Northern Loop Trail Day 1, Ipsut Creek Camp to Redstone Camp, August 31st, 2002


My original plan had been to leave on September first, but as my vacation grew near, the extended weather forecast made it clear that the nicest and warmest days would be on August 31st. So, I decided not to waste the one guaranteed nice day I would have, and left a day early. This meant I couldn't get my camping permit the day before, as I had hoped, so I had to wait in line about 45 minutes to get it on Saturday morning. Fortunately, I was still able to get all the camp spots I wanted, so the only detriment was being forced to start out much later than I had hoped. I was ready to hit the trail about 9:40 Saturday morning!



One of the park rangers standing guard in the already full Ipsut Creek Camp parking lot was kind enough to snap my picture as I headed out. In short order I came to the Northern Loop junction off the Wonderland Trail, and headed through the nice and sandy woods to the Carbon River, for the first of many river/stream crossings. My 37 pound pack, the heaviest I've ever worn, felt ok, but was definitely slowing me down. Even so, I still managed to pass two couples, while staying ahead of anyone following me. But, the grueling day ahead was just beginning...



Ah, and here we are, it's all uphill from this point on! 4.3 miles to Windy Gap doesn't sound like much, but trust me, it is. Even with a day pack this would be no quick jaunt up the hill and back. I had heard there was an unusually high number of switchbacks on this section of the trail, and the rumor did not disappoint. I counted 23 switchbacks from this sign up to Yellowstone Cliffs Camp, and another 14 switchbacks up to Windy Gap. Phew! The first picture shows #20 and #21, much like all the rest, and finally I start to see sky through the trees up ahead, approaching Yellowstone Cliffs! With my heavy pack, I was stopping for a minute at the end of each switchback before continuining on, which seemed to work well. A few of them, such as #8, however, were only about 15 feet long! I only saw two groups of people, each having three men, between the Wonderland Trail on the other side of the Carbon River, and Yellowstone Cliffs.



Just a ways past the camp, the Yellowstone Cliffs came into full splendid view. As you can see, they are not exactly bursting with yellow-ness, in fact, they may even have had more red from what I could see. Nevertheless, they are quite impressive, and set off beautifully by the flower meadows below. I wanted to get up to Windy Gap for lunch, but my body had other notions, so I stopped just past the Cliffs at a nice spot along the trail. While stopped, I saw a couple hikers heading down to the Carbon River, and just as I was getting ready to hit the trail again, saw a solo hiker heading up towards Windy Gap, whom I never saw again. Between my lunch spot and Windy Gap, was the last brief glimpse of Mount Rainier that I would get until just before Grand Park, nearly nine miles away.



Finally, after almost five hours hiking time, I reached Windy Gap! Pretty slow to go 6.5 miles, but what's the rush, I just had to get to Lake James, less than an hour away, for the night. I decided while I was there, I better go the extra 1.8 miles and see the Natural Bridge, even though it meant a considerable drop in elevation, which must be regained before heading down to Redstone Camp near Lake James. Snow and water were both more abundant at 5800 foot Windy Gap than at any location since crossing the Carbon River. I felt it was a bit anti-climactic, however, because the wind was hardly blowing, and the view east from the Gap gave little hint of being so high or so close to Mount Rainier, which was not in sight.



The natural bridge impressed me greatly. The pictures do no justice to the sheer size and unique construction of this land form. It's a bit tricky getting down onto the Bridge, but I did it, sans my pack, of course. Once you get on, it's really quite wide, up to six feet on top, and more or less flat, so I sat down for a bit and enjoyed the view. The first shot from the top of the Bridge is of far away Mount Fremont, with it's little tiny lookout just visible on the left most point. Redstone Peak is in the foreground on the left. Straight below the bridge we have Lake Ethel on the left and Lake James on the right, with the west fork of the White River in the background. The zoomed in fuzzy shot with the triangular bare spot is about half a mile west of Grand Park, and the trail runs through the top of it. You may recall some of the great shots I got from this location on my Fire Creek Camp hike back in July, including the Natural Bridge!



One final shot to say goodbye to Windy Gap, and it's off down the hill to Redstone Camp. There was a nice stream running down from the gap, but unfortunately the trail lost it before long. About half way to camp, I ran into another couple hikers, on their way up, headed eventually for Yellowstone Cliffs camp, two miles behind me. They had left Sunrise 20 minutes later than I left Ipsut Creek Camp, and by my estimations, had already walked about 12 miles that day! And people say I'm crazy! I rolled into camp pretty late, about 5:00, and took the second and last spot. Incidentally, the trail sign mileage is quite a ways off, as it's about 3/4 mile less between Windy Gap and Redstone Camp than indicated. That was ok by me! The bugs weren't too bad at camp, and seemed to mostly vanish by 6:30 or 7:00. I got the tent set up, got the stove out, and had Mountain House Lasagna for dinner! It's tasty, but far too messy. The cheese ends up being like glue, even on lexan spoons and my non-stick pot. Before long it was dark and I was ready to get to sleep, after what I figure was the most physically demanding day of my life. At least, excluding my trials as a very young child, of which I have next to no memory. I put my food up on the bear pole and hit the sack!