So, I had 8 miles to go Thursday evening, starting at 5 p.m., which allowed for no dawdling. Fortunately, the weather was ideal. You start at about 6000 feet at Sunrise, and climb a bit from there on the Wonderland Trail. Here's the view of Rainier from Sourdough Ridge above Sunrise:
There were a few lingering snow patches, but not enough to make navigation difficult. Here's the obligatory "signpost in the snow" shot:
You then drop into the lovely green bowl of Berkeley Park. This is the view north, as the trail drops down Lodi Creek:
The Northern Loop Trail forks off here, dropping about 800 feet, passing Berkeley Park Camp, before ascending a ridge toward Grand Park. There was a nice beargrass alley along the way:
Here's Grand Park, a vast meadow, where the spring bloom was just getting started:
Then it was down about 1000 feet to Fire Creek Camp, which is a half mile down a spur trail. I got there at 8:30, so I still had almost an hour of daylight to spare. The campsite is deep in the woods, and was a pleasant enough place. There was another party camped there. I'd read that the water source at this site wasn't reliable, but the creek was flowing fine when I was there.
Friday morning, I continued down the trail, dropping another 1500 feet to the West Fork White River, where there's a log bridge amid a tangle of blowdown:
I was grateful for the bridge, because this river didn't look at all conducive to wading.
From the river, it was a 2600 foot climb up to 5800-foot Windy Gap up a set of good switchbacks. Fortunately, the climb was almost entirely shaded, since the sun was strong that day. Along the way, I passed a junction for Lake James Camp, which is situated in a place that the map calls "Mosquito Flat." From what I'd heard, the name is apt.
Snow patches appeared as I approached Windy Gap, but there wasn't enough to make navigation a problem:
There was lots of heather in bloom:
And more lilies:
After crossing Windy Gap, Yellowstone Cliffs came into view, with the biggest beargrass bloom I've ever seen. This shot doesn't do it justice, but it offers a hint:
The trail drops about 800 feet down to the spur for Yellowstone Cliffs Camp, which is perched on a little shelf above the deep gorge of Spukwush Creek. The site has a view of the cliffs and, unlike Lake James, wasn't particularly buggy. There are only two tent sites there, and one was rather soggy from a melting snow patch. Fortunately, I arrived at 1:30 p.m., and had my pick of the two. I hadn't seen anyone on the trail all day, and I didn't see anyone else at the camp until a solo hiker arrived there at 8 p.m., looking pretty beat, having made the long climb from the Carbon River entrance.
The trail drops 3000 feet to the Carbon River, where it winds through some nice old forest. Where the Northern Loop Trail ends and the route rejoins the Wonderland Trail, there's a fine suspension bridge over the Carbon River. You don't cross this bridge if you're hiking the Northern Loop, unless you're camping at Carbon River Camp, which is a short distance across the river.
Here the trail begins a big climb up the Carbon River. Much of the trail was in the open, and fortunately it was early enough in the day that the trail was shaded by the mountainside to my left.
Here's the face of the Carbon Glacier, with the river emerging at its base:
And here was my big wildlife sighting for the trip: A mother bear with two cubs (only one of which is visible in this shot):
The views along this stretch of trail were some of the best of the trip:
Mystic Lake Camp is about a quarter mile from the lake, tucked into the forest as most of the camps are. It's one of the bigger ones, with 7 tent sites, but they're spread out pretty well. I reached camp in the early afternoon, leaving me ample time to read a novel. Had some rain showers in the evening, but nothing serious.
Sunday dawned gray and foggy. The trail dropped down to the West Fork White River, which was an easy rock hop across. It then wound around to a view of the Winthrop Glacier:
Winthrop Creek was a raging torrent, and could not have been crossed without this log bridge:
As I climbed out of the valley toward Skyscraper Pass, some fine paintbrush blooms appeared:
And for a few minutes, as I neared the top of the pass, the mists parted and Rainier came into view again:
Dropping back down into Berkeley Park, though, the clouds closed in again, giving the landscape the look of a Japanese woodcut:
Once I hit Berkeley Park, the trail became crowded with dayhikers from Sunset. I reached the trailhead at about 1.
Here's the track of my hike, minus the last 3 miles, because my GPS conked out:
http://gpsfly.org/gps_map.php?gps_id=3510&w=645&h=440
