls as the trail stays along Paradise River for the most part. A couple bridges needed to be crossed and all were covered in snow, thinking about it now there had to be maybe 5 feet of snow (give or take) piled on each of them. The second one we crossed had the tall piles of snow, but half of it was melted away so the last few feet on the bridge only had about 8 inches of snow left, a little sketchy since the snow gives away so easily when walked on.

Narada Falls

Me overlooking Narada Falls

The ladies (Photo Nolan K.)

Coming up to the Narada Falls we ventured down to the base of the falls for some great photo opps. Above us at the top of the 188 foot waterfall is the main viewing area, weird that it would be on the same side as the falls since you can’t see the much from directly above it! Lucky for The Action League we were on an adventure and were on the better side for viewing, not easily accessible until the snow melts away. Stephen and I climbed down the snow and went underneath and behind the falls!! Ok ok, Stephen macho man climbed down using a knife and then made me nice little foot steps while Alec and Nolan helped hold on to me as I hoisted myself down, still it wasn’t the easiest thing!! So worth it though, I LOVE waterfalls!! The snow was rock hard behind the falls and very sharp…the rocks above us in the little cave area were pretty hard too as my head quickly found out.

 

Looking back at the falls/view spot after climbing up.

Hiking to Narada Falls (Photo Nolan K.)

We broke for lunch overlooking the falls, sitting on the top of the fence only because the snow was as tall as it! We could see the jealousy on those tourists faces wishing they could see what we were seeing…well in my mind I could see it. A few people would wave over at us and took some pictures (probably thinking we were crazy for going where we went, little did they know this was the least dangerous adventure of our weekend! After lunch we decided getting to the paved road directly above us would be quicker to get to the Lakes so we climbed up the side of the mountain straight up to the road. I bet that was a sight to see. I know for a fact people thought we were crazy this time…and stupid. It was a little over 400 ft UP in just about a tenth of a mile. Sure it probably didn’t save us much time versus walking up the road…but we weren’t on a time schedule, we were on an adventure schedule! Once at the top a ranger drove by and stopped to talk to us asking if we were planning on sliding down “of course not!” was all we replied. If she only knew that we had just climbed up it we would probably have gotten in trouble. Not proud to say we were breaking rules, but you just can’t stop adrenaline!

Reflection Lakes...minus the reflection.

We walked the road the rest of the way to Reflection Lakes, which were completely covered in snow so unfortunately we saw no “reflection”.

Car-less and 10 miles from camp.

Right about here as we were sitting at the viewing spot it must have really hit us that we had to walk all the way back to camp. We had already decided to take the road…but that was around 10 miles! Oh well, we had to get home somehow! On the way back down we were lucky enough to come across a white fox. It had run across the road with a sandwich in its mouth, up the embankment and into some brush. We could still see the little guy and watched as he buried his prize. I haven’t seen too much wildlife, at least not much more than rodents and birds so this was a treat that I cherished…but wait! He didn’t run away! This little fox was very curious and not afraid of people, he kept walking back and forth above us staring. Cars started stopping along the road to see what we were taking pictures of and soon enough there was a little traffic jam going on. With all these people out of their cars taking pictures I was sure Mr. Fox would run away, but he kept getting closer! It’s really sad if you think about it that this wild animal is so used to people and human food that he is endangering himself by getting and staying so close to humans. If only the wild could stay wild. 

Being an opportunists I asked two sane looking gentlemen if they wouldn’t mind giving me and Stephen a ride down the mountain since we were on foot. Then we could get a car and come back for our group! The two men were here on business visiting from St. Lewis. They weren’t very chatty and we could tell they were a little uncomfortable. We rode with them maybe 5 mins before they decided to “go another way” so we hopped out and started walking. We definitely didn’t get far, but far enough where we couldn’t go back to the rest of the group. So as the first set of cars came around the bend I turned around and stuck my thumb out. Yep, I hitchhiked for the first time! The second car that passed us pulled over and were super friendly! They were a nice couple originally from India. I can’t remember their names, but we talked with them all 10 miles back to camp. The gentleman was telling us that where he is from in India is just like around here! They were only here for the holiday weekend and were planning on going up to the San Juan Islands the next day. As they dropped us off we pulled out our map of Rainier and helped find them a nice little hike they could do that afternoon. I felt like such a pro giving strangers hiking advice. J After the adventures today we were all in bed by 10:30 at the latest. We were beat!

Sunday:

Christine Falls

If our bodies didn’t take enough of a beating yesterday we were sure going to put them to the test today! Comet Falls was the second hike I was planning on, but since I did the research on this one also I knew we probably wouldn’t get to the actual falls. It would still be fun to see how far we could get though, and that’s exactly what we did! In all honesty we got much farther than was safe and we should have turned around way before we actually did. The first part of the trail was innocent and snow free and there were even a few families we came across on the trail that were headed back towards the cars. Comet Falls is only a 5 mile round trip hike, but with 90% of the trail covered in snow (and the 10% being in the first quarter mile only) it was a very difficult hike and not advisable. A safer alternative could have been to stop at Christine Falls which you can see from the road and get a better look at just a few hundred yards up the trail. Of course that wouldn’t suppress The Action Leagues’ appetite for adventure though!

The beginning of Comet seemed innocent.

The rest of the hike...not so much.

