I was going to go hiking last week when the weather was nice but didn't get a chance to. So today was the day. The activity doesn't quite fall under cycling or running, but I'll post it anyway. Maybe I should change the title of the blog?
My friend and I have been investigating which hike for a while. We decided to pick "Carbon Glacier" from the book Hiking Washington
. The reason is that it was one of the few hikes in the Cascades with a low enough elevation to hike in May. The hiking season--if you want to go high up the mountains--is short in Washington due to the snow cover. The snow season was quite long this year: the ski resorts around here opened in mid-November and didn't close until the past few days.
Carbon Glacier is a glacier in Mt. Rainier National Park. It's the biggest and also the lowest elevation glacier in the continental U.S. It took us about an hour and a half to get there from Seattle (take 165 South at the 410 intersection in Buckley). We paid, or I should say my friend paid, a $30 annual pass to the park. Once we got to the Ipsut Creek campground, I was unable to get a GPS signal on my Forerunner at the start of the hike due to the tree cover. I still took it with me thinking (correctly as it turned out) that I would be able to get a signal at the top of the hike near the glacier.
The hike itself starts out in dense tree cover. I'm not sure if this area is considered a temparate rain forest, but it sure felt like it--moss, ferns, and green all around. The hike is ~3.5 miles each way with an elevation gain of 1200 feet that tops out at 3500 feet. The higher we went, the less deciduous we saw. Halfway there, perhaps at about 2800 feet, the biomass changed and we were in a sub-alpine like environment with colorful plants and many bees and other insects swarming around. A few more hundred feet and all we saw were ferns. By this point, the temperature probably dropped 10 or 15 degrees. In fact, we saw a few patches of snow! BTW, most of the way we were walking alongside the Carbon River which directly flows from the glacier. The color is milky due to the icy water mixing with ground sediment.
The glacier itself does not look all "icy"; rather, it's more brownish with a huge gray ice sheet facing the mountain. It was the first glacier I've ever seen and the hike itself was very satisfying with many scenic views, including a few waterfalls. There were only two disappointments: we couldn't see anything above the glacier due to cloudcover, and the only large animals we saw were ravens. I was disappointed. There is much wildlife diversity within the park however, we just didn't see it.
Because it was Monday and cloudy, we only saw about 10 people. This is a great hike, check it out sometime!
Total: 7mi Hike (Carbon Glacier, Mt. Rainier National Park)
[Backdated on 05/23/2006]
My friend and I have been investigating which hike for a while. We decided to pick "Carbon Glacier" from the book Hiking Washington
. The reason is that it was one of the few hikes in the Cascades with a low enough elevation to hike in May. The hiking season--if you want to go high up the mountains--is short in Washington due to the snow cover. The snow season was quite long this year: the ski resorts around here opened in mid-November and didn't close until the past few days.
Carbon Glacier is a glacier in Mt. Rainier National Park. It's the biggest and also the lowest elevation glacier in the continental U.S. It took us about an hour and a half to get there from Seattle (take 165 South at the 410 intersection in Buckley). We paid, or I should say my friend paid, a $30 annual pass to the park. Once we got to the Ipsut Creek campground, I was unable to get a GPS signal on my Forerunner at the start of the hike due to the tree cover. I still took it with me thinking (correctly as it turned out) that I would be able to get a signal at the top of the hike near the glacier.
The hike itself starts out in dense tree cover. I'm not sure if this area is considered a temparate rain forest, but it sure felt like it--moss, ferns, and green all around. The hike is ~3.5 miles each way with an elevation gain of 1200 feet that tops out at 3500 feet. The higher we went, the less deciduous we saw. Halfway there, perhaps at about 2800 feet, the biomass changed and we were in a sub-alpine like environment with colorful plants and many bees and other insects swarming around. A few more hundred feet and all we saw were ferns. By this point, the temperature probably dropped 10 or 15 degrees. In fact, we saw a few patches of snow! BTW, most of the way we were walking alongside the Carbon River which directly flows from the glacier. The color is milky due to the icy water mixing with ground sediment.
The glacier itself does not look all "icy"; rather, it's more brownish with a huge gray ice sheet facing the mountain. It was the first glacier I've ever seen and the hike itself was very satisfying with many scenic views, including a few waterfalls. There were only two disappointments: we couldn't see anything above the glacier due to cloudcover, and the only large animals we saw were ravens. I was disappointed. There is much wildlife diversity within the park however, we just didn't see it.
Because it was Monday and cloudy, we only saw about 10 people. This is a great hike, check it out sometime!
Total: 7mi Hike (Carbon Glacier, Mt. Rainier National Park)
[Backdated on 05/23/2006]
posted by Severe Training at 11:32 PM
2 Comments:
You’re forgetting about the poor slug! I’m perfectly happy with the fact that we didn’t see any bears. I don’t think I would have done too well at “fighting aggressively” with a grizzly bear. Maybe you could handle one?
It turned out to be a beautiful hike, so I’m glad that we didn’t turn around because of the pouring rain. Once the sun came out, the views of Mt. Rainier were spectacular...
I look forward to finding more treasures this summer. I’d really like to find a trail that’s less rocky and would be better for running now that I have my new snazzy trail shoes. :)
BANANA SLUGS OF THE NORTHWEST
"The banana slug (Ariolimax columbianus) is the Pacific Northwest's only native slug. Most people tend to overlook the seemingly mundane life of the banana slug found in and around Mt. Rainier National Park. The banana slug actually leads a rather unusual and exciting life being a cannibal at times and also a hermaphrodite at other times.
Banana Slugs can grow up to twelve inches long and up to a quarter of a pound in weight. Locomotion is accomplished by expending a mucus substance from their head area that is both sticky at times and slick at other times. They move from the rear end first in waves of constrictions and expansions reaching speeds up to .007 miles per hour. Not being water-proof can be one of the banana slugs' biggest problems..."
http://www.nps.gov/mora/notes/vol2a-13a.htm
Very funny :-) Yep, I definitely overlooked it!
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