Hears Different Drummer: Northern loop (figure eight), and Lake Eleanor Backpacking trip

One of our multi-day hiking goals has been to do the Northern Loop at Mount Rainier. We decided this was the year. We didn't have a permit in hand, so we drove to Mount Rainier's White River back country ranger station last Monday August 28th. We walked in with our planned camp sites and route, hoping to start hiking the next day. We planned for 2 additional days just in case we had to wait for a few days for sites to open up for a permit. We asked for a clockwise route, but that didn't work, so plan B, counterclockwise - same camps. Hurray, we got everyone we wanted! The 28th was our 46th Wedding Anniversary, what a gift Rainier National park gave us!

The Northern loop has a little bit of the Wonderland trail in it. I was very excited to get on that section as it's been 35 years since I've been there. We've done the Wonderland trail several times. I've done it 3 times, and my husband has done it five times. All varying amounts of days on the trail. The shortest was 5 days, our longest was 18 days.

The first time we did it, it was just the two of us in 1975.

I was very emotional at the start of this Northern loop hike, since this was me getting back to who I once was before I had a disruption in my life due to panic attacks. You can read about those days here and my battle with claustrophobia (tent anxiety). The seven years of not living or feeling because of anti-anxiety drug cocktails, is shedding off of me every trip I'm on now. As the tears flow, I'm thankful to have "me" back.

Anyways.......after my husband and I did our trip in 1975, we did it again in 1982 with my parents, my brother and his wife. This was the "many day" version of the trip. It was such a help to have so many adults on the trip, They really did a great job of helping to keep our kids entertained on the long hard days.

We then did the trip again with just our kids in 1988.

In the photo below the top picture was from the 1982 trip and the bottom picture was from 1988.

Our family trip in 1988.

Rainier is a very special place to me, full of memories. Each day on our past trips was filled with hard hiking, "up and down" trails. We would come to the epic views and evening camps with grateful hearts. I'm so glad we had those family times together.

For this trip we began packing our packs that Monday night at our campsite at the White river campground. We ate Mountain house food on this trip. We put a pin hole in each bag before we packed them in our bear barrels, getting the air out of the bags really helped conserve space.

Here's a few of the essentials I brought: my emergency beacon, bear spray, camera, mosquito head net and device charger. I charged the camera and my Garmin watch with the charger in the evenings. Our steri-pen (water purifier) could be charged with this as well. Luckily we didn't have hardly any bugs and our steri-pen never needed charging the whole 8 days.

We woke up the next day (Tuesday the 29th) and drove up to the Sunrise Visitors center. We did a few touristy things and then we got on our packs and began our adventure. There was a smoke haze in the air as we began. Our first night was Berkeley camp. A nice short first day.

Our route - I marked the route with directional arrows, and numbered our camps. As you can see, we did a figure eight and then added the Lake Eleanor spur.

Our starting photo.

Our first campsite of the trip - Berkeley camp.

Day one Garmin stats:

total miles - 4.25

ascent - 485 feet

Wednesday morning we were heading off of the Northern loop to camp at Lake Eleanor. This trip had a two fold purpose. We had wanted to see what Lake Eleanor looked like and every time we'd hiked in the Rainier area and I got a glimpse of Grand park, I've always wanted to walk there.

A foot bridge after leaving Berkeley camp.

To Lake Eleanor.

Grand Park ❤

Our Lake Eleanor campsite.

I brought my stick roller and yes I did use it every night. It really was beneficial. My leg muscles said thank you every time. ☺

We also brought some playing cards, Yahtzee and my Kindle for our evenings.

Day two Garmin stats:

total miles - 6

ascent - 699 feet

Thursday morning we were welcomed with a slight mist and a rainbow and reflection over the lake.

We climbed the hill out of Lake Eleanor to Grand Park. I was very happy that we were going through it twice. Most reports say the best time to go is when the wild flowers are blooming, but I thought it was perfect. As we were leaving that area, I felt like I was being pulled back with every step out. I was very emotional leaving that place. A part of my heart has been left there.

We were hiking to Lake James on this day, there was a river crossing ahead of us. The bridge was out, the ranger told us about it when we got our permit.

Looking down at where we would be going, and our river crossing.

The West fork of the White river did have a log bridge crossing with a section of the hand railing missing.

Then we had a small section to wade through before finding our way to one more shallow crossing.

The hike up to James lake was very long. Quite the endurance test. We talked about a past trip we'd hiked into James Lake with my brother and his wife, again with our young children. I have to say they were troopers.

Our site for the night. A welcome sight.

Day three Garmin stats:

total miles - 10.89 miles

ascent - 2211 feet

Friday morning we headed towards Carbon River., but first we took a side trip to look at Lake James.

I found this heart rock on our way up to Windy Gap, during a rest break.

I loved Windy Gap. The skies were blue again!

