August 29th, 2022 by Jon
Today was both beautiful and difficult. We hiked 4000 feet of elevation gain and 3900 feet of elevation loss. When we woke up, the air was cool, although not as cold as it had been the last few days. We got up at 6:00, as seems to be the norm now for most hikers. The morning is too dark at 5:30 now, and it has been so much harder to get up than. We enjoyed some awesome muffins for breakfast, along with warm beverages, before heading out. The trail continued along a steep ledge that we hiked pretty flatly along the side of for a long time. After a mile of hiking, we turned a corner and Mt. Rainier was out in all its glory!
We stood and looked at it for a while before heading on. The trail meandered over so small ridges and hills, passing a few small meadows, creeks, and mountain lakes. The water was so still in the morning, and you could see a perfect reflection in almost every lake we passed. We descended into a large basin and passed by Large Dewey Lake. What an awesome place to come camp. It’s less than 10 miles from Chinook Pass, and the sites were pretty incredible. Definitely a spot to come back to someday. We stopped at an inlet and considered getting water here but after reading a few comments, realized there was a flowing creek up and over the next hill which was good for two reasons, it wasn’t lake water (more prone to be bad water and we’re being extra cautious due to all the stomach bugs among hikers right now) and we wouldn’t have to carry this water up a hill.
The climb was about a mile long and fairly steep. Both Singsong and I are still pretty tired, and we’re worried we might have some sort of cold coming on. The climb was a trudge, and when we got to the top, we were rewarded with excellent views of Chinook Pass and the surrounding valley. We climbed down the trail and stopped about halfway to fill our water bottles. We probably passed about 50 hikers who were coming up as we were going down. Pretty incredible for a Monday. We got close to the road, and there was a sign for trail magic! We crossed the small footbridge over the highway, then came down a small side trail to the parking lot, where a canopy was set up with food and drinks. We had beer, a bagel with cream cheese, some fruit, and a cup of yogurt. It was seriously wonderful.
When we first got there, Wilco and Biscuit were there; they had hiked an extra two miles last night. They told us they were headed for Snoqualmie and wanted to push so they could get there Wednesday night. We wished them the best, and they took off. We still plan to do a half-day on Thursday and stay the night. Missile showed up a little later and said he really needed to take some time off the trail to rest his leg. Apparently, it’s been slowing him down quite a bit. Thankfully, the folks doing trail magic are driving back to Tacoma, and then he’s gonna go stay with my brother. The two of them hit it off when Andrew came down to hike with us in the Sierra for a bit, so I’m glad that all is working out. He’s going to come back to the trail on Friday when my dad comes up to drop off our Snoqualmie resupply.
We said goodbye to Missile and wished him a speedy recovery before thanking our trail angels for the magic, and then began another climb out of the pass. The trail sucked. It was so, so steep. We passed a pretty lake, but otherwise it was just exposed walking along a rocky ledge. The climb was a little over 3 miles, and when we got to the top, we took a 40-minute break. Partially to eat some food, but it was a seriously killer climb. We had amazing views from the saddle where we ate, then climbed along a ledge, rounding several mountains as we made our way northeast. The trail climbed up and down, following a ridge that overlooked the Crystal Mountain Ski Area. They had their lifts running so people could reach the top of the ridge and stare at Mt. Rainier. Thankfully, we could do that from the ridge we were on across the valley.
We climbed over the top of the ridge and then did more ledge walking on the shady side of the mountain, looking east. We entered a burn area and had to sadly pass by white skeleton trees for a few miles. There were patches of green trees in some places, but not many. Eventually, we came to a small spring that bubbled out the side of the hill just below the trail and stopped there to get water. We filled up enough to get the 7.5 miles to the next water, as well as camp tonight, which was 3 liters for me and about 2.5 for Singsong. When we left the spring, it was about 6:00. The next 2.9 miles were up a small climb, over a saddle, and then down a long way along a ledge before climbing back up to a different saddle. Those miles may have been some of the most tired I’ve ever felt. Everything hurt, and I left exhausted. Singsong had left a little before me, and I caught her with about a half mile to go.
We climbed the last bit together up to the saddle and found a small tent site for 1 near the edge of a ridge with great views to the east. We ate dinner, drank electrolytes, and hit the hay. We’re thinking we may need to tone down the mileage just a bit for this section. Partly because of how tired we feel, but also because it’s been pretty hard. The elevation gains and losses have been no joke. If anything, it just means doing closer to a full hiking day into town on Thursday instead of a half day, but we will play each day by ear and see how it goes.
