Carbon River to Carbon Glacier

    Carbon Glacier to Curtis Ridge

    Carbon River to Seattle Park
 
 

    Kautz Creek to Indian Henry's (almost)

    Narada Falls to Reflection Lakes and Beyond

    Paradise to Muir Snowfield

    Paradise to Paradise Glacier
 
 

Carbon River Entrance
    Drive I-5, 405, 167 south to 410 east, turn right just before Buckley (the Moody-Hoss cutoff), left onto 165 (dangerous intersection ahead!) through Hippieville (aka Wilkeson) to Carbon River entrance (pay fees, get backcountry permit) and past to road end at Ipsut Creek campground.  About 2 hours from Seattle to trailhead without traffic (very reasonable).

Carbon River to Carbon Glacier
    The trailhead is approximately 2400 feet asl.  The trail is pretty flat for the first three miles or so along the Carbon River, with the last .4 miles to the glacier's snout being a bit steeper.  The Indiana Jones Memorial Swinging Death Bridge was out as of September 2001, and therefore one must cross on a footlog just below the suspension bridge.  One can return by the Northern Loop trail, crossing the Carbon River on a lower footlog, to vary the scenery a bit.  The highlight of this trip is the view of the snout of the Carbon Glacier (elevation about 3300 ft asl), where the river emits full bore, and the thick mantle of debris on top of the glacier bombards the stupid imbeciles who get too close.  Stay up on the trail with the smart people.  The debris mantle is believed to be mostly from a giant rock avalanche off of the Willis Wall in 1916 (hmmmm.  maybe).  The debris mantle is so thick and old in some places, there are alder trees growing out of it.
    This is an easy day hike.  I've done this several times, twice with students at SCCC in my GEL 118 class, Geology of Mt. Rainier.  In good weather, there are views of the northwest side of Rainier (Willis Wall, Liberty Ridge, Liberty Cap Glacier, etc.).  For more great information on the Carbon Glacier, get a copy of Carolyn Driedger's book on Glaciers of Mt. Rainier.

Carbon Glacier to Curtis Ridge
    Continue on from the Carbon Glacier snout.  The trail ascends steeply for the next couple of miles.  Dick Creek is a welcome spot on a hot day around 4300 feet asl; the campsite here is not particulary inviting, though it does have a unique bear "wire".  Keep climbing to 5000 feet, where the trail flattens out; pause here on glacially polished granite (17 million year old bedrock to the volcano) beside the mossy brook where the water ouzel dances.  Continue parallel to the old lateral moraine for another mile or so to Marmot Meadow (aka Marmot Hell), a beautiful spot (no camping!) dominated by the silver-backed rodent (a very distinctive MRNP race of the bucktoothed sausages on wheels).  The last 300 feet ascent to the pass is steep but not as bad as it looks on the map.  The pass is at 5900 ft; the trail continues on 0.8 miles (and down down down) to Mystic Lake.  Campsites are found in the trees below the lake where the only view is of other campers tramping to the latrine and swatting bugs.  YOU, the intelligent creature you are, asked for "Curtis Ridge" as your backcountry camping site back at the Carbon River entrance, and so YOU do NOT descend to the swampy lowlands, but follow the way trail across the flats past a pond or two, and up the ridge a bit, looking for tent sites near tree line around 6100-6200 feet asl.  Here YOU have wonderful views of the Volcano (it's a volcano by the way, not a mountain), which is your reward for dragging the monster pack 7-8 miles and 3700 vertical feet upwards.  Water late in the season may seem an issue, but it's there, in a saddle off the way trail before you surmount the big moraine.  Hang your food properly; there are bears here.  Tough guys and gals will ask for "Carbon Alpine" as their backcountry locale and camp in one of the many waterless but wonderful sites along the morainal ridge, from 6200 feet to 7500 feet.
    Spend 3 days, 1 going in, 1 hiking up the morainal ridge to as high as you can get (8000+), 1 to hike out.  Have perfect weather, and you will have experienced one of the great hikes in the park.  This is an experienced backpackers trip; if the weather turns nasty................

