Panhandle Gap/Skyscraper Pass
August 11-13, 2006
We returned to Rainier a few weeks later, this time to the White River campground side for a long weekend trip with the goal of hiking to the two high points on the Wonderland Trail - Panhandle Gap and Skyscraper Pass.
We arrived on Friday afternoon and had time to do a before evening hike across the White River and up the Wonderland Trail for about 3 miles to where we would start our Summerland/Panhandle Gap hike the next morning.
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| The Mountain and the White River | Crossing the White River |
Summerland/Panhandle Gap
We had a long day on Saturday so we got up early and hit the road to the trailhead for Summerland and Panhandle Gap. Summerland is a 4.1 mile hike from the road. It starts out pretty level through forest and follows a creek most of the way. The last mile gets steep with a lot of switchbacks until you come out into the meadow.
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| Little Tahoma on the way to Summerland | Summerland Shelter |
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Rainier from Summerland |
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We took a break at Summerland and read the "Bear Journal" in the shelter, evidently a sow and two cubs had been frequenting the area. We talked to a ranger who told us that the bears had been seen between the creek and the shelter almost daily. After that we kept looking for bear but only saw some of the biggest marmots I'd ever seen.
From the 5000' of Summerland it is only another 1.4 miles to Panhandle Gap at 6800' but in time-wise Summerland is just a little over half way there. Soon after leaving the meadow we began a steep climb through a land of rock, snow, and ice. A few spots were kind of dangerous and I was glad we were not carrying full packs like many of the Wonderland hikers we saw. The one snowfield had a big crevasse that dropped to a flowing creek below. The final approach to Panhandle Gap involved crossing an iced over trail that was sloped steeply with a 50' drop to the side, we were wishing for an ice axe at that point.
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| Snowfield with crevasse | Snowmelt lake at 6000' |
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| At Panhandle Gap | |
We lunched at the top and then began the long descent back to the van. Heading down from Summerland to the creek we finally spotted the bear family across the creek. I had to zoom way in but you can kind of see the bears below:
Skyscraper Pass
Our next day was the second highest point of the Wonderland trail, Skyscraper Pass out of Sunrise. We got up early and headed to Sunrise to start the hike up the Wonderland trail to the 6400' pass. The views of the mountain, even at Sunrise were spectacular.
We took off from the trailhead and hiked the 4 miles past Frozen Lake, down into Berkeley Park and back up Skyscraper Pass.
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| Moon-set over the ridge | The happy couple at the pass |
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| Panorama at Skyscraper Pass |
After lunching at the top we headed back but looped back along the Wonderland to Sunrise Camp before heading back to the parking lot and starting the long drive home.