Wonderland Trail Day 2 – Mystic Lake to Ipsut Camp

From Sunrise to Sunset…

Whenever I wake up in a tent, my first thought is inevitably: “Oh crap, I’m in a tent” because of what has to happen next. The effort it takes to break the warm barrier of the sleeping bag to step out into the crisp, cold, early morning dew never gets easier. I heard my neighbors up the trail from me wrestling with their gear and zips as they tore down their site and knew I would soon follow, but not yet, it was 7AM. My legs ached and my back felt like I had gone rounds with a boxer as his punching bag. I was unable to sit up straight so I rolled to my side to leverage myself up into position. I pulled my waterproof notepad from my pack to look at what the day had in store for me. Just over eight miles to my next stop at Ipsut Creek. I stretched as I turned and twisted to prepare myself to step out to start my day. My chair and shoes sat dry underneath the vestibule of the tent as I slipped my wool socks over my sock liners. Making my way out of the tent, I must have looked like a drunkard staggering to their feet in the midst of a binge. The cool air in the shade was a shock to my senses that caused me to take in a deep breath and inhale the fresh smell of pine, earth, and grassy vegetation. I’ve done it, I survived a night on the mountain and lived! That’s the feeling I needed, not only was I rejuvenated now, but I was stoked for the next leg of the trip.

As I assessed my morning food options, it became apparent to me that I might have packed too much food. There are three locations around the mountain that food can be cached in advance so that you don’t have to carry as much weight in supplies. Being overly cautious I packed a hot meal pouch for every breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Given that I didn’t stop for lunch the day before and wasn’t really in the mood for breakfast, I was prepared for a big lunch and dinner later in the day. I brought some water up from the nearby stream to a quick boil with my MSR stove and dumped in two packets of freeze-dried Starbucks coffee. As I waited for the coffee to cool I sat in silence and solitude absorbing the atmosphere around me. This camp was beyond my wildest dreams for what to expect in a wilderness adventure. How wonderfully adequate nature was in this place to provide fresh water, sun, and rain coverage under the pine tree canopy. Old fallen logs for benches and a stump for a tabletop at the center of my site. It was so enthralling I didn’t want to leave but I was eager to see what the next campsite held for me.

Pack it up!

After gulping down my coffee to avoid the bitter taste of a freeze dried packet, I did the best I could to remember the order of how things came out of my pack and where each item sat that left just barely enough room to stuff everything into place. I was taking notes on how to improve the process the next time I go out on adventure. As I reached into the tent to snag each bag and stuff sack I realized I could have packed all these things in while still sitting in my tent. I dismantled the tent poles and began to roll up the rain cover and tent. Of all the junk I brought, a footprint for my tent was not in the kit, and it was at that moment I saw the error of my ways. Wiping off the floor of the tent as I rolled it up, my hands were soaked with morning dew, dirt, and pine needles. I tried my best to condense everything down as I did in the comfort of my living room two days ago. I tightened all of the straps and shoved the last few pieces into my pack. Although everything made it back in, I could tell by the lopsided tilt of my bag that I had missed the mark.

Before I set out it was time to bite the bullet and make a quick stop at the outhouse. As I got closer to the toilet I was somewhat relieved to see a well-built structure of tightly thatched logs and was almost disappointed that it was so civilized until I reached the front of the commode. There was no door, no roof, as a matter of fact, no toilet really at all to speak of. Just a wooden box with a toilet seat bolted on top. The special lid to the seat maintained a tight seal to keep the smell in and the elements out. Sparing details, this was not the most fun.

Mystic Place

Now packed up and ready to go it was almost 9 AM and time to get my workday started. I made my way out of the campsite continuing northwest to where I finally encountered Mystic Lake. The night prior I couldn’t have cared less that I hadn’t actually seen a lake and was perfectly content thinking the reason this lake was so mystic was because it wasn’t there. But there it was! And almost on queue as I came into the clearing to see across the water a fish made a shallow jump just high enough to break the water surface and send ripples out in every direction. I walked slowly as I took it in, angry with myself for having not gone the 600ft further the night prior. Like out of a fairy tale, this place was surrounded by foothills and the mountain peaking over the ridge line. Perfectly placed trees and flowers around the edge of the water, the near mirror perfect reflection of the sky with just a few fluffy clouds hanging above like a Bob Ross painting. I walked backwards to take one last look as I continued on to the next hill to see what other amazing natural beauty awaited me.

