Ok, blog watchers, you may remember in my last blog I shared with you the stunning revelation that I had graduated from a bougie champagne-fueled, sweet-smelling day hiker to a full-on hardcore unwashed Pooping in The Woods backpacker. I had survived the mosquito infested swamp that was Isle Royale and not only decided that that was Fun! and I Should Do it Again – but that I should go for something even more challenging!
And Fitpacking had just the hike for me – a week’s backpacking in the absolutely gorgeous Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State (here’s the link to the trip in case you are interested: https://fitpacking.com/_2024/MountRainierNationalPark?Previous=1) This was particularly special as only five commercial guiding licenses are issued each year for groups to visit the National Park. The main challenge with this hike is not so much the long distances but, as you might expect, the pretty brutal elevation gains and losses during the course of the hike. One day, we first descended 1500m, then ascended 3000m – a couple days later, we did the same in reverse. These gains/losses are no joke – especially in long long traverses downhill where your knees and legs get absolutely trashed because there is no break in the incline/decline for hours at a time. So in the eight weeks in between Isle Royale in June and this Mt Rainier trip in September, I had to train and train my socks off! Given the difficulty of the trip (level 4 vs level 2), I expected it to attract more experienced hikers and for the rest of the group to be in significantly better shape than my fellow hikers in Isle Royale, and this turned out to be mostly the case. I wanted to train enough so I wouldn’t be Captain Slow and hold everybody up! (fortunately, I wasn’t – thanks to my trainer, Andy!).
Waved off by my slightly incredulous husband at the airport (“please be careful and don’t fall off the mountain!”), it was a straightforward flight to Seattle where – yey! – my suitcase (with my lightweight backpack stashed carefully inside) made it safe and sound. I navigated my way through the confusion of the arrivals hall (I think they are renovating to make it maximally confusing for travelers by removing all helpful signage) and lucked out by walking to the Hotel Shuttle stop to find one for the Sheraton just about ready to leave. Huzzah!
So it was easy to hop on that for the short 20min transfer to our rendezvous hotel, where everybody gathered to meet each other – both guests and guides, and to do a last minute gear check. There is usually enough time built into the schedule for an emergency run to REI or similar outdoorsy place, but the packing lists that are sent are so comprehensive, pretty much everyone turns up with what they need. The fun part of this particular part of the trip is picking out your snack bars and hot drinks for the week, as well as then assembling your own trail mix. There is a table covered with bags of nuts and seeds, dried fruit and candy, M&M’s, peanuts, Cliff Bars, Luna bars, you name it. You simply grab a Ziploc bag and fill it with your own selection of what you want – and that’s what you snack on during the hikes. Usually by the end of the week, it’s kind of spludged together in a chocolatey melty mess – the color from the M&M’s is rubbing off on the nuts (steady) and the raisins have melded with the dried mango. But – hey – when you’re hungry after an hour’s slog up a hill, you are a lot less picky and instead enjoy the unique flavor combinations. Usually by the end of the week, it’s also tasting faintly of DEET (though, to be fair, by the end of the week, I’m also usually tasting faintly of DEET).
The other thing about backpacking, that I learned from Isle Royale, is that you very quickly figure out what is totally extraneous versus the things that you absolutely need. After the Isle Royale trip, I’d upgraded my sleeping system (an inflatable mattress and foam pad that goes underneath it) as well as added one indulgence – an ultra light camp chair which is absolutely brilliant and weighs just under a pound. It’s a kind of a flex, really, to whip out your camping chair at the top of the mountain, so you are sitting comfortably while everyone else is perching their aching bum cheeks on rocks or knobbly logs (you do kinda feel like a backpacking king). After the last trip, I also bought a small sheet of Tyvek (that white, crinkly covering you see on the sides of houses) which is super, super lightweight and gives you a nice clean area to put all your stuff on as you’re packing up your tent, so you don’t have to just put your belongings down on the dirt. Instead you can just pile it all on top of this Tyvek sheet as you are breaking down or setting up and job’s a good un. Pro Backpacking move, right there. (I did think of some additional improvements to make to my kit, as a result of this Mt Rainier trip – namely, a teeny tiny sponge to help with cleaning my plate after meals).
