Without my “partners” at my side, I packed up my gear for the ultimate pre-WLT backpacking test, Ruckel Creek Trail out-n-back. According to my watch, I started at 600ft from the parking lot adjacent to the Eagle Creek Fish Hatchery, walking along the old gorge highway for about .6 miles to the Trail 405 trailhead. It was 80+ degrees outside with a large amount of humidity.
The old gorge highway & entry-point to Ruckel Creek Trail
From here, the hike went from easy to ghetto. Ruckel creek is a tough hike, rated as one of the twelve toughest trails by Backpacker Magazine in October 1999. I’d have to agree with this assessment. This is a brutal hike. As opposed to the Hunchback Mountain trail, Ruckel Creek is much better on the eyes. The ascent, however, is just as pounding.
Rock-lined depressions constructed by Native Americans
At about 1200ft of elevation, I hit the mossy-rock area of the trail (shown above). This area is a trip and, not only can I bug-out to it, but several moss-covered, rock-lined depressions are adjacent to the trail. From here, you ascend many, many switchbacks at a high pitch the climb up to Benson Plateau.
The ascent is ROOTy-tooty fresh & fruity
Rock stairs...
...and steep ascents
At about 2700ft, the trail opens up for a great view of the gorge, including Bonneville dam and the Bridge of the Gods.
The Bridge of the Gods: Entrypoint to a ghetto section of the PCT!
At about 3800ft, you reach Benson Plateau for a flat section of the hike and an eventual payday at Ruckel Creek. This was the point where I filled my Nalgene Canteen for the descent and reached my highest elevation of 4041ft. A trip to the laundry and I was headed back down again!
Fill-up, laundry and one final snack for my descent!
Observations:
3450ft of elevation and descent
12-13 miles is very comparable to each day of our WLT itinerary
The ascent required many rest stops; lightweight gear helps, but doesn’t make it a walk in the mall
I saw 6 different parties on the trail, which is surprising
This will likely be my last pounding hike before we leave given 10 days in Hawaii and risk-mitigation strategy when I return
Camp 5: Sunrise Thursday, Day 5: Mystic Lake to Sunrise Camp
Among the things on tomorrow night’s Dude Night agenda is to get our application and itinerary finalized for submission, and among the only “controversial” decisions remaining is the Sunrise vs. White River cagematch for cache #2 supremacy. Actually, I think Ploss may have killed any further debate with the words “beer” and “burger” yesterday. There are however several variables I’ll discuss that could make this the most fluid destination point of our hike, perhaps even a game time decision day-of. We can discuss further tomorrow but for our purposes today I’m assuming that Sunrise will be the primary camp targeted for Day 5. If there’s a Franken sighting tomorrow I’m sure he’ll add his own unique opinion on the subject.
A rare photo of Franken circa our last Dude Night. Consider yourself lucky if you spot a Smackpacker post from this elusive creature
Ploss’ earlier post suggests a 9 mile trip from Mystic Camp to Sunrise Camp, but by my math (mathmagician that I am) it works out to 10.6 miles: 5.5 to Granite Creek; 3.3 to Berkeley Park trail; 0.7 to Mt. Fremont Lookout trail; and 1.1 to Sunrise Camp. See map below.
Going to Sunrise itself on the afternoon of Day 5 will add a little more than another mile to this day bringing the day’s total to ~11.8 miles and raising our trip total to 95.6 miles. More on that later.
Skyscraper Peak as viewed from Mt. Fremont Lookout Trail, just past Berkeley Park
We start this day heading for Granite Creek. Along the way (and past) we’ll apparently have distant views north of Skyscraper Peak with visions of cheeseburgers dancing in our heads:
About a mile up from Granite Creek is Skyscraper Pass and peak of the same name.
We dropped our packs and went to the top……WOW….nice view!
Later at Sunrise we had greaseburgers and fries and picked up our second food drop……mo’ booze!
