Three Autumn Trips in Mt. Rainier National Park

by Darrin Gunkel

Cooler days and longer nights; less sweat and more stars. Maybe some relief from tourist traffic and definitely relief from July’s mosquitoes. Softer sunlight for better pictures, and the rich autumn color pallet, and skies scrubbed deep blue by early rains. September, October (and even November in a dry year) is the time to steal a few days and head for a Mt. Rainier National Park backcountry trip. Rainier, also known as Tahoma, is always busy, but the deeper you get into autumn, the less busy it is. Likewise with trails and backcountry campsites. Even in a park that receives two million visitors a year, you can find solitude and a world-class wilderness experience, and the chances increase as the year wanes.

About a third of all backcountry campsites in the national park are first come, first served. Getting one of those sites, particularly in high demand camps like Summerland or Indian Bar, is a hard dice roll in high season. Things change after Labor Day. You begin to find more of the reserved sites, booked solid all summer by winners of the park’s early access lottery, freeing up. There’s less competition for the first come, first served sites. There’s also a better chance that reservations, made months and months before, go unclaimed. Rangers open those unclaimed sites to walk ups at noon each day. So, whether you’re planning ahead, or on a spur-of-themoment trip, the Fates smiles on autumn campers. Download the national park’s Wilderness Trip Planner, an easy visual guide to backcountry camps. It’s handy for drawing up Plan B, in case the Fates frown, instead. Camps on quieter trails, like Shriner and Owyhigh, and in deep woods, like Olallie Creek, almost always have spots, and rangers have been known to send experienced hikers to dispersed, unofficial camping should their first choices be full.

Now that your appetite’s been whetted, here are a few recommended trips:

Above: Owyhigh Lakes and Governors Ridge. Facing page: The view from camp on Shriner Peak. Photos: Darrin Gunkel

SHRINER PEAK

■ Distance: 8.5 miles round trip miles ■ Elevation gain: 3,434 feet ■ Difficulty: Strenuous ■ Ideal trip: one short overnight ■ Use: Not busy ■ Highlights: A fire lookout and fire lookout views of Tahoma and its setting, from camp.

By the time 5,800-foot tall Shriner peak melts out, the days are too long and hot for this to be a sane summer trip. Especially since you hit a shadeless mile practically at the beginning of the hike, which is never not a steep uphill. Then there's the problem of water, which you have to lug up yourself. But spending a night at the aerie passing for a campsite here is worth the extra effort, and the extra 10 pounds of the gallon or so of water that you'll need. Go in the autumn and you'll only sweat out half that much getting to the top. There's a good chance you'll have the camp, the summit, and the views all to yourself. The main show, of course, is the entire expanse of Tahoma's east face, and one of the most expansive (non-airplane) views of Mt. Rainier National Park there is. Skiers who've been to Crystal Mountain know this view well. Shriner peak campers have a chance to see it in many moods of light that those skiers never do: silhouetted against deep evening twilight, glowing unearthly blue-ish white before dawn, and then aflame in the sunrise. Shriner Peak is also a fine place to scout routes on distant Nelson Ridge and Mt. Aix, admire Mt. Adams, and see the Goat Rocks from a new perspective.

There's not much point in describing this trail: it just goes up. You get a preview of the summit “wow” about 2.5 miles in, and then continue the swearing and cursing for nearly two more. It'll be over before you know it.

Subalpine meadow on Cowlitz Divide. Photo: Darrin Gunkel Monkey flowers at Summerland. Photo: Darrin Gunkel

COWLITZ DIVIDE TRAIL TO WHITE RIVER, VIA SUMMERLAND

Yes, grueling. All the more so if you buck the much more popular trend and begin this section of the Wonderland Trail at the Cowlitz Divide Trail and exit at White River. This approach means 1,000 feet more elevation gained, but there’s something to be said for walking towards the mountain, rather than away from it. Also, it just makes better esthetic sense: you begin climbing through old growth forest, rise to windows in a high forested ridge offering glimpses of greater things to come, dive into a deep rift in the side of Tahoma, then traverse alpine barrens to the Wonderland’s high point, finishing off in the subalpine splendor of Summerland. This trip is one of Rainier’s finest, in any season, but because of camp reservation logistics, next to impossible to pull off during the peak summer months unless you’ve won the park’s Early Access Lottery.

