Day 5 Information
Summerland to Indian Bar - 6.5 Miles
Monday, September 9th 2002

It is 11:00 a.m. on Monday morning. I am just now leaving Summerland. This is a very nice place, wouldn’t mind staying a couple of days here. This morning, I had my first real view of the mountain, without clouds blocking the view.


My FIRST unobstructed view of Mt. Rainier taken from my tent.

I am leaving through the fields right now, there were about 4 or 5 Horry Marmots, and I can see several now, they blend in with the terrain. They run around and go everywhere. Kind of amazing how many there are. I left camp around 10:30 a.m., it is 11 now. I took pictures from the creek, and from the river here.


Mt. Rainier and the Summerland Medows.

A panoramic that I might be able to turn into a 360. Hopefully it will turn out great. I got kind of mad because I came down to take a panoramic, but the clouds came. But as I was finishing the sun was just low enough to be right in my picture, and didn’t look so good. The rest of the pictures were messed up because the sun was so bright. The images turned black, it was goofy. I found that if I turned the aperture down to past 11 or so, it didn’t do that as much. So, what I did was I got my water, went back to camp, put away my tent and everything, and left camp so that I could take my panoramic on my way out. I figured by the time I was done, the sun would be a little bit higher, and just out of my shot which it was. It worked out perfectly, as I planned. This would be a good place to spend a couple of days, if it was sunny of course. This morning I had granola bar, pop tarts, and a little bit of drink. I should have more water. I was the last one out of camp today. All the other hikers left about 45 minutes before me, so I figure it is a possibility that I could catch up with them and pass them again today. That would be kind of cool. I’m fairly tired from yesterday. My calves are a little sore. I pushed myself hard yesterday, probably harder than I should have. I will probably regret it even more later. Oh well, it was worth it. I got a better campsite than I would have gotten. So, everything is good. The next three miles or so are all uphill. Until I get to the top of Panhandle Gap, and then it is about 3 1/2 miles down into Indian bar, where I should be able to camp. So, the temperature now is about 65 or 70 degrees. Actually 63.4 degrees. Altitude is about 6100 feet or so. Okay, I think I am done for now. Barometer is at 30.65, seems to be pretty steady.

It is now 1:30 p.m. and I am on my way down to Indian Bar. The elevation is about 5100 feet. The hike out of Summerland was fairly good. I left the beautiful sunshine and a view of Mt. Rainier, to walk in some boulder fields with lots of clouds and fog, where you couldn’t see more than 200 feet most the time, sometimes even less. On the way up, I passed a large bridge they made out of a log.


A large log used as a foot bridge.

The log was probably big enough that I could have set up camp on it with my tent and everything. It was humungous. Once I got to Panhandle Gap, it was still cloudy and I didn’t see more than 100 or 200 feet. I didn’t know which way to go because there were tons of little trails, and they all crossed each other. Didn’t make much sense. So I pulled out my map, and used my watch, the compass part of it, to figure out approximately which way to go and I am pretty sure I went the right way. It looks pretty good.


Derek Rowley - Panhandle Gap Area.

It was a little windy up there. It was a long, partially downhill and flat trail to the gap. On the map, the profile, it shows something different. It looked like it went straight up and then down. Then when I was coming around, I thought I was really close to Indian Bar, but I found out that I still have a long ways to go down. So, I am almost there now, I think. I see people at the shelter and campsite eating.


The Shelter at Indian Bar

I will probably be there in 5 or 10 minutes after I cross the river. And then I will set up camp. Today was a good day. 6 1/2 miles. I started at 11:00, it is now 1:30. Getting to camp early is really nice. It is a lot better than getting there around 8:00 like I did the first two nights. I am going to eat and go to bed early, which is really nice.

Alright, it is 6:45 p.m. on Monday. I’m here at Indian Bar. Elevation is 5120. Today I got here at 2:00 or so. From here at Indian Bar, you can not see Mt. Rainier because these campsites are located at the bottom of the valley. It is just barley blocked from the valley walls. On my way down, I could have seen it, but it was foggy. Now that I’m here it is clear but Mount Rainier is block by the valley wall. When I got here I took campsite #1. After I got here I set up camp, in campsite 1, and put up my tent, and grabbed my filter and water bottles, or platypus water bottle. Walked down to the river which is 2 minutes away. Got my water and got my hair wet, kind of gave it a little wash, in the not-so-clean water. It felt good though. It was very cold water. Obviously from the ice glaciers, very very cold. I put my feet in for a while too. I was going to get all the way in, but it was a little cold and the sky was partly cloudy, so the sun was kind of off and on, and I didn’t want to get soaking wet and freezing cold when it was cloudy. So I didn’t. I sat and read the Book of Mormon for about 2 1/2 hours or so. Then I came back, ate dinner. I had a Mountain House, chili mac with beef. It was alright but I think I like pasta better. It was good for a change, but I didn’t think it was so great. It was pretty easy to make though, and my pots and pans didn’t get dirty. All I had to do was boil some water and pour it in. And I had a Natural Valley Country Granola bar. It was an oats and honey. I also had a few mini candy bars...a Three Musketeer. And for lunch I just grabbed a couple of those sugar wafers, and a few candy bars. I just kind of stuffed a few of them in my mouth as I headed down to the river. I was hungry, I didn’t really care. I think I had some granola too. Right now it is 6:50 p.m. I hope to be in bed in the next 20 minutes or so. It would be really cool if I could fall asleep by 8, so that I can wake up early tomorrow. Although the past 5 days or so this has been my same plan and it hasn’t really come true. But I haven’t been to bed this early for the past couple of days, I guess. The flies here are really bad. Or they are big mosquitoes. They are bad and annoying. There’s lots of those little tiny bugs too, the No-see-ums. The flies aren’t horrible, but they are pretty annoying, and there are quite a few of them, especially down by the water. I haven’t seen many squirrels, I did see one come up towards my tent earlier, but when I turned my head he ran off, which I was pretty happy about. I left some of those beans that were from my chilli mac and beef dinner out for them, I didn’t like those, I thought they were Disgusting. Dark, maroon beans with white insides are yucky. I washed my bankslake.com shirt, the one I got from Sister Nickel, that says Isaiah 2:2-3, with the mountains. The scripture says:

2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Last night I slept wearing almost everything I owned. I slept in 2 pairs of socks, my thermals, my shorts, everything, and my jacket and my hat. I slept really well. Better than I have any other night. But it is really pathetic that my sleeping bag doesn’t go down to 20 degrees like it says it does. I pumped about 2 1/2 Liters of water again, at about 3:00 p.m. or so, whenever I was down there. Tomorrow I hike to Maple Creek, which is a short hike up, and then a long hike down, downhill to Maple Creek. The other group of hikers that slept at Summerland last night, that I passed, hiked to Maple Creek. I doubt they are there yet, but I am sure they will be soon. That seemed kind of like a long hike to me. I wouldn’t have wanted to do that today. 6 1/2 miles is about perfect. Not too long, not too short. It could have been another mile or two, but it was so nice to get here at 2:00, and not any later.


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