Moraine Park - Mystic Lake — Monday, May. 30, 2016

Mount Rainier Area > NW - Carbon River/Mowich

Set out to see how far up the carbon river I could hike until snow turned me back. The trail/road is free of all obstacles up to Ipsut creek CG. A little beyond the camp, there's a section of trail that got washed out. Scrambling over rocks and trees was necessary, but doable for pretty much anyone. Further on, there is another section of trail washed out, which forces all hikers to take a detour across the carbon river. The river bottom is very wide; there's a sign at the trailhead advising hikers not to cross the river because of fast moving waters and flooding dangers, but it was the only option for me and so I did anyways. Saw a group of hikers crossing from the other direction, they gave me a few tips on crossing. There are two streams that you will need to cross. The "bridges" are simply fallen logs, and the path leading to each one is marked with cairns (although I found it somewhat difficult to follow them). The crossings are totally doable, although I wouldn't take your kids across them; they are not the safest logs to be walking across. Adults should be fine. After the crossing, the trail gets steeper and is mostly clear with a bit of blowdown, but nothing that will slow you down appreciably. Decided not to cross the suspension bridge and went up Morraine Creek towards Mystic Lake. I never made it there, and turned around when I found snow covering the trail. I estimate I was 2 miles from the lake. Significant amounts of snow starts on that particular trail at around 5200 feet. This part of the trail was shady, and I expect that more sun-exposed trails do not have as much snow. If you really want to, you can make it to Mystic Lake. Microspikes might help but are not necessary. The snow was packed down enough that my feet didn't sink in. All in all, a very nice day. Ended up totaling 20 miles. The views of Rainier are gorgeous, and were well worth the hike. Next on my list is to wait 2 weeks and see if I can make it up to Spray Park!