Onto the rest of our merry band of explorers – we were a decent sized group, with nine of us in total (including two guides – one of whom was one of my Isle Royale guides, so it was nice to know somebody for a change). Everybody seemed very personable and – importantly – experienced hikers with the exception of this one girl who hadn’t ever done backpacking before. She’d been convinced to join by her uncle, who was also on the trip, and – as you might expect, she didn’t have the greatest of gear because this was all new for her. We were all a little worried when she pulled a GIANT sleeping bag and mattress out of this huge backpack (which, it turned out later, did NOT fit her properly) that was not in the least suitable due to its immense size and weight! Fortunately, the guides intervened and were able to find her an alternative solution (usually someone has some spare gear that can get lent out in case of emergency), so by the time we all piled in the cars for our transfer to the first campsite, she was much better situated. And while she was definitely the slowest in the group – full props to her, she didn’t give up or complain but just kept at it and managed to complete the whole hike. If I was her, I’d be feeling VERY proud of myself (and also slightly cross with the uncle who clearly didn’t prepare her for what to expect!)
After everyone had gathered their snacks and had their gear checked, it was time to set out on our trip. Our first campsite was about a 90min drive away, in a front country campsite called Silver Springs https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232298. It was one of those lovely wooded campgrounds where you sleep amongst groves of gorgeous old growth pine trees. As well as smelling great (so much nature), the ground underfoot is slightly springy, due to all the leaf litter and pine needles , which makes it perfect to sleep on as its so nice and soft. There was a river running through the campsite too, so there was also the lovely white noise of the water – which helps mask those unnerving Wildlife/Axe Murderer Sounds in the dead of the night. As we were still in the front country, there were still flush toilets, so we all made sure to make good use of those. The next day, we started our hiking, driving into the park and joining the trail at the Sunrise camp entrance.
We began hiking at an elevation of 6245′, joining the famous Wonderland Trail at an elevation of 6800′. We then took a little side trip to hike 2.6 miles to the Mt Fremont Lookout Tower, which had an elevation of 7181′. What all these numbers mean in practice (and I promise I won’t bore you with any more) is that we started our hike pretty much immediately heading upwards! I was very glad I’d been training as much as I did – my backpack still felt heavy but not the leg-staggeringly heaviness that it felt like for the first couple of days at Isle Royale. And – while the upwards path towards the Lookout Tower was definitely, well, upwards – I actually felt pretty good and managed to keep my breath the whole time. The only time I lost my breath was when I remembered to stop, look up from my feet, and take in the incredible vista (corny, but true). It really was spectacularly beautiful, especially when we got to the top of the lookout tower and could see so much of the park laid out all around us. Directly in front of us was Mount Rainier itself, flanked off to the side by Skyscraper Peak which – according to our guide – we would be climbing up later on in the week! From this view, it seemed impossibly far away, so it was a bit nuts to think we would walk all that way over the course of the next 5 days, but that was the plan! The weather was absolutely perfect too – bright blue skies and warm – but not too hot – sunshine.
As well as an overview of the park, we also got our first real introduction to the infamously cheeky and fearless chipmunks and ground squirrels that are simply everywhere you look, especially when you are sitting down, taking a rest and having a snack or lunch. They are very, very well socialized and habituated to people and consequently could not give a Rodent’s Ass about your personal space! Before we got started on the Fremont Tower hike, one of the Rangers actually advised us to not leave our backpacks anywhere unattended because the rodents will eat their way into them if they smell anything interesting. Or even if they don’t – sometimes they just chomp their way into them anyway because they are complete assholes. That can be a HUGE deal depending on where they nibble their way through – if they destroy your shoulder strap on your backpack, you are fucked.
