Day #3

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-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!

After a restless night in the wind my nerves were up over the crossing at Mowich. Adding to my nerves, the previous night two brothers had also tried to cross at this point by walking and holding the tilted railing and failed, only to return to camp very shook up.

As described above, the North Mowich had a bridge that was close to impossible to cross. I tried to butt scoot across it at first and soon discovered the railing was in a challenging position to lift a leg with a body and back pack over it. 

We scouted up river where we were told there was a some passible logs but it turned out not the best option for all of us with one log an issue of stability and strength.

Next, we bushwhacked down river and found a more suitable crossing, not perfect, not without some risk but, suitable. All in all it took us about 1 hour to cross the first one with all the attempts and combined decision making. 

After a peaceful 20 minutes across the delta, the next crossing on the south Mowich had no logs so we scouted up stream 200 yards or more until we found a more braided area of the river to cross. At 9:30 am, the river was up past my knees, at times mid-thigh and took poles fully extended with three points of contact to cross safely. One bad step would have been a disaster. 

Bushwhacking our way back down river we intersected the trail once again and made our way to Golden Lakes BC camp later than we had anticipated.

10.36 miles (+2400, -2400) my watch needed a recharge

Garmin Mowich Crossing

Garmin to Golden Lakes

Executive Summary:

1. As there seemed to be some confusion (I lost track of how many people asked me how to get to the lake and/ or why the road was closed), the road to Mowich Lake is closed just a little past the Paul Peak trailhead as there is still a good deal of snow in the Mowich Lake area. According to the National Park site (link below), estimated opening is July 22.  Also, keep in mind that the area around the lake is also under several feet of snow. 
2. Dogs are still not allowed on the trails in National Parks. It doesn’t matter how special your snowflake is.
3. Busier trail today than I had anticipated, but turned out a lot of people were for some reason expecting to drive to the lake (even though the Park website clearly says the road is closed).
4. Bridge over the North Mowich is on its side. Not advised to try.

 Detailed Description

What a lovely day!  Perfect temperature, sun shining (during most of the trip), and a nice soft tread to enjoy.  I decided to hit the Paul Peak trail thinking with the road to the Lake closed it would be a quiet option. While that started out true, on the way out in the afternoon I ran into at least 35 people. From the number of times I was asked how to get to the lake and why the road was closed, I inferred that a lot of people came up expecting to be able to drive to the Lake (not sure why) and when they found the road closed either assumed that the Paul Peak trail was the way to get to the lake (which, while true in a manner of speaking, would take you about 6 miles one way with 3186 ft elevation gain) or decided to hit the Paul Peak trail since they were there.

I arrived at the TH around 8AM. Two other cars in the lot in the AM, but when I got back to the TH in the afternoon lot was full and people were parking on the side of the road. There are two very nice pit toilets at the TH; they were well stocked with TP and hand sanitizer morning and afternoon.

Road in is certainly rough in places, but much better than I’ve seen!  I was happy to have a little extra clearance, but I did see a couple sedans in the parking lot so it’s doable, just be very careful, especially around the off road vehicle area and just before you get to the TH.

For those unfamiliar with the road in, there are two spots where it's down to one lane. The first is the old bridge, which now had stop lights to control flow of traffic (which I prefer to the old stop signs, having been forced to back up almost the length of the bridge when someone wasn't paying attention and started forward after I was already on the bridge, then refused to back up themselves). The second is a brief length of road that was damaged by a slide; there are just stop signs here, though the distance of single lane driving is short enough that should be adequate.

Went down to the river to investigate things there, then went a short way up the Wonderland towards Mowich Lake.  Along that portion of the trail, in just 0.2 miles I hit five blowdowns, including one at least 30-inches in diameter that would have required crawling under it. Blowdowns were, in order, ~8-inches diameter, ~24-inches, ~6-inches, another ~8-inches and finally the ~30-incher at about 0.2 miles from where the Paul Peak trail intersects with the Wonderland.  That’s where I called it; I assumed if the first 0.2 miles I had hiked had so many blowdowns, that was probably going to be the story the entire way, and I wasn’t really feeling it, even though most you could step over with little difficulty. 