The trip begins with a three-mile,1,400foot warm up and a night in Olallie Creek Camp. That may seem too easy, but the advantage is being able to savour the second leg over a full day. This walk along Cowlitz Divide covers 6.2 miles, 2,400 feet of elevation gain, and 900 feet of loss. It tops out at 6,000 feet, then dives down to Indian Bar, a campground near the source of the Ohanapecosh River, between two long, tall arms of the mountain (Pro tip: arrive early to snag site 2). It’s a great place to watch goats defying gravity on the steep meadows above.

Day three you earn your Mt. Rainier hiking stripes: the steepest, hardest section of the Wonderland Trail’s 93 miles. Good news, it only lasts a mile. Bad news, that mile gains 1,600 feet, climbing more than a thousand stairs (I lost count) that are in egregious disrepair. These stairs are another reason to avoid the more popular north to south version of this trip. They are so rutted, eroded, blown out, and allaround-terrible that a descent would be far more nerve-wracking, and hazardous, than the ascent is painful. The stairs take you to Day three’s reward: a long alpine traverse with views as far as Mt. Hood, topping out at the Wonderland’s high point, 6,800-foot Panhandle Gap. Pause to search for the glimpse of Mt. Stuart far on the northern horizon, marvel at interplay of rock, ice, peaks and ridges, and then begin the plunge to Summerland Camp, mostly over scree, with close up views of Little Tahoma and nearly all 9,000 feet of the Emmons Glacier. By the time you reach Summerland you’ll have covered 4.4 miles, climbed 1,900 feet, and descended 800. Site 5 has the best view, and is the most removed from the others, but it’s the farthest from the very pretty creek, lined with purple monkey flower and gentian this time of year, serving as Summerland’s water source.

The final day is easy enough that you can spend the morning watching marmots scold day hikers, or scan the ridges for goats, or, if you have binoculars, look for climbers high up on the Emmons Glacier. The walk out is a leisurely descent to White River, losing 2,000 feet in 4.2 miles. This last leg can seem long, and it’s mostly back down in forest. The payback is that forest, full of ancient giants that draw your attention away from your blistered toes, up towards their crowns and the forest canopy.

■ Distance: 17.6 mile one way through hike ■ Elevation gain: 5,700 feet ■ Difficulty: Grueling ■ Ideal trip: Three nights, four days; or for athletes, two nights, three days. ■ Highlights: one of the grandest sections of the Wonderland Trail, Rainier’s ‘round the mountain route; goats, marmots, autumn blooms of gentian and purple monkey flower.

Summerland. Photo: Darrin Gunkel

OWYHIGH LAKES

The tread on this route should tell you something. It's barely worn, and in great shape compared to the deep trenches more popular trails devolve into. Anywhere other than Mt. Rainier National Park, this trail would be a freeway: scenic, easy, good camps, and a launch pad to some fantastic backcountry exploring. But it’s overshadowed by so many other great Rainier trails, it's lonesome, and the route remains pleasantly rut-free. No views of Tahoma, either, but the trade-off’s worth it. This is a trip to take it easy, less about ticking off miles and elevation attained, and more about soaking in wilderness solitude that seems to be growing rare.

The first three miles are a gentle uphill in old growth forest, thick with autumn mushrooms. At the top, you’ll find Tamanos Creek camp, hidden in the woods, and a long-ish walk from water. Perhaps that’s why you may find yourself the sole occupant, even on a Saturday night in fine September weather. The woods open up in another half mile to a wide, meadowed bowl beneath the spires of Governors Ridge and the Owyhigh Lakes. Early season, the flowers are only slightly more tremendous than the mosquitoes; both are gone by autumn. The changing light on the peaks and meadows is without season, as is the subalpine silence. A few hundred yards past the lake, in the next, smaller meadow, a way trail cuts off through the brush and up the shoulders of Tamanos Mountain. You could easily spend a full day exploring these heights, and so have a reason to make this short trip a little longer, giving yourself two nights.

■ Distance: 7 miles round trip, or more ■ Elevation gain: 1,650 feet or more ■ Difficulty: Leisurely ■ Ideal trip: One long overnight, or two nights ■ Use: Not busy ■ Highlights: Exploring untrammeled wilderness