The hike to Ipsut Falls is a good choice if you're looking for respectable mileage without any real elevation gain, as I was today. Start at the old Carbon River Ranger Station (2.5 miles past the new Carbon River Ranger Station) and walk along the old park road for 5.2 miles to its end at Ipsut Creek Campground. The trailhead will be right in front of you. It's marked with a sign for the Wonderland Trail and gives mileage to the Northern Loop Trail, Carbon Glacier, and Mowich Lake (but not Ipsut Falls). In .2 of a mile you'll come to a sign directing you to turn right onto a side trail to Ipsut Falls; a short walk takes you to the viewpoint. There's no question that the falls are pretty, but you don't get a very good look at them from here. I wondered if there was a second viewpoint farther on (my guidebook indicated a longer hike and another turn) but I walked another half a mile or so along the main trail without finding one.

Forcast was for a cloudy, rainy Memorial Day. I thought it would be a good idea to check out the Yellowstone Cliffs since there was no way I'd get a view of Mt. Rainier today. I mountain-biked from the Carbon River Entrance to Ipsut Creek Campground (5 miles). The road/trail is in good condition. There are a few muddy areas and some rocky patches that I had to dismount and walk through. Two campsites were occupied at Ipsut Creek Campground. There are some new, secure, bike racks installed that I locked my bike onto. The trail from the campground to the lower Carbon River crossing has a couple of blowdowns/mudslides. They have been cleared for hikers to pass through, but will need some maintenance. The log bridges at the lower Carbon River crossing are intact. That's good, especially since the trail to the swinging bridge is still closed due to the mudslide from last year. Switchbacks up the Northern Loop trail were obstacle-free. At about 4600', just past the switchbacks, I hit snow. Gaiters were necessary to keep the snow out of my boots. Trekking poles were useful for stability, espesially on the steep sections. I used my map, compass and GPS for routefinding since the trail was completely covered in snow. There was no sign of any other hikers since the last snowfall. The Yellowstone Cliffs and surrounding peaks were visible, but all distant views were covered in clouds. I punched my way through the snow to Windy Gap and got a look at Sluiskin Mountain. In a month or two, when most of the snow is gone, I think I could go from trailhead to the summit of Sluiskin and back in a day. The rain worsened on my way back down until I hit the Carbon River. Half way down the switchbacks, I had to change into a dry shirt because I could feel myself getting chilled. Mountain biking back to the car was a breeze since the road is all downhill. Hardly any pedalling required! I didn't encounter any hikers on the trail from Ipsut Creek to Windy Gap. The only other hikers I saw were on the Carbon River Road.

In case you aren't aware, the road past the Carbon River Ranger Station is now permanently closed, ever since the 2006 catastrophic storm that washed out roads all over the park. You must now hike 5 miles up the road to the Ipsut Creek Campground before reaching the Carbon Glacier Trail. Additionally, a section of the trail just beyond the junction with the Northern Loop Trail is currently closed due to rock slides, so you MUST detour using the Northern Loop Trail across the river, through the woods and up to the glacier. The additional length of the detour makes the entire hike a minimum of 17.5 miles. Add on any side trails, such as crossing the suspension bridge at the other end of the Northern Loop Trail junction, the side trip to Ipsut or Chenuis Creek Falls, and you're looking at possibly 19 - 20 miles of hiking for the day, with a gentle but persistant elevation gain from 1700 feet at the ranger station to 3800 at the glacier viewpoint. Be prepared! Saturday was our 21st anniversary together, so my partner in crime and I settled on the earliest, coolest hike we could find on Rainier, up to Carbon Glacier. Undaunted by the 17.5 mile length because of the gentle nature of the elevation gain, we drove up to the Carbon River Ranger Station to start. Very sweet ranger lady made sure we knew what we were getting into, and gave us a nice trail map. We had already printed a topo map, but hers had nice distances and side trails spelled out. It was pouring rain, and continued to do so for the rest of the hike, except a golden moment at the top. We decided this would be a fine test of our new Marmot lightweight rain jackets, got suited up, donned our packs and soldiered on. Trail is in rough shape. We only ever encountered a few other people on the trail the entire time, including various members of a WTA trail maintenance party hiking up to Ipsut Creek Campground for a week long (!) stay to clean up the trails, hopefully to remove the rock fall that blocks a large section of the main Carbon Glacier trail. When we feel we are hardcore enough, we're planning on starting to join in on some of these ventures. For now, we salute you, hardy team! In the meantime, the hike up the road started out okay, gentle, steady wide track through old growth forest with bits of the river showing through. But then we started to run into massive drainage issues, having to clamber over obstacles along the edge to skirt deep puddles occupying the entire breadth of the road. Tried to cut over to Chenuis Falls on the little trail that crosses the river on cut single