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Day 3 of the Wonderland Trail hike would take us from North Puyallup River camp to South Mowich River camp, about 11 miles. Despite the long day yesterday, I didn’t sleep as well as I would have expected. There was a “Bear Log” on the bear pole in camp. Apparently there is frequent bear activity in that area, and hikers are asked to write down details of any encounters.I guess that got my brain working, because I woke up some time in the night after having a nightmare that a bear was outside my tent, and had my left hand pinned down. It was a some what cartoonish dream, as I used my right hand to feel the bear’s paw, and its claws, before I woke up trying to scream but not able too. Interesting experience. Fortunately I was still able to fall back to sleep and the rest of the night was fine.

I was up this morning at 6:45 and got moving at 7:40. After an ‘urgent’ visit to the privy I hit the trail, figuring I’d find a nice spot to eat breakfast along the way. The start to the day was pretty nice. Although we had a climb ahead, it started gradually through a nice forest, giving plenty of time for a warmup. It was pretty warm too, so it wasn’t long before I was stopping to strip off my warm clothing. The longer I climbed, the more I realized I wasn’t going to find the perfect breakfast spot – an open area with a nice view – so I settled on a mostly level log on the side of the trail. Shortly thereafter the trail emerged from the forest into an amazing high meadow on the west side of the park. I’m not completely sure, but I believe this was Sunset Park, which extends to the Golden Lakes.

There were some views of the top of Mt. Rainier from here, and I stopped often to take pictures of it and the surrounding meadows. The huckleberries and blueberries here, which get plenty of sun, were ripe and delicious – probably the best I had during the entire trip. This along makes doing this hike in late August well worth it! From the meadows the trail descended down to Golden Lakes, and our lunch spot. I ended up staying here for about 90 minutes eating, filtering water with Daniel, and dealing with a couple of hot spots on my feet. After finally leaving the trail rolled for a bit before starting the descent to the South Mowich River.

The South Mowich River was pretty awesome. It was really wide, with three separate bridge to get across it and lots of water flowing everywhere. Water was nearly flowing over the last bridge across it, which looked to be made from a tree that fell there during a storm or flood. Into the forest there was obvious signs of the damage from the November 2006 flood, where now dry river channels had been carved through the forest. I wonder if, as the river carries rocks down from the mountain and the river bed rises, will these new channels one day be the river’s normal course? Once in camp I noticed that a couple of campsites had also been washed away.

Today it took 8 hours and 21 minutes to go from camp to camp, including the 90 minute break at Golden Lakes and a few other breaks along the trail. I packed my bag today with even more of the heavier stuff near the bottom, and didn’t really have any complaints about how it felt.

Some pictures, and a video of the South Mowich River, are below. More are at SmugMug.

Wonderland Trail leaving the forest and heading into Sunset Park

Today's self-portrait, from Sunset Park

Patrol Cabin at Golden Lakes

Mountains and the South Mowich River

Daniel on the final bridge across the South Mowich River

Our food bags hangin on the bear pole in South Mowich Camp

Our home for night three - South Mowich Camp