A night in Sunset Park

Reveg has its highlights and its hard days, though one minor perk that I've alsways made an attempt to take advantage of is our far reaching work area. The option has been available to end your day on site when working in an interesting or less accessable crner of the park. For my most recent weekend kick-off backpack trip Kim (also on the crew) and I left from the end of West Side Road in Mount Rainier at Klapatche Point and ended at Mowich Lake for pick up the second day.West Side Road is an old park road that has since suffered flood damage and now remains only as a bike/hike trail as well as administrative staff past the three mile gate. Klapatche Point is another uneventful nine miles past the gate and has access points to St. Andrews cabin and the Wonderland Trail via the North Puyallup Trail. Every year on Reveg at least one work day is dessignated to control weeds up WSR, usually a manual sweep component and a smaller spray/reconisance crew working on high angle slopes to monitor and control Canada thistle populations that have historically existed on some of the janky scree slopes below and above Klapatche Point.
Kim and I spent the Thursday setting anchors of the truck and trees and scurring up and down the slopes and spraying thistles. After the day's efforts were winding down and the rest of the crew prepared to head down WSR in our four-wheeled drives, we made a quick change out of our uniforms and traded work packs for our backpacks.
The North Puyallup Trail is an underappreciated and underused trail. Old alders lined either side of the trail, creating a tunnel of green with sun shining through their sticky leaves. Kim shared a fitting Tolkien quote as we walked through the trees feeling very much like hobbits:
"Not all those who wander are lost".
The North Puyallup was a road back in the day and though all but a little of the evidence is gone or invisible, a few massive, intraciate, labour intensive rock walls from the CCC era persist, now covered in moss but very much an addition to the mystical feel of the area. After crossing the North Puyallup River and got on the Wonderland Trail.
The original plan was to stay the night on the Golden Lakes patrol cabin but Kip and Rob already had it reserved and as they were actually patrolling they had priority. The fall back plan was to just stay in the campground but after talking to the WIC (Wilderness Information Center) the suggestion of getting a cross country permit surfaced, something Kim nor I have ever done or even considered. You might know of my goal of staying at all four fire lookouts in the park, which at this point has not yet been completed (Freemont Lookout is pending significant maintenence). As it turns out there used to be a fire lookout up on a hill in Sunset Park, a park that the Wonderland passes through before dropping down on Golden Lake and was a prime spot for getting off the beaten path, or the path altogether. Following my dad's GPS and the highlighted map the WIC gave us, we broke off of the trail doing the very thing we worked to prevent during the week: meadow stomping. One might say that we should know better. That if anyone should be able to vouch for the impact of a single foot print (something like nineteen different organisms), it should be seasoned members of the reveg crew. The way we saw it, we served our dues. We are meadow walking elites, professionals in restoration and low impact veg monitoring, trained and experienced in such practices. With careful consideration on step placement, we made our way up on to the hill in Sunset Park to look for a place a quarter mile off trail in accordance with the law as well as a spectacular view of Rainier. With a full day of work and many miles already under our belt, both Kim and I were eager to find a suitable place and set up camp. About the time we started to run low on energy, we started to notice the bugs, the fatigue and the hunger. All motivation to find camp sooner rather than later. The mosquito really started to come out in numbers.

Can you count the mossies?

We made it to a little plateau near the top of the mound, with a sweeping view up the ridge towards the mountain and the cloud deck a few hundred feet below us, we emptied our packs and threw together the tent, sans fly, looking forward to a night under the stars. It soon became apparent that the mosquitoes weren't going to leave us alone. Swarmed with the pests, our only escape was to cover as much skin as humanly possible (hence Kim and I showing off our rockin' raincoats) bathe in deet, and pace back and forth to keep the bugs away. Dinner time came, starting off with some warm, left over cheesecake. I'm not sure that I've ever tasted anything better than Christine's cheesecake after a long day of work and a long day hiking. I hear it has zero calories too! Bonus!

Pretty standard, overnight carry out

As the sun set and the moon rose, one thing became apparent to me. Secluded away from the rest of the world in Sunset Park, with the sun setting and the moon rising over a glowing Mount Rainier, we were in the most beautiful place in the world. I say this with unwavering doubt. I've been lucky enough to find myself in some pretty special places in my short time, some breathtakingly beautiful ones at that, but our camp in Sunset Park blew me away. Words fail. A meadow of avalanche lilies and flowering bear grass blanketed the ground as a spectrum from orange on the horizon to a deep blue speckled with stars topped it off. The universe came together. There was nothing more to be had. I'm not one to get biblical but if there is a heaven out there, it has got to look something like Sunset Park.

Christine's famous cheesecake: if every hike could end with this, life would be perfect

All said and done, with our food eaten, smoked salmon on Ritz for hor's devores, followed by some mean Mountain House chicken teriyaki, we hit the hay. After spending a total of thirty seconds in the tent, it was clear the tent fly did more than just keep the rain out. Evidently we were in the path of mist rolling over our knoll which had passed right through the bug netting and sufficiently coated everything in the tent with dew.  I won't be making that mistake again. To minimize mosquito exposure we Packed up as much as possible inside the cramped tent and donning our raincoats, hoods and all before our egress. Stumbling out, the bugs seemed to have vanished, perhaps sleeping in this morning. But that lasted about two and a half minutes, before the hordes returned, seeking exposed flesh. After downing some mushy instant oatmeal (no dino eggs this time) and checking the campsite, attempting to stand up the depressed avalanche lilies, we doffed our rain gear in a well rehearsed, very quick execution in order to put our packs on and get moving on the trail as quickly as possible.

The Golden Lakes patrol cabin

Starting out on a game trail, probably elk, we slipped and slid our way back to find the Wonderland Trail, headed towards Golden Lakes and eventually Mowich. The Golden Lakes cabin looked proper, with Ranger Kip eating his cereal as the sun came up over the cabin. Greeting us with his usual "ranger spiel" until he recognized us, Kip and Rob then showed us around the cabin. A daring, high angle rescue for a camper's First Ascent jacket provided a little excitement at Golden Lakes, and after having our pictures taken rather incessantly and then walking off halfway through Kim's hike recommendation, we left the jacket owner along with Kip headed out to Mowich Lake.

Something like a ten mile day, the first five miles were down until we crossed South Mowich river. The back five miles, we could already tell, were bound to be tough. We prevailed though! Powered by teriyaki beef jerky and gold fish we pushed on. A little treasure trove revealed itself to us, right along the Wonderland Trail, a small population of Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense) ensuring a return trip on the clock, armed with chemical herbicide. A true reveg member is never off duty. Blue berries also appeased the pain of the uphill push. A fruiting bush ALWAYS meant a quick snack stop to mow down, in between each of us needing to "get a drink of water" or "retie a shoe".

The fork for the Spray Park trail came none too soon. That area south of Mowich is a spectacular area. Chilly creeks and lush moss make for a pleasant and peaceful place. And then we broke out in the Mowich campground. Mowich is a special place. Frequent car break-ins and a notoriously, long, dusty, rough, and wash boarded road aside, Mowich Lake is beautiful. One does not just stumble upon the Lake, a lengthy drive past deforested forests and bullet-hole-laden Forest Service signs opens up into the parking lot filled with Subarus.

After a little effort, we picked out the Forester belonging to Kim's parents, tracked them down half way across the lake, and piled in headed back to Eatonville, to wash uniforms and pack a lunch for work the next day.


"Beauty for some provides escape, who gain a happiness in eyeing the gorgeous buttocks of the ape or Autumn sunsets exquisitely dying."
                                                                                                           -Langston Hughes