logs with hand-rails. The water angrily lapped at those bridges, they may be out by now. When we got to the end of the last one we tried, the river had surpassed its previous boundaries, and there was no safe passage any further. We realized that even if we risked splashing through the rivulet that blocked us, by the time we came back from the falls it may be too high to safely cross back. Perhaps it will be doable on a less rainy day, but at that moment, the way was closed and we turned back. A soaked couple wearing nothing but t-shirts, shorts, tennis shoes and carrying one napsack passed us, just booking up the trail. I admired their tenacity and speed, while my partner called them foolhardy. About a mile from Ipsut Creek Campground, we encountered them coming back at a log bridge over a washout area. They told us that had started seeing big piles of bear scat, and that 300 yards up the trail from us, they saw a HUGE black bear 30 feet off the trail, which is why they had turned back. They urged us to do so, but we decided we would just make a lot of noise, and hopefully he would wander off. Sure enough, we found the GIANT green bear scat piles along the trail, unimaginably large. My partner picked up big stones and began clacking them together as he walked, while I started singing, eyes scanning all sides and ahead. We never did see him, so either the rocks clacking or my terrible singing probably did the job. I would have liked to see him, though at a much safer distance than 30 feet. We got to Ipsut Creek campground, which has bear boxes and a log-cabin-in-progress. Huddled under tarps on the edge of the cabin construction and ate some trail mix, talked to more WTA peeps, then started on again. From here on out, you are on actual factual trail, not road, much more beautiful and interesting hiking. Right past the campground we took the.2 mile side trail to Ipsut falls, a pretty little area. Beyond there, there was a LOT of water on the trail from numerous overflowing creeks coming down the hillside. Beautiful green rock faces and lush forest on every side. Whole swaths of forest are now flooded below the trail, large trunks withstanding the onslaught of the fast, swollen glacial run-off. Eventually you reach the rock slide just past the junction with the Northern Loop Trail. You get a good glimpse of the glacier beyond, temptingly out of reach. There is a detour sign that sends you left, and a danger sign past that on the main trail just before the rockslide. We could see what looked like numerous slides blocking the trail ahead. The detour leads you across the river over single log bridges with handrails again. The trail then cuts up a hill with a few switchbacks and into the woods. This is extremely disorienting, and it felt like we were going entirely the wrong way, but my partner kept consulting the topo map and confirming that we were on the right track. There are both unsigned and signed junctions, make sure you have a map! There are also many creek crossings, and these are bad ones. There were blowdowns that had been cut back, but the current state of the creeks/falls were so swollen that the only way to pass was to climb over, around or make giant leaps across on loose rocks. I got stuck a few times, my partner had to give me a hand up - he is 6'6", so had a bit of an easier time than my 5'8" self. We emerged with great relief from the forest back to the river valley at the junction with the suspension bridge over the river. It had finally stopped raining for a minute, and I was very weary at this point, so we scrambled over to the rocks by the river to look at the cliffs, waterfalls, bridge and glacier and eat our lunch. After, we headed up the trail towards the glacier viewpoint. There were some dicey patches of snow on the trail, some of which we crossed and some of which we skirted carefully, as a misstep here would send us sliding down a very steep slope. I don't think we went all the way up to the official viewpoint, but we got close. It was getting late, and we had a grand view of the glacier from where we were at, so we decided to head back. We did choose to cross the suspension bridge on the way back, just to check it out. It's really cool, but it bounces and reverberates so much with every step that it gave me The Fear, and I wanted off immediately, both ways. On the way back we stopped at the WTA party campsite to let them know about the bear, just in case. They sweetly invited us to join them for dinner, but we had just recently eaten and had to book to get back to the car before sundown. I have to say, from the campground back was a horrible slog. In the 8 hours that had passed, the rain had swollen the puddles so that there were far more and far bigger. It was growing colder and I was very sore at this point. It was kind of a death march back. I have never been happier to see the jeep. We saw a red 4x4 pull up to the parking area, and suspiciously turn around as soon as they saw us while we were unpacking/changing into dry sock and shoes. Be careful about leaving things in your car. All in all, it was an amazing day and I'm glad I did it. Our Backpacker app said we did 20.6 miles. I'm not totally certain I trust that...my trail map says 19.1. In any case, we pushed a little beyond our capabilities, but it was worth it. I recommend you save this hike for a very sunny day, to minimize the water-on-trail issue, wear water-proof shoes for certain, bring lots of food and water or way to filter, and perhaps wear some bear bells.