My lunchtime friend.

Yellowstone cliffs. We saw 4 large piles of bear poop along the trail as we made our way past the Yellowstone cliffs camp but we never saw a bear.

The Carbon River suspension bridge.

Carbon River camp.

Day four Garmin stats;

total miles - 9.31

ascent - 1837 feet

Saturday morning we would be going off of the Northern loop and heading on to the Wonderland Alternate route over Seattle and Spray parks and camping at Eagles Roost. We stopped at the Cataract Valley campground and visited with some nice folks about the logistics of doing multi-day hikes, then I visited this interesting composting toilet. Just a note, on a hot day the black surface is skin burning hot - ouch!

Heading up into one of my favorite places on the Wonderland trail - Seattle and Spray parks.

Rest break time. Lots of up today.

Our only snow crossing,

Heading down into Spray park. We passed people that had seen a bear along the trail, but again no bear sighting for us.

Eagle Roost camp.

Day 5 Garmin stats:

total miles - 8.5

ascent - 3087 feet

Sunday morning we woke early because this would be our longest hiking day of the trip. This is the Mowich section making the Northern loop a figure eight.

Bike rack at Mowich lake.

Thanks to a nice woman at Mowich lake for taking this picture. Mowich lake, whew so many memories of our many times there.

Heading down Ipsut pass.

I love all of the log bridges on the trail

Crossing the Carbon river again, this time lower down than the suspension bridge.

We only had to repeat the small section after crossing the river to the suspension bridge on our figure eight. Since I didn't get a photo of me on the suspension bridge last time through we took advantage of the opportunity.

Time to make our way to Dick creek. What a long day it was getting to be. It was very warm climbing up the trail along the Carbon Glacier.

Rest and water break.

I'm glad I've been Spartan training. In the book Spartan up, Joe Desena says that we have 20% more in us when we think we are done. My husband and I proved that to ourselves on this day. Just before we got to camp we crossed this log bridge,

and then say what?! a rope?rock climb up to the camp and the rest of the trail.

I was very proud of myself that day. I did the rope/rock climb without assistance and with the pack on my back.

The view from our campsite.

There are only two campsites at Dick creek, we shared our evening view with our neighbor and had a great sunset chat.

Day six Garmin stats;

total miles - 15.5

ascent - 2369 feet

Monday morning we were headed towards Granite Creek. We would be hiking through the Mystic lake area. Ah....memories. We were starting to get back into the haze in the air again going this direction.

The boardwalk trail to Mystic lake.

Yes, I blubbered like a baby. I really never thought I'd walk on these trails again.

Such a gift.

We sat by the lake and ate our lunch, reminiscing about trips past.

On our first trip around the Wonderland trail I took a photo of my husband at a rock on the ridge looking down at the Carbon glacier. On the trip we went with just our own family we re-enacted that photo with the kids. I still can't believe our kids did all of that hiking. They were hardy for sure.

The family rock photos.

Then it was down to go around the Winthrop glacier. Our first crossing wasn't anything much.

Walking along the glacier moraine.

I was getting pretty tired by the time we did this river crossing. I'm not a fan of crossing rivers on narrow logs. This one at least had a hand rail, but the water was really rushing along and way to close to the log for my comfort.

You can see in the photo below that the water even laps up onto the log from time to time. It was my first melt down of the trip. I make it over on my own steam with my backpack on, but I completely fell apart when I reached the other side. My husband said the perfect thing as he hugged and comforted me. He said, "I think somebody's tired". Yep.

We were in the full haze sky now as we hiked up side of the glacier. We could hardly see Rainier.

Granite creek.

Our last night on the trail. Granite creek campsite. As we were eating dinner a wind came up and blew all night long. We found out later that the change in wind had an effect on a nearby forest fire. I really struggled during the night with congestion from the smoke. When I woke up my eyes were all swollen and I got a bloody nose.

Day 7 Garmin stats:

total miles - 9.05

ascent - 1453 feet

With mixed emotions we began our hike out towards Sunrise. Our last day in this wonderful place. It had treated us well. Hardly any bugs. We only saw Mountain goats and marmots, no bear deer or elk. The northern section was quiet we saw very few people on the trail. There were a few more when we joined the Wonderland trail but not as many as I had thought. Since this was our last day and it was a shorter hike we took our time and just soaked it in. The trail goes over Skyscraper ridge before reaching Sunrise.

It's hard to see up close, but my eyes are all puffy from the smoke.

I enjoyed the breeze as we were heading toward Frozen lake and the junction to the visitor center.

https://youtu.be/08hM1VViiSg

Looking down at Shadow lake. The smoke was so thick we could hardly see the views.

As we were walking down the hill, a ranger met us and said that just a half hour before a level 2 evacuation had been set for Sunrise. He escorted us down and said that the rangers were preparing to intercept other hikers and bring them out for the health and safety.