(link to full photo album at the bottom of email)
For our August 2021 trip, we decided we were long overdue for backpacking near Mount Rainier. However, backpacking inside the Mt Rainier National Park requires permits that are hard to acquire.
Instead, we decided to go to Glacier View Wilderness, a lesser known 3,080-acre area of subalpine lakes, peaks, and ancient forest that hugs the western boundary of Mount Rainier National Park. The few people who hike this area have typically accessed it from the west/southwest via Forest Road 59. However, FR 59 has been closed since early 2020 due to severe washouts. Currently, unless you want to hike many miles of road through serious washouts just to get to the original trailheads, the only remaining access is from the east, via Mt Rainier National Park's Westside Rd. This is what we chose. We knew going into it that we would see few people, and that none of the trails within the Glacier View Wilderness had had any maintenance for at least a year and a half. An adventure!
Day #1: Westside Rd trailhead to Goat Lake, via Lake George and Gobbler's Knob (5485')
The drive from home was a little over 3 hours.
Once inside Mt Rainier National Park, you can only drive on Westside Rd for 3 miles. After that, you have to hike it or bike it. So the first 3.5 miles of our backpacking journey was on road, initially between Mount Wow and silty Tahoma Creek, an area of frequent glacial outburst floods and debris flows (and the reason why the road is closed to vehicles). We eventually reached the soft forest floor of the wide and very well-maintained Lake George trail. We had lunch at beautiful Lake George before continuing on to the Gobbler's Knob trail. Here, we dropped our heavier packs and took a lighter daypack up the steep little trail to the Gobbler's Knob lookout. We could even see Goat Lake far below (our eventual destination for the day). At the peak of Gobbler's Knob, it was initially quite cloudy, but with some patience and persistence, we got some fuller views of Mt. Rainier, especially as we were coming back down.
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Donning our packs back on, we headed towards Goat Lake, leaving Gobbler's Knob and then Mt Rainier National Park and crossing into Glacier View Wilderness. From there on, it was obvious that there had been no maintenance and few visitors. The trails were strewn with much debris from fallen tree branches.
Once under the dense canopy surrounding Goat Lake, we explored both east and west sides, before settling on a site to hang our hammocks.
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I even saw an enormous buck (male deer) on the east shore (though he bolted before I could take a picture). From our site, we could see the Gobbler's Knob lookout up above. We did not see nor hear another person that night.
D#1: ~9.25 miles, 2910' elevation gain, Hi 52F/Lo 44F
Night at Goat Lake, elevation 4300'
Day #2: Day hike to Lake Christine and Mt Beljica (5475')
We opted to leave our camping site at Goat Lake and take a day hike to Lake Christine and Mt Beljica. On the way there, we saw a group of 4 trees that had grown huddled together, like an intimate group picture.
We decided to go have lunch at Lake Christine first, before our bigger climb of the day. Lake Christine was beautiful and peaceful, and the shoreline felt more open than the denser Goat Lake and Lake George.
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After that, the only thing marking the trail to Mt. Beljica was a piece of wood with the word "SUMMIT" carved into it. Up there, we could see part of Beljica Meadows (which we would pass the next day). We had 360 degree views, and in the haze, we could barely (just barely) make out Mt Adams and St. Helens. But of course, the real treat was the view of the west side of Mt. Rainier. We had amazing weather and incredible views of Tahoma and Puyallup Glaciers. Truly a breathtaking experience.
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Rainier from Beljica panorama.jpg
And here again, we could also see Gobbler's Knob and its lookout. On the way to and from the Lake Christine trail, we had to go under or around a few fallen trees, but it wasn't bad. The sunset reflection at Goat Lake was a nice bonus when we returned.
Again, we did not see nor hear anyone else that day or night.
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D#2: 5.5 miles, 1716' elevation gain, Hi 60F/Lo 49F
Night at Goat Lake, elevation 4300'
Day #3: Goat Lake to Glacier View Summit (5450') to Lake Helen
We packed up camp and headed out toward Lake Helen, our destination for the night.
Here is where we would really experience what 18 months of no trail maintenance really looked like. We passed Beljica Meadows, which had the only creek we drank from in the entire trip (having mostly lake water the rest of the time). We saw what we think is a Western Toad (Bufo boreas boreas) and as always, funky fungi.