Carbon River to Seattle Park
    Follow the Carbon River trail from Ipsut Creek campground (2400 ft asl) about 2.5-3 miles, where it crosses Cataract Creek on a long, single split-log bridge (the creek is very scenic here, rushing over black bedrock), just beyond Carbon Camp (official tentsites in the woods).  On the other side of the creek is the junction with the Seattle and Spray Parks trail (elevation approximately 3200 feet).  The trail looks little used at the junction, but widens considerably in just a bit; the trail crews have been busy.  After the first rise, the trail ascends gradually along the Cataract Creek valley; that's the ridge of the Mother Mountains (1st, 2nd and 3rd Mother) across the way.  A dozen or more switchbacks follow, with another official campsite in a swampy area off the trail at about 4600 feet (note the roof of the old toilet).  A geological puzzle: cuts in the trail's banks reveal a blanket of pale sand and fine gravel sitting on top of an organic rich soil layer, with the modern soil on top of the sand.  Does the sand represent Little Ice age deposits, from 1500-1800 A. D.?  Just beyond Camp Swampy, glacially smoothed and rounded outcrops reveal Tertiary bedrock (volcanic breccias and welded tuffs).  And an old section of the trail can be seen just then, veering off to the right.  The vegetation changes as more elevation is gained until the first meadows are reached where the trail joins up with Marmot Creek (bad trail damage here:  the Park service needs to get on this pronto).  The trail ascends through patchy meadows and subalpine firs etc.; the blueberries are loaded with sugar and alcohol late in the season, and the colors of the ground foliage are better than New England.  The trail keeps chugging around and around towards the "parks" (meadows), with better and better views of the Big Volcano; we stopped at the main crossing of Marmot Creek, and scoped out the great basin at its headwaters.  About 6 miles or so from the car.
    Larger parties with multiple vehicles can arrange an interesting one-way trip, as the Seattle-Spray park trail descends to the roadend at Mowich Lake.  So, back down on Highway 165, just after the high bridge over the Carbon, at the big parking lot at the Mowich Lake turnoff, exchange vehicles (your buddy takes your car, you take hers), and then, as you pass on the trail up in Spray Park, you get your keys back.  Do it this way because (1) you can take off when you're done hiking, because YOUR vehicle is there, and (2) you don't have to try the strange key in every car in the lot to figure out which one is temporarily yours.  If you want to protect your knees, go from Ipsut to Mowich.  If you want to avoid the uphill climb, go from Mowich to Ipsut.

    WARNING: the road to Paradise is often shut at Longmire at the bottom of the hill on weekdays, MRNP just won't commit resources to open the road or just won't open it, period.  So if you go on a Thursday, thinking:  good snow, good weather, no crowds, you should be prepared to be disappointed and angry.  And pay no attention to the rangers saying:  maybe it will open at xx o'clock.  REGARDLESS of which trip I'm planning on doing, and REGARDLESS of the day of the week, I  bring ALL the toys to Longmire; snowshoes and boots and sticks, AND skis and boots and sticks, AND hiking boots.  That way, I can go to Plan B or Plan C, and not waste the entire drive.
    Consoling yourself with warm food in the Nisqually Lodge is not a viable option; the food is usually awful, is always overpriced, and some of the service people are the most fascist waitrons in the Alpha Quadrant; I've had better service from Klingons on Drakkar Noir.

Kautz Creek to Indian Henry's (almost)
    A snowshoe trip, but I recommend hiking this one first so you can see where the trail goes; study the Mt. Rainier West quadrangle map carefully, so you know what to look for when the snow subdues everything.  From the Nisqually entrance to MRNP, drive a few miles to the Kautz Creek parking area (plowed in winter).  The trail follows the east bank of Kautz Creek for about 1 flat mile through the small trees covering the 1946 glacial outburst flood deposits, that wiped out the bridge and road.  The trail crosses Kautz Creek, enters the forest, and begins ascending, a modest meandering ascent giving way to a steeper switchbacky ascent, if you know what I mean.  At this point, with the steeper slope, you need to evaluate the avalanche danger, and turn back if necessary.  The trail makes a fairly long ascending traverse to the northeast, flattening out to cross a creek on a wooden bridge; be careful here, the snow mounds up on the bridge and its a long way down.  The trail turns and follows the valley uphill, veering away from the creek and working its way up onto the hillside, which must be ascended at some point.  Here's another avalanche spot that must be evaluated.  In addition, you will find this steep sidehill, often plastered with loose snow, challenging; you're not wearing those dinky little plastic snowshoes, are you?  And you've got good snowshoe crampons, right?  At the top of this slope (400-500 feet?), head north, ascending gradually through mixed trees and open spaces, keeping the ridge on your left.
    The trail goes underneath a cliff band and then underneath steep open slopes forming a bowl, which represents the biggest obstacle; the bowl is Avalanche Central, and should be respected.  On a very warm and sunny day with the snow softening up and becoming dangerous, I stopped here, and instead ascended an open slope to the top of the ridge and a little knoll with excellent views of Indian Henry's Hunting Ground and the volcano beyond.  I wanted to continue along the ridge crest, to avoid the avalanche bowl, but a short cliff below this knoll prevented it.  So I sat on the knoll for an hour with the binoculars, a great panorama from Muir on the right to Success Cleaver on the left.  Just wonderful.

