Ford, Sarbar and myself headed up Hwy 410 to go backpacking for the weekend. Our plan was to do Crow Lake Way Trail in the Norse Peak Wilderness, on the Eastern crest of the South Cascades. We drove thru near zero visibilty on Chinook Pass. When we hit the trail head, it was cold but blue skies were visible. After showing Ford some flowers and ants, we hit the trail. Ridgescrambler was already there with Durante616, they had headed up earlier.

We had a pretty smooth hike up the trail, going up the first drainage, and then swinging over to the next, entering a subalpine zone. As we had a snack it started to snow. SNOW?  Didn't I say "no snow"?! I certainly wasn't prepared to camp those conditions... Then we could see a massive storm coming over from Chinook Pass as we headed farther up the hill... eek! We kept on going up, to get to the ridgeline, thinking it might get better. We started hitting small snow patches, but what was worse was the uphill slogs thru slick mud...weeee!!!!! Yuck! And I don't carry trekking poles. lol. Yeah, fun.  Not.

At somewhere in the 4 to 4 1/2 mile range we encountered a solid snow field that was 8 to 10 feet high. The storm was about on us, it was around 35* in the wind, it was snowing. We bailed. It was not fun at that point. We had a long discussion about whether it was a good idea to push beyond this or not. We had Ford with us... Not such great conditions for a 6 year old. And I was going to be COLD if it was in the 30's at night. So we turned back. Nothing like carring 3 days worth of food and gear for a day hike! LOL. Training...yeah thats it....training.

On the way down, we ran into Crwdog and his wife and they decided to hike out with us happy wusses. Ford of course, was still fascinated by the thatch ants that I had shown him earlier. Sarbar and I hit the road-and decided to go to through Yakima to get home, as we were driving in my car, that had no chains and needs tires soon. So we drove to Yakima, then took Hwy 97 to Ellensburg. Had dinner at a small chinese resturant and got on I-90 to home. Drove thru an icky rainfall going across Snoqualmie Pass...and then it got dry. Guess it was just the Cascades getting the rain.

Coolest thing was finding $5 in the parking lot at a gas station two seconds after Sarbar said "I told you you shoulda got gas in Eastern WA..."  Woo-hoo!! 

Day 1 Sunrise
Doug and I got a late start to Sarbar's house to meet up with Durante616, drop off my car and pick up the food caches. I was almost all the way there and realized    I forgot my water bottles!! Doug was nice enough to loan me his for the 4 days (one of which I ende up breaking! Sorry!). We made it up to Sunrise without incident, hiked into Sunrise camp, met up with WrongBridge and Hiking Drew. We set up camp before hiking back to the parking lot to meet up with the gang to get them their caches. We also did the tourist thing and bought hats in the gift store. (I had forgot that too!)  After everyone got lots of greasy food and repacked, we headed back to camp. Durante616 had 3 mini-kegs of beer for the thru-hikers.  We packed in a bunch of junkfood for everyone too. Sarbar wasn't doing so hot with her feet and mentioned that she may drop out the next day.      That SUCKS! WrongBridge tested his ant karma by apparently putting his tent on an anthill or something! LOL. As the sun set, Hoosierdaddy, myself and Doug hiked up to the viewpoint on the Burrough's loop trail to watch the sunset. BEAUTIFUL!! 

            

Day 2 Sunrise to Mystic
Sarbar indeed decided her feet were in too bad of shape to continue on. We'd miss her, but she made the right decision. Rainrunner and Durante616 hiked up Burroughs before parting ways. Doug hiked out all of our garbage (and there was a lot of it!) and escorted Sarbar out. He gave her a ride back to her truck... All the way back at Longmire!    Meanwhile, Hoosierdaddy and I heade up to Berkley Park via the Burroughs Mt trail. We soon met up with WrongBridge as we got up to Skyscraper pass. WOW the views! I made friends with a German guy that wanted us to take his photo. I really need to come back and scramble up Skyscraper peak! Then it was down down down to Winthrop Glacier... and a VERY SCARY  (but fun in my opinion!) crossing of the West Fork White River. I did a little adrenalin dance after that one! Rushing river just under a log bridge that bounced and nothing to hold onto but a wire! YIKES!  Then it was back up the hill to Mystic Camp/Lake. We  hiked up for a swim (sort of) in Mystic Lake to clean up. The water was NICE! Tadpoles all over the place! The lake is beautiful. The campsites are dark and dreary here, but I was entertained  when an overly friendly marmot wanted to join us for dinner!  I said "sic him"(refering to Hoosierdaddy) to the marmot and he ran off. Scared the hell out of everyone too! LOL. Phad Thai noodles ROCK, btw! YUM!!

           

Day 3 Mystic to Eagle's Roost
Uphill day from hell!!  I woke up feeling a bit nauseous. Had some coffee and dried fruit and started to feel better. Mystic Lake was mirror smooth in the morning! BEAUTIFUL! We stopped to filter water... Oops! Whats wrong with my filter?!    Not pumping? We saw a deer and 2 fawns as we headed away from the lake. Later in the day I saw a bear! Yay!   We filtered water and had a short break at Dick Creek, then crossed the very cool Carbon River Bridge. Bounce bounce bounce! NEAT! Then it was UP UP UP for most of the rest of the day... I felt really strange all day. Kinda woozy. I think the altitude was getting to me because I was drinking plenty of water. At one point I was sweating and hot, but my face and legs felt cold to touch. Not good! We took a LONG break at Cataract camp for lunch. TP in the water! GROSS!  I wasn't about to filter water there! YUCK. And uphill we go! Rainrunner and Hoosierdaddy took off and WrongBridge and I plodded along, with him cursing the hill the whole time. LOL. As we got to Seattle Park, thunder was booming and a storm was rolling in. We caught up to Rainrunner and Hoosierdaddy at Seattle Park and waited out the storm in a copse of trees. The lightning and thunder were one ridgeline away, but we weren't taking any chances! The lightning was so cool! I LOVE storms!  A fire started on the ridge. We could see the blue smoke. As the rain died down, we hiked the rest of the way up and over into Spray park, sticking closer together now. I saw the biggest freaking talus slope I've ever seen!

Spray Park is unfreaking believable! Its nothing less than a huge wildflower meadow that goes on and on and on! Not to mention all the marmots we saw! I must have taken 30 photos here alone! Then it was time to drop down to Spray Falls and Eagle's Roost. The fog parted just long enough for us to get a hint at how amazing the falls are. Eagle's Roost camp is dark and hilly.  We were all so tired we were being REALLY silly.    WrongBridge is so much fun to hike with! He's such a 4 year old! LOL. After dinner we all crashed out pretty hard. It was a long, and very challenging day for me!

Day 4 Eagle's Roost to Mowich
Up by 6 and on the trail by 6:45.    Yikes! But we had a deadline! We were meeting up with Sarbar and Mrs.Hoosierdaddy at 8am. Hoosierdaddy's been taking lessons from Sarbar's school of elevation gain because he had told me "its an easy downhill to Mowich lake..." BULL!  Sarbar was my ride out and Mrs.H was there for resupply and goodies. Sar brought us homemade rice crispy treats and Mrs. H brought carmel brownies, real coffee and icy drinks! YUM! WrongBridge took a swim in the COLD lake, scaring all the car campers with his little girl scream! LOL.    Then it was time to say goodbye. Hoosierdaddy, Rainrunner and Wrongbridge had lots of miles to do yet that day...

I'm sure I missed a million details. It was such an amazing trip! The most challenging thing I've done all year... Don't underestimate the Wonderland! It isn't about the mileage. The elevation will get ya!