I’m glad the camping was free last night or I’d feel ripped off. Not that the campsite was bad, just very noisy. The park service has built platforms for the tents to go on because the campsite is actually on an old turn around so everything is all gravel. That means that every footstep makes noise. I normally sleep with a fan because I am a light sleeper so the white noise provides a great focus for my ears and drowns out other noises. Plus, with Mowich being a drive up sight, people just might come in for a few days of camping and might not actually be hikers so they tend to stay up past hiker midnight drinking and talking (and more annoyingly laughing). Usually, when we’re hiking, there tends to be a lot of running water to sleep near which provides the white noise I need but comes with another set of problems (think sound of running water to a 50+ year old male, every older guy and his spouse will understand what I’m saying).
We got up early (really early for us)—6:45. We tried to be quiet while we cooked our breakfast and packed up our tents and repacked our packs with everything we had left in the car. We left camp by 9a which is pretty amazing for us. If you’ve read any of our other trips, 10:30 is pretty much our standard starting time. Despite what she says, Pam is not a morning person.
Accidentally, our itinerary is a perfect slow start for us to get back into our hiking routine—2 miles today, 4 tomorrow, 6 the day after. We have been distracted from working out regularly with me trying to sell my place in Illinois. We had a leisurely stroll through the woods trying to stretch the hike out as long as possible, but we still were in camp and set up by 10:45. Since we were so early, we got the pick of the sites and took what we considered to be the best location; #3. No trails going past it, a bear pole close by, plenty of space to have a separate cooking area, and not overly far from the latrine.
To kill time, we decided to have a hot lunch so we could carry our lunch back to Eagle Cliff overlook to watch the sun set on Mt Rainier’s mowich (deer) face. Supposedly, the glaciers form a deer’s head to the imaginative observer’s eye. Keep in mind, that Washington also has legalized marijuana.
After lunch, we went for a short hike to spray falls. I would guess it to be in the neighborhood of 400’ waterfall. It was a beautiful day for hiking; no clouds and a very pleasant low 70s. We stopped and talked to several people along the way. After our strenuous day, we took a couple hour nap when we got back to our tent. We really haven’t slept well the last few nights: anxiety about permits, travel, and gravelly footsteps walking by tent all night long.
When we got up, more people had started arriving in camp. One couple a little older than us from Bainbridge, WA were setting up their camp and we talked to them for a bit. They had just finished a 15 mile day and had a 17 mile day the next day. I was embarrassed when I told them we only hiked 2 miles today. They only had a 6 day permit while we had a 14 day. Maybe our longer time frame allowed us more opportunity. I know we could go faster but I don’t want to. I want to savor the moment and enjoy Mt Rainier as much as possible. After all, it cost us a dog to get this trail.
The privy was interesting here—just 2 sides. This was because the trail was running above and behind the spot. It was eerie to sit down and hear people walking by and hear them talking. It still beat digging a hole and aiming.
We took our lunch and headed the ½ mile back to the overlook to watch the sunset on the side of Mt Rainier. We met a young couple (Hot Mess and Montana Mike) that had day hiked up to Spray Park to ski on the glaciers there. The woman of the couple from Bainbridge eventually joined us as well as a couple of college guys and a volunteer who was tracking owls. We were back in our tent by 9 reading Tami Asars’ description of our next day hike. Pam might have been starting to doze, at least I hope she was, because she came full alert when I said there were a lot of shutter bugs in Spray Park. She couldn’t picture what a shutter bug was and was worried that she would walk into a swarm. I explained the term meant people with cameras. You’ve gotta love blonds!
This was our second night with our new sleep system: Therm-a-Rest Corus quilts and Exped Hyperlite Duo sleeping pad. It was great sleeping with the sound of pine needles raining down on our tent.