Narada Falls to Reflection Lakes and Beyond
    Easy snowshoe or x-country ski, though I prefer the latter under most snow conditions.  From the Nisqually entrance, drive another half hour or so towards Paradise and park in the Narada Falls parking lot (restrooms and warming room open all winter).  Cross the bridge over the Paradise River and head up the valley behind the warming hut, somewhat of a thrash here, depending upon snow conditions (some people walk the highway and challenge the traffic: don't be stupid).  Your immediate objective is the Stevens Canyon road which you spotted at the top of the open slope back at the car; you'll need to beat up the valley until the road can be surmounted, follow the tracks of your predecessors.  The Stevens Canyon road is pretty level all the way (1 mile?) to Reflection Lakes (5000? feet asl), which is a great spot for watching the volcano on a clear day and keeping the gray jays (aka camp robbers) and Clark's nutcrackers (the big bad boys) company.  You can ski past the lakes to a nice overlook into Stevens Canyon.  Castle and Pinnacle in the Tatoosh Range dominate the skyline to the south.
    For more fun, ascend south from the lake through groves of subalpine conifers and open spaces to inviting small bowls below Castle and Pinnacle to practice your skills in untracked powder (well, we all dream, don't we?).

Paradise to Muir Snowfield
    Snowshoe or ski, I've done both many times.  The short version of this trip is easy.  The long version is not.  From the Paradise parking lot (5500 ft asl), ascend directly uphill, there will be many obvious tracks, unless you are very lucky.  A surprising amount of elevation is gained up to the flat area (Glacier Vista) overlooking the Nisqually Glacier (not too close, now, bucko) at the base of Panorama Point.  This is the obvious turnaround point for all you newbies.  You can practice your falling skills here on the open bumpy slopes; fall down, ski back up, repeat until exhausted.  Pay no attention to the growing audience.
    For those venturing beyond, a word of caution.  The little headwall in front of you is steep and often icy; be prepared to turn back (you do have arrest grips on your poles, and you have tried those dinkyass little grips out, haven't you?).  AND, when the clouds descend on Muir Snowfield without any warning, and you find yourself in a total whiteout, with 1000's of tracks leading every which way, you must fall back on your map and compass (you did bring them, didn't you????) and routefinding and navigation and judgement skills and abilities (you do have them, don't you??).  In 2000, a climber and a boarder died trying to get off the Muir Snowfield in whiteouts.  They were 30 minutes from the car.  Their bodies were found a year later.  Both were very experienced.  The climber was in a group, he had a walkie-talkie.  They weren't the first, and they won't be the last, to die coming off the Muir Snowfield.  Don't let it be YOU.
    Ascend the steep and often icy open chute up to Panam Point, and often steeper and often icier but shorter facelets to the vicinity of Scatter Creek (7500 ft?), with the broad open snowfield above.  At Scatter Creek, take a good look around, up down sideways, especially down, and get a good mental image of the topography and distances before ascending further.  Evaluate the clouds.  Thanks.  The snowfield leads up to Camp Muir (10,200 feet); turn around any time, especially if you begin to feel the altitude; AMS (acute mountain sickness) is no fun, though it is not life threatening (that would be edema, lung or brain flavor).  Great skiing if the conditions are good (that would be a non sequitor).  For those now lost in a whiteout, point your compass due north and follow that line to safety.

Paradise to Paradise Glacier