Yesterday was a really tough day. We get up at 9:00 AM this morning and my knees and feet ache. Unfortunately, this camp is spread out over a hilly trail. I gingerly take a step at a time as I head down towards the toilet. Each step causes a sharp pain in my knee joints. Thankfully, as I walk around for a few minutes, my joints and muscles loosen up and it becomes easier and less painful to move around.
As we're milling around our site laying out shoes and clothes in the spotty areas where the sun actually makes it through the thick trees to the forest floor (we have to adjust their locations every few minutes as the sun moves and the patches move correspondingly), and heating up a quart of water for breakfast, the first ranger we've seen on the trip appears. She checks our itinerary, which is affixed to my pack as required by park regulations, and finds it satisfactory. She must realize that all the other sites are full as she doesn't comment about us being in the group site. I tell her she's the first ranger we've seen on our hike and she says that "it's a sorry state of affairs" and that we should contact our congressmen if we want more rangers. "It's like leaving the Louvre unguarded," she adds. Just like everything else in life, it just takes more money.
Since we're in the group camp, we make several trips down to the site where Wilson and Sophia camped, toting our things down a few at a time. We meet a few different individuals on different missions. Andy, from Latvia, is doing the trail in bits and pieces. This chunk is Longmire to South Puyallup and back. He'll take a couple days for that. He hopes to finish it this fall if the weather allows. Five other guys with big packs are heading north, presumably doing the whole trail.
A little more organizing, cleaning up, drying out, and shuffling around, and we're ready to head out on our second of three day hikes. By now, it's 11:50. I've put a bunch of moleskin on my feet. My shoes have dried out fairly well and feel good after having hiked in sandals for a day.
It's a light uphill back to Indian Henry's, but we take our time. It's not too bad. On the way, we get some water at a stream that cuts across the trail and I photograph a small frog who apparently doesn't realize that the trail is a bad place to hang out. By the time a boot squished him, it would be too late.
We get to Indian Henry's pretty quickly. Although the lighting isn't world class, I shoot some photos with Indian Henry's cabin in the foreground and The Mountain behind it. That would be quite a view to wake up to each morning. Someone has left a note in the log (paper log, not wooden) that is kept on the front porch, complete with pen, that they had seen a bear only hours before. Of course we didn't see any bears.
We continue on down the trail a few tenths of a mile to the spur trail that leads to Mirror Lakes. From here, it's a short hike to the lakes...maybe a half mile. The water level is pretty low, which is what I expected. I had been here on a few occasions before, for photography, and so it's fun to see familiar territory. On one of those trips, I had intended on climbing Pyramid Peak, but lost the trail and ended up going to the plateau due north of the peak just a stone's throw away. Hopefully, we'll be able to find the trail this time.
After passing the lakes, the trail gets a bit tight and steep, but it's no big deal. We come out into a clearing shortly. We can see Pyramid Peak in the distance. We stop for a food break and for me to clean junk out of my shoes. The tiniest rock fragment or twig can be horribly aggravating. After several minutes, we press on. Along the way, I keep an eye on the little mountain. I try to figure out what a reasonable route to the top might be. I can see a trail meandering along the south face and it seems reasonable to think that one might be able to go up to the top from due south. That's where we'll head.
Unfortunately, we find the best blueberries of the trip along the way and can't help ourselves. We pick and throw handfulls of blueberries into our mouths. Holy cow, these things are scrumptious! We continue along until we get to a narrow piece of trail with a drop off to the right. Matt elects to chill out down in this lower meadow (getting some of the rest that I should've been getting) while I'm pretty determined to get to the top. I work my way up a steep dirt trail with some rather large and scary steps. I keep moving toward the ridgeline I can see running north-south. There are some trees toward its lower parts, which is where the trail is taking me. Once there, I'll hang a left and go north up toward the peak. I dread coming back down these steps. Not being a world class athlete, I find this hike grueling. I'm out of breath, I'm working hard, and I'm drinking a lot of water. Still, I feel very determined, if a little uncertain.
After getting to the backbone of the peak, the way is still pretty rough and tough. I work my way up through sparse trees for maybe a hundred yards. It's also interesting to note what's on the other side of the ridgeline. I was hoping I would see Paradise. However, Cushman Crest is blocking the view. If you ever hike up to Van Trump Park, you should be able to see Pyramid Peak off to the West.
