Carbon River Hike MRNP 7/11/2010

Today Sarah and I met up in Enumclaw and headed out to the Carbon River entrance at Mt. Rainer National Park. A little background on the trail; you used to be able to drive around 4.5 miles to Ipsut Creek Campground, but in the major storms of 2006, the Carbon River jumped it's tracks and wiped out sections of the road. The park service has been looking for a way to close this road for years. This was their chance to shut down the easy access to the glacier for good. Due to some "environmental issues" they intend not to reopen the road. Instead they've set it up so that the rangers can drive ATV's up the trail... Personally I think this is a load of crap, if they are going to maintain the first section for ATV's they need to open up that section for regular public ATV use and cut a hiking trail to access the trail-head parallel to the trail or make it a multipurpose trail.

Any who, off my soap box and onto the trip report. We headed off from the start and walked the "ATV trail" to the Ipsut Creek campground. The destruction along the way was amazing, huge trees were taken down by the river, and large swaths of the road were missing in a couple sections of the trail.

A map of our route, according to Sarah's GPS it was 15.4 miles round trip.

The meandering "ATV" trail.
Mountain views, and the logs scattered across the Carbon River.
Can you spot the other side of the road?
The new Ipsut creek bed, ATV bridge and the old car bridge in the background over the old Ipsut creek bed.
The old Ipsut Creek bed.
After reaching the Ipsut C.G. we walked through to the normal entrance for the Jct. to the Wonderland trail that heads toward the Carbon Glacier. The trail finally lost sight of being an ATV trail and slowly started to climb. Shortly after starting on the trail we swung by Ipsut Falls to top off our water stores. Here the temperature dropped as we walked back towards the falls to a nice and cool temperature. Pictures were had, water was filled and we joined up with the main trail and headed to the Northern Loop trail crossing/Jct. At the junction we had some snacks, and discussed pressing on further, but decided that we should turn around. On the way back it was pretty much the same gently stroll in the park. We did make lunch at the Ipsut Creek CG and then headed back towards the car.

The old Carbon River Trailhead at Ipsut Creek camp.
An interesting pool that appeared to have glacier tilled water mixing with clear water.
The old power house at Ipsut Falls.
Me at Ipsut Falls.
The junction that we turned around at.
The view up river from the trail junction.
An avy shoot above the trail.
looking down the Carbon River towards the National Forest.
Hmmm... Just had to take this one, since this camp is now a backcountry camp and cars can't make it anymore...
Can you tell me what's wrong with this picture? (For those not familiar with backcountry camps in MRNP, that's a bear pole to store your food and scented items, here's a stepping stool little black bear...)
What a view looking towards the hills that the Northern Loop trail climbs through.

Overall it was a good mellow hike, and if you are looking for an easy/intro to backpacking camp, Ipsut Creek is your camp. It used to be a car camp, so it has a forest service restroom, and picnic tables. Bikes are also allowed as far as the camp as well. The 4.5 mile walk to the camp is nearly a flat walk all the way to Ipsut. So if you can walk in the mall for an hour or so you can make it to Ipsut and actually go somewhere with a view away from some of the citiots.