And this is where the blowdowns or fallen trees really began. One after another. Some we had to climb over, others under, and some we had to go around. Many of these still had branches with needles attached, so clearly they had fallen this year. And the branches made it a bit more challenging to navigate. There were roughly about 25 fallen trees between Goat Lake and the Glacier View trail (#267). At that point, we dropped our packs again, took a day pack, and climbed up. That day was cloudier than the Mt. Beljica day. So our views were good, but not as clear, though we had plenty of sun and glare.
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We again could see the Gobbler's Knob lookout building. It gave us some perspective of how far we had traveled. Despite the clouds, I got some pretty cool close-ups of Rainier and also the panoramic perspective.
Once back at the main trail, we put our packs back on, and headed to Lake Helen. We passed a sign that had seen better days, at the junction with the trail to Lake West, but we had decided from the beginning that we would skip Lake West on this trip and keep on going to Lake Helen.
This is where it got REALLY interesting. Whereas we had encountered the prior 25 blowdowns over about 4 miles, we would encounter most of the next 25 over the last single mile before arriving at Lake Helen. There were times when we honestly didn't know if we'd make it or be totally blocked, and be faced with having to turn around. But we persevered and thankfully didn't find any insurmountable obstacles.
Technically, Lake Helen is outside of the Glacier View Wilderness, and part of the 890-acre Deer Creek Roadless Area. We explored some of Lake Helen's eastern side, but settled on a site closer to where we had arrived. It was a bit windy that night, so we hung our tarp lower and narrower, with doors pulled out, for more protection. It was VERY peaceful. Yet again, no sight or sound of other humans that day or night.
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D#3: ~6.65 miles, 1913' elevation gain, Hi 60F/Lo 48F.
Night at Lake Helen, elevation 4612'
Day #4: Lake Helen back to Goat Lake
Guess what? If you encounter 50 fallen trees on the way to a place, the trees are still there on the way back! So, that really makes it 100 blowdowns by the time all is said and done. Except this time, we had already succeeded once in navigating past them, so it was just a matter of time and effort and maybe a few new bruises and scratches. We crossed back into Glacier View Wilderness. But by the time we stopped at the creek in Beljica Meadows to collect more water, the clouds were looking a bit menacing. Eventually it started drizzling, and soon after the Lake Christine Trail, we deployed our rain gear. There are few photos after this so as not to get the camera wet. We had to set up camp at Goat Lake in the rain. But one of the beauties of hammocking is that, in the rain, once you hang your tarp, the rest of your set up can be done while standing comfortably upright and under dry shelter. Ahhh.
And because it was raining and relatively late, we really thought we'd have one more night of peace and quiet. Though we were grateful for the glorious 72 hours without other human contact, our stretch was broken that night by a group of 4 relatively loud people who arrived on the other side of Goat Lake, set up camp, started a campfire, and stayed up late, making noise. Sigh.
D#4: ~ 5.7 mi, 1237' elevation gain, Hi 55F/Lo 44F
Night at Goat Lake, elevation 4300'
Day #5: Goat Lake to Westside Rd Trailhead
The group of 4 across the lake turned out to be a young girl and her dad and a teenage boy and his dad, who had returned to Goat Lake for some trout fishing and to unearth a time capsule that grandpa had buried there 15 years before. We could have never in our wildest dreams come up with that story if we had tried. They had only come for one night and were leaving.
Thankfully, it had stopped raining the next morning by the time we broke camp. We put our rain gear on, in case it started raining again, but mainly because all the vegetation on either side of the frequently narrow trails was wet. It was fairly uneventful on the way out. We re-entered Mt Rainier National Park, with their wide, perfectly maintained trails. We stopped again at Lake George to have lunch. We said goodbye to a few other funky fungi, a few columbines and asters, and Mount Wow, and headed out.
D#5: 7 miles, 932' elev gain, Hi 55F
Total was 4 nights/5 days, ~34 miles and ~8700' elevation gain.
For the full album:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/r6rJCWi33W1NuFXJ9
(If you have any problems with the album, being asked for a Google account and/or password, it is NOT required. Your device and/or browser are getting confused; copy the album's link into an incognito or private browser window, and you should be able to get in without any Google credentials)
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