Daying Hiking on the Shoulder of Mt. Rainier: Summerland and Panhandle Gap

For those of us who hail from north of Seattle, a trip to Mt. Rainier National Park at least doubles the drive time to the trails and back.  Consequently, we rarely make the trek.  Despite the great sublimity of the mountain, the drudgery of Seattle traffic diverts many of us to the crowded paths of Snoqualmie Pass or points further north.  

Active BC Wildfires from
 http://openmaps.gov.bc.ca/kml/wildfire/map.html

However, as the British Columbian wildfires of 2017 fumigated the trails from Mt. Baker to Snow Lake, Ernie suggested we head towards the great Tahoma.  After all, his best friend, Chad, from the last Antediluvian period, was in town, and Seattleites have a long tradition of dragging our friends from the flatland to the park.  Actually, as an avid alpinist, Chad was eager to go. 

It was great to hike with him.  As an accomplished poet, editor, and publisher, Chad naturally is a fount of knowledge on American poetics, and a great story teller to boot.  The conversation about writers and homesteads helped to make the drive down 405's early morning rush hour seemed like an escape from the banality of the burbs and an assortment of potential smoke-induced, pulmonary diseases.

White River Entrance (courtesy, NPS)

South we headed with the hope that while there might be smoke on the water in Seattle, along the trail to Summerland and Panhandle Gap, the air would be perfumed with wildflowers. However, as we worked our way through outer rubria, against the great morning exhale of the Maple Valley commute, and into the real country beyond Enumclaw, a lingering haze caused some concern about the invasive Canadian smog.  Luckily, our hike on the sunny-side of Mt. Rainier was tinged with only a hint of haze in the upper atmosphere.

Entering the park through the White River Entrance to Rainier was easy--only a couple of cars in line in front of us.  $25 is the cost of admission, but an $80 investment in annual pass allows you unlimited access to all of the National Parks and an assortment of other Federal lands. Northwest Forest Passes are not accepted in Mt. Rainier National Park.

High Tech Composting Toilet at Summerland

The last chance for indoor plumbing is just past the gate.  The trailhead has no facilities other than spruce and hemlock.  However, Summerland camp does offer a clean and efficient composting toilet 4 miles up the trail.

The woods are lovely, but not really that dark

As the guides indicate, the first mile or so is completely canopied in dense forest.  The trail up to Summerland is wide and well-maintained.   In fact, a crew was working on the tread just past the river crossing.  The creeks and rivers are easily crossed up and down the trail.  In the next few miles, the riot of flowering asters, lupines, paintbrush, and yarrow begins. At Summerland, the blossoms are in hysterics.  This is the time to go.

A broad swath of flowers in Summerland

Hiking in a National Park has the added advantage of meeting people from all over the US and the world.  He met hikers from New York and Illinois.  A father and son team, who were about to complete the Wonderland Trail in nine days, were from Idaho.  They suffered through a plague of flies for a few days though honestly, there weren't any flies on us. Perhaps the gentle breeze grounded most of the swarm.

A thousand feet higher, only stonecrop blooms

Beyond Summerland, the real work up to Panhandle Gap takes you across a much more austere landscape.  A turquoise eye was opening in a tarn at the base of the arete.   Melt water rushed from a massive snow field in the first iteration of the White River.  Only fleshy yellow stone crop bloomed in the moonscape.   Here two trail runners passed us, on their way to Box Canyon in only running shoes and shorts.  We looked up towards the wide couloir above us and wished them luck. Apparently, they were sure-footed enough not to need it, and were up and over the steep snow without a serious slip.

The last part of the route beyond Summerland requires a traverse across this fairly steep snow field.  Our trail runners climbed it in running shoes, and another came down from the opposite direction.  However, we notice he was down to just a single nipple ring, so perhaps he had a snag along the way.  Nipple rings or not, UV rays at elevation deserve some respect.  Several women came down, completely covered, with longsleeve shirts, long pants, big hats.   One with a scarf across her face.      "Lots of flies?" I wondered.

Chad and Ernie head down the couloir

"No," she replied, slightly annoyed,  "only to protect myself from the sun and the albedo bounce from the snow."

Despite the daring or fool-heartiness of the trailrunners,  we felt microspikes, poles, sunglasses. and probably shirts were advisable.  It may be tempting to slog straight up the field, but working our way left along the ridge seemed like a safer bet to us.

The White River Begins in white

At the gap, the wind picked up.  I looked down to try to spot the first pair of runners, but they were gone.   A twisted mountain spruce the might have provided a bit of shade for us had it not been turned into a impromptu privy for someone leaving behind a large, fetid trace of them self. If you need to shit on the mountain, BLUE BAG it out, or at least use a trowel.

At Panhandle Gap

We moved away into the broken boulders, and focused on the Little Tahoma and Rainier above.  An experience climber, Chad pointed out a potential route to the crater.  It looked so easy, even if we were not even half way there.  In a quick scramble, I  pointlessly tagged the higher edge of the ridge.  A bank of smoke was rising in the east.  It was lovely and hot as chinook winds blew towards us.  We decided to head back down.

Tarns melting open

Bring plenty of water.  We filtered a couple of additional quarts in silty glacial waters at the head of the White River. The cold water was a relief in the heat of the afternoon.  The hike out ran a couple of hours, longer than we remembered, but what an awesome hike!  Definitely a 10.