Wonderland Trail Day 3: Paradise River to N. Puyallup

Friday, July 20, 2012
	Destination: North Puyallup Starting Location: Paradise River	Today's Miles: 23.10 Trip Miles: 54.50
I knew this was going to be a long day so I was up by six and on the trail soon after! First I was to do a short descent to Longmire. I was a little more than halfway there when the rain decided to come and nearly everything would be wet for the next three days! I made it to Longmire where I was able to set-up my pack to try to keep everything dry using my GG polycro groundsheet as a pack cover since I discovered my umbrella didn't sufficiently cover my pack. The rain did have some positives: the temperature was very cool making it easy to preserve energy and there were no mosquitoes to eat me!     I soon made it to Devil's Dream and from there I found some more snow up to Indian Henry's Hunting grounds. The fog certainly gave a new perspective to my journey. I was able to catch a glimpse of the bottom portion of the mountain just as I left.  Today I passed multiple groups of hikers hiking Wonderland Trail. I met some Russian guys who said they were the ones who had created the tracks on Panhandle gap and I snuck up on a group of three other guys!  Emerald Ridge  On the way to Klapatche there was more snow. All the tracks started climbing up higher than I had anticipated so I took out my gps and sure enough, I was off the trail. The three guys caught up to me and had a gps as well to confirm that we were off the trail. After backtracking a little we found what looked to be the trail, but it crossed a steep snow field. After maneuvering around it I was able to find the trail again!  I made it to Klapatche but I wanted to make my permit and also wanted to get down while the snow was still soft so I headed for N. Puyallup camp. On the way down I somehow either ended up on a switchback going the wrong way or simply missed a switchback. I ended up making my way across a very steep snow field only to discover that the trail was not on the other side. After some serious searching, I decided it was best to traverse across the snow field to where I had come from. Then I saw the trail above me and below me and thought: switchback! haha! I was happy to be back on the trail! I finally made it to North Puyallup camp after a long day, but I think I ended up camping not in the actual campsites. The sign said that individual sites were .1 mi down the trail so when I saw it split I went to a nice clearing by a rock wall. I presumed this to be the campsite, however, it turns out the campsites were across the bridge and in the woods. I got a much better view out of my confusion!