Kim Span: Wonderland Day 1

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Wonderland Day 1

I wanted to start my hike early at 7am since I was originally supposed to hike 16 miles the first day, but I didn't realize that the ranger station didn't open until 7:30! Robin and I went inside the National Park Inn to stay warm, then went back to the ranger station at 7:30 to pick up my camping permits. The rangers took 30 minutes to explain where water sources, rockslides, and detours were and asked a bunch of questions regarding my bailout plan, water filtration method, etc. They suggested I book South Puyallup instead of Klapatche Park, making it a 12 mile first day instead of 16. I agreed since I'd already lost an hour. (Although I've heard Klapatche is awesome!)

A few miles into the hike, there were some sketchy water crossings at Klautz Creek. Luckily there were two guys hiking behind me who happened to catch up to me at the last water crossing and helped me across a fallen log. It was a godsend! I didn't see many other hikers the whole day. I passed a group of three girls, then two couples hiking the opposite direction but that's it!

I stopped at lunch at mile 6 by a little pond and a duck came by and put on a show for me! He was swimming around and cleaning himself.

A mile or so after lunch I came to the Tahoma Creek suspension bridge. It was a bit scary and wobbly and some wooden planks were missing!

The Indian Henry cabin had a nice view of Mt Rainer. When I was trying to get some pics, I dropped my phone straight into a little creek about a foot deep. Luckily I was able to fish it out and dry it off pretty quickly but there was water in the charger port for a while.

Miles 7-10 felt the hardest. Lots of uphill climbing and not much scenery. Then after mile 10 I came to an alpine meadow where I heard and saw whistling marmots! They were so cute!

Mile 11-12 was downhill to South Puyallup campsite. I got the group campsite overlooking the river! There was a huge stump that I sat on to cook my dinner. I had to hike an extra half mile round trip to fetch water to filter for dinner. The pit toilet was also a bit of a hike! I have to admit it was nice to have extra time to set up camp tonight since I only had to hike 12 miles! I used bear poles for the first time too.