During our hike to Fremont tower, we had dropped our big backpacks at the junction where the trail starts to ascend – one of our guides stayed behind to guard against rodent incursions. When we were sitting up at Fremont, having a break, we saw first hand how aggressive they were – no qualms about coming right up to you and literally stealing the food right out of your hand! Even when you tried poking at them and waving with your hiking pole, they were completely nonplussed. They would be as likely to grab the pole and chuck it back at you! They reminded me of those badass squirrels from Union Square in New York – I still swear I have a memory of seeing one head into Starbucks one day, as brazen as you like. I don’t know if he got online to order anything or was just mugging people for their vanilla scones, but you get the idea. These critters were actually ground squirrels rather than chipmunks (you can tell the difference by the stripes on their fur – if they have stripes on their faces, they are chipmunks) and these boys were BIG! Clearly a diet of International Tourist Snack Food was more than meeting their minimum caloric requirements as they were chonky AF!! Despite clearly being assholes, they were still stupidly cute – you can understand why people are tempted to feed them but PLEASE, people, don’t do that. Ground squirrels are not meant to be obese and eat human food – that’s our job.
Anyway, after a while, it was time to descend and continue along the Wonderland trail to our first campsite of the night, at Berkley Park Camp. While I took a few pictures here and there during the trip, I didn’t take as many as usual as I only had one small battery pack with me to recharge my phone, and I wanted to try and stretch it out all week (battery packs are heavy). One of our guides, Rick, did take some video (he’s the same guide that made the video in my Isle Royale post) so you can definitely get a sense of the majesty of the park from that. While you will see footage from the first 3 days (including Berkeley Park, James Lake, and Carbon River Camp) its not complete and misses the last 2 days of hiking (Mystic Lake and Granite Creek camp). Unfortunately, this is because one of our group took a bit of a tumble down the side of the mountain as we were hiking down towards the Carbon River (the edge of the path crumbled away and he lost his footing). He was a bit bruised and cut up, but no broken bones, thank goodness. The next day though, out of an abundance of caution, it was decided he and his wife should not continue, and Rick (the videographer) was with them. That is why on the video you’ll see us hiking and then for the last two days, just the two of them as they went on a different route to hike back to the front country. We caught up with them after the hike finished and again, he was fine – but it does illustrate that there are risks involved and sometimes hiking on those back country trails can be as much a mental effort as a physical one. You have to really keep your concentration and focus on some of these paths – so that, ideally, you don’t stumble or – if you do – to not freak the hell out and instead re-compose yourself and keep going. If you have a fear of heights or a fear of falling off ledges, then backpacking is probably not going to be your cup of tea. (“It’s not the falling I’m afraid of – it’s the landing” – ManpanionTM)
Back to camp and another new experience beckoned. Previously, on all other camping trips, including Isle Royale, when you go to the loo, it’s been a vault-style toilet (a grand name for a deep hole in the ground), but one which is enclosed in a little poop shed privy. Pros and cons of this style. Pros – its obviously is great for privacy and its better when it is raining and….well, the pros list ends there. That’s all I can think of. On the down side, however….
- The smell, Oh, the smell. Sometimes you can feel your nasal hairs starting to crispen up and shrivel due to the ammoniac stench (in some of the privies in Patagonia, the smell actually comes close to achieving solid form).
- Be prepared for your ass to become a mosquito buffet as you’re doing your business in an enclosed space that is abuzz with bloodthirsty insects and its all hanging out there until you are done
- DON’T EVER LOOK DOWN…(I’ll leave that one there) and…
- DON’T EVER LOOK UP – especially at night when you are wearing a headlamp. Those little glints of light reflected back at you are most likely the beady eyes of Large Spiders, webbing out above your head, just waiting to drop onto you and really cause you to lose your shit (literally).
Anyway….. clearly the Park Rangers of Mt Rainier NP took all these various factors into consideration when planning for the pooping needs of backpackers so, instead of these vault toilets-in-a-box – instead what you have is simply a box. On a platform. Out in the open. You lift the lid of the box and there’s a toilet seat, affixed to the box, over the big hole that you do your business into. That’s it. For this campsite, there were no walls at all – so your privacy comes from the fact that it is set a few minutes walk away. For some of the other campsites, there were sometimes one or even two walls (it’s amazing how quickly your concept of “luxury” can adjust while backpacking!) to provide some privacy, but it was an interesting new experience for me, sitting on the pot, literally in the middle of the woods surrounded by nothing but trees and possibly bears! As I was sitting there, I could also hear this deep thrumming noise coming from all around (no, it wasn’t me) and my mind initially wondered if some crackpot had a drone out here. It’s like, what the fuck is that? As I walked back toward the campsite, I passed this meadow full of beautiful yellow dandelion flowers, and I realized the sound that I could hear was actually bees and wasps and insects. While it is clearly good for the planet that there are still enough pollinators around in such vast quantities to make such a racket, I will confess to quickening my pace to get the hell out of there ASAP.
