Picture of the week ~ Elbow lake trout

Backpacking trip: day four, Railroad camp to Schrieber meadow via the Scott Paul trail

Photo courtesy of USFS

Day four, I woke up and decided that I wasn't going to get up until I could put my face out of the sleeping bag without it being really cold. Finally I could see the sun hitting the tent and I felt a bit of warmth. I looked out the door of the tent, to this view!

Good morning world!

After we ate breakfast we got out our binoculars and watched several different climbing groups make their way down the mountain. I watched until my eyes got tired. Then we packed up to begin our journey on the Scott Paul trail.

Goodbye Railroad camp❤

The trail junction seemed a good place for a rest stop and to congratulate ourselves for staying and not heading out yesterday. The weather was fantastic for our last day on the trail.

So many flowers.

The creek crossing that usually has a swinging bridge, no more. Time to wade across.

A look back to where we'd just come from,

and a look towards where we needed to go.

A great view of the Black Buttes with Baker.

Stream crossing.

A walk along the spine.

More wonderful views.

Time to filter some nice cold drinking water.

Another stream crossing. 

I loved how the water was trickling off of this rock area.

A hiding Boletus mushroom.

What! Another heart rock!

The Scott Paul trail couldn't have been prettier.

A little green frog.

The last section of the trail flattens out to a nice cool fern garden, just lovely.

Of course, just before we walk out, one last heart rock. I think this trip was meant to be❤

We saw maybe a half dozen people before the Scott Paul junction, but after that we only passed by 4 people (one with a hula hoop), 1 dog, some Ptarmigan and 1 frog.

Garmin stats:

total miles - 7 miles

total ascent - 823 feet

total descent - 2287 feet

Trip summary:
total miles hiked - 28.47
total ascent - 6101 feet
total descent - 6095 feet

Backpacking trip: day three, Elbow lake to Railroad camp

Today we hoped to get to Railroad camp on the Railroad grade for the night.

Photo courtesy of USFS

We had some light rain overnight on our tent, but there was a good breeze in the morning and it took alot of the moisture off of our tarp. It's always nice when we don't have to pack away wet things.

As we headed up the trail, I saw another heart rock❤. I was happy to see so many on this trip.

The backpackers "rain" poncho hiking along in front of me.

Rest break under the trees.

So many Boletus mushrooms along the trail.

Rain drops on the ferns.

Seems it's destined to be a heart rock trip.

A rocky section to go through.

After a nice uphill and over many logs again, we spied off in the distance the Park Butte lookout. Hard to believe we were there just yesterday. Zoom in to see the lookout.

  

❤

When we got to Mazama camp there was a cold breeze and the clouds were still low, so we put on another layer. We talked about if we should abandon our plans for the night and just hike out. Not being completely sure of the future weather, we made a plan that we would decide at the Railroad grade junction sign. So we made our way up the switchbacks with a question in our minds.

No sooner had I walked a short way from the meadow but I spied another large heart rock. I can't believe how many seemed to be placed in front of my eyes on this journey.

Back to our yesterday's start!

As we made our way down the hill and through Morovitz meadow we saw two men hiking up. We stopped and visited with them a bit then asked if they knew what the weather was supposed to do for the night and the next day. They said that they had stopped at the Park headquarters in Sedro-Woolley and had been told that it was supposed to clear up. Buoyed up by these words we bravely marched on to Railroad camp via the Railroad grade trail.

 

Home sweet home, with a splash of blue sky and many mosquitoes!

We quickly set up the tent, got on our mosquito head nets and had dinner.

By the time we were done eating the sun started coming out and it was so nice to stand in the sun and feel it's warmth. The only problem with this camp was there really was no place to sit other than on the ground. It was a great good weather camp site, but it wouldn't  be a good one if the weather turned. 

Along with the sun, came the clearing sky and the views!

A heart rock on the side hill across the way, zoom in to see how pretty it is!

Mount Baker started to show through the clouds so we walked a ways up the Railroad grade to get a better look at it and the Easton Glacier.

Just before we made our way up, I took a zoom photo of Glacier peak in the distance.

Looking over the edge at the glacier and the glacier fed creek. We had watched several climbing parties hike up the Railroad grade when we camped at Cathedral camp.

By the time we went to bed the sky was clear and Mount Baker was completely visible. The night got cold fast. We put on all of the clothes that we had packed as well as our coats and burrowed down into our sleeping bags. After all of the we were very cozy, until.... one of us had to get up in the night to go to the bathroom. Brrrrrrrr........

We saw a few people today but nothing like the first day of our trip. Again no animals except a Grouse family and chipmunks at camp.

Garmin stats:

 total miles - 8.22 

total ascent - 1295 feet

total descent - 958 feet

Day four - Railroad camp to Schrieber meadow via the Scott Paul trail.