Did a short section hike starting at Mowich Lake ending 3 days later at White River. We camped at Carbon River 1st night, then Granite Creek 2nd night. took the Spray Park option, and it was such a great alternative. It also saves you a little distance and has great views of Ranier. Mosquitoes and Flys were bad of course, but that is expected. Trail is in great condition. Saw other through hikers and trail runners but not so much that it was too much (until you get to Sunrise of course, then it's tourist city). the 2nd day that hike from Carbon River to Granite Creek was tough! Pretty much nothing but elevation gain the whole 9 miles. The 1st and 3rd sections of the hike were fairly easy. lucked out on weather. Stunning views. #hikeathon2024

Lots of cool mushrooms were popping on the eight mile round trip hike from Mowich Lake to South Mowich Campground on the Wonderland Trail. Some edible, some not. The 2,400 descent was on a  shaded forest path amongst enormous hemlocks and cedars. There is a bees (wasp?) nest about 2.8 miles down on the left in a dug up hole in the ground. We walked past the nest without the insects getting riled. The river by the campground was a perfect lunch spot on this sunny day.

I thought Mowich Road was fine. No potholes, a small amount of washboarding, and generally smooth lines to have your tires on. There are restrooms at the trailhead and lots of parking, including lining up down the road.

The road to Mowich is in really good condition being this late in the season. Once you hit the gravel road there are some sections of washboard, but honestly, I've been on it much worse in years past. There were cars only going 10-15 miles an hour, luckily they pulled over and the let car in front of me, and myself pass by. You can defiantly tell who are local hikers who head up to Mowich on a regular basis, because we go 20-30 mph on the road. 

Got to the trailhead about 8 am, and there were a handful of cars already by Tolmie Peak trailhead, and there was still parking at the end of the road. The name of the game for me today was to snag a campsite at Mowich for the next few nights, set up camp, and then grab my backpack and head down the trail with some trail magic.

I was able to get the last campsite at the lake, lucky for me. After setting up my tent and getting my daypack together, I headed down the trail towards Longmire -today was all about trail magic. There was an all girls youth volunteer vacation work on the Wonderland (WT) between Mowich lake and the Mowich River. I had cut up some fresh melon to take to them on the trail and check out their hard work which they started on Sunday, and it was now Thursday. 

After I got to the turn off for the Wonderland I didn't see very many hikers after that. They all headed out to Spray Park. I did pass a few WT hikers, some of who had already put in some miles today. At 2.5 miles down the trail I found the girls crew, completed with their office National Park trail maintenance worker, who also happened to be female. What an awesome thing for this young adults to experience, trail work on an all girls crew! I had already hiked past some of their awesome work. Today they were adding a crib log to the side of the trail to help keep it from eroding away even more. When I arrived they were in the process of moving a large log from the uphill side of the trail, down onto the trail. It took some sheer muscle power but they did it. Once they had the log down off of the slope it was all in the name of trail magic! Fresh watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew. I had brought a ziplock for them to put the rinds in, and I packed those out for them. After I enjoyed a break with the girls and talking to them more about trail work I continued down the trail another mile and a half to the South Mowich River Camp. 

The log across the river is a little nerve racking, once you get to the south side of it, it does start to bounce a fair amount, and with the river running below it's a little nerve racking. Just remember to engage you core muscles and you'll be fine. Since the section of trail from the Spray Park junction down to this point was new territory for me I decided to check out the camp area. The bathroom was clearly at the peak of it's season on a warm day. The shelter (site number 1) is pretty cool. After a little bit of exploring, I decided to hike back towards the river, find a nice rock and have a bit of lunch before climbing back out of the river bottom to Mowich Lake. From the time I left the girls until I got back to the junction to spray park, I saw only 4 other hikers. 

The trail is in really good condition, a few spots were a little brushy, but nothing as bad as Kautz Creek trail. There were not many people on the trial, just through hikers, who understand that uphill hikers have the right-a-way. 

There are no mountain views on this section of trail, but that was already something I knew before venturing out onto it.

Right now is WTA's biggest fundraiser of the year, Hike-a-Thon, where all funds donated go directly back to trails. If you'd like to donate visits give.wta.org/elizabeth2023 

Until next time- Happy Trails!

I went out Saturday from the Paul Peak Trailhead down to cross the N and S Mowich Rivers and see how far my endurance would take me up toward the Golden Lakes area.  The road was washboard quality and very few potholes.  Fall colors and blueberries are starting and the river bridges are great.  I passed maybe 20 people in 8 hours with most of them doing the entire 93-mile Wonderland Trail.

If you want to escape some of the heat and get a good workout in relative solitude, this is it (just don’t spread the word too much).  The rest of the Mowich Lake area I’m sure was busy with hundreds of people as views are better.

Linked below is what I wanted to be a time lapse, but while I set the phone down on the prop, my fat finger changed a setting and I got a long video…with an intruder.  Watch along the bottom.  This is at one quarter speed.  It was quite the curious fellow.

Day #5

I entered the early entry lottery back in March, 2022 and ended up with pretty much first pick of an itinerary. Pretty darn lucky.

Taking the last week of July for 9 days with a route heading counter clockwise, we started at White River so we would only have to drop one cache at Mowich the day before and then have my husband meet us at Longmire for the other cache.

The reports from WTA, the NPS, and rangers at all stations I visited the week prior made a huge difference in whether we changed our itinerary the day before. 

HAZARDS *** More details will follow in specific reports for each section but in general we were aware of the following areas prior to leaving for the 9 day circuit.

Mowich Rivers-At the time we started the Mowich River both north and south had no footbridge. The north would have to be navigated by bushwhacking and finding an alternate way using downed timber across the river. The south would need to be forded. We planned to get our feet wet. 

Snow- With the late spring snow, we took our micro spikes and expected to get wet. I wore my trail runners most of the time wet and went through several pair of socks.

Heat- What we never expected was the heat in the 80's-90's that started the first day of our trip.

Bugs- My friends were bit up! Devil's Dream was unbearable!

Section Details: The heat of the morning was no surprise as we broke camp at sunrise. A few whisps of clouds mingled in with the still air of morning.

Heading out for a long day and the beauty of St. Andrews Lake, we anticipated dipping our toes and having breakfast on the trail after putting a few miles behind us. 

St. Andrews Lake was still ice covered. Just a few 100 ft above Aurora there were two different worlds, like fire and ice. We made our way across patchy snow and headed toward North and South Puyallup, a long trek downhill in the trees.

As we stopped for a break and snack, we crossed paths and met Mark, trail name "Jolly Rancher". Mark recounted his experience crossing the North Mowich River. 

Mark approached the crossing differently. In his years of PCT experience he had forded many rivers. This river being no different, he then attempted to ford the North Mowich underestimating the glacial force. 

With ice axe, poles, and backpack unbuckled he began to cross upriver and was quickly swept away by the strong current. Pulled under he thought he was going to die. He popped up downriver, only minus his ice axe and a pole, then miraculously his other pole popped up, spared, along with his life. 

By sharing our stories, we came to realize just how lucky we were having each other to share, discuss and problem solve throughout this journey. There will no doubt be more perils to work through.

As Emerald Ridge came to view and we crossed the suspension bridge of the Tahoma Glacier, I realized this is why we do what we do. The risk is worth the journey.

That was until I raced my way through Devil's Dream swatting insects the entire way!

Garmin

13.54 miles (+3352, -5022)