Russell's Ramblings: Wonderland Trail, Day 3

South Mowich River to South Puyallup River

July 24, 2016
17.8 miles

I was slow breaking camp this morning and didn't get on the trail until eight. I stopped and said goodbye to Jeff and Mike. I may see them on my last day. They gave me some good intel on crossing the South Puyallup River

Right before I reached the river crossing I saw two men that were in the middle of a no-sleep, two day hike of the Wonderland Trail. They started at Sunrise so had less than thirty miles to go.

I made it across the river without incident thanks to the information I had. Once across, there's a long climb up to Golden Lakes. The grade wasn't too steep but was long. There were several blow downs that were tricky to get past. On the way up, I met a ranger going down. We talked for a minute and he checked my permit.

Blowdown

I expected more streams on the way up but there wasn't any after half way and I ran out of water. Once on top it wasn't long before there was some in a meadow. When I dipped my bottle in, a frog jumped.

I stopped at the patrol cabin at Golden Lakes and ate lunch on the porch. It was nice to have a bench to sit on.

Lake Near Golden Lakes

Golden Lakes Patrol Cabin

The trail leveled out for awhile before descending to the North Puyallup River. The day was clear and the views of Mount Rainier were excellent.

I finally started to see other backpackers and I even caught up to and passed four going counterclockwise like I am.

I had an agility crisis. I went to rock hop across a stream and slipped on the very first rock. Both feet went in. That made the rest of the crossing easy. Once on the other side, there was a bridge to cross and on my first step I slipped and fell on my ass. Ugh.

I saw four snakes today. I know two were Garter snakes. All four probably were. I also saw a huge ant hill with those red and black ants. The lake at Klapatche Park had a ton of polliwogs too.

Polliwogs and Frog

The North Puyallup River crossing was nice. There was a bridge and the water just roared below and the view up to the mountain was the best. There was a lot of rock work done there, walls and such. I wonder if it was done by the CCC?

North Puyallup River

The climb from North Puyallup River to Klapatche Park was arduous. It was steep and grueling. I was happy to finally make it there; great views. Unfortunately that wasn't the end of the climb as it kept going up before finally dropping down to the South Puyallup River and the campground where I'm camped tonight.

Tomorrow I get to Longmire and pick up my resupply.