From Sunrise it was about four more to White River Camp where we camped among……CAR CAMPERS!!! Eye-eeeeeeee!
This brings up an interesting distinction regarding this leg of the trip, as Sunrise itself – home to cache location #2 and a restaurant, so I’ve been told – is yet another .5 miles off the WLT as Sunrise Camp and Sunrise itself are of course separated by at least a half mile. Why is this relevant? Stay on task, McLovin! Well, it’s important from the perspective of picking up cache #2.
Caches are stored at both the Sunrise and White River Ranger Stations, and may be dropped off or picked up during normal business hours. The Sunrise Ranger Station is near the Wonderland Trail; however, Sunrise has a short season. Sunrise Ranger Station normally opens around July 1st and closes around September 30th. Early and late season hikers should use the White River Ranger Station for their cache. Call ahead to check with the staff about operation schedule.
More on White River later. If as suggested our aim is to pick up our cache – and possibly enjoy a hot meal – in the afternoon of Day 5, we’ll want to reach Sunrise by 4pm likely (closes at 6pm Thursday – Saturday) in order to get our business done and stake out a campsite at popular Sunrise Camp. These guys had similar thoughts, arriving counterclockwise from the south:
We wanted to get to Sunrise ranger station with plenty of time to pick up our food cache and eat a burger at the restaurant, so we were out of camp by 9:00 and hustled through the woods to White River Campground. Still, I tried to pay attention to the sounds and smells of the woods while I moved along. That’s two things I’ve l neglected to mention so far—sounds and smells. You could be here with eyes closed and still feel the life around you—trees, flowers, birds, water. I think that is the one quality that I will take home with me the most.
Raindogs and grilled grub will probably taste better than Mountain House and GU20 by Day 5
Sunrise is the last area of the forest to open and the first to close, and as y’all know feature both the Visitor Center, from which we’ll procure cache #2, and the Sunrise Day Lodge, from which we’ll procure a hot meal from someone who presumably will say “um, yes…the Smartwool you’re wearing…still…really um does help mask body odor. As far as you know.”
At an elevation of 6,400 feet, Sunrise is the highest point that can be reached by vehicle at Mount Rainier National Park. In summer, mountain meadows abound with wildflowers. On clear days, Sunrise provides breathtaking views of Mount Rainier, Emmons glacier, and many other volcanoes in the Cascade Range. These views and an excellent trail system make Sunrise the second most visited location in the park.
Sunrise is located 60 miles northeast of the Nisqually Entrance and 14 miles northwest of the Sunrise/White River turnoff on highway 410.
Services at Sunrise include:
The Sunrise Visitor Center is open daily from early July to early October and closed in winter. Here visitors will find exhibits, guided interpretive programs, book sales, and a picnic area.
The Sunrise Day Lodge, open only from early July to late September, offers food service, and a gift shop. There is no overnight lodging at the Sunrise Day Lodge.
The White River Campground and picnic area is located 12 miles from Sunrise Visitor Center.
The Sunrise Road usually opens in late June or early July and closes in late September to early October. Check the road status before setting out.
And there you have it – 12 miles?!? Either this page is wrong or the map is wrong (showing WR to be 2.6 miles from Sunrise) but either way as long as Sunrise is open, we can probably forego further discussion about hitting White River on Day 5 and revisit that possibility only if there’s so much snow that Sunrise is closed which, likely, will affect more than just picking up cache #2. Put that 12 mile quote on my “i” tab er Ranger callback tab.
There better be a bar at Sunrise or I'm sending the pledges to Food King
The video below not only offers a glimpse of Sunrise itself, but a virtual interpretation of driving to Sunrise with Franken.
