Northern Loop (Mount Rainier) Backpack

Trip Report

We arrived at the White River ranger station in the afternoon of September 19th. I had previously made arrangements for a late permit pickup, just in case we weren’t able to get there before noon and we didn’t want to risk our permit getting released. We spoke with the ranger and changed our permit for night 2 from Mystic camp to the Carbon glacier alpine zone cross-country permit instead.

The weather was cool and sunny when we set out from Sunrise to our first camp at Granite Creek. We stopped and had a long break at Skyscraper pass, enjoying the later-afternoon sunshine and incredible views. The descent to camp was scattered with mushrooms. Granite Creek camp was full for the night, but the camps are spread out enough to feel private, except for the toilet, which is fully visible from campsite #2. Overnight it was chilly but dry.

Day 2 started off quite crisp. We ascended down to the Winthrop river crossing and paused for a break before making the ascent up to Mystic lake, where we took a long, late lunch and dipped our feet in the water. We continued our climb until we reached the social trail turn-off at 6,100’, then diverged off of the Wonderland into Moraine Park. The tarns were completely dry, and the mushrooms were plentiful. We set up camp for the night at the climber’s camp, overlooking the Carbon and Russel glaciers, and ate our dinners as the sun set rosy over the lower inversion layer. The night was surprisingly warm.

We started day 3 by 7:30am, knowing that we would have an elevation loss of 5,000’ on the Wonderland to Ipsut camp. The inversion layer made for a frosty beginning as we descended through Moraine Park. We heard and saw pikas along the rocky hills next to Moraine Creek. The day warmed nicely as we passed through Dick Creek camp, a detour off the regular trail due to a rockslide, and followed the Carbon glacier to the suspension bridge that crosses the Carbon river. We took our time here for lunch, resting our weary legs, and watched as folks crossed the bridge.

After lunch, we continued to the log crossing of the Carbon river, making our way through a clearly-defined, sandy path that leads to the original trail washout where you climb a rocky series of steps back up to the trail on the other side. From here, the trail is nicely graded and duffy, and makes a couple more log crossings before you get to Ipsut camp. We filled our water for the night at Ipsut Falls, and hurried off to camp. 

Ipsut Creek camp, a former car campground, was filled with a variety of different groups for the night, as it is accessible by bike from the Carbon River entrance to the park. The campground is spacious, with large campsites and old growth trees. Our campsite had two picnic tables, one smashed by a fallen tree, and the other, intact, felt like a luxury as we were able to sit and eat at a table for dinner. The evening was quite warm, not even socks were needed.

Day 4 was a short day with a steep climb up to Yellowstone Cliffs. We packed up camp, retraced our steps over the Carbon River, paused for lunch, and made our way slowly up the 2.5 mile, 2,500’ gain up to camp. The 2 campsites are pretty close, and the toilet is visible from campsite #2. We were hoping to see bears on the grassy hillside below the cliffs, but instead saw a peek-a-boo goat on the rocky tops. The red highlight of the sunset on the cliffs was surreal.

The trail out of Yellowstone passed through meadows painted richly in fall colors to Windy Gap, where we began the descent to Lake James. Our stop at Lake James was short, the lake this time of year was muddy. We continued the descent down to the crossing of the West Fork of the White River, and gathered water at Van Horn Falls as we were told that Fire Creek camp was dry - it was not. The path over the river is marked with bright pink flashing at the beginning, and the path is initially obvious. We could then see the log bridge, but it was hard to determine which way to get there and ended up bushwacking to get to it. Once we crossed, it was not intuitive where to go next, and there were not any trail markers, but looking around led us to the path pretty quickly. We enjoyed a long lunch in the sand before making the climb up to Fire Creek Camp and our last night on the Northern Loop. The campsites are a half mile off of the trail and are scattered on the hill. All three sites were filled for the night, but we felt as if we had it to ourselves. Water was plenty at camp, and we regretted hauling the extra pounds up the trail, having been told by the ranger that it was dry.

Our final morning began warm. We got an early start, as the day was supposed to be in the 70s and we wanted to get a chuck of trail done before the heat. The top of the climb out of camp rewarded us with a stunning view of the Mountain in all her glory, rising above the west fork of the White River which we crossed the previous day.

We arrived at Grand Park shortly after, with elk prints dotting the path all around us, and spotted a fox gallivanting through the grasses in the meadow.

The temperature cooled quite a bit as we descended into Berkeley Park, and we stopped at a wider area on the banks of Lodi creek to gather our last water, eat our last lunch, and enjoy the strawberry shortcake (with whipped cream) that we had saved for this very moment. Once we replenished, we started the exposed climb out of the valley. We saw a couple of marmots, and a pika crossed the path in front of us, and we watched as a red-tailed hawk floated on the air currents, hovering at our eye level as it hunted.

The beautiful day brought a lot of people to the park that Tuesday afternoon, and it was noticeable as we arrived back at the junction to the Burroughs and on to Sunrise.

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