The Paul Peak trail itself was in good shape; one small (~ 2-inches diameter) blowdown around 1.9 miles from the TH that was easily stepped over but otherwise smooth sailing until you get to the North Mowich, where the bridge is on its side (see Photo #4).  If you absolutely had to cross the river, there were a couple logs down across that might have been feasible depending on your balance and comfort with heights above raging rivers, but since I did not need to cross (and because balance is only a passing acquaintance of mine) I didn’t try any of them to confirm.  Proceed at your own risk. Or wait until the Rangers get the bridge repaired.  The trail was completely snow free.

Flowers were not out in huge quantities, but there were a good number of different types.  I saw pinesap, twinflower, western coralroot, salal, strawberry, bunchberry vanilla leaf, northern starflower, western baneberry, yellow violets, salmonberry, fumewort, star-flowered false Solomon’s seal, bog orchid, and the beargrass was just starting to fill out. Photo above.

There were several sections of the trail that were a bit overgrown. I had brought my pruning shears started cleaning up some of those sections (on the way out), but I was having to use my off hand  as my right is injured, and it wound up being a bit clumsy and taking quite a while.  In the interests of getting back to my car before dark I stuck to just hitting a few of the worst spots.

It was a glorious morning; had the trail entirely to myself until I was on my way back up to the TH. Then the masses started to descend.  By the time it was all said and done I passed at least 35 people (and one illegal dog), and cars were still driving in as I was leaving.  Definitely not what I expected for the day.  Still, had the last 0.5 miles or so to myself and tried to soak in the serenity while I could.  Also, with the trail being almost all uphill on the way out, I was able to claim right of way.

Let me start by saying I have driven the road to Mowich MANY times over the years and it has never been as bad as it is right now. The potholes are ridiculous up to Evans Creek then bad for about a mile after before they mellow a bit. We hit steady snow at the park entrance sign. We have an FJ 4x4 and made it fine in 4Low in the snow. It isn't to deep but we were the only recent tracks. The bathrooms at the gate are open and very clean.
The trail has snow at the start but we did not need our spikes today.
There are a few downed trees across the trail. They all took effort to get over for me. The upper river crossing was fine but the handrail is partly off so cross with care. The lower crossing that takes you to the camp is out so we were not able to cross and it didn't look like anyone had tried. There was tons of Deer/Elk droppings and prints on the trail but we didn't see any wildlife. No great views today but we still enjoyed the quiet of being the only ones on the trail and the sound of the river. Total miles 7.36.
I'm not able to load all my photos of the trail obstacles for some reason.

Let me start by saying I have driven the road to Mowich MANY times over the years and it has never been as bad as it is right now. The potholes are ridiculous up to Evans Creek then bad for about a mile after before they mellow a bit. We hit steady snow at the park entrance sign. We have an FJ 4x4 and made it fine in 4Low in the snow. It isn't to deep but we were the only recent tracks. The bathrooms at the gate are open and very clean.
The trail has snow at the start but we did not need our spikes today.
There are a few downed trees across the trail. They all took effort to get over for me. The upper river crossing was fine but the handrail is partly off so cross with care. The lower crossing that takes you to the camp is out so we were not able to cross and it didn't look like anyone had tried. There was tons of Deer/Elk droppings and prints on the trail but we didn't see any wildlife. No great views today but we still enjoyed the quiet of being the only ones on the trail and the sound of the river. Total miles 7.36.
I'm not able to load all my photos of the trail obstacles for some reason.

Left a car at the Paul Peak trailhead, drove up to Mowich Lake, followed the Wonderland Trail down to South Mowich Camp, and back up the Paul Paek Trail.

Access. The road is long and bumpy, but reasonably even and wide.

Conditions. No obstacles on the trails, nice tread and gentle grade throughout. Trail junctions were all signed, and streams were all bridged (or trivial to step over). Water were you might expect it.

Flora. Lots of saprophytic plants, including many patches of ghost pipes. Some ripe thimbleberries, and lots of sour blueberries.

Crowds. The Mowich Lake parking lot was overflowing at 10AM, but we were able to park along the road within ¼ mile of the parking lot. Encountered a couple of through-hikers on the Wonderland trail, plus a park ranger. Didn't see anyone on the Paul Peak trail.