WONDERLAND TRAIL, Day 7, Paradise River – Devil’s Dream, 8/10/2012

Another re-supply day. A bucket of goodies awaited us in Longmire, including cookies and a bottle of wine. We arrived there at a good time, after a brief stop at Narada Falls, and informed the Rangers we would not be staying at Golden Lakes (darn it, that was suppose to be a very nice camp).

After a snack of chips from local convenient store, we were on our way back to the wilderness. We met a few dayhikers in the beginning but their number declined as we got further up the slope. It was a nice uphill, gently grade and a soft ground to pamper our feet.

We spend most of the day in the shade of trees, the only view came while crossing Kautz Creek, a very nice one of the water ravaged valley and of course Rainier topping it off.

It was another early day, arriving at Devil’s Dream Camp at only 2:22 p.m. Devil’s Dream was rather suitable name for this shady, mosquito infested place. They swarmed no matter what amount of bug spray we put on. We did not plan to linger, the plan was to go visit Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground, eat dinner and watch sunset there. We left without even setting bivys, and hurried up hill in a hope the mosquito situation would be better in the open meadows.

Better it was, but not by much. Luckily a breeze would go by once in a while chasing the nuisances away for a brief moment. Either way it was much more pleasurable to be eaten by skeets in a colorful meadow with a view Rainier reflecting in its tarns than in the middle of forest with no view whatsoever.

It was a pleasant surprise to see Ranger Dave strolling through the meadow towards the cabin. He recognized us also from few days earlier at Mystic Lake, and immediately a long conversation sparked about duties and responsibilities of backcountry ranger, his adventures including a very recent one with a Klepatchee Park Bear, and of course destinations around the park and other places.