Last Monday morning at 8 AM I was waiting for a permit outside the White River RS. I had aborted trips to the Wallowas and Sawtooths due to smoke and heat, and here I was once again about to venture out on Rainiers northern trails. It was a 30 minute waiting to get into the RS but left five minutes later with permit in hand. (note-crews are resurfacing the asphalt between White River RS and Sunrise, so delays my be 10 minutes or so).
The plan was as follows: make my way to Grand Park and overnight and then proceed on day two over to Curtis Ridge via Mystic Lake. I would spend two nights on the ridge, dayhiking on day three and then hike out on day four. Grand Park is in cross-country zone: XGRA while Curtis Ridge is: ACAR
Berkley Park was in great shape on the walk in- lupine and paintbrush in full bloom. Some aval. lilies remain in the lower section, in addition, some western anemones still had flowers although most were going to seed. Saw a few elephant heads, shooting stars, Sitka valerian, speedwell. There was some beargrass in bloom along side the trail to Grand Park.
Found a camp sight that I had used four years pervious, so late in the afternoon wandered around in the NE section of the park for two hours. The usual cast of floral characters could be found near the tree islands. The dominant species were paintbrush and aval. lilies. Small patches of lupine could be found in the SW section (closer to Northern Loop Trail). There was also quite a bit of alpine dandelion and I believe, lomatium (yellow with very fine flowers) near the NLP. I came across several small pools of water but used the 5 liters I had carried up from below.
The Milky Way was prominent that night, shot some images around 2 AM with the wide angle lens. The mosquitoes were pretty bad in Grand Park and relatively active in Berkley Park. Next morning proceeded back to Wonderland Trail and then westward to Mystic Lake. Loads of lupine in bloom along WT just east of Skyscraper Pass and then again in the forest above Granite Creek. The section of trail a mile below (east) of Mystic Lake is still messed up as it makes a short climb out of the gully which took a hit from a debris flow many years ago...trail crew seems unable to do anything about this.
Plenty of mosquitoes at Mystic Lake upon my arrival. After a break at the lake proceeded up the trail to the pass and then veered off onto Curtis Ridge. There are several ponds (small lakes) up here with several meadows. Followed the boot path for 3/4 of a mile before wandering over to the west towards the Carbon Glacier. Instead of camping on the ridge overlooking the glacier, I selected a spot on the side of the meadow- good views of the mtn, adjacent to a small creek and loads of flowers were the drawing card.
Mosquitoes up here were bad- the worst I have experienced at Rainier or possibly the Cascades over many years of backpacking. To eat dinner I had to cook my gruel and then dive into the tent- of course 10 or so insectoids followed me into the tent, so they had to be dispatched in due time. On day three ventured up the ridge to about 7,500 ft- watched near continuous rockfall off the Willis Wall, and several large calving events on the Carbon Glacier. Attempted to hike up Mineral Peak from the south, but did not find a boot path or viable route for a solo hiker, so backed off. Returned to my camp that late that afternoon via the WT. Lots of evidence of mtn goats on Curtis Ridge- hair, cooling pits; however they had moved elsewhere.
The little meadow I camped near had lots of pink mtn. heather in bloom- normally I don't get too excited about it, but some of it was a very rosy-pink tint that really contrasted with the dark green foliage. Was treated to fine sunsets both evenings and once again got up at night a took some photos of the mtn and Milky Way. The hike back to Sunrise on day four was uneventful. The snack bar at Sunrise is still closed, so if your looking for a cold drink after a hike- look elsewhere!
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