As well as the bees, chipmunks and ground squirrels, we got super super lucky with spotting some cool wildlife during our time in the park – including a couple of the big ones! On the first day, we saw two mountain goats, just after finishing the Fremont Lookout hike – and these furry hell-beasts looked mean AF (me and goats historically don’t get along great). They had big white fluffy beards and definitely spent a ton of time in the gym working on their shoulders and back, so we made sure to keep a very safe distance. And then, not even an hour later, we came across a whole herd of them!!
So that was good to check off our Mt Rainier Wildlife Bingo List – then a couple days later, we saw actual real live bears!!! We know there are black bears in these here woods – this is why at night, you have to tie up everything up out of their way. So all food, any toiletries, toothpaste (basically anything with a fragrance or odor) gets put into bear proof bags and then hung up a big pole so that the bears can’t get to it. Over time, the bears have learned this is what happens so there are now far less encounters with bears in campsites, looking for food – but given we are in bear country, we need to take these precautions. Even though we were in bear country, there was no guarantee we would see any – but on the third day on the Northern Loop Trail, we saw bears! Real ones! Live Ones!! Myself and 2 other ladies were hiking at the front, walking through this beautiful high alpine meadow, covered in huckleberry and blueberry bushes, and dotted with trees. As we rounded a corner on the trail, we saw movement off to our left – and there it was – a black bear, about 50 meters ahead of us, at the base of a large fir tree. We stopped dead in our tracks. He stopped in his – and then he quickly shuffled up and round the tree, heading in deeper forest and away from us. I managed to get a couple of pictures before it disappeared – showing them to the guides later, they figured it was probably a juvenile bear that had just been kicked out by its mama bear to fend for itself. It was a real thrill to see one in its natural habitat.
But wait!! No more than an hour later (after a side trip to see a very cool hidden stone arch) we saw more bears!!! This time, directly ahead of us about 100m away at the edge of the forest – and it was a mama bear and two cubs!!! The mama bear was pretty huge and completely nonplussed by our appearance, so was not in any real hurry to move out of the way, We could see the cubs briefly, but they quickly scaled the nearest trees, so you could see glimpses of them thrashing around in the tree tops, but that was about it. We REALLY kept our distance from this little bear family – and fortunately, our trail was heading off in the opposite direction anyway, so we were quite safe. It is a busy trail, so the wildlife is very accustomed to human activity – if you are sensible and take precautions and follow the basic safety rules, then you should be fine – especially with experienced guides to make sure you don’t inadvertently do something dumb! Just remember, if you are out hiking in Bear Country, there are two cardinal rules – 1) don’t climb a tree to try and get away from a bear (totally futile) and 2) just make sure to hike with someone who runs slower than you do.
In total, over the week, we covered about 40 miles in distance and more thousands of feet elevation loss and gain than I cared to count!! Each of the campsites we stayed at had its own charm or quirk (they were all located in the forest, under the trees) but I think one of my favorite ones was Mystic Camp, which was near Mystic Lake. We arrived in Mystic Camp by mid-afternoon of Day 4 – the weather had remained glorious since day 1, so the sun was shining and it was hot! The camp was at an elevation of 5570′, and the 4.9 uphill miles it had taken us to hike there had left us all good and sweaty and very stinky. So it felt just amazing to dump our stuff by the side of the lake, take off our boots, peel off our socks and then simply wade into the lake, yoga pants and all. It was cold – but not insanely freezing – and it was a wonderful way to rinse off some of the stank and feel kinda clean(ish) for the first time in 4 days. I stayed in for just a few minutes, then waded back out and flopped out on my fold-up Thermarest pad to bake in the sun and dry out. It was blissful. After a couple of hours, we headed down from the lake to the campsite itself where we then proceeded to eat more than our fair share of mac & cheese for that evening’s dinner, given we were 3 people down by this point! (and you gotta eat all the food otherwise you just end up carrying leftovers!). So that was a great day indeed.
