Five Yakima Cascadians left the Cowlitz Divide trail head in fog and drizzle headed for Indian Bar. We intercepted the Wonderland Trail and continued to climb in foggy/drizzly conditions. Just as we reached Indian Bar the weather seemed to clear somewhat but we had reserved the shelter and set up our tents inside. This was to frustrate the mice! Once settled we headed up the valley for a ways and spotted a huge owl on the way back. After dinner we told stories and counted mice until it was time to got to sleep. That night it rained-thank goodness we had the use of the shelter. The next morning we headed out for Panhandle Gap in fog but as we neared the gap the weather broke and we decided to hike up Banshee Peak. What a view-Cowlitz Chimneys, and 360 degrees of some of the finest landscape on the planet. Returning to the Wonderland we dropped down to Summer Land and set up camp. After a gourmet snack we explored the area. Since the weather was clearing we got our headlamps and climbed back up into the basin below Panhandle to see the moon rise. This was practice for the next night. It got cold-the thermometer in the toilet said 22 degrees. What a beautiful sight it was to see clear blue skies at dawn! We broke camp and headed for the Fryingpan trail head. We hiked down the highway and headed up the Owyhigh Lakes Trail for Tamanos camp. After setting up camp and hiking to Owyhigh Lakes for water, we set out for the boot track to the summit of Tamanos Mtn. Our plan was to view the "blood moon" rise. We ate dinner on the shoulder of Tamanos and waited to the moon to rise. What a sight-it wont occur again for almost 20 years and we saw it from one of the most beautiful venues possible. Clear as a bell, no wind-wow. The stars came out especially strong because of the eclipse. Too soon it was time to head back to Tamanos Camp for our last night on the trail. The next morning in almost summer temperatures we dropped down to the Eastside Trail, took a side trip to the Grove of the Patriarchs and on to your car. The vine maple were yellow and red. We took our time and enjoyed this long but easiest leg of our hike. We didn't spot a lot of wildlife but did see-elk, that huge owl, goats, and the cutest mother and baby marmot. And while we did encounter fog, it has its own kind of beauty so every day had something special to enjoy. We hiked 52 miles and gained 12500'. It was a grand outing.

I don't write a lot of reports and the park service probably hates for anyone to spark any intrest in this undiscovered gem but take your kids, take your mother-in-law to Owyhigh(OH WE HIGH) (At least thats what I think it's called) The trail is so NOT steep and the surface is so soft and relatively rock and root free that it is a very quick and easy 3 mile hike to Tamanos Creek Camp(4 sites) Then the trail to the lakes is absolutely flat. Set in a large meadow surrounded by tall sharp peaks, the lakes are small but the whole setting is very spectacular with a good amount of wildlife AND probably best of all, so few people. I saw maybe a dozen in two days. Just beyond the lakes is a trail that goes up Tamanos mountain. The trail is very steep and water eroded but it only takes about 45 minutes to get up to a saddle that has the most amazing top to bottom view of Rainier from just a little different angle. The breakup of the emmons glacier from our heatwave is amazing, just looks like continous crevasses on the route I used the one time I climbed it. Tamanos has a little lake if you need water. The non-Rainier views are also great from there. Once back down on the main trail you can follow the east side trail to Ohanapacosh passing more and more of these meadow areas with little lakes(I could see many from Tamanos) Judging from the scat everywhere I'm guessing the wildlife like the lack of people as much I did. Anyway, for a lot of reasons I was very taken by this easy to get to and very rewarding overnight trip. Sorry didn't take my camera. ps: There is supposed to be a spring near the group campsite but a casual search didn't find it. The Lakes are really only the real source of water. Campsite #3 is the best.

