9 miles / 2140 elevation gain.
It was VERY cold during the night. We gave Emily a Nalgene bottle full of boiling water to keep in her sleeping bag to help keep her warm. I told her if she got cold she could get in bed with us. Curt and I have sleeping bags with one right and one left zipper so we zip them together to make one big sleeping bag. Sharing sleeping bags like this helps A LOT with keeping warm at night. In fact, earlier in the trip we didn't even zip them together a few nights because it was just too warm outside. With our sleeping bags zipped together we would have just enough room to put Emily in between us, if needed. She woke up at 5:00 AM saying she was cold so she got in between us and we were all pretty warm then.
I noticed two things when I first got out of the tent. First, everything was covered in frost and second the sky was blue and not a cloud in sight. It had been awhile since we had a nice clear day and I was looking forward to views on the way to Summerland. The meadows and flowers surrounding Sunrise Camp were beautiful covered in frost. We got started on our was down to White River. The views of Rainer were amazing the entire day and I was happy to have another clear day on this trip. We made it to White River and once again took advantage to flush toilets and clean water to fill our bottles.
We then pressed on to Summerland. About a mile or so out of White River Curt was again hiking ahead of us and came running back. He had just seen a bear. He said he went around a curve on the trail and there was a bear right in the middle of the trail eating berries. They were both surprised to see each other. He said the bear made a startled noise which Curt tried to imitate. It sounded like Chewbacca. The bear then ran away. He also said the bear didn't look very old so we proceeded with caution. When we got to the spot I saw the bear over to the right of us in forest about 25 yards away. It didn't look very old but I'm not sure it was a cub either. I didn't want to hang around long just in case it still had a Mama in the neighborhood. Again, we tapped the poles together while talking loudly and quickly passed.
We passed the spur trail to Fryingpan Creek Trailhead and I started remembering that I think I had been here before. It was probably close to 25 years ago on a hike with a church youth group. The rest of the hike including Summerland looked vaguely familiar.
About a mile later I was walking with Emily and getting kind of tired. There was a family with 3 kids who had started back at Fryingpan Creek Trailhead and they were gaining on us. Soon they were right behind us so I told Emily to stop and we would let them pass. A few seconds later, at the exact moment they caught us the Dad blurted out, "Look there's a bear!" I looked up and there was a big black bear crossing the trail only 20 feet in front of us. If I hadn't stopped to let that family pass I think we would have been at that exact spot where the bear was crossing. I thought about getting the camera out but it had been playing the "you have to delete 10 pictures before I'll take a picture game" so I decided to just enjoy the moment. A few seconds later, we were all gleefully shocked to see a baby cub coming up right behind Mama. It was the cutest thing ever! I'm so glad that Emily go to see it too. We were a group of 7 and just sat there quiet as can be and let them pass. Once they were 20 yards or so off the trail we started walking again. The Dad told the kids to all make a lot of noise and they did. The Dad whooped and hollered. Emily and I tapped our poles together. The bears ignored us. Awesome. Probably my favorite trail moment ever.
I talked to the parents for awhile and they had both hiked the WLT several years ago. They hoped to take their whole family and do it again in a few years.
We continued the climb up to Summerland. It was a Saturday and there were lots of day hikers out. I didn't realize what a treat we were in for at Summerland. I'll definitely be back here for day hikes in the future and maybe even an overnighter.
We don't have too many pictures from Day 9. My camera was just about done and Curt's battery was starting to get low too. Once we got to Summerland though, it was impossible not to take pictures. I had no idea it would be so beautiful here and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. This place is definitely a close second St. Andrews Park and St. Andrews Lake for my favorite place on the trail.
Curt on his way to Summerland:
Emily going through yet another field of wildflowers:
When we first arrived at Summerland Camp Emily realized she had left her trekking poles about 5 switchbacks down when she had stopped for a minute. Curt ran back down to get them while we checked out the camp sites. There were only a few left but we decided on site 3 since it was a little more sheltered. Curt soon made it back and told me he had just seen the Dutch couple that we had met at Klapatche back on day 4. I had been wondering when we would run into them again. They had stopped for lunch so I went down to say hi while Curt and Emily set up the tent.