After getting up past the trees, there's a lot of ground (steep ground, I might add) left to cover. I'm a little concerned for my safety, but a think I can make it if I'm careful. I believe that the biggest thing standing in my way is attitude. Physically, the climb is tough. I just need to take it slow and stick with it. Up here, it's very rocky. Lots and lots of loose rocks. I choose my steps carefully. I plant my poles carefully. They don't work very well against a rock that is smooth angled steeply. In fact, they're worse in that case. I poke them into small patches of dirt or into carefully chosen rocks. At times, I can make out a trail. Well, it's hardly a trail, but I can tell that others have been up here before me. It's easier to make my own switch backs than to try and follow the so-called trail.
I press on and, eventually, I make it to the top. It's a feeling of accomplishment. No doubt about it. The top isn't just a little point, as I had expected. It's actually a pretty good-sized plateau where I can take my pack off, wander around a little bit, and relax. The view is awesome. To the south, I can see Mount Adams, Mount Hood, and Mount St. Helens. Of course Mount Rainier is towering before me and I can see many glaciers and ridgelines in different directions. I can also see Emerald Ridge where we were the day before with its large meadow near the point. I spend awhile on top just taking it all in and shooting a bunch of photos. I imagine climbing up the Success Cleaver route to the top of The Mountain. Success Divide is as I remember it from the last time I was up here...er...down on the plateau below me. It's relatively level and quite grassy. I can't imagine continuing on up the cleaver beyond the divide. It looks nasty. Well, I conquered my little mountain and I'm pretty pleased with myself.
I'm not sure what time it is, but the sun will probably be setting in a few hours. There's no way in heck I want to be heading down when the light is fading. I took my shoes and socks off when I arrived at the top to let them dry out. They were wet this time not from rain but from sweat. There's no rain today. Just loads of sun. The pieces of moleskin I had applied earlier had all come lose from the sweat and the exertion. I put new pieces on both feet. I put my socks and shoes back on, get my pack together, and begin to head back down. I know that I'm leaving plenty early, so I just take my time, thinking about each step before taking it. I plant my poles carefully, trying to use them to help take some of the strain off my knees. The grasshoppers aren't quite deafening, but they're pretty darn loud.
Before I know it, I'm down to the trees, then down past that first little drop off, now to my left. I didn't even notice the steep steps. I guess making my way carefully took some of the scariness out of it. Made it easier. What an enjoyable climb. They're always enjoyable in hindsight...and while at the top. Matt is waiting on the trail. He had taken a nap and was just relaxing. It's good to be down. We chat for a couple minutes, then head out. Before long, and without even speaking, we're both sitting on the ground stuffing our faces with blueberries. There are more blueberries here than we've seen anywhere. You can sit in one spot and get handfulls of blueberries before moving to a new bush. Mmmmm.
We make our way back to Mirror Lakes where I snap a few shots, then head back toward the main trail. I'm hoping that the sun will be illuminating the meadow up by Indian Henry's cabin so I can include it in a sunset shot of The Mountain. Unfortunately, the sunlight is blocked from the meadow by surrounding trees and hills. We stand there for quite a while enjoying the sunset on The Mountain. The snow turns from white to pink to red, the rock from brown to red. I take a number of shots, with the last one being at exactly 7:39...official sunset according to Matt's GPS. The sun illuminates the mountain for another 8 or 9 minutes, since it pokes up into the sky almost three miles. From this point in time until we're back at camp is 40 minutes.
Ahhhh. I love camp. I get my sandals on and get the water on. At this point, I begin to form a habit behind Matt's back. I have become the default dinner preparer. As the water boils, I munch on crunchy freeze dried dinners. A few days later, Matt catches me munching. Cat's out of the bag. Thankfully, Matt's got a good sense of humor, so I can continue my pre-dinner habit. We eat Oriental Style Rice & Chicken with Vegetables and Rice & Chicken. As always, I love this stuff.
I probably should've rested today, but I didn't want to waste a layover and miss out on a day hike I had been looking forward to. I will pay for it tomorrow. We relax around camp a bit before going to bed. I switch to the second of two 4-gigabyte memory cards I brought along for my camera. It feels good to get off our feet and into bed. We will sleep well tonight.
Photos of the Hike
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