Sunrise Camp is located at a pounding 6245′ and will mark the high point of our journey, and is apparently a popular choice for day hikers and through hikers alike that plan to enjoy Sunrise, like this dude:
The trail to Sunrise laid ahead of us: straight up, dry and airless. It was a long hike up but we made it. The view of Rainier was gorgeous as we crested up. We walked into Sunrise to get our food caches and meet up with everyone who had come out to see us. We had a big late lunch at the cafeteria. And walked out into spitting rain to make camp at Sunrise Camp. Not fun. By the time we reached there my feet that had been killing me were literally beyond pain. I took my trail runners off to find I had blisters on blisters. Some had shredded – my toes looked like hamburger.
Sunrise Camp: lookin' mighty like every other patch of flat dirt you'll call home for a night
So whether it’s 9 miles or close to 12, Day 5 should provide several key milestones: we’ll pick up our last cache of food that will sustain us for the nearly one third (30 miles) of the trail remaining that we’ll fastpack in 2 days; we’ll enjoy a real table and someplace to sit while eating junk and having a brew; and we’ll say goodbye to the high country, more or less. It’s mostly downhill from here. Mostly.
Camp Details: Elevation: 6245′
Elevation gain to camp: 2095′
Elevation loss to camp: 1420′
Distance from previous camp (Camp 2: Mystic Camp): 10.6 miles (11.8 with side trip to Sunrise)
Near side camp: likely Berkeley Park Camp. 10.0 miles from Mystic camp; 3.0 miles short of Mystic Camp Far side camp: White River Campground. Presumably 13.0 miles from Mystic Camp; 2.1 miles past Sunrise Camp according to map, 12 miles past Sunrise according to some hopefully wack NPS interwebs page.
Spoke with Mt. Rainier Wilderness Info Center this AM and received the following updated information regarding our cache drop locations:
I left my last cache near the 7 Cities of Gold
Longmire Station opens at 7:30am on Sundays. That is to say, it will be open when we get there.
Mowich Lake Station is staffed from 8:30am to 4:30pm daily; we’ll thus want to reach cache #1 at Mowich Lake on Day 3 (Tuesday) no later than 4pm. As it’s 10.2 miles from Golden Lakes, this should be no problem.
Sunrise is expected to stay open through the end of September; it would take really, really early snow to close Sunrise prior to our expected day of arrival on Thursday (Day 5). Sunrise is open from 10am to 5pm Sunday – Wednesday, and 10am to 6pm Thursday – Saturday. There is therefore a good chance of a burger and beer at Sunrise – more on that to follow.
Side note: we’ll want to reconfirm all of this prior to cache shipment (end of August) for several reasons, not the least of which is that the nice young woman with whom I spoke seemed mostly certain about Mowich Lake. Mostly. Originally she said that we could pickup our caches at the Carbon River Station; when I pointed out that the NPS site lists only Mowich, Sunrise, White River and Longmire as cache locations she did a little more research and agreed about Mowich and provided the hours. It might be interesting to see if a 3rd cache site at Carbon River is a possibility, and I’ll follow up on that & post info later.
Sometimes you just have to hole up & camp
We now have all of the info needed to submit our application, on the agenda for tomorrow’s dude night.
Dateline: May 1984. ZZ Top topped the charts, unfortunately, Akeem (sans H at the time) was on the minds of every chin rubbing Trailblazer fan in advance of the pre-draft lottery coin toss, and Scloss rocked the original swamp cruising Hefty bag-as-poncho fashion statement.
After drawing the 13th pick in this year’s NBA draft yesterday there will be no Oden vs. Durant argument in Portland this year, but there is a Bowie vs. Jordan battle brewing on SPR between the Outdoor Products Packframe Poncho and the upstart Integral Designs Sil Poncho/Tarp for bivy combination supremacy. To better decide if an RMA is in my future, I set out for Photolog #2.
I’ve given up trying to sell/explain this concept to Franken, but as Ploss has taken the toob dive he’s fully committed to the idea, as am I. My original proof of concept tarp rig sucked, so before trading up I needed to see how well and how quickly I could setup a true A-frame pup tent using an on-hand ridge line, 6 aluminum stakes, and the previously tested Nite Ize Figure 9 rope tighteners.