A quick note about the food – its pretty simple fare – but oh so delicious at the end of a long, strenuous day’s hiking. There are a lot of carbs, as you might expect, and obviously, after the first day there’s not really any fresh food or anything that might spoil as there is no way to keep anything cold. As a result, the food tends to be vegetarian (sometimes vegan) with lots of beans and quinoa and noodles etc. Sometimes there is tuna or packets of chicken, and there is usually cheese somewhere to be had (yey!). Fitpacking sends out a proposed menu ahead of the trip, so you can inform them of any dietary requirements or restrictions you might have (which I can just imagine is a nightmare these days) – so here was the menu for our trip:
Breakfast:
- Front country: fresh fruit parfait
- Oatmeal
- Polenta
- Apple pie
- Hash browns soysage
Campfire cooking! - Powdered egg burrito
Lunch
- Tuna wrap with olives
- Jackfruit BBQ naan
- Fig/olive/feta
- Hummus wrap
- Peanut butter honey, crackers
- Waldorf salad
Dinner
- Front Country: Taco night
- Rice and beans
- Mac and cheese with chili
- Gnocchi, artichoke, pine nuts
- Tortilla soup
- Couscous
As you can see, it was simple – but hearty – fare and in general, it was very tasty and plentiful. Of course, all the fresh air and exercise helps sharpen the appetite and makes everything taste better. Also – I didn’t have to cook any of it or clean up -all I had to do was rinse off my bowl or plate and spork, and job done!
Another memorable day (they were all enjoyable, but there were a couple of standouts) was the second to last one where we ascended Skyscraper Peak (elevation 7078′), the one we had seen right on the first day from the top of Fremont Lookout Tower. Now that was a hard climb, particularly as you got to the very top, as it turned into a bit of a scramble and the path was super narrow with very sharp drop offs (Mum – feel free to skip this part). Me and a couple ladies who I ended up hiking with for most of the week were the first to get there and enjoy the feeling of achievement. Unfortunately, while the views were spectacular, the puzzling preponderance of animal poop and accompanying biting flies at the summit made it an unpleasant experience, so we quickly took our bragging rights pics and then headed straight back down to the base of the peak, to the alpine meadow, to wait for the rest of the group to catch up and do the same. The next day, it was time to bid a fond farewell to the glorious, imposing (and thankfully still dormant) icy volcanic peak of Mt Rainier and make our way back into civilization, coming around the back of Skyscraper peak and passing by where we took the detour on Day 1 for our hike up Fremont Tower.
All in all, it was it was amazing. I finished the hike invigorated and fitter, I made some great friends that I would definitely hike with again, and I really enjoyed it. My training definitely paid off – even though there were a couple of days that got close to the edges of my endurance, I never felt in danger of not being able to keep up. So yey for checking off my first Level 4 hike! And…..yes….. I came home and…..umm…. signed up for another hike. And this one’s gonna be even more of a challenge. I have six months to prepare and I’m gonna need every single minute……Stay tuned….
Postscript: So I asked Chat GPT to summarize the key learnings from this blogpost, just for squits and giggles as I was curious to see what it would say. It spat out the list below in less than 10 seconds and I have to say – I’m pretty impressed. This is actually a decent list!! And is also a pretty good summary of the trip – so well done, Chat GPT!
Key Learnings about Hiking So far:
- The importance of proper training and preparation, especially for more challenging hikes with significant elevation gains and losses
- The need to carefully evaluate and streamline gear and equipment to minimize pack weight, including upgrades like an inflatable mattress, foam pad, and ultralight hiking chair
- Dealing with unexpected wildlife encounters, such as aggressive chipmunks/ground squirrels that can damage backpacks, and learning how to properly store food and toiletries to avoid attracting bears.
- Adapting to the unique features of different parks, like the open-air toilets in Mount Rainier, and being prepared for unexpected encounters, like the group of Jehovah’s Witnesses/Mormons on the trail
- Managing discomforts like noisy sleeping pads and snoring campmates, and finding solutions like earplugs and sleep aids to get better rest.6. Appreciating the stunning natural scenery and wildlife sightings, like the mountain goats and black bears, that make the challenges of backpacking worthwhile.