My body was warming up as I climbed the next hill and felt like I was fresh again starting a new day. The sense of fatigue was present but so faint being suppressed by my adrenaline and excitement. Once I crested the last hill, what I came upon next I can only describe as a mix between the shire from The Hobbit with an breathtaking field like from A Little House on the Prairie. What amazing joy this is, how can scenery so beautiful still exist in this day and age preserved from ancient times past. Tears began to form in my eyes as I was overwhelmed with what I could truly call God’s country. This was worth it now, all of the pain and fear that I encountered the day before, this was what I was searching for. I choked up. I began to compare the shape of the landscape to the hills of lower Seattle and Queen Anne where I grew up and could picture the buildings where they would all stand set against this backdrop. I was reminded of my childhood memories of walking uphill to school and turning around to see the breathtaking view of the Space Needle and not knowing then that there was a place like this fifty or so miles away. 

Alone with my thoughts, I walked without encountering another soul for an hour until I began my downward descent towards the valley where Ipsut Creek ran. I came across two young boys sitting underneath a tree with a Mount Rainier national park map unfolded on the one boy’s lap. As per custom at this point, I stopped to chat them up and see how they were fairing. They were short in their answers and clearly had no interest in talking but shared they were both twelve years old. One of the boys in an abrupt and terse tone said that he had done this before as to say he didn’t owe me any explanation. Continuing on I made my way to another short river crossing beneath a steep drop off in the trail where a climbing rope had been tied to a tree above to offer support on the sudden drop in terrain. The rocks below brought back the sobering reminder that this place wasn’t to be taken without caution. I made my way down slowly across the wet rocks in the shallow wide stream to the path on the far side of the cliff face that lead straight down to the valley floor. It was here that I ran into the first day-runner on the trail I had seen. Equipped with nothing but a vest with a built-in water bladder, here this guy was deep in the trail making his way up towards me. When we stopped to chat he stood in the one square foot of shade on the path and explained that he was coming from the Carbon River entrance heading up to Sunrise. I was floored at the thought of doing the entire northern lateral of the mountain as an early morning jog, but based on his breathing and appearance in struggling to maintain I wasn’t sure if he was so convinced it was a good idea himself.

How Deep the Depths

As I made my way deeper into the valley some cloud cover mixed with the valley floor vegetation stole my sense of appreciation from the previous highs I was on. I had seen dark, wet, mossy Washington before and was reminded I was in fact still in the same state. Thankfully the slope at this point had all but disappeared as I picked up the pace and made my way off of the Wonderland Trail towards the campground that is just a mile north of the main trail. As I entered the campground my sense of excitement deflated even further as I was greeted by stagnant water beneath the final log bridge and two truck stop style bathrooms at the end of a gravel road. It became clear to me as I moved further that this was a drive-in campsite with vehicles and glampers abound on the far corner of the group site lot. Oh well, I thought as I looped my way around looking for what I would call home for the night. I found an entire row of empty individual campsites ten deep extending from Ipsut Creek to the trailhead I walked in on.

I made camp and was determined to lighten my load by relocating the food in my pack to my belly. I was hungry for sure only having had a few RX Bars to snack on during the day. I boiled up enough water to cook two of my food pouches while I sat and continued reading second chronicles. It was in this frustration that I met two more wanderers, this time natives to the area though. No less than fifteen feet from emerged two black-tailed deer from the brush and snacked, taking no mind of me at all. Ok, I thought, this was now worth it again even though the disappointing camp arrangement that felt like any other simple camp in the world, I was still in the wild and was excited for what more was to come. The humidity and damp surroundings made for a natural breeding ground for swarms of mosquitoes once the sun began to set behind the clouds and trees. 

I quickly ate the food I had made and struggled to make much progress on the second food pouch I prepared. My appetite was bigger than my stomach which was now full of dehydrated camping food and sugar from the RXBars I had for dessert. I retired to my tent to seek relief from the mosquitos and spent my remaining waking hours reviewing my progress so far on my GPS tracker and sent another message out to my wife from my satellite GPS unit. This place was lame and I was ready to sleep and wake up to move onto the next thing. I woke in the night but this time by what sounded like cats chasing each other and jumping down feet away from my tent. The cackle of one of the creatures as it had clearly been caught in the branches in the fallen tree behind my tent was enough to put me on edge trying to place what woodland creatures these could be. A raccoon? A fox? Just as fast as they had come they scurried off into the distance of the woods again, leaving me wide-eyed and unsettled with the churning acid reflux in my stomach. Unable to fall right back to sleep I reviewed the plan for tomorrow and studied the distance and elevation profile. Tomorrow was going to be one of the steepest climbs on the entire trip. I was truly in the valley that night as I finally fell asleep.