1. The stage was set close to dusk in the Smackyard
2. Staked my trekking poles (tips in, whatever) and ran the ridge line:
3. The OP Packframe Poncho is a sparse 56" X 94" which is of adequate length, if not width, for shelter:
4. Staking the corners out took a little extra time and adjustment to rig it up, taut:
5. Rolling out bivy, inserting the accordian, strapping it in and inserting down bag took just 2 minutes:
6. There was "sufficient" room for my gear as well, which is crucial sans pack cover
Conclusions: the photographer failed to pull the bivy down further to accurately demonstrate how the bivy would “ride” under the rig but there was adequate interior space with a relatively low profile footprint; raising the poles higher and running the guylines out further would create more surface area given adequate camp space.
Man I'm happy I never slept on trail under this rig!?
The Integral Designs poncho offers only a half inch of additional width and a quarter inch of length, but offers 12 nylon tie loops vs. the 4 provided by the OP Packframe Poncho tested above, and yet is at least 4 ounces lighter. Unfortunately, this test was incomplete: the damn rain never showed up so I opted to sleep in an actual bed. Perhaps tonight the weather will “improve” but until then I’m thinking REI will be receiving a slightly used OP Sam Bowie model in exchange for an Integral Designs model that Michael Jordan, Ryan Jordan, hobbit enthusiasts and trash bag wearers alike would be proud to rock.
What do Musical Youth, Peter Tosh and April 20th have to do with backpacking, you ask? That’s correct, after doing some research I have confirmed with the Estacada Ranger Station that access to High Lake is open and an alternative trail was clear as of Fall 2007. Somewhere, Mola Ram is freaking stoked.
Trail is currently being restored. Consequently there are a couple of rough spots. The upper trail head was isolated by road closures after the floods of 1996. The access is now from an older trail head abandoned in 1969.
Follow the 4620 Road from Hwy 224 (Indian Henry) for 7.8 miles. You will pass a red (literally) road on the left just before another left which has been closed off by piles of rock. This was the continuation of 4620 towards Thunder Mt lost by land slides. The trail head is at this former junction of 4620 and 4622. Follow a cat road parallel to the abandoned road for a slight way and trail departs to the right.
Follow up a couple of switchbacks to an apparent end of trail at a tumble of large blow down. Climb uphill and slightly left and follow a clearing through the rhododendrons about 200′ to resume the original trail. There may be flagging marking the way. The passage though here is becoming clearer as use increases.
Been a month of Moms since Taurus and I have kicked it in the shadow of Fish Creek Mtn.
Continue up the hill into a stand of 35 year old trees to another apparent end of trail. There will soon be a bit of a grassy opening on your right. At this point climb up a steep set of short switchbacks in thimble berries (yum) to the decommissioned road. There may be some flagging marking the spot where you come out on to this road. Make sure you are confident you will be able to find your way back the way you have come. We have begun scratching out new tread here but it will take another season or two to complete.
Once on the road proceed north about a third of a mile to a fork in the road. The trail head lost to the road closures is at the junction rising up the ridge between the two roads. From here onwards the trail is easy to follow. The High Lake junction is in a saddle between the two summits 2.35 miles from the trailhead. It is a half mile down to the lake. A descent of a little over 300′ in elevation. The trail to the summit is seriously brushed in at places. Down to High Lake the route is also brushy in places. High Lake has two nice camp sites. Be careful over the large log on the way to the east shore camp. We used to walk it for years, but the bark has recently begun to slip away.
Mileage to High Lake: 2.87 miles, to the summit: 2.5 miles.
High Lake is ideally suited for field testing as an overnight trip, though the hike itself is steep, but short. Nostalgia value very high indeed. The elevation however may make Spring access impossible as Fish Creek Mtn. has an elevation of 4993 feet and will likely be snow covered for another month or more.
Fish Creek Mtn used to seem so...high
For a weekend trip, might I suggest a day hike along the way either here or here, after which we could quite easy get (to) High.
smackpacker.com 