It was nice to see them again and hear about their adventures. We had passed a few other counterclockwise hiking parties that we had met in the early days of the trip and it was always fun to see them and compare notes. I hope the Dutch couple had a great time and it was worth the trip of coming here all the way from The Netherlands.
Setting up camp in site #3:
After getting camp set up we headed over to the nearby stream to get water. It was the most beautiful place we filled up water on the trail. There were lots of day hikers still around so I decided we'd come back after dinner when we'd have more solitude.
We had dinner and relaxed for awhile. Before heading back over to the stream and meadows we hung up food on the bear pole. Each campground on the WLT has one of these:
We went back to the beautiful spot and now most of the day hikers were gone.
Emily relaxing on a rock next to the stream at Summerland:
THE View from the stream in the meadow.
A couple of Curt and Emily at Summerland:
Curt and Emily headed back to camp. I lingered not wanting the last day to end so quickly. As I wandered on the trail, I met a guy who was just standing staring at the mountain. I started talking to him and found him to be quite knowledgeable about different geographical features on the mountain. I asked him if he had ever climbed it and he replied, "Yes, 20 times. But, he added I've never seen it look so spectacular as it looks right now." The sun was starting to go down and while we were on the wrong side of the mountain to get the nice sunset glow it did look spectacular and it was the perfect way to end the last day of the trip.
I headed back to camp and got into bed. I wrote the following in my journal, "Tomorrow is the final day. We have 12 miles and 2100 elevation gain to go. I'm very nervous about crossing the snow fields. Hopefully, the poles will be of some use there. Just like all other challenges we've faced on this trail, I'm sure we'll be fine. It seems like each day on the trail so far there have been challenges I was unsure about. Now it is the eve of the last day and we are all alive and well and about to finish this great adventure."
I've already mentioned my concern in crossing the snow field at Panhandle Gap. I knew if I trained hard enough I would be able to do all the elevation gain the trail requires. However, the snow fields often mentioned really scared me.
I put my journal away. Curt and Emily were already asleep. Summerland was the one camp on the trail where we had cell coverage so I turned on my IPhone and thought I'd do a little reading to relax myself so I could fall asleep. I went to the NWHikers.net forum to read what other hikers had been up to and to start planning our next hike. I went to Trip Reports forum and the first trip report on the list was titled "Heat and Sleep = Beat feet from the Wonderland Trail". I, of course, was very interested to read this report as it was a new report and maybe it had been written by someone we had passed along the way.
I opened up the thread and realized it was from and incredibly fit, 50 something year old guy who goes by Williswall on the forum. Every year he runs the WLT and is very familiar with it. I read his report with interest and then I got the bottom where he had added an update on Panhandle Gap. This was the Panhandle Gap that was only 1.5 miles away from where I lay in the tent. In my mind, this was the only obstacle that lay between me and finishing this trail. This was the one part of the trail I was truly frightened about and I had been anxious thinking about it for days. He wrote: "Lots of snow on the Panhandle Gap still for this time of year, enough where I dare say it may not all melt before the first snows. Most importantly, the steep section right before the gap coming from the Summerland side is all snow, and a fall here would be rather disconcerting considering the rocks below. Anyone crossing should make sure it's after the sun has softened the snow if nighttime freezing temperatures occur." And then he had a picture with a big red circle around the scary section, the one that would surely be my demise, I thought. I strongly suggest you check out the thread as his photos are a bazillion time better than anything we took and give you a better feel for the beautiful scenery. Make sure to scroll to the bottom of the report to see the red circle! LINK: NW HIKERS FORUM
Of course, I saw the humor in this situation but reading that didn't help me relax much. If anything, it reminded me just to be careful and that was a good reminder. I knew we had to hike 13 miles the next day to the car and we couldn't wait too long to leave in the morning.
A quick note on Williswall... he has lots of videos and photos of his adventures at his website:
WillisWall MultiMedia Check out the Wonderland Trail videos. He does some really cool stuff with the camera and great production on the videos!
Tip of the day:
Curt introduced me to the Nalgene bottle trick and he learned it on winter scout trips many years ago. On cold nights, before going to bed, bring 32 ounces of water to boil and pour it in your Nalgene bottle. Place the bottle full of hot water in your sleeping bag before getting in. It not only warms up your sleeping bag before you get in it but keeps you warm all night long.
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