Did a loop hike starting and finishing at Ohanapecosh campground. We took our time on this 40 mile hike, taking 5 days to do it. Day One- Hiking from Ohanapecosh, headed north past Silver Falls and connected with the loop trail. This was near the Grove of the Patriarchs trailhead. From there we made our way to Deer Creek Campground for night one. Two sites of which we were the only ones that night. The trail is easy and quiet, we only ran into a trail runner the entire portion of this hike. Water was accessible adjacent to camp. Day Two - We hiked to Tamanos Creek campground and didn't encounter any hikers. The trail was well maintained with a few area to stop and take in views of waterfalls. The blueberries we in season and were a nice treat as we made our way to Tamanos Creek campground. Two other hikers hiking together (coming from the opposite direction) made it to camp later that day. Water was nearby in Tamanos Creek. Day Three - We continued north to the Tamanos Creek Trailhead on the road that leads up to the Sunrise Visitor's Center. From there walked about 1/2 mile crossing the White River bridge, to the Summerland trailhead. Now heading south, we hiked to Summerland. This portion of the hike had some nice elevation gain and views of the the river and the Chimneys. This trail was quite busy and included a group of WTA volunteers doing some trail maintenance. The area around the campground was busy with many day hikers. It appeared as if most campsites filled up later in the day with overnight hikers as well. Water was nearby. Day Four - We hiked our way south over the Panhandle Gap to Indian Bar campground. While on this portion of the hike we enjoyed the vistas and watching mountain goats. We only had to small stretches of snow covered trail that was easy to cross. Indian Bar filled up this evening. Again water was available at this camp. Day Five - We finished our loop with a 10 mile 4,000 feet decent. Ran into one hiker coming from the other direction. The knees started "talking" a bit near the end of this day. Had wonderful views of both Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams in the first half of this day's hike. Made it to Ohanapecosh in time to drive into Packwood for a tasty burger and a beer.

We got a late start but knew we had long days this time of year. Hit the trail at 12:45 and were back at the car at 6:30. The trail is in great shape. Go past the lakes and follow the obvious boot path from the meadows. Boot path is solid about 2/3 of the way up to the saddle. Just pick your way up when you loose the trail. At the saddle head north and follow the ridge to the summit. Pretty easy scramble along the ridge. Go past the three false summit blocks by scrambling on the west side of them and continue to the ridge. Some snow on the saddle, and the ridge, but no need for any kind of snow gear.

Gary and I did a snow scramble up Tamanos Mountain back in 2000. That was before my website. I did not take a film camera along. It was a beautiful sunny day and I regretted not having any photos. Thirteen years later it was time to rectify my mistake. John joined us for this trip. I was out the door at 6:00 am and picked up Gary and John in Kent. We headed out Highway 410 to the White River entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park. The forecast was for all day sunshine... when I went to bed. In the morning it had changed to "mostly cloudy". It was very cloudy in Seattle but there was some clearing at the trailhead. We were the only car in the lot at 8:00 am. I was a little surprised to see a park trails update that said the first two miles were snow free. There was no snow at the 3750' trailhead. There are some downed trees across the trail. Most of them are in the first quarter mile. This is a very gently graded trail to Owyhigh Lakes. It is 3 1/2 miles to the lakes gaining about 1500'. The last 1.2 miles up Tamanos gains the other half of the elevation. Trillium are out and some skunk cabbage that has not bloomed yet. Add a few yellow violets for all the early season flowers. As the trail switchbacks up the steep slope there were a few snow patches around mile two. Several spots had steep snow across the trail in short stretches. The warm day had the snow soft enough to set solid steps. Warm is relative as my thermometer read about 49 degrees. A little short of three miles the route went from dirt to several feet of snow all at once. At three miles is a log bridge which we found easily enough. Snow on both sides but the log was dry. The wire hand rail is great if you are not tall. I could barely reach down to it. We had been following some faint prints in the snow and they became really faint across the bridge. A glissade track was uphill to our right. We headed that way. That was not correct. The trail actually is fairly level as it goes below the ridge we were ascending. Another check of the map and GPS units and we found our error. We had to drop down the slope to the area of the trail. Other than a few cut logs it was hard to follow as we lost it several times. At this point it does not matter as the valley we were in leads to the lakes. Soon we left the forest and entered