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Back to Wonderful 15 days on Wonderland Trail Isaac's Journey Home Page

Day 4 (Wed, 7/30). 2nd night at Mystic lake. a. Optional Side Trip: Benchmark Day Hike

Since it was the 2nd day at Mystic Lake, we slept in a little. We had a nice breakfast around 0615. Most folks left around 0730 to check out the Carbon Glacier and Mineral Mt (go back up to the highest pt on the previous day). I decided to do the Benchmark (BM) dayhike above the Mystic Lake. I also went to the highest pt for the previous day. At the ridge top, the folks went to left toward Mt Rainier and I went to right. It was basically high country off trail. The peaks looked cliffy looking at from Mystic Lake but was not bad. I will call it class 2 as I avoided exposures. Most of the ascent were scrambling on the medium sized boulders, so it would have been very difficult and dangerous for some hikers. I enjoyed rock hopping but needed to be extremely careful. Any fall or injury can be serious and would be left alone without help for a while in the Sun exposed area. Until this trip, I've never seen medium rocks along the ridge ! Usually, I experienced that the ridges were free of big rocks. That was not the case. I took my time and slowly summited one by one, and soaking in the views. The impressive views were, of course, the Mt Rainier, and the Moraine Park. The Moraine Park basin is basically un-walked and un- touched since there was no trail, and looked tranquil.

Well, I went through two way points that Dave gave me but did not get to the BM. Time was getting late and I did not want to drop down (500 ft - 1000 ft) to the Benchmark. I opted to intercept the Wonderland Trail (around 5200 ft elev) well above the 1000 acre meadow. It would be too much time consuming and dangerous going back the same way. I still needed to come down on the boulder field (about 1000 ft descend) and bushwhacked just a little. The only thing I was afraid of was the Black Bear. I was on a constant lookout whenever descending a meadow slope. Going back up on the Wonderland Trail was a huge relief but I was exhausted. I stopped by at the tarn on the ridge top that I missed on the previous day. I did not bother to stop by at the Lake and dunk. I just took some break at the Mystic lake and straight down to the camp site. I was dehydrated as I drank only drank 2L for the tough dayhike. I also did not eat much for lunch. I ate one Ramen at 1530 but was not hungry at 1730. I did not have appetite for the big meal. I waited and ate another Ramen at 2000 and hoped hungry next morning. (I was hungry next morning.)