CELEBRATE THE OUTDOORS
40 years outdoors experience, extensive info on Mt. Rainier’s Wonderland Trail, original music, equipment reviews, off trail videos, other peaks in Mt. Rainier NP
Following last year's "Willis Wall Snippets: 2013" and "Happy Holidays from Gossamer Gear" I decided to start an annual review/Holiday message, incorporating video and photos I've had the pleasure to collect over this past year. Here's wishing all readers a Wonderland Holiday season and best wishes for 2015.
Arc Slim on the Wonderland TrailA natural tendency when one acquires a new piece of gear is to share one's excitement, perhaps via blog. I try to wait until I have enough experience with a piece of equipment before I do an actual review, and an appropriate amount of time has passed to render an opinion on the ZPacks Arc Slim pack. I've put a few hundred miles on the pack, including a full day of drenching rains. In a nutshell, not too shabby.
campsite above Ross Lake, WAWell, I've used the ZPacks Duplex for a year now with enough time to render some observations. To qualify, I am not talking many nights, as I use a number of different shelter systems depending on the trip. Probably the best test was this year's Pasayten Wilderness hike with my daughter where we spent 8 nights out. That said, my general impressions are this may be as close to the ideal backpacking tent as a manufacturer can come. The reasons?
DeLorme map with position report timesHIKE 1: (12 miles/3000')
When I write rare, I mean the opportunity to do a great hike in weather that seasonally is not so cooperative. For October, this turned out to be on the 19th. My daughter was home for a few days from school and was craving a taste of North West outdoors, it didn't matter if it was in rain, she just wanted to get out. Staying within a two hour drive, we traveled to Mt. Rainier National Park to try something new, a loop hike starting at Mowich Lake that would take us up above 7000 feet with a possible summit of Observation Rock if time allowed.
route to Pyramid Peak (6937')Thursday, October 9th may turn out to be the last great weather day before typical Northwest conditions set in. With this forecast in mind, my buddy CB joined me for a "closeout" hike under clear skies and decidedly non-fall like temps.
time map for position reports on the WTThis trip had an interesting start, as I was back from London without much sleep and decided to take advantage of good weather on Monday and Tuesday (Sep 15-16) to head out. But first I was supposed to pick up some new pants from Beyond Clothing, and waited at the Seattle store for the UPS truck to arrive with said trousers. As I finally had to head out the door from the no show truck, they sent me to their warehouse in Kent to pick up a pair on the way to the mountain.
Tokaloo Rock loop time map
This is the last in this year's "7Up Hikes" series. My goal of hikes around Rainier taking advantage of off trail segments and touching points above 7000 feet certainly delivered a unique and different experience of the park beyond the Wonderland. That said, this last hike (September 10th) I ended up scaling back quite a bit as the original included another high point on a cleaver and 41 miles of hiking and biking, probably too much for this old man. This one was juuust right, doable in 12 hours: Stats: 25 miles (8 miles biking)/5300' elevation gain and loss.
Curtis Ridge/Old Desolate "T"Get ready for a spanking on this one, as it provides 26 miles and 8200 feet of vertical, the hardest parts off trail. It took me nearly 17 hours to complete. This is the third in a series of hikes I planned for Mt. Rainier National Park where vistas above 7000 feet and off trail travel let one experience a whole different world outside of the Wonderland Trail. Although already planned, the timing was spur of the moment.
from the DeLorme map of positions reports sent on tripOverview
Originally planned as a 200 mile trip, my daughter's recovering hip, rehabbed enough to get the go ahead for hiking, had us entering this foray with different criteria: plan on 10 days max and venture into the heart of the Pasayten wilderness as far as current fires, physical limitations and trail conditions allowed before looping back. The meager stats (101 miles, 16,000' of elevation gain) don't do justice to the difficulties we faced….pea sized hail and thunderstorms at 7000', trails and phantom trails with meager tread, river crossings, soaking head high grasses and fireweed leaving our lower bodies in a constant state of saturation, and hundreds of blowdowns and deadfall to name a few. But what a trip!
Goat Island Mountain to Summerland sectionThis is a big hike with big views. I recruited my buddy CB for this one as the extensive off trail and planned exit warranted a partner for safety. As it turns out the gnarly exit was bypassed, more on that. This trip provides 17 miles and 5600 feet of elevation.
We parked at the Fryingpan creek trail head and spent a very short time on trail, taking a right on the Wonderland for less than half a mile and proceeding off trail at the obvious bend. This lower part of the ridge for Goat Island is of course treed but manageable enough and eventually the terrain opened up into some meadows