Starting at the Carbon River Ranger Station, the hike is an easy six miles in to the Ipsut Creek Campgrond (permit required) where we set up camp. On the way, we took a side trip to Chenuis Falls. All the footlogs were in place, so we could get across the Carbon River to see the falls. Beautiful! And an easy, short side trip. From the campground it's a short (half mile?) to the trailhead for Ipsut Falls, another lovely, easy short hike. From there, we hiked up the Wonderland Trail toward Ipsut Pass for a mile or two. The trail was clear. The WTA crew worked at a spot where Ipsut Creek likes to run down the trail. There was no water on the trail when we left. Folks also took a day trip to the suspension bridge and tip of Carbon Glacier from the campground. Nice place to go for a couple of days, taking a couple of trips from the campground.

Would you like to see the least-visited region of Mt. Rainier National Park? Then head to Carbon River for casual waterfall hikes, a jaunt to the Carbon Glacier, or a family bike ride. The Carbon River Road (“CRR”), washed out in 2006, is now a 5-mile hiking and biking trail to the Ipsut Creek Campground. The dirt and gravel road has some impediments for bikers (sand, potholes, bumpy wood bridges), but isn’t that what you crazy trail riders like? Mostly it is a beautiful, easy, and very wide trail through a temperate rain forest that made me think I was in the Olympics. My hike was the waterfall trifecta – very doable and altogether lovely. I hiked to Chenuis, Ipsut, and Ranger Falls. I started from the Ranger Station at 1:30 and arrived back at 6:30. Total mileage ~15 miles (not including my side trip at Chenuis), but 10 of that on flat road. At 3 miles up CRR is the Green Lake Trail (more below). At 3.5 miles is the well-marked trailhead to Chenuis Falls. I think the best part of the 1-mile Chenuis Falls hike is crossing the Carbon River several times on a series of single stringer (log) bridges. Parents will want to hold on to little ones on the bridge over the main tributary, especially this time of year with the water so swift – it ROARS so you can feel it through your boots. (even better is laying on this bridge so the reverberations claim your whole body) Very soon after you come off the river bed into the woods, stay left where the trail forks (link below has a pic of the fork spot). This is not difficult as you can hear the roar of the falls. Going right takes you on a fairly steep and narrowing, brushy trail up to Chenuis Ridge. After hitting CRR again, I enjoyed complete solitude for the rest of the day – saw zero hikers from this point until I got back to the Ranger Station. There were more cars Sat, but no idea where they went as I was on W Boundary Trail that day. You are pretty assured of some solitude in this area of the park. Following CRR to the end (5 miles from Ranger Station) brings you to Ipsut Creek Campground and trailhead to Ipsut Falls, Wonderland junction, Carbon Glacier, and other such glorious destinations. The trail is snow-free at least to the glacier. I only went to the falls this time. Kids would love this because you get to see where a couple firs smashed a little cabin – impressive show. The falls are nice, similar in size to Chenuis but farther away from the trail. The trail does take you to a nice rock beach on Ipsut Creek where you can wade and hang out – a very pretty spot. On the way back I headed up the Green Lake trail to Ranger Falls (1 mile in). This trail climbs through the woods in a very fetching manner with wonderful steps and water bars recently worked on. You hear the falls to the left and can take a boot trail through the woods for some really nice views of the falls. I did not continue past this point as the sky was darkening and the rain was coming in earnest. I had a lovely hike back down the road still feeling some disorientation from this very Olympics-like region. I see from other trip reports that some find this (CRR) portion boring. I didn't - there are lots of birds and plants to identify, a very wide trail indeed for companionship if you prefer entertainment of the human variety, thrush-calls for your ears, lichen-draped trees bedded deep in the moss for your eyes, and clean, fresh air devoid of the ominous scent of telephone or internet access. Pics of the day are at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51278183@N05/sets/72157627051460580/detail/