Cowlitz Park

Hundreds of people hike the 93 mile Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier each summer. Most hike clockwise on the map since that is the way the guidebook (50 Hikes in Mount Rainier National Park by Ira Spring, Harvey Manning) is written. This is not something that I plan to do. The Wonderland Trail is not particularly remote; most of it can be reached on day hikes. If I spend a week in the mountains, I prefer to find myself several days from the nearest trailhead. That is not possible on the Wonderland Trail.

That said, much of the trail is lovely and portions are exceptional. One such is the segment from Box Canyon north to Cowlitz Park southeast of Mount Rainier. On Wednesday, July 31, 2002, I met three parties of two. All were hiking around the mountain. After 1:30 PM, I had the trail to myself.

After leaving the Muddy Fork of the Cowlitz River, the trail crosses over the low ridge to cross Nickel Creek and climbs out of the valley through a pleasant forest of medium-sized old growth Douglas fir and western hemlock. Views of Goat Rocks, Mount Adams and the Tatoosh Range begin once the crest of the Cowlitz Divide is reached. Glimpses of Mount Rainier through the trees begin about 5000' and improve as the trail climbs gradually.

In the foreground are subalpine ridges. Behind is a rocky range of mountains
covered with numerous snowfields.

The Tatoosh Range includes Unicorn Peak (left, 6917'), Foss Peak (just right of center, 6524'), The Castle (6440+), and Pinnacle Peak (right, 6562'). Beargrass blooms near the trail.

Nearby rocky peaks with small snowfields contrast with a deep blue
sky.

The main peak (right, 7605') of Cowlitz Chimneys is the highest peak in the eastern part of the park. Banshee Peak (left, 7431') is an easy hike from Panhandle Gap (not visible off the left edge of the image). Lupin bloom in the foreground meadow. This and the previous image were taken at 1 PM from 5600'.

A enormous volcano covered with crevassed glaciers partially separated by rock
ridges looms over subalpine benches and parkland partially covered by
snowfields.

Three glaciers descend from the summit of Mount Rainier (14410') in this view from the east southeast. They are the Nisqually (left), the Ingraham, and the Emmons (right). The Cowlitz Glacier begins at 11000' below Gibralter Rock (12660', left of center). Camp Muir (10100') is at the base of the Cowlitz Cleaver that is left and behind the Cowlitz Glacier. Disappointment Cleaver separates the Ingram and Emmons Glaciers. To the right is Little Tahoma Peak (11138') with the Whitman Glacier on its flank. Cowlitz Park is in the lower left. This image was taken at 1:15 PM from the trail just northwest of pt. 5930'.

A large mountain with a large face and summit snowfields is in the middle
distance. Forested and snow-covered lower ridges lead to the mountain from a
large snow-covered lake well below the viewpoint. Mountain hemlock are in the
foreground.

The upper Ohanapecosh River valley (center) has the U-shaped cross-section of a glacier carved valley. The small Ohanapecosh Glacier rests above the left flank of the valley headwall. Behind the glacier is Whitman Crest (9323') and to its left is Little Tahoma Peak. Indian Bar (5200') is at the bottom center of the image. It was taken at 2 PM from 5880' about 1000' west of the trail on the divide between Nickel Creek and the Ohanapecosh River.

This graph summarizes my trip. The horizontal axis is 24 hour Pacific Daylight Time. These data were logged by an altimeter watch. My fastest hours were 1380 ft/hr at 11:15 AM and -1720 at 5:15 PM.

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