Mountains and Feet: Mt. Rainier: Mowich Loop

From our new home in Tacoma WA we have a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier. Often times we grill dinner while watching the mountain aglow with the sunset rays. It just taunts me.

View from Tacoma.

I finally had a day to get away from the craziness of being a podiatry intern and was able to go check out the Mowich Loop which includes a small portion of the famous Wonderland Trail. The Wonderland trail is a popular backpacking loop that circumnavigates Mt. Rainier and makes a burly 93 mile ultra-run.

Access to the Mowich loop is via a painful 10 mile drive down a dirt road which I thought would deter people. I was wrong. I rolled up to the trail-head in the late morning to find the parking area full. The run was beautiful. Single track the entire way! I passed hoards of people for about the first mile while running next the the lake and then the numbers started to drop after passing the turn off to the Tolmie Peak lookout.

After reaching Ipsut Pass the trail dropped 2500ft over the next 3.5 miles to follow the Carbon River. From the river bottom I saw another pair of runners who were also completing the loop but heading in the opposite direction. I also had a random hiker jokingly ask me if I was high. Good one, buddy. I ran over the suspension bridge and the climb was on. Over the next 8 miles I climbed 3,800 feet. During the climb I was rewarded with a few views and eventually topped out at an amazing view of the northwest side of Rainier. I took a few minutes to take it all in. Awesome.