Pam led Garry, Terry, Lisa and I to Summerland, a little over 4 miles, in 1:35. We took in some food and headed on to Panhandle Gap which is the highest point on the Wonderland Trail that circumnavigates Mt. Rainier in 93 miles. There were a couple of sketchy log bridges along the way including one with a wire where a wood hand rail should be.
It needs to be noted that there are some VERY healthy marmots living by Summerland. They might be getting fed by hikers.
We quickly ran into persistent snow as we hiked up out of Summerland. We still had a good head of steam and were quickly at the saddle at Panhandle Gap looking out towards Ohanapecosh. It was a beautiful day as you can see from the pictures.
We scrambled back down to Summerland and the entire trip up to Panhandle and back was just 1 1/2 hours.
We kept our pace up as we headed down from Summerland and with a couple miles to go we caught back up with the group and took our pace down for a nice walk out. All in all we managed 11.2 miles with 3812 ft of elevation gain.
Since Sue's birthday was the next day and she was retiring on Monday we brought along some bubbly for a double purpose toast before heading to the Naches Tavern in Greenwater for a couple of more toasts.
Sunday Pam, Sue and I completed the Lakewood Triathlon as a team and had Sue's birthday lunch at the Top of Tacoma with her sister Chris who was kind enough to volunteer at the triathlon. This was the second year of the event and both years have been seamless. Our friend Mary coordinates the event like she has been doing these forever.
Be very well and more soon....
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