the large white basin of Owyhigh Lakes. Above us to the right was Tamanos Mountain. Governors Ridge is on the other side of the valley. A very beautiful spot with all the snow. Some blue sky and big puffy clouds added to the views. The lakes are not very large and covered with snow not that easy to spot. On both my visits the whole basin was under snow. We took a break on a lone bare spot to put on gaiters and sun screen and have a bite to eat. Heading on we came to a spot where a lake/tarn was melting out. Blue snow around the edges with a little open water where a small creek tumbled down. There were some glacier lilies in bloom on a little bare dirt along the shore. We continued straight ahead ascending a short gully. Soon the slopes on our right became a little less steep. We headed uphill following large openings in the forest. From here up to the saddle it was just a fairly steep snow slog. The snow was firm with the top few inches being softer. Very good for kicking steps. We went to ice axes but no traction devices for the climb. Gary led the first part then I took over. The slope never felt all that steep when looking down. Looking up slope it certainly did. Our route angled to our right as the saddle below Tamanos summit came into view. On the steeper slopes to the left of the saddle there were carved ski turns. I preferred the slightly gentler terrain we took. Up at the saddle I saw Mt. Rainier right across from us. Well, I saw the bottom half of Mt. Rainier. The top was awash in clouds. Everything else was in the clear. Cowlitz Chimneys were close by. We could pick out Banshee Peak where we hiked last summer. Goat Island Mountain was to our right. Even Little Tahoma was out of the clouds. Behind us we were no longer looking up at Governors Ridge. It is a short but steep climb from the saddle to the summit of Tamanos. The ridge up was all snow with short krumholtz trees on the crest and dirt on the left side of the ridge. John led the last leg up. As we neared the end of the snow below the summit we noticed a narrow chute below on our right. There were ski tracks at the top. I can't imagine starting down a very steep and very narrow slot like that. It looked to be a two minute route to the lakes below. Once off snow it was a short rock and dirt trail hike to the top. The views are outstanding. Well worth the 1700 feet of climbed in 1.2 miles from the lakes. Memories fade over 13 years. I forgot that there is another slightly higher summit a short way down the ridge. We had to go take a look. We dropped down to the ridge and around the left side of the big rock block. There was a faint trail. Around the other side we found a short rock scramble to the top. As I was taking photos I suddenly realized that Rainier was totally out of the clouds. Our patience was rewarded. A short way down the ridge was another summit that looked to be a little higher. We dropped down along the ridge and again found a route to the left. This one led to an easy walk up to the highest point. Only room for one person at the 6790' peak but lots of room just below. We had very clear views of Goat Island Mountain, the road to Sunrise, and a little of Burroughs Mountain. Rainier was going in and out of the clouds as it did for the rest of our stay. It was now 12:15 pm and we were ready for lunch. The best open spot was back at the first summit and we headed back there. The hike down would be fast. The day was beautiful. We were in no hurry to leave. From reaching the first summit to heading down we spent nearly two hours on top. There was a little wind but it was not bad. An hour went by before we pulled out jackets. Much to our surprise, John pulled off a tick. I did not think they were in MRNP. It was about 1:50 pm when we headed down. There were a few spots above the saddle where we had to really kick steps in hard snow that also had some exposure if you slipped that I though might be a little difficult to descend. They were no problem at all. The snow had softened just enough. Back at the saddle the real fun began. We put together half a dozen glissades on the way down. A few were short and a few were longer and fast. Glissade season is one of my favorite times of the year. We did not bother putting on rain pants. Wet shorts were a small price to pay for all the fun. It seemed to take no time at all to get back down the the lakes. On our way out we did not see any fresh boot prints. It seems we were the only hikers on the trail all day. After seeing 500 people on my Mt. Si Grape Nuts hike last Saturday I saw 500 less people this day. This is more like most of my hikes. By 4:20 pm we were back at the trailhead. This was an outstanding spring snow scramble. Nearly 2/3s of the hike was on dirt. The snow was nearly perfect for climbing and glissading. The clouds added to the overall views. Especially as they went in and out allowing clear views of everything at one time or another. It is hard to believe I went 13 years between visits. This will go down as one of the best day trips of the year. I have posted 54 annotated photos and one panorama on my website located at: http://www.hikingnorthwest.com. Go to "Trips - 2013" on the left margin.