“Beyond the creek crossing, the trail traverses across the base of a few active avalanche chutes. Each year, snow slides scour these slopes, creating new and unique challenges for hikers each spring. You might find yourself hopping through downed trees or scrambling over jumbled rocks if you visit before the trail crews get in to repair the damage.” This is part of the overview for the hike…we were definitely in the right area even though you could not see the trail and we weren’t on it for most of the hike, but with a map and GPS handy we were able to stay on track. Hiking through the avalanche chutes has to be the scariest, dangerous and most stupid (sober and sane) decision I have made so far in my life. There was no trail to follow and we had to hug the side of the snow covered hills (which were snow slides by the way) to keep balance. One slip and you weren’t stopping until you got to the bottom either by or in the Van Trump Creek. During one of these crossings our friend Kyle had slipped and the rest of the group was instantly silent as we helplessly watched him slide down towards the river, camera held high above his head keeping it safe…priorities! If that wasn’t warning enough of the danger we were getting ourselves into I fear what would have been enough to make us turn around. Being the stupid adrenaline pumped kids we are we pushed through it and kept on going. It really wouldn’t have been as bad (yes still pretty sketchy of a hike) if we were properly geared. 2 of the group were in tennis shoes and none of us had proper snow gear for this kind of travel; maybe some micros pikes and an ice axe would have been nice and better snow travel knowledge. We only went a little further, climbing over fallen trees that probably were down from a previous small avalanche. Climbing straight up the snow was probably a sight to be seen. Thankfully we had big footed guys leading us and they were able to kick in holes to make a ladder for the rest to follow. At the top of our snow ladder we called it quits, though it took some force to convince the entire group that it was past time to turn around. There’s no doubt we could have made to the falls, which was probably half a mile farther, but it was too dangerous and coming back with everything iced over and the sun setting…that would have been a disaster for sure. Just since we had passed through the trail you could see where snow and rocks had slid down over where we had walked not even an hour earlier, even the snow in spots melted more and where we passed through a snow crevice there was now a steady little stream pouring out.

Before we were out of danger Kyle again decided to go for a little fall into a giant wash out hole that was roped off. He was a little ways ahead of most of the group so from our end all we heard were rocks falling down the hill and then Travis saying “Kyle died”. No, not really funny in the current situation…but the “Hero” should have slowed down!! Once safely out of avalanche and slide danger we all felt invincible. The trail, or the path we made more like it, we followed back to the trailhead was still deeply covered in snow but that didn’t stop us from running...yes running… through the woods. Nolan had been videotaping most of the weekend and I have no doubt he will have captured some hilarious footage of The Action League running through the woods like madmen postholing, sliding, falling, and rolling every few steps! If you could bottle the adrenaline the 7 of us had at that moment you could have powered an army! We just risked our lives and survived to tell about it!

Playing around the Nisqually River. (Photo Nolan K.)

We stared Mother Nature in the eyes and she blinked first. This deserved a celebration Sunday night, and oh boy did we. Starting the night off with celebratory shots we then packed up a pack with as much beer as it could carry and headed down to the river to play Frisbee and explore. It’s hard to remember what precious cargo you’re carrying when you are so energized and running around jumping from rock to rock, so once we stopped to disperse some beers we all got showered with it instead! I gotta say it made it a little easier to shotgun! ;) After all we went through this weekend this evening probably caused the most injuries, at least the most blood! Allison is now True Blood, she marked Cougar Rock as hers and left with the most open battle wounds I’m sure. What a great night to end a great weekend.


 

Monday:

Time to head home and go back to reality. Ugh. The agenda after breakfast and packing up is to hit up some geoaches on the way home! Only Stephen and I are geocachers so it was fun getting some other people to experience how fun it can be! Even Miss Geohater enjoyed herself! I think we’re onto something, it only took a couple years to get her to geocache without complaint. We were 10 for 10 and I think we got Travis hooked!

In Ashford there is the Recycled Spirits of Iron Sculpture Park. Dan Klennert is the artist who creates amazing sculptures made out of iron or driftwood. His work is incredible, the way he can transform trash and wood off of the beach into a piece of art is admirable. With his iron sculptures it is just as neat to look close and see what it is made out of as much as it is to see the whole picture. If anyone heads to the SW area of Rainier I would definitely suggest stopping by here. He has a gallery and sells his art so you too can be a proud owner of a driftwood horse! He doesn’t charge admission into his artsy garden but I encourage you to donate if you stop by. It was really neat to look into his workshops. He had a driftwood workshop where there were piles and piles of different sized driftwood, and in the back there was a “garden” of iron where he would let it sit out and rust until it’s ready for welding. If seeing a giant iron giraffe from the road isn’t enough to grab your attention then knowing there is a geocache hidden in there somewhere might help! Check him out!

The address says Ashford but his sign says Elbe...IDK, maybe Elbe is more well known?? I didn't really know either small town!

What a better way to end a long weekend of camping and hiking fun than by stopped at REI on your way home!? Not once…but twice! I’ve been doing really well with controlling my spending at REI, it’s my favorite store, but it was nice to browse around. I felt empty as I walked out with only a water bottle and others in our group with two bagfuls! We ended up going back to get some radios…genius idea, can’t wait to use them on our next group trip! I’m glad I wasn’t with them earlier when they bought all their gear…I would have been so jealous! Can’t wait for